Yesterday I took a 35 minute ride with my youngest to a health food store, recommended to me for having plentiful gluten free, casein free food options. In my previous post, where I spoke about traveling with a special diet, I mentioned that the stress of it all would be ensuring that the foods my children would need to eat were available. Well, I can now add the cost to these foods to that stress. For 23 items, I shelled out $75.76! Wow! And a lot of these items were snacks for them. It’s a shame that eating healthier can be so expensive.

I came home and cleaned out my pantry, reorganizing it to have a GFCF shelf, specifically for the kids. This way, my husband doesn’t have to think too hard about what they can eat and can’t eat when I’m not here. And when we have to be on the go, I can quickly and easily grab their foods without making any mistakes. It also allows my 6 year old the opportunity to see all the things that he CAN eat and not focus on the things that he can not.

Bottom line: I’m going to do right by my boys, no matter what the distance or the price. No matter what the diet or circumstance, traveling with your kids is all about preparation, research and planning. We are fortunate enough to be within reasonable driving distance to several specialty stores that carry the items we need – so that when we do travel, we are able to just pack them with us and go confidently.

My goal is to make positive changes AND reduce stress, all while keeping our traveling stride.