One of our biggest challenges on road trips is eating healthy and gluten free. Rachael has a gluten intolerance that makes digesting wheat a truly miserable experience for both of us, but mostly her. I can eat Gluten, but my digestion is greatly improved when I kick wheat out of my diet. So how do we do it? We travel all over the country staying in campgrounds, Air BnB’s and backcountry campgrounds in the middle of nowhere and we always have to eat.
Below are some tips that will help you eat Gluten Free on the road or in the woods:
- Use Gluten Free Apps- There are countless apps that are available for free or cheap on Android and iOS that will point you in the direction of GF restaurants in your area. The app we use most is Find Me Gluten Free. It has over 100,000 downloads from the Google Play Store and it has been very accurate for us. Simply type in the location that you are searching and navigate the list or map for results. Be advised that in very large cities like, the results can be overwhelming; try zooming in to your neighborhood or street for accurate results.
- Embrace the Art of Cooking- If you are new to a Gluten Free lifestyle, you will need to embrace the fact that you will need to learn how to cook. Eating out is not only less healthy, but it is extremely expensive. It is especially expensive when you are on a road trip budget. Before we get setup at any campsite or take off on any trip into the backcountry, we create a menu and meal prep. Keep an eye out as we will be posting Gluten Free recipes very soon on the blog.
Shop Before You Leave- If you know that your regular grocery store stocks GF bread and all of the ingredients that you will need to make your favorite camp dish, don’t wait until you get to Pond Creek, OK to see if the 7-Eleven attendant has any idea what Gluten is. Plan your meals ahead of your departure and buy your potentially hard to find items before you embark.- Pack Snacks- Not only is eating small meals throughout the day a healthy choice, but it gives you some flexibility when it comes to eating Gluten Free in unfamiliar places. By packing a snack such as fruits, vegetables, or trail mix, you give yourself a back-up plan in case you can’t find a meal on the road. On our most recent trip to Canada, we flew with a 5LB bag of Kar’s Trail Mix and ate it over the course of two weeks in the Great White North; we didn’t have to worry about getting glutened by a mystery trail mix in Yoho National Park. To see more from that trip, check out our post about the start of that trip here.
- Take Your Time & Stay Longer- In my limited time traveling and living with a person that has a gluten intolerance, I have found that the less rushed we are and the longer we stay in a particular area, the more likely we are to find quality Gluten Free offerings and the more accommodating grocery stores in an area. Conversely, the more that we rush while traveling or in our day-to-day, the more we slip up on eating well.
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