Going out to eat with food allergies...

Carolyn - posted on 09/04/2009

I understand completely my son is allergic to nuts,dairy,eggs soy,rice bannanas avocados,pork,beef,tuna,latex and many other things its genetic he's turning seven we hardly ever eat out although we took him to the Brass Tavern in Moonee Ponds and they cooked everything for him... It was probably a one off they were very slow at the time.Now he's older it's harder because he wants to participate in the social part and share ameal so he's not so isolated when it comes to food.

Carolyn - posted on 09/04/2009

Quoting Sara:

Going out to eat with food allergies...

Hi all,

My son is allergic to dairy, soy, eggs, peanuts, and oats. As our son gets older, I'm finding it increasing more frustrating, annoying, and inconvenient to take our son out to eat. If were having a really busy night, we can't just swing through McDonald's and grab a bite to eat. I'm finding that I can't really find much that is completely safe, mainly b/c everyone fries everything in the same fryer and grills everything on the same grill. Right now, when we plan to go out to eat, I just make my son's meal ahead of time and then just feed him that when we get to the restaurant. This is fine now, it takes planning, but its fine. But I'm just wondering if this is going to get harder as he gets older.

Has anyone had any luck finding restaurants, both sit down and fast food, that are allergy friendly? What do you do for your child(ren) when your family goes out to eat? Any advice on how to make going out to eat more convenient?

Thanks!!

Laura - posted on 08/31/2009

Most chain restaurants (fast food and sit down) have nutrition guides on their websites that list common allergens. I am not sure about oats, but I think the others would be listed (my son is only allergic to milk and peanuts).

Jennifer - posted on 05/07/2009

That is great to know thank ~ you, my daughter can't have any nut products.

Jennifer - posted on 05/07/2009

My daughter is allergic to peanuts and tree ~ nuts, I'm afraid to take her out to eat, so I make everything from scratch at home and I have found some great allergy free food that she can eat.

Christy - posted on 04/21/2009

Red Robin has a great allergy book that lists each allergen (the top 8) on individual pages and tells you exactly how you have to order things, like no dressing or no seasoning. My son has severe anaphylactic allergies to eggs, peanuts, and soy.

Tarilyn - posted on 03/26/2009

I dont know how old your son is but I found with my food allergies and my daughters, that certain ethnical restaurants are awesome about it. I have a dairy, gluten/wheat, red meat, msg, and so on allergies, my daughter has a deadly allergy to sweet potatoes (yes of all things), soy, milk (but not milk products...we're all a little baffled by it), but we have found taking her to a Japanese restaurant works AWESOME! 95% of their products are rice or rice based...diary and soy free...they use seperate fryers for their different battered foods, wheat batter, rice based batter, veggies, shell fish, etc...and peanuts and oats are not used period! (They are very untraditional foods for the japanese).

Call up or go round to some local restaurants and inquire about their allergy protections. As for fast food restaurants, not too sure where you live, but in Ontario we have Harvey's and they are awesome for foods allergies, they use a seperate grill for meat, and poultry and veggie items and for buns, their fries are a rice based flour for coating as well!

I have a gluten/wheat/oat/barley/rye allergie, along with a diary allergy, msg, read meat/pork, alcohol, etc...and my daughter has a deadly allergy to sweet potatoes, soy, milk (but not milk products...dont ask!) and a couple other things

Ronnie - posted on 03/23/2009

My son Beckham who is 2 is allergic to all nuts and eggs. I have 2 other child a 4 and 3 year old . We don't go out to eat. If my husband and i want to have a dinner out. We order take out from restaurtants in the area. We have found that most restaurants let you take out. We wait till the kids are sleeping sometimes at 9:00 and have a late dinner and rent a movie. Not the same as going out, but i enjoy it more. We don't have to deal with getting dressed up and worry about waiting for our food. We have found that we do eat healthier at home due to our sons allergies.

Amber - posted on 03/18/2009

We have found a few that are very accomodating.  O'Charley's manager came to our table with a complete list of their menu and known allergens beside each item.  Chili's brought out a list also, but the allergen free list was small.  Chick fil A here is AWESOME!  If you call them ahead of time (15 minutes) before you get there, they will specially prepare a meal for your child I.E. My Daughter is allergic to eggs and they make her special chicken nuggets.  Another friend's son is allergic to nuts and they make him a special meal for her.  Hope this helps:)

Lauren - posted on 03/18/2009

I feel your pain! My daughter is allergic to dairy, wheat and gluten so it's interesting to say the least to go out to eat and I do the same thing. I make her food and bring it with me... it stinks but at least we KNOW our kids are safe and what they are eating. I just found some products at our Whole Foods store that are made by "Ian's Natural foods". They have chicken nuggets, fish sticks, french toast sticks, turkey corn dogs, and other foods that are convenient to make when going out to eat (or even if you don't feel like cooking!) cause they heat well in the microwave and my daughter actually likes them. Shes a picky eater too so it makes variety very limited! I looked online when I found out about my daughter's allergies and then only thing she can eat out at fast food is at chic-fil-a is their waffle fries and a grilled chicken patty (no bun). If you search online a lot of places are becoming more allergy friendly so they will list things on  their websites. Check out the Ian's foods if you don't know about them already and let me know how it goes!

Elizabeth - posted on 03/17/2009

hi there i have the same allergies with my son all but not the oats. i found out the nuggets in mcs are ok with my son. and i go for carvers with him just ask about the gravy. my son is 5 now and it does get easier but i find it hard to find different foods in everywhere we go, i know the feeling chick. if i think of anywhere else i will let you know. goodluck