Eating out of a suitcase food ideas

[Spryte]

Want to help plan some suitcase based meals?

Gaaaahhhhh. Feeding our family is complicated. We have three family members with LTFAs and/or celiac. They are difficult LTFAs and everyone reacts to even trace amounts, and—of course!—none of us have the same allergies. One person has 7 LTFAs and a ton of allergies that haven’t caused anaphylaxis but other issues. Our allergist says eating in a restaurant requires placing all of our trust in the staff, and to always carry extra food with us, in case we can’t find safe options. Eating at home can even be complicated because our allergies mean contacting each and every manufacturer to find out about cross contamination or if our allergens are grouped under “spices” or “natural flavorings.” 

We are planning a trip, and will have a tiny kitchen and access to grocery stores, but no access to familiar brands that we know are safe, and there will be a language issue when reading labels in depth. 

We will be taking a suitcase full of safe food, but need some ideas on what we can pack to cook easily, in case eating out is simply impossible. The “suitcase full of food” is a common thing in allergy families like ours, but everyone’s constellation of allergens differs. 

Any suggestions on what to take? We will obviously be able to buy produce, meats and eggs there, but anything packaged requires some research, so we will be avoiding a lot of options.

Our list so far is sunbutter, packaged Daiya Mac and Cheese, GF oatmeal packets, and possibly our safe bread. Some sweet treats for kids, and safe energy bars to take on outings.

If you really want to get into the nitty gritty, our anaphylactic allergens are:

peanut

treenut

sesame

lentil

avocado

banana

eggs (baked at high heat are ok)

wheat 

dairy (cow, goat, sheep)

shellfish

and one Celiac, to boot, so everything has to be GF. Also, one person has severe OAS and can eat almost nothing raw.

 

ETA: everything needs to be ok for international travel and work with airline regulations.

 

 

 

Edited October 30, 2022 by Spryte

[JennyD]

My son doesn't have anything like those allergies, but when he went on a trip last year where I knew there would be a lot of dairy meals he couldn't eat, I packed a bunch of microwavable packets of rice, vacuum-packed tuna fish, and a couple cans of sardines.  

 

[athena1277]

No idea what you can take internationally, but can you take beef jerky?  I think you also need to consider taking a few spices and seasonings that are safe.

[Miss Tick]

How many meals will it be?

I would pick a couple of (or even just one, depending on length of visit) safe meals and then supplement or replace as you can with fresh veggies and meat once you are there. Eating from your suitcase might be repetitive, but you will probably be in some fabulous location.  If you list some things that are ok for you to eat and easy to pack, that might help with meal ideas.

[prairiewindmomma]

My best advice, from having been in a similar situation, is to, along with everything else, pack your own spices. Those are the hardest to determine if they are safe because of cross-contamination, but it makes cooking so much easier. The other thing I advice is to take a small empty bottle that you can fill there with liquid dish soap so that you can picnic on the go. I packed a tiny cutting board and a pocket knife into my day pack each day so that I could cut fruit and veg on the go. 

We always go heavy on safe granola bars.  They pack well, and it's easy to pull out and solve a hangry problem when you lack flexibility. We also pack safe crackers, because it's easy to turn that into a meal with fruit and veg and some lunch meat from the store.  We also tend to pack soup packets that are safe, because it's easy to add hot water. You can carry hot soup around with you fairly easily. 

[Drama Llama]

I would look for things like the GF oatmeal and the Mac and cheese that are dehydrated because you will be limited by weight.

[Teaching3bears]

Dried fruit?

canned chicken, tuna, salmon?

Gf pasta, crackers?

[73349]

Are there any Mountain House meals that work for y'all? I know some are GF. Then you can just add boiling water, and they're light to carry.

[Drama Llama]

My understanding is you can’t bring meat into the EU but could bring shelf stable fish in it’s original packaging.

Can you research brands here to look for there? 

[prairiewindmomma]

If you are headed to that place your husband often goes, I would do a few things:

1. Print off a copy of the National allergy symbols to reference while shopping

2. Print and laminate a copy of the allergy list, with translations, to show in restaurants. We have no problems with shopping in stores—it tends to be tiny villages with older people where language becomes more of a barrier. 

[lmrich]

Is there anyway you can get information about the grocery stores near where you will be? I would think you could buy meat and potatoes and fresh veggies easily in EU. 

I would add gluten free  pasta to the suitcase. 

 

[momto3innc]

Definitely GF pasta and key spices you’ll use.

if there’s a microwave, I’d bring those bags of ready rice/beans/etc… that are out there that can be microwaved in 60-90 seconds. Those are great for me when I’m traveling.

Plain microwave popcorn? 
Enjoy Life chocolate, Eat to Live cookies (or other sweet treats you like). 
I love Bobo bars but I’m not sure how many of you could eat them (but they’re filling).

[KungFuPanda]

I think I’d just live off different combinations of meat-veg-rice. Variety on top of a trip seems like too much trouble. We’d be sick of fried rice and frittatas but we’d eat. I’d probably pack any spices I couldn’t get. I’d really focus on easy recipes I can make with local ingredients and have as many repeats as possible. 

[Pam in CT]

That's a hard allergy list to work around; good luck.

 

We've done a lot of suitcase meals/ arrived at midnight at airBnBs over the years, and my standards (not all of which will work for you) are

breakfast: instant oatmeal, dried fruit, nuts, trail mix, grape nuts (they pack very densely compared to other cereal); ground coffee and filter; juice boxes & shelf stable almond milk (cannot carry on, but can check)

lunch: shelf stable tortillas, crackers, peanut butter or sunbutter, Nutella, good jam, canned tuna, lots of individual packs of mayo to mix into it (again, have to check)

dinner: dry pasta, jarred pesto, canned tomato paste that is super-compact but can be made into any consistency, tinned fishes, jarred artichokes, sundried tomatoes, dried mushrooms, couscous (which cooks so fast you can do it in a hotel coffee pot) and rice

and SPICES and dried garlic & onion flakes to make it all taste better.

 

I generally have a STRONG preference to fly carry-on only, but you really can't carry on much beyond coffee grounds, oatmeal and stuff like dried fruit to put into it. But if you plan to check a bag you'll be OK once you think through a couple of emergency meals. Buying olive oil, eggs, and some longer lasting produce as soon as you can upon arrival makes a huge difference.

 

[Bootsie]

We have found travelling with individual packets of oatmeal very handy; you can even get hot water in flight to add to the oatmeal.  I would begin by thinking about what packaged items you usually purchase, cook with, and enjoy at home and think whether those will travel well.  Even if you can find the same brand of item that you typically purchase in the US at your foreign location, it may not be prepared in the same facility under the same conditions.