<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

Now that it is the good old summertime, some of you have been posting
questions about traveling and eating gfcf.

We have traveled quite a bit and these are some things that keep eating
pretty safe for my gfcf adult autistic son and my celiac husband when we are
away from home.

If we are going to be staying at a motel more than two nights we ask for a
refrigerator.......  In our experience, some motels will bring you one at no
charge, others will charge an additional $5.00 to $12.00 per night.

We always carry a small microwave and an electic hotplate. .  Nowadays it is
not unusual for  motels to  have a microwave available in the lobby for
guests to use but we are NOT going to count on it and it is more convenient
and is safer to be preparing food in your own room rather than carrying it
back and forth through the lobby.  The hotplate stays in our car even when we
aren't traveling.

SUITCASES----We have two suitcases.......... this makes it much easier to
carry our kitchen gear to our room......... and gives us easy storage place
between  meals..

One is a small vinyl case that we leave in the car all of the time.   It is
great to have this stuff available for impromptu picnics, snacktimes, etc.
In it are paper plates, plastic cutlery, drinking cups,  paper tablecloths
and napkins picked up from  Christmas or  Halloween clearance,  kitchen
utility scissors to cut off what we need.,  a roll of paper towels, a decent
can opener and paring knife, serving spoon, spatula, plastic wrap and  bags
to deal with leftovers, etc.

In the Big suitcase are 'traveling pans'to use on the hotplate and microwave
plates, bowls and .plastic utensils to use in the microwave.

We spend time in Florida in the winter and even use our 'kitchen-in
-a-suitcase' there.   This avoids cross contamination from the stovetop and
baking pans furnished by the motel.... and when we are through with our meal,
we stash them back in the suitcase until the next one.

We also use our own pans if we are staying with family or friends  In our
experience it is easier to prepare our own food than to worry about having
them poison us.  (I say " us" because after 10 years I think of myself as
eating poison when I eat gluten and casein food!  Last week  a friend said
she had  thought of me at quilt guild when she was helping herself to all the
decadent refreshment goodies!  She has an adult autistic son and a 59 year
old husband with Ahlzheimer's who after urinary peptide testing is now gfcf,
too..)

Those of you who are newbies to the diet may not have realized yet that there
can be cross contamination problems from using pans or bakeware that have
been used to bake  regular wheat flour products.  Even with dishwashers
'clean' pans don't always come out 'clean'.

ICE CHEST--- We pack a cooler and have learned that we get along much better
with a medium size one so it isn't too heavy to carry when it is full of food
and ice.  It is better to restock it along the way.

VITAMINS, SUPPLEMENTS--- We carry a separate small box with these (those
needing refrigeration go in the cooler,  of course.)  This makes it easier to
find them when we need them!

FOOD----- We use several smaller boxes for our foodstuffs, partly so they
will be lighter to carry and partly to sort foods for our convenience at
mealtimes.  One for breakfast items, another for canned goods, another for
microwave dinners and other packaged goods,  a paper sack for chips and
snacks.

OVERNIGHTING--- We carry one small suitcase that holds razer, toothbrushes
and overnight essentials.

TRAVELING CLOTHES---- We pack a complete set of clothing for each member of
the family in ONE grocery store plastic bag.for each of the nights we expect
to be on the road.  We learned to do this years ago when we were travelilng
with four kids!  This is a big help since we already are carrying in 'extras'
for meal preparation.  It also cuts down on the clutter in the room and make
s it easier to repack the car when reloading the next day. . For an emergency
we can always get out the big suitcase or hunt up a laundromat.

If we will be staying for a while, we usually check the telephone directory
for health food stores to replenish gfcf products and we can always find a
grocery store for easy to fix canned vegetables,  canned salmon and sardines,
as well as fresh or canned fruit, juices, fresh vegetables, etc.

I'll bet many of you have good ideas of your own  to add to our
kinchen-in-a-suitcase.

Happy trails...........

Dona Vickrey.