Monday, June 01, 2009

Party Preparedness


We had a couple family parties to attend this weekend and I snapped this pic on my phone before heading out of what it's like to be "party-ready" while living gluten free and having social events to attend.

I was sure to bring my 6-pack of Redbridge to my future brother-in-law's surprise 40th of course. We went there in the afternoon and were staying overnight and the next day driving out to Western MA for my cousin's graduation party.

While eating breakfast on Saturday morning I realized I would have two meals ahead of me that day and I was unsure if there would be any food (since the party was being catered) - so I made this large container of pasta salad with:
Tinkyada Brown Rice Pasta
Cherry Tomatoes
Celery
Carrots
Feta Cheese
Ken's Italian Dressing

It was pretty good, and it did the trick. Sure enough, I had half for lunch, and the other half for dinner (dinner looked great, but it was rolls, macaroni salad, marinated grilled chicken, and steak tips). In that Trader Joe's in the background there is also a package of rice cakes, some Pirate's Booty, and a little baggie of TJ's Meringues. It kept me full late, and I was able to stay up and play poker with the boys.

Also pictured there is a Trader Joe's Gluten Free/Dairy Free English Muffin (that I wrote about a few weeks ago) which was perfect to have for breakfast the next morning.

So yeah. I travel with large quantities of food. At this point though - I'm fine with it. People get it -- I get extremely cranky if I can't eat, so this just solves all problems. There are no let-downs when someone doesn't have anything to feed you, and there is no fear of not having any carbs in sight when a night of drinking is on the agenda.

Do you all do this as well? What's your go-to food to bring on the road?

4 comments:

sallybranwyn said...

Yep, I totally do the same thing. A lot of the family parties and gatherings I've been to, the host will email or call me and actually make either GF versions of the food or just make the whole thing GF so I can eat. I'm spoiled beyond belief, seriously.

But for friends' parties and traveling (so far I've only mastered weekend travels), I pack tons of food...like I'm storing up for winter.

Marlow said...

It's an ongoing joke with my friends that when I come to a party I'm always "packing". Funnily enough though, my future father-in-law LOVES Redbridge now too!! And he's not even gluten free!

Farty Girl said...

Wow! Great blog!

Every time I travel somewhere, I have to pack twice as much as everyone else, because of food.

What I bring depends on how long I'm gone for. For a day trip, I always bring a couple date bars. Larabars. Jocolats. Raw Revolutions. A bag of gluten free pretzels. For an overnight, I might also bring a PB sand. Almond milk. A potato. Some frozen veggies.

I haven't tried Redbridge yet. Is it really that good?

Allie said...

Hey Farty Girl - LOVE the name....

I personally really like Redbridge - tastes similar to an IPA of old days. I also like Bard's - but Redbridge is the clear winner in my book. Unlike cider, you can drink a few of these, not feel gross or over-sweetened. Give it a try!