My husband and I have a long standing hobby of dining out. There is nothing else we'd rather do on a weekend or night out, than devour deliciousness that has been prepared by others. However, our hobby has come to a major slow down since the discovery of our son's food allergies. We've only recently gotten into a good routine for dining out and I thought I would share what I find to be most helpful when eating out with food allergies. 

1. Do the homework
 If we are planning on a lunch or dinner out, I spend some time in the morning picking the location. I read the online menus and seek out ingredient lists. If the restaurant website doesn't have the ingredients listed, I will most likely choose a different one or call to find out what the ingredients are. It may seem time consuming, but it sure beats asking while you're there because oftentimes servers are too busy for accurate answers.

2. Eat and Repeat
If you find a great restaurant that offers safe foods for your child, stick with it. I've found that the more familiar a restaurant becomes with you, the happier they are to accommodate you and/or your little one. We found a great local restaurant, whose chef so graciously creates chicken tenders, sans milk and egg, for our son. That is customer service at it's finest and a huge blessing to us to have a trusted spot to eat. And of course Micah gobbles it up!

3. Pack Ahead
Regardless of the pre-dining leg work, I always pack a backup meal. Yes, this is the biggest headache of dining out. I mean, obviously the whole point of the excursion is to not cook! However, with food allergies I can't be too careful, so pack ahead, I must. I pick a food that I know our son will love and I try to make it something that still feels special to him to be eating. For our son those choices could be a hot dog, a chicken quesadilla, or a quick homemade pizza. His biggest indulgence in a restaurant are the french fries, so as long as those are on the menu, combined with whatever I packed, he will be good to go. I often end up with wasted food this way, but I can enjoy the entire experience much more if I know he has something guaranteed to eat.

4. Think Outside of the Box
There are a few questions that I wouldn't have initially thought to ask when ordering. However, through trial and error I've found some key areas that could be overlooked. Mind you, our son's allergies are milk, egg and peanut, so your questions will vary based on the allergies. My questions include things like; Do you butter the hamburger rolls, are the fries seasoned with anything, do the chef's wear gloves that should be changed and I always inform the server of the allergies, so they can make the necessary modifications.

5. Be Prepared for Mistakes
Realistically I know that restaurants cook and bake all day long with ingredients our son is allergic to. If I'm not comfortable with that fact, than I shouldn't be taking him there. I don't expect a restaurant to cater to us (although major customer service points when they do!) and I'm always prepared for a mistake. We always have his epipen and benadryl on hand and make the best choices beforehand to avoid their usage.

6. Consider the food around you
Even though our son may have a safe meal in front of him, I always have to remind myself to wipe my own mouth and hands before I come into contact with him. I let my guard down last week and ordered myself an egg souffle, only to have Micah breaking out in hives 15 minutes after we were home. I had forgotten to wipe my mouth and although he of course didn't eat it, he was still exposed from contact. (Allergy Mom fail for the month!) So from now on I'm reminding myself to carry wipes and wash my hands and request the same for those eating with us.

Wow, that's a lot more writing than I had anticipated, but most of these don't require much time once you're used to it. I think the biggest hurdle I've had to get over, is feeling guilty over asking these questions. I hate to inconvenience people but I've come to terms with the fact that restaurants are there to serve and many love the opportunity to go above and beyond their normal customer service, when given the chance! and if they don't, no sweat, there are many other places to try!

I'd love to hear about your own experiences. What have you learned about dining out with food allergies or any other dietary restrictions? Do you love it, hate it, avoid it? Please share!