Wednesday, February 2, 2011

snacks... don't leave home without them

This week we booked tickets on Sunday and Monday were traveling east. That's not a lot of time to pack, find dog sitters for our two monsters and leave with a clean house so one of the dog sitters could stay there plus formulate a quick plan to be absent/work remotely this week and research GF options for our Atlanta Airport layover on our trip to Boston.
Thankfully we left early enough on Monday to stop at Natural Grocer's for some gluten free travel food for our carry on. I pounded an Odwalla since TSA isn't fond of their liquid nature and grabbed a box of Glutino Blueberry Breakfast bars, Glutino Chocolate Covered pretzels and Enjoy Life Chocolate bars.  (see-I really needed that Odwalla to add a bit of balance to my day)
I had done a quick search on ATL to see what options I had and found this... at Wolfgang Pucks I had hoped to find a sit down location but it was a grab and go. When I asked the attendant if she had a list of ingredients she looked at me funny. When I asked if things had gluten she picked up a sandwich to read the ingredients to see if gluten was listed. I thanked her and ran walked away.
At Chick-Fil-A I asked about the fryer for the waffle fries since their website lists it as being just for the fries and gluten free friendly. Again- a funny look but she called her manager over who told me that nothing else used that fryer but "we do use peanut oil". I explained that I wasn't allergic to peanuts- I'm just not able to eat gluten. I ordered the fries and the lady asked me, "What is the gluten?" as she rang me up. I gave the quick explanation that it was a protein found in wheat, barley and rye and that my body wasn't able to process it.
At Chili's Too they had the Chili's Gluten Free menu so I ordered a bun less burger with a side of plain mashed potatoes. They didn't have potatoes so I had oranges instead (funny combo but desperate times....) my food arrived- with a bun. I explained very politely that it was not gluten free and that I wasn't able to eat a burger that had even touched the bun due to my "allergy". She brought me a fresh burger with my strange side choice and I was sure to inspect it after she walked away. She was very kind and sincere about wanting to get it right so I felt safe but I wasn't very trusting at this point!  I haven't had a burger from a chain in a while and it was greasy, not exactly a great feeling. I think next time I'll find an overpriced airport Odwalla drink and just be happy for safe options.
I had stashed some Ancient Harvest Pasta in our checked bag but as of Wednesday night it hasn't show up yet due to some massive snowfall that's halted air travel to Boston. Thankfully we headed to Stop and Shop and found some of my staples like Chex Cereal, Thai Kitchen soups and Udi's Bagels along with naturally gluten free foods. It was a decent selection but not as good as my Natural Grocer in Colorado. We fly home early Sunday morning and you can be certain that I will have a stocked pile of snacks in my carry on as I can't face the ATL airport options again.

2 comments:

Marlow said...

What is the gluten? :)

Unknown said...

She was really sweet but that scares me so bad! I only ate a few waffle fries (no bad recation) but they just made me nervous.
I knew airport food was going to be challenging/nonexsistant but I thought the chains would be well prepared.
I need to hit the food store tomorrow before our flight out on Sunday...