Preparing this Gluten Free Summer Camp Menu, organizing and packing it up for my daughter’s week at sleepaway camp is a huge undertaking. But it makes the impossible possible for her.
Our youngest daughter has an anaphylactic food allergy to wheat, barley, and rye. And wheat is in everything- breads, pastries, pasta, pizza, granola bars, snack foods, candy, condiments, you name it- so it’s challenging to avoid.
Plus, she is so sensitive to cross-contact that she usually can’t risk eating foods in restaurants or cafeterias unless they have dedicated gluten-free kitchens.
Our solution is to bring her own safe food everywhere we go- roadtrips, restaurants, airplanes, birthday parties. And as of last year, sleep away camp!
Here’s How it Works
After finding a camp that met our food allergy criteria (you can read all about it in my Food Allergies at Summer Camp Guide for Parents), we set about making a plan for meals.
- The camp provides a copy of the their dining hall menu for the week.
- My daughter chooses which meals she’d like to have.
- We match her menu to the camp’s. By having similar foods (and desserts!), she feels more included and not so different from other campers.
Prep and Portion Homemade Foods
In the weeks leading up to camp:
- I make many of the gluten free meals and desserts for our family’s dinner.
- I freeze a portion for her.
- I pack all foods in single serve portions and refrigerate or freeze them in glass containers, jelly jars, aluminum foil, or ziplock bags.
- I label each of her foods with a consistent label that tells her how to reheat it and which day she’ll eat it. This assures her that the foods are hers and safe to eat, too. This helps take some of the mental load off her shoulders.
Store-Bought Additions
We also utilize some safe GF store-bought items that she likes. We make sure she eats some of the food before heading to camp to ensure their safety.
No new foods at camp is a safety rule we definitely follow.
On Site Prep
We pack all her foods in a cooler and drive them to camp on arrival day. We help her set up designated shelf spaces in the camp refrigerator and freezer.
She has ceramic plates, silverware, paper towels, pot holders, and extra ziplocks and aluminum foil at her prep station.
We also provide a personal microwave and toaster for only our daughter to use in a designated area to prep her meals. This reduces the risk of any cross-contamination from other campers.
Mealtime
At each mealtime, my daughter consults her menu and prepares her foods using the toaster or the microwave. Then she joins the other campers at the cabin tables. She has a designated staff member that accompanies her to help open the heavy freezer doors and help with logistics.
Is it Worth It?
It’s a lot for a 10-year-old to manage, but she doesn’t mind. The extra precautions keep her safe and allow her the joy of going to sleepaway camp.
The sense of pride and independence she feels when we pick her up is absolutely magical to witness.
She truly stands taller at the end of the week.
Am I a nervous wreck most of the week leading up to camp? Yes, although I am careful to protect her from this. There are many rounds of deep breathing and phone calls to my support system. I try to project confidence and calmness for her.
Do I keep my ringer on around the clock while she’s there? Absolutely. I admit that I barely slept the first night she was gone and mentally combed every step of our process throughout the night. Each day’s success breeds more confidence and more sleep:)
As a kid with allergies, she is learning how to manage the things within her control and how to take calculated risks to live the biggest life possible. Summer camp, travel and sleepovers are an important part of that.
We feel that by packing all her meals, we are able to mitigate the risks enough to feel confident about her safety.
Gluten Free Summer Camp Meals
Here’s the kid-friendly gluten-free menu of meals we sent with her this year. The recipes are linked in this PDF menu.
It mimics the camp’s menu as closely as possible, while modifying a few items for ease or my daughter’s preferences. Last year she reported that her cabin mates were very envious of her meals:)
You can read about our food allergy journey and our summer camp preparations in the linked articles.
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In partnership on your GF Journey,
Colleen
