Food allergies, staying off-site planning

[jnkrim]

2 of my children have food allergies, 1 with multiple who had a severe reaction at Disney 4 years ago that involved 2 epipens, paramedics at the restaurant, ambulance ride and loss of a whole park day due to being at the hospital.

We are off-site this visit in a resort with a full kitchen. My plan is to have "breakfast" in our van, packed snacks with us, get to the park at rope drop, head back to the van where our cooler of lunch is waiting, quick dinner at our resort and head back to park for evening.

Has anyone else done this? I'm thinking crock pot type meals, quick stuff. I worry a bit of losing park time, but we did that anyway with ADR dining

 

[minnie1012]

Both my kids have allergies one with multiple but we have never stayed offsite. How far are you traveling from home to get to Disney? I know people that have pre-made meals and froze them to bring them down. Then you could defrost in the morning or night before, heat and eat. Crock pot would work if you had recipes that didn't require a lot of prep and if your crock pot doesn't run too hot. I know mine runs very hot so meals cook in half the time so I can't set it in the morning and go. I guess it also depends on the allergies and what they are able to eat. I know some allergies are harder to work with than others.

 

[jnkrim]

We have a 12 hour drive, so I will be bringing in store bought frozen food I know is safe and hard to find in most grocery stores. We plan to stop at a Walmart the first night and buy the rest including a new microwave just for 1 child. Dairy is a severe allergy for him and the one I believe that occurred at Disney.

The other tricky part is my parents are coming with us and they eat out a lot at home! We live across the country from them and only see them once a year. So I'm trying to think of things they might like to eat also.

 

[minnie1012]

We have a 12 hour drive, so I will be bringing in store bought frozen food I know is safe and hard to find in most grocery stores. We plan to stop at a Walmart the first night and buy the rest including a new microwave just for 1 child. Dairy is a severe allergy for him and the one I believe that occurred at Disney.

The other tricky part is my parents are coming with us and they eat out a lot at home! We live across the country from them and only see them once a year. So I'm trying to think of things they might like to eat also.

My daughter had a reaction at Epcot it was very scary. Plus I don't know what she reacted too so that was scary as well.

Stir fry meals are easy to throw together if you buy the veggies pre chopped? Other things that are easy might be too hot for Florida, chilis and soups etc.

Hamburgers cooked in a frying pan? Do you belong to any allergy groups on Facebook or anything? I have found some great ideas from other people on those.

 

[jnkrim]

Thanks- I checked an allergy board and there were a lot of helpful hints!

 

[WildGrits]

I don't know what ages your kids are. Are they stroller age?

If so you can pack a soft cooler and tote it with you so that you don't end up walking all the way back to the car.

If the kids are older, you can just store them in a locker at the front.

I'm talking about soft sides personal coolers, not rolling ones.

Here are some guidelines
http://www.wdwinfo.com/tips_for_touring/coolers.htm

 

[WildMouser]

If you are staying close by and can travel back to hotel for dinner, an option may be bring frozen cooked food from home in a cooler with dry ice. My DS has multiple allergies and when he was younger and our options were extremely limited (he could only eat food that we prepared), we would ship a cooler with already prepared frozen meals in dry ice. Once at our destination, we would then cook the frozen food in the microwave.

Sorry to hear you had a previous issue at Disney. We did too and I know how scary that can be. Fingers crossed this trip goes well.