Preparation for Hawaii Trip

[Gloria]

We're leaving Saturday morning for Hawaii and will be travelling for 12 hours. I'll be eating lunch and dinner on the flight. I've decided not to order a GF meal because others have said it would consist of fruit and salad, neither of which I'm able to eat. I'm quite sure that I won't be able to eat anything provided by the airline.

This is my plan: I'll bring my usual turkey sandwich corn chips for lunch. For a snack, I'll have rice cakes and almond butter packaged in small, sealed packets. Dinner stumped me until I spotted a sealed package of Boar's Head sliced ham. I usually don't eat ham, but when I did a while ago, I noticed that Boar's Head doesn't bother me. The nice thing about ham is it's pre-cooked and cured, so I'll worry less about it spoiling on the long flight. I read that I can put a bag of fruits or vegetables in my carry-on, so I bought a frozen bag of Brussels sprouts to use as a cooler in my lunch/dinner pack.

So, dinner will be the Boar's Head ham, cold rice and a muffin from home. I'm debating about making instant pudding on the plane. I have Instant Clear Jel, which is a special cornstarch used in making instant pudding. I'm able to bring small containers of milk, so I could just mix the Clear Jel, sugar and milk in a container to get the pudding. I could turn the rice into a rice pudding!

I've located a Sam's Club near the hotel (for lamb meat), a Safeway and Whole Foods, all within reach by walking or bus. I love the Internet. I'll buy my vegetables and meats there, plus any food items for DH.

Here's what my carry-on food suitcase will contain:
waffles
pancakes
bread
hamburger buns
three types of muffins (I rotate the flours I use)
maple sugar
cane sugar
cracked quinoa
Corn Chex
Rice Chex
rice tortillas
corn tortillas
corn noodles
rice cakes
cornstarch
arrowroot
rice

My checked luggage will contain:
almond butter
pistachio butter
almond extract
maple extract
strainers, tulle, pellon - in case I have to make my own almond milk
homemade salad dressing
ghee
maple syrup (possibly)

I've been testing Silk Almond milk and haven't had a reaction. I'm hoping the Safeway store or Whole Foods will sell it.

I'm taking along an extra seat cushion to use during the long flight because I don't have much "padding" left to sit on. The 4-hr. flight from Utah was a little uncomfortable.

I hope I'm able to get natural turkey at Whole Foods. The store here only sells Applegate Farms lunch meat and it contains carrageenan.

I'm bringing my laptop and hopefully will be able to post updates.

Gloria

[Linda in BC]

Gloria, how exciting and wonderful that you're going to Hawaii! It sure sounds like you have given a lot of thought to what you are bringing and it looks pretty complete. I didn't see bananas or drinking boxes on there though. Can you eat bananas?

I hope your flight is uneventful and enjoyable and your trip likewise. PS Don't go near ANY racoons!
Linda

[Bifcus16]

Gloria,

Hope you have a great trip. You sound well organised for it.

Have you considered creating a 'fried rice' type dish for the trip? That is, add some meat (ham) and cooked veggies to the rice. Add a bit of whatever seasoning you can handle or cook the rice in your stock for flavour. That can then be frozen until the morning of the flight or the night before, and allowed to thaw out so it will still be chilled when you go to eat it. Things like rice thaw pretty well as they don't freeze into a solid block and you can break it up to even out the thawing.

Anyway, have a great trip!

Lyn

[mbeezie]

Have a wonderful time Gloria. Sounds like you are well prepared. Hopefully you will be able to find some restaurants with GF offerings so you can enjoy a rest from cooking.

Look forward to hearing about your adventures!

Hugs,

Mary Beth

[starfire]

I hope you have a fantastic trip with no major "incidents" in any area of life. Just pure enjoyment and interest.

Love, Shirley

[MaggieRedwings]

Morning Gloria,

I hope you have the vacation of a lifetime! You sound well prepared and cannot think of a thing to add. By the way, when I was at the Outer Banks in September I found a wonderful market that carried Boar's Head meats and cheese and all of their meats, cheese and condiments (salads) are certified gluten free. Here is a link of their website. http://www.boarshead.com/gluten_free.php

Since then I have been eating them with no problem.

Love, Maggie and travel safe.

[Joefnh]

Gloria it sounds like a wonderful trp and your preparations sound incredible. What type of accommodations do you have booked, I am assuming there are kitchen facilities there.

Have fun!

--Joe

[Ginny]

Gloria, as always you are very well prepared. You deserve to have a wonderful vacation without the stress of MC. Keep us posted. I understand the "padding"! Ginny

[MaggieRedwings]

Hi Gloria,

Just got my monthly glutenfreetravel.com email and here is a link that they had for Big Island GF dining. Havent read it yet but wanted to pass it on.

http://www.glutenfreetravelsite.com/featured.php

Love, Maggie

[Zizzle]

Gloria,
Which island are you visiting? My sister lives on the big island. You seem to be packing many things you can readily find in HI, so don't stress to much about packing it all. Safeway brand Primo Taglio deli meats are gluten free. I always buy the Pan Roasted Turkey and Blackforest Ham.

Try and get your hands on some Hawaiian purple sweet potatoes - they are AMAZING.
Poi (Tarro root porridge) is also a Hawaiian GF favorite, but I'm not a big fan. It's extremely nutrititious and babies there love it.
Bring some GF soy sauce so you can enjoy the wealth of Japanese/Korean food, and sushi available.

Enjoy! I love visiting Hawaii!

[Polly]

Hi Gloria, fellow double DQ1,

Have a fantastic and safe trip!!! It sounds as if you are very well prepared, which seems to make all the difference when we MCers travel. Only 2 more sleeps, as Pegster would say.

Pistachio butter??? Where do you get it?

Love,

Polly

[Gloria]

Thank you for your good wishes. This will be our second trip, the first one being 9 1/2 years ago after 9/11. I didn't have MC then and was able to enjoy eating out. I've never forgotten an experience we had in a restaurant on that trip. We and another oldercouple were the only patrons, and we were seated right next to each other. The woman kept repeating through the entire meal that she wasn't able to eat anything because she had no stomach. The husband was very patient and kept saying, yes, he knew. It was pretty haunting to listen to her continue to repeat that she couldn't eat anything. I felt sorry for both of them. Little did I realize that we would become that couple in the next few years. I vowed back then that I wouldn't keep reminding my husband that I can't eat anything, and I don't.

Joe,
We are staying in Waikiki in a hotel-managed condo with a fully-equipped kitchen (Aston Sunset). The floor we'll be on will be between the 25th and the 35th floor with a balcony and a view of the ocean.

Linda,
I'm not able to eat any fruit or fruit juice, including bananas. They were my first clue that I had problems with fruit.

Lyn,
I just cooked the rice I'll be bringing tonight. I probably should have made it with my turkey broth, but I put ghee in it instead. I might try to mix the ham in it, as you said. I'll think about adding one of my vegetables to the rice, but I'd sure rather eat them heated. I wonder if the flight attendant would heat it for me? Otherwise, I think I can live without a vegetable for one day.

I might be able to eat at a Luau because they serve pork and coconut pudding. I've recently tested coconut and didn't react.

I experimented making the instant pudding today and it was fine. I wonder if I'll look suspicious mixing a concoction on the plane.

Maggie,
Thank you for the link for gluten-free dining in Hawaii. We ate out for DH's birthday last week and I ordered a pork chop. I brought my own noodles in an insulated container and also some Brussels sprouts. I didn't have a reaction the next day, so I think I'll try something similar in Hawaii.

Zizzle,
I don't think I'll be eating any of Hawaii's culinary delights except perhaps the pork and coconut pudding. I can't eat soy, fish, or any root vegetables, for example. I'm OK with my limited diet - I just hope DH doesn't get too disappointed that we won't be eating out much. I might try it, ordering meat only and bringing my own rice, vegetable and muffin.

I didn't realize that Safeway's Primio Taglio products were gluten-free. Thanks for the tip. I'll look at the list of ingredients in their turkey. That would be great if I could eat it!

Polly,
There is a company near my house that sells unusual nut butters: http://www.futtersnutbutters.com/ . Our Whole Foods store sells their products, but they can be ordered online, too. I've also made my own pastachio nut butter in my food processor. I can buy the shelled pistachios from a local Indian grocery store.

Yep, two more sleeps!

Gloria

[Rosie]

Gloria, I hope you have a fun time in Hawaii! Bringing so much of your own safe food will help keep the worries away! However, when we visited the Big Island last January, I was pleasantly surprised at how good the restaurants were about understanding and accommodating food issues.

I hope I'm able to get natural turkey at Whole Foods. The store here only sells Applegate Farms lunch meat and it contains carrageenan.

If you look in the pre-packaged, pre-sliced deli meat section (at least at Market of Choice) I've gotten Applegate Farms Genoa Salami and Saprosetta that was gluten, dairy and soy free, and didn't have carageenan. It was flavorful and a nice change from the "getting tired of" turkey and ham.

Rosie

[Zizzle]

Here is a link to a list of all of Safeway's GF items. The list is very long, but you can scroll to the PrimoTaglio brand and find that virtually all their cold cuts are GF.

http://celiac-disease.com/safeways-glut ... ucts-list/

[Kari]

Hi Gloria,

Just wanted to wish you a wonderful vacation in beautiful Hawaii - can't wait to hear about your adventure.........

Warm regards,
Kari