Your Emergency Gluten-Free Go Bag, Explained

So basically, I’ve decided that when you’ve got to get out of your safety zone, and fast, this note is what you should have pinned to your chest. It’s nice, no? Add a few almonds and gluten-free crackers and you could probably survive the apocalypse.

It’s been a cuckoo time here at GIMB, and as I was packing up to leave the gluten-free comfort of my own home, I realized my emergency bag needed to be restocked. Just in case you’re reading this because you’re simply cool, you should know that gluten-free peeps have to travel with their own food. I know, it totally sucks. Especially when you’ve grown up on rest stops and drive-throughs. But then I had an Oprah A-Ha moment and thought, hey, wouldn’t people love to know what one should have in a gluten-free go bag? Of course you would. Ding, ding, ding! There’s a post, right there!

So here are what I believe to be the essentials of snack travel when you’re going into potentially unfriendly territory. Which is to say, anywhere outside your own home that does not include Austin, Texas or the Bay area.

Gluten-Free Austin: Frank, Guero’s & The Barley Swine

Wow, people in Austin love beer. When I used to live in Austin I also loved beer. In fact I would say I probably drank more beer in Austin, than in any other city in America. But now that I’m gluten-free, beer is a challenge. Unless you’re in Austin, where gluten-free beer kind of hangs out wherever you wander. In fact, every restaurant I dined in offers a gluten-free beer option. For seriouslys. Which just makes me realize that Austin, Texas has a secret beer agenda and will do everything in the city’s power to make sure people drink beer, at all times. It’s just the way Austin is. So I had to give in, it’s totally not my fault.

I’ve talked about Frank before, because the first time I went there post-diagnosis they already had gf hot dog buns and beer. This is my brother and sister-in-law’s restaurant, but they did this before I was even diagnosed. But now? Now it’s ON. Because this is the menu: