Eating with a food allergy has been very challenging. Its only been three weeks and already there have been setbacks. Until last Saturday, I had religiously been reading labels, especially knowing about all of the hidden ingredients that are actually dairy and soy products. Throughout it all I have been shocked to find out what is in our food. For example, why does my deli meat need lactic acid--derived from milk? Or why do the banana chips have a dairy product? You can't trust anything. Anyway, I went to a bachelorette party last Saturday and ate at a restaurant. I ordered no milk, no cheese, no creamy products. I'm assuming there was dairy or soy in the chips I ate because we've been seeing the negative effects of that exposure since then (although now it's improving). This experience taught me very quickly that this is serious and even a small exposure will result in discomfort for everyone. (No pressure or anything).
So this post is about how to eat out. Big Shout out to In N Out. I've eaten there three times in the last three weeks. My lunch order goes like this, "I have a dairy & soy allergy. I'd like a double meat no cheese protein style no sauce, ketchup instead. Fries & a large ice tea." After I repeat a few things, they type "dairy and soy allergy" into their computer. This prompts the burger makers to clean a grill for your food preparation to avoid cross contamination. This order is safe because they do not use soy oil for their fries. Their buns have soy, but the meat does not. Oh, and as an added benefit--it's only $6.42. It's filling and satisfies my cravings for cheese and junk food. I learned this trick through a google search.
Many restaurants have online allergen menus. I was excited to find out I could eat at my favorite restaurant--Firehouse Subs, but not at Olive Garden (Score! my least favorite).
and it's screen looks like this:
You can enter your allergens and view a menu showing only what you can eat. There are a limited amount of restaurant options, but I've found the app overall to be much quicker than searching for menus online--especially when we're trying to decide where to go, it's a quick way to find out what's an absolute no (like the Olive Garden). Worth $4.99? No way, but if there were more restaurants added, I would find it more worth its sticker value in a world of free apps.
