Teen Traveling with School: Hotel Concerns and Meals Away

[Macabre]

DS will soon be going on a school trip over a long weekend.  He will be staying in a hotel suite with 7 other boys, and they will have a kitchen.

I will meet with his coach next week to plan for this. The airline is fine--I just need to worry about stuff once they're there.  What I need help with is figuring out accommodations in his accommodations (ha) and how to prepare him to pack for lunches.

About the accommodations, he and DH and I would like them to be blatantly PF.  I'm honestly not quite sure how to make this happen without DS catching some flack for it.  There is no way to do this confidentially.  Many of his teammates are already aware of his PA I believe.  Breakfast is provided at the hotel.  This is usually fine for DS.  I don't worry about that.  I do worry about granola bars and trail mix. So I've got to figure out a way to make sure the room is PF. 

DS will have to prepare his own lunch every morning, while the other kids' meals are taken care of (meals are included in the cost, but DS' will need to take his own lunch).  So he needs the area to be a safe one to prepare meals.  If you have any ideas about this, I'm open.  I have a good relationship with the coach.  I told her this weekend about DS' reactions at school by accidental ingestion. 

I need some food ideas. He will at least need three lunches, but he might need to plan on having something on hand for a dinner or two, too.

I think they'll have the chance to shop a little bit, but he's said he wants to take food with him--tortillas and Nutella.  I see there is a grocery store 1 mile away.   He could get some canned, nukable soup for a dinner option, but he's not going to want to take that with him.

But for lunches.  Hmmm.  Last year when he was gone overnight for a trip, I packed him a lunch for that day and for the next day: a tomato soup in a can, some almonds, crackers and I don't remember what else.  At least he'll have a fridge and so doesn't have to take shelf-stable food. But I can imagine he'll want to have food he can prepare quickly in the morning. His speech lunch box looks like a small black brief case. It's about the size of a piece of paper and 3.5 inches thick. 

So, here's what I've got so far (and I don't know of any other allergies in the suite):

To take in a checked bag:
-tortillas
-Nutella (and I'll have him leave it there) But Nutella on a suit is problematic.  Not sure how I feel about it.
-plastic spoons, forks and knives
-a box of zip lock sandwich bags (probably not snack bags--I'll keep it simple)
-Wet Ones packets
-Clorox wipes travel size--2 or three


To buy:
-veggie cream cheese
-fruit
-chips/crackers


What can you all think of?  He is a vegetarian but has a very broad palate. 

I'm just at a loss.

[starlight]

They make portable everything now. Maybe some easy mac or the single-serve spagettios? I think they even have single-serve mashed potato cups now where you just add water.

[starlight]

And cereal cups, then he just has to find milk.

[Macabre]

I don't know if he'll have access to a microwave at lunch.  I should have clarified that.  In fact, I doubt he will.  He needs to take his lunch.  Breakfast at the hotel should be fine. And he'll need to have a few standby dinners--just in case.


Just wanted to clarify before too long about the lunch situation.  I assume he'll be able to buy his drink at lunch where he is, but he'll need to take the rest. 

[CMdeux]

He's not sesame allergic, right?

Hummus singles.  DD uses Sabra singles-- they can be had at most delis.  That and a handful of pretzel thins, a can of mandarin oranges with a pop top, and a fork...


= vegetarian lunch.

This is actually a lunch that DD took a fair amount this summer.  Add some pea pods or carrot sticks and it will keep without refridgeration until lunchtime and be nutritionally VERY complete.

String cheese or Babybel can be used to up protein and fat content. 

Edamame?  Almonds?

[CMdeux]

Another trip-tip that we use a fair amount.

Taco Bell.

Black bean burritos and seven-layers are both vegetarian and should be safe.  The former keeps VERY well as a lunch food, even for a couple of days in the fridge, in a pinch.

We've done this for events where DD needed a lunch that was unfussy and low key, and where she'd be wearing dress clothes.

[Macabre]

Ah, so if he runs into a Taco Bell there, that could be an option. I'll check around his hotel. Or he could buy/take a pull top can. I wonder if progresso makes veggie black beans. Amy's doesn't have a pull tab.

Of course, there are side effects of beans ...,

[rebekahc]

My first thought was to minimize kitchen contamination by bringing already assembled things that can go from his suitcase to the fridge to grab out as needed - cream cheese/veggie tortilla roll-ups; serving portions of baby carrots, fruit, etc; pre-made sandwiches (could even be frozen and then defrost in the fridge); etc.  Send some paper towels for him to use between his food and the prep surface.

Tagging on to CM's hummus idea... at Sam's I've gotten the Sabra singles packaged in a little pod with pretzel chips.  Sam's also sells boxes of just the singles.  Oh and singles of Wholly Guacamole - they come in both a ketchup type packet and now dipping cups.

[CMdeux]

Okay-- so in Europe, our "meal" plan for most lunches?

