This was our first trip with our new family diet. While my husband and oldest son still eat some meat, they are mostly vegetarian. I tried to pack an array of snacks that would not only save us money but also keep us on our plant based diet.
Snacks
- fresh strawberries (from the farmers market)
- grapes
- sliced cucumber
