#1 Stay in a place with a Kitchen! We went to San Diego in August and stayed in a nice little hotel that had a small kitchen. It was totally worth a little extra money for the hotel. We cooked every meal and brought sandwiches to the beach for lunch every day. We actually saved money by not eating out the entire time. We live in Mesa, AZ so we drove to San Diego and just brought a lot of gluten free basics with us (Bread, noodles, mixes, Chex cereal, Lara and Soyjoy bars, pretzels, you know, the stuff that can be super expensive if you don't buy it on sale). We bought the rest of the food there. We had spaghetti, steak and potatoes, tacos, and a lot of sandwiches. What we cooked was simple and quick, it is not a vacation if I am cooking and cleaning all day! The best part about staying in a hotel is maid service. Someone else does all the cleaning, including the dishes!#2 Research restaurants and stores. TJ and I went to New York in May. He went for work and I went to play with my sister who lives there. We stayed at her place so we were able to cook a lot of the meals. But we really wanted to be out sightseeing, not inside cooking. Lucky for us we looked up a few Gluten Free restaurants beforehand. Our very favorite place was Risoterria's. The bread sticks are amazing! We also went to Babycakes and had some delicious treats. We went to a Yankees game too. They had a concession stand that was specifically for Gluten Free, but it was out of food?! when we got there. I was not very pleased about that. We were able to find gluten free stuff at the regular grocery stores, such as pancake mix, brownie mix and soy sauce (we had to try out the sushi!). TJ got a little sick here and there when we didn't do proper research and look stuff up. Thank goodness for smart phones! I am constantly googling gluten free menus and products.
#3 Snacks. We buy snacks in bulk! Having a 4 and 1/2 and a 2 and 1/2 year old and me nursing means someone is constantly eating! Our favorite is apples, they are so easy, and cheap, and I feel good about giving them to the girls. Pretzels are a special treat because they cost more. The same with Soyjoy and Lara bars. The applesauce in a tube-thing is great. I feel kind of funny eating them in front of people though! Dole has some yummy ones, nice and tart instead of sugary.
#4 Research airlines for long flights. If you are flying make sure you plan ahead for meals! We were able to go to Hawaii in December with my family (so much fun!). Before getting on the plane back we had to toss our apples, oranges and bananas! Something about a specific fruit fly they didn't want carried over to the Mainland. The food they offered on the plane wasn't gluten free. Their complementary peanuts are OK though. But DO NOT eat Southwest Peanuts, they have wheat in the ingredients! Also the chance of finding a vendor in the airport that offers gluten free is slim. There were a few places that have gluten free at their regular restaurants but of course do not at the airport restaurant. Example there was a California pizza kitchen-no gluten free, and also a Cafe that usually offers different soups that are gluten free, but they didn't have it. Once again, we made sandwiches beforehand and packed some pretzels and chips. Occasionally TJ flies for work. If he didn't pack food or can't find a vendor he can usually find a salad with gf dressing, but it's hit or miss. And it's ridiculously expensive.
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