Energy bars.  DD ate sunbutter Enjoy Life bars (a couple of them, along with dehydrated fruit, or soybeans from Simply Tomatoes) and I ate Odwalla bars (non nutty varieties, obviously).

This worked great, honestly.  DD preferred it to carrying an actual lunch-lunch.  Short-term, I thought it was a pretty good solution.

[spacecanada]

We're packing for vacation right now and have to consider lunches for travelling and when were're there.  We're vegan and PN/TN-free.  Tortillas with hummus and fresh veggies are great if you're travelling domestic and don't have to worry about border crossing rules.  They can be premade and last a couple days in the fridge.  Burritos work really well too if you can freeze them so they don't go soggy.  LibreNaturals or Enjoy Life granola bars, SunRype fruit bars, and fresh fruit for snacks.  Instant oatmeal cups with extra toppings such as raisins or chocolate chips make up most of our quick to-go vacation meals, mostly because they're easy to bring and you can get hot water just about everywhere.  Make some muffins and pack them in a bag with a spoon - another one of our favourite easy vacation meals.  Sandwiches are always an option too, but he'd need a placemat to roll out on the counter to prevent cross contamination whilst making them - we try to avoid this on vacations... I'm paranoid about cross contamination outside my own kitchen.

[nameless]

Pumpkin oatmeal whole wheat mini-muffins (I have a recipe if you need one) are filling and have good nutrition/protein.  I also have a good oatmeal snack bar recipe (I made coconut/choc chip ones, then pumpkin raisin/craisin ones). I've done those for traveling/conference lunches and supplement with fresh fruit or cut up veggies. Another good filling item is sunbutter whole wheat banana bread (I'll add in mini-chips or coconut to that too).

hard cheese and crackers, grapes, sunbutter banana bagels or roll-ups, applesauce, edamame and blanched snow pea pods w/ soy sauce on the side, cold pizza!  Can you send him with some veggie pizza in a cooler?

[nameless]

quinoa cakes (looking for the recipe) --- sticky rice balls?

[Mookie86]

ds1 doesn't want the extra weight of ice or even containers, so all lunches are eaten at room temperature.

-- Cereal:  either eaten dry or milk boxes are OK at room temperature
-- Hot dogs:  either in a roll or as Morningstar Farms corn dogs
-- Hummus sandwiches
-- ____ butter sandwiches (sunbutter, cashew butter, whatever he can eat)
-- Frozen squeezable yogurt, and they defrost by lunchtime
-- Wraps of nutella and sliced banana
-- Leftover pizza (it does fine sitting out for a few hours)

Maybe send him with rolls of paper towels to use as a prep. surface and a lot of plastic silverware.  I wouldn't trust his roommates to keep the area PN-free.

[Macabre]

He will wipe surfaces with Clorox wipes, which are proven to remove peanut protein. He'll run the dishes through the dishwasher in the suite kitchen. He can prepare his food on a plate.

There are a lot of great suggestions here!

He has to take his suit and several dress shirts, so he may only take a hanging bag with his toiletries at the foot of it. So I wonder about how much he can take with him. Especially already prepared food. Maybe we just need to make site he takes another checked bag. I'm not sure about sending already prepared food in it though. Does that concern anyone else? 

We tend to travel very lightly food-wise as a family and tend to just buy what we need when we get somewhere, so I'm not very familiar with how prepared food travels.

We'll have to test the hummus if he likes that idea. Maybe with a plastic knife?  He doesn't like sesame on buns, but I don't think he's allergic. He would live that tapenade hummus.

He had a Sunbutter bar once. I'll talk with him about those options.

Not that I can expect he will be lucky enough to find MSF products there, but how would a corn dog (I live those) keep?  I find they get soggy. If you've got a way Mookie, please share. Could be useful elsewhere!

Okay, for the banana sandwiches, See the very first confessional post. I adore a banana and Sunbutter wrap. but how would that (or slices) keep for several hours?  I never send that for lunch because I worry about the banana getting yucky. (Same with avocado. I would love to use avocado in school day sandwiches, but u worry about the avocado.)

Much to ponder. Thanks everyone!! Keep ideas  coming!

[Mookie86]

I make a banana/nutella wrap at 7:15 am, and ds2 eats it at 11:45.  It keeps fine, for his taste anyway.

As far as the corn dogs, here's the trick to taking them places and not having them get soggy.  Immediately after microwaving them, remove them from the plate and wrap them in paper towels to absorb moisture.  You might need to use a couple of paper towels.  Then, put them on a totally dry plate to cool off.  After they're cooled off, put them in the container/plastic bag how they'll be transported.  Leave open lid/bag until you're on the way out the door so any additional moisture can escape.

I had another idea if he can purchase food there.  Does he eat any of the Yves deli slices or Tofurkey slices?  Those are easy sandwiches.  I have no idea if they're PN free and I can't check my fridge, for I rarely buy that stuff.