How to Survive a Road Trip with Celiac Disease (Without Going Hungry!) Ep. 229

Heading off on a road trip soon? In this week’s episode, I’m sharing exactly how I prepare for long drives while living with celiac disease. My husband and I are driving from Adelaide to regional New South Wales for a wedding—so I’m walking you through what I pack, how I plan meals, and how I make sure I always have something safe to eat along the way.

From packing an esky/cooler and planning backup meals to using apps like Find Me Gluten Free, this episode is full of practical ideas to help you stay safe and stress-free on your next gluten free getaway.

Listen in to hear my tips for

• Packing gluten free food for long drives
• Reheating meals safely on the road
• Finding celiac-safe food stops with Google Maps and Find Me Gluten Free
• Staying hydrated and supporting your gut while travelling

Whether you’re heading interstate or just out for the weekend, these strategies will help you travel confidently without the fear of getting sick or going hungry.

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Chapters

• 0:48 Life Update And Missed Upload
• 1:29 Eight-Hour Road Trip Plans
• 2:24 Why Preparation Matters With Coeliac
• 3:35 Packing Systems: Cooler And Snack Bag
• 4:55 Easy Make-Ahead Snack Ideas
• 5:54 Fruit Rules And Border Checks
• 6:50 Balanced Treats And Realistic Choices
• 7:37 Backup Meals And Heating Options
• 9:25 Finding Safe Stops With Apps
• 11:21 Hydration, Movement, And Gut Care
• 14:36 Final Tips And Encouragement

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:24

Alright, welcome back to this week's episode of the show. If you missed last week and you realize that I didn't upload an episode, thank you. Thank you for noticing. Um, I have been pretty crazy at home the last couple of weeks. We are renovating our house. We're actually getting ready to sell our home and move. So we've had lots going on, we've had painters, my husband's been making lots of noise and mess with renovating, so I just decided it was just too hard last week, if I'm completely honest. I didn't have the bandwidth for doing an episode, so I just skipped last week. So that's where I've been, just to keep you updated. But this week, my husband and I are actually heading interstate, we're heading over to regional New South Wales to go to a wedding. And because of where it's located, it's actually really tricky for us to fly there. We'd have to get a hire car and then drive to the country. So we've decided we are going to drive from Adelaide to New South Wales and go to the wedding. So we are heading off on an eight-hour road trip. So it's just him and I, which is amazing. We don't get that much time, just us two, so it's gonna be a really great couple of days just us two together. But the thing that you know it's exciting, yes, but as you know, we cannot just you know hop, skip, and jump and go places without being prepared. So I thought it would be a good time to share a little bit about how I prep for road trips because this is not my first road trip in my many years of living with celiac disease and having to eat gluten-free. So if you've gone on a road trip or you know you've spent more than a couple of hours in a car and you've realized it can be quite scary trying to get safe gluten-free food out there, then this episode is for you. So I want to walk you through how I plan and pack for road trips just so I can make sure that I'm safe and fed and happy because no one wants a hangry Belinda in the car with them, that's for sure. This way it helps, you know, stop some of that stress of trying to find gluten-free food in the middle of nowhere. So I'm gonna share some insights, what's worked for me, and a few lessons that I've learned along the way. So whenever I go on a long drive, and I shouldn't even say a long drive, whenever I go anywhere, I take food with me. I've always got food with me, whether it's just a you know, a nut bar or a snack of some kind, I always have something with me. But when you're going on a long drive, I say pack like you're camping, even if you're not. So really easy foods that you can take with you. So, what I do is I start by planning in the lead up to going on a road trip. So I as I've been kind of seeing easy snacks when I've been at the shops, I've been grabbing a few things just to pop aside. And what I do is once I've prepped everything, I lay it all out on the kitchen bench and I have an ESCI or a cooler or whatever you want to call, and I use that for cold food. So not a massive one, just a little kind of could almost fit a six-pack of ears in there, I guess, that kind of size. So just a small one for cold food, and then I just take like a shopping bag that I can fit my dry snacks in, and I just have them usually at my feet or just tucked behind my seat. And when we're traveling, that's just the easiest kind of way to grab things out. So I can keep everything organized, know exactly where it is, and when we're kind of driving along, usually my husband drives most of the way. Sometimes he'll get a little bit tired and ask me to drive for a little bit, but majority of the time he's the one driving, and I'm the one grabbing out the snacks and making sure we're fit. So let's talk about some of the things that you could take with you that are really simple and can be prepped the day before. You don't have to worry about doing it in the morning. Let's just say you're getting up and you're hitting the road early, then um yeah, you can prep these beforehand. So I really like to have things that I would eat normally on a day-to-day kind of basis, or treats that I would have that aren't gonna make me feel like rubbish because you are sitting down for a long time. So I love things like boiled eggs. If you've got other people in the car that are offended by the smell, maybe don't take boiled eggs. But if you're traveling with someone who would also eat those, then that's a great option. Veggie sticks are really great as well. I've grabbed myself some mini tubs of hummus, so I'm going to be putting them in my eski pack, uh, and then that way I can just have some veggie sticks and some hummus when I feel like a little snack on the go. Fruit is also a good one if you are obviously in a place where you are perhaps crossing borders and there's regulations around that. Make sure you know the rules with that. So when we are going from South Australia into New South Wales, it's okay, we can take fruit, but when we are coming back into South Australia, we are not allowed to bring fruit, veggies, anything like that, because we have different regulations due to fruit fly and different things like that. So just make sure you know what you're allowed to take with you if you are kind of crossing borders or going into different, I guess, regions and and knowing what the rules are because you can get big fines if you break those rules in some places. So, yeah, just know what your rules are around that. So when we come back to South Australia next week, we will not be bringing fruit or vegetables with us. It's only when we are leaving that we'll be taking them. Some other things that are really good are things like you know, simple packaged snacks that are healthy that you would normally eat. So perhaps like some dark chocolate that's really good for some energy, some roasted chickpeas, or maybe you like to make homemade things beforehand. So some slices or something like that. But I'll be completely honest, we also like to have some unhealthy treats as well. So things like you know, package crisps or chips, we like to call them here in Australia. So things like that that are, you know, they're not my everyday items, but it's nice to have them on a road trip just for a bit of a treat. So, you know, make sure you have a balance of healthy foods and un you know, if you want to have some unhealthy kind of treats, it's okay to do that. I certainly do as well. So, a big thing for me is I like to have some meals with me as well. My plan is always to stop where somewhere on the way for lunch, to like especially when we're doing a big trip like this. So, if you can plan ahead and find a stop where you aim to find something gluten-free, because you know, it's all very well and good finding a place that says yes, they've got gluten-free food, but then you get there and they in fact do not have safe gluten-free food. You know, you've asked all the questions and then they turn around and go, Oh no, we we don't guarantee it's you know prepped that way, or we don't have a separate gluten-free fryer or anything like that, then you might just get stuck. And this is where things go wrong. This is where people get hangry, they get peed off, and they feel like they're missing out. So I don't want you to get in the middle of nowhere and you've got nothing to eat. So, this is where I always take a backup plan. So, I will always take some sort of lunch with me, something that can be eaten without any prep, it's just ready to go. And I also like to have some other options that can just be heated up. So, you never know what can happen out on the road. You know, you might be in an accident, you might be stuck because of road works, you anything could happen. I just like to have a couple of backup plans. So I'll be taking some homemade meals that are frozen, chuck them in the cooler bag when we get to our destination, we can put them in the freezer there if we don't need them, or when we get to our destination, if we don't feel like going out for tea, we'll have those options as well. But you might like something like uh, you know, a gluten-free noodle cup or a soup or something like that that you literally just need to add boiling hot water to. No matter what, you should be able to get some boiling hot water. If you were to go to, say, like a petrol station or a service station, you should be able to get hot water. A lot of roadhouses and stops along the way will also let you use their microwave. Believe it or not, if you cannot get something safe to eat and you have the option of just adding some boiling hot water to something or using their microwave, most places will say yes. Most places will say yes to giving you a cup of hot water or to letting you heat up your food in a microwave. You just have to explain why and ask because let's be honest, you know, if you don't ask, you don't know, and it's very unlikely to find something safe at many of those roadhouse kind of destinations along the way. I know I've struggled in the past and made many, many mistakes on our early, you know, trips when we'd go into state. That I'd just assume that I'd be able to find something. It was just silly because I didn't have any trouble in South Australia. But when you get quite regional, it can be a little bit more trickier the further you get away from you know your bigger towns and cities that there aren't as many options. So when you have these backup plans in place, it stops you from from being, you know, stuck and hungry. So, you know, I've I've learned these lessons, I've I've made so many mistakes in the past, and you know, like I said, you go to these roadhouses, many of them are not offering any type of gluten-free option. Lots of roadhouses have your standard like pies and sandwiches and chips that are cooked in the same deep fryer as every other item coated in gluten. So, you know, you don't want to be stuck and hungry. So this is where these little backup plans help. Alright, so now let's talk about planning for grabbing a meal on your on your trip. So, like me, we are planning to grab lunch. So, what I do before I hit the road, so the the usually the day before or a couple of days before, I will jump on the Find Me Gluten Free app after looking at my route. So I'll look at, I'll speak to my husband, I'll say, which way are we driving? What's the best way to get to our destination, and then I'll have a look on Google Maps and I'll see where the major towns are along my route. And then I'll look on the Find Me Gluten Free app for those towns and look for safe gluten-free food, look at the reviews and look at my options. There were a few towns that I looked at and I couldn't find anything. I couldn't find anything for them. So that means we will have to go to the bigger towns that there are the options that I found. So, you know, you you can kind of look ahead and realize that wow, if I stop at these places, I am kidding myself that I probably won't find anything. But having said that, you may still find something. I promise you, there are so many little pockets of surprise out there in the world when you ask, and you'll be very, very surprised sometimes where you do find safe gluten-free food. So don't assume that you know there's not options just because it's not on the Find Me Gluten-free app. There's still plenty of options out there. So that's just a way to kind of keep it safer and have more, I guess, promise is probably a word, more guarantee of finding something rather than just winging it. So I don't like to wing it when I know that I'm gonna be stuck in a car for eight hours. That is definitely not something I do anymore at all. So being prepared is the game changer. All right, so once you have kind of got those things in place, I would also recommend that you drink a lot of water. Okay. So if you are not already drinking water at home and you're like, oh my god, if I drink lots of water, I'm gonna need to stop for the toilet. Yes, that is true, but that is also another great reason to stretch your legs, stop for a little bit, and walk around and get your body moving because this helps with your digestion. You could also pack some herbal tea. So if you want to take like a thermos with some hot water in there, you could have some herbal tea, which also helps with hydration and can also help just to you know help with your digestion and things like that as well. So I would say it is still very, very important to keep hydrated when you are on a road trip. And then I also like to take with me a bit of a gut care kit. So things like digestive enzymes, peppermint tea bags, a couple of pain relief tablets just in case something happens, and then also my gluten attack pack. So you just say you've accidentally been in gluten and you're away from home, the last thing you want to be doing is dealing with that. So if you can have your pack of goodies that you would normally use if you accidentally get glutened with you, so you don't have to, you know, risk sending your partner or your friend or whatever off to a pharmacist to try and get you the things that you would normally need for if you were accidentally glutened. So I like to take that with me as well, just as a backup plan, as a just in case. I've also got lactose intolerance, so I always take with me um some lactese, which means if I need to, I can consume foods that have got um dairy in them as well. So when we go to the wedding, we've advised that I have celiac disease and need gluten-free food. I didn't bother with the lactose intolerance because it's just adding another layer and probably going to restrict my options even more. So I will just take lactees with me if I need to, and then I'll pop one of those, and that means that I can enjoy some other food options at the wedding, or if we're out on the road and we find something that's perhaps gluten-free but not also lactose-free. So the weather where we are and where we're going at the moment is pretty mild. It's not hot, it's it's not freezing, it's kind of somewhere in between. But if I was going somewhere when it's hot, I would recommend chucking a couple of bottles of water in the freezer the night before and just popping those in your bag with you or your eski. And then that way you've got lots of nice cold water to take with you, and it's another way of keeping your cold food cold as well. So if you are heading out on a road trip anytime soon, please remember that planning ahead is everything. I want you to pack like you are camping. So that means bringing at least one cooked meal that you can reheat along the way. Don't be afraid to ask to use a microwave at a roadhouse if you need to or get a cup of hot water. People are usually more than happy to help when you explain it's for your health and why you need these options. So remember to use tools like Google Maps and the Find Me Gluten-free app. If you haven't already downloaded that, I highly recommend that one because that has lots of options on there. And always having that backup meal and some safe snacks on you just in case. Now, traveling with celiac disease doesn't have to be stressful. When you're prepared, you get to focus on what actually matters, and that's enjoying the journey, the scenery, and the people that you are with, or heading over to your destination to be with. And honestly, there's something really freeing about knowing that you can take care of yourself no matter where you are. So I hope this helps you feel a little bit more confident next time you hit the road. And if you want to share any of your hacks with what you do when you hit the road, please make sure you send me a little message over at the healthy celiac on Instagram, or you can always hit reply to my emails and say hello there. But otherwise, safe travels if you're hitting the road. And I look forward to sharing more with you next week. And keep your fingers crossed for me that I get an amazing gluten free meal at the wedding. All right, have a great week and I will talk to you soon. Take care. Bye.