Tips for Traveling on Special Food Diets

1) Use the list serves to connect with people on SCDiet who live in the area you will be visiting.

2) Google for familiar food resources close to where you will be staying.

3) Stay in a place with at least a fridge and microwave so that you can keep and heat your own meals.

4) If you stay at a bed and breakfast, call in advance to ask if you can keep some food items in their fridge and if the chef will observe cross contamination rules in the kitchen.

5) Plan out all of your meals in advance, precook and freeze them. Take all of your food with you, or ship it to your destination.

6) If you are flying, investigate whether shipping will be cheaper than checking frozen food sealed in Styrofoam.

7) If you are flying, call the airline and ask about all protocol for bringing food with you, especially if you will need to eat in flight. In most cases, you will need a doctor’s letter and you will need to allow for extra time through security.

8) If you have medication or supplements that need to be kept cool, make sure that you have the right items to ensure their stability in transit. Dry ice, special freezer packs, and insulated containers may all be used.

9) If you need to eat out, do so at more expensive restaurants where you can speak with the chef, produce is fresh and not out of cans, and many menu items will be from local farmers.

10) If you stay in a hotel or bed and breakfast, and need to ship food, make sure to inform them that you will be expecting a package.

11) If you stay at a bed and breakfast, call in advance to ask if you might have access to the kitchen to do some minor cooking yourself.

12) Make sure that you plan for snacks as well as meals.

13) Always make sure to bring an extra full day’s worth of food, just in case, especially if where you will be staying is remote to resources.

14) Many hotels have suites with kitchens if you need to cook.

15) If you will have access to a kitchen and can cook at your destination, but you will not have access to food resources, you can bring or ship raw frozen foods to be prepared instead of precooking everything.

Kopplin's Coffee

I am sitting outside of Kopplin's Coffee in St. Paul, sipping a most delicious Americano.  This is my favorite coffee house in the Twin Cities.  The coffee always rules in taste, the atmosphere is open and inviting, and the people are nice and intriguing.  

Kopplin's uses a Clover machine to make their coffee by the cup, so there is no paper filter to take the digestive enzymes out of the coffee.  No gut rot, no upset tummy!!!  Andrew, the owner, is serious, and I mean serious, about coffee.  There is no messing around here as even the shape of the coffee mugs are chosen for flavor- no square corners for the fine particles to get stuck in.  

I appreciate that it isn't just about the coffee, but also how it is treated along the way, how it is made at the end of the line, and how it is presented.  I highly recommend giving the place a visit.  This is the only place I haunt, the only place I feel safe consuming any kind of food product that I have not made personally or supervised the preparation.  How much more endorsement could I give the place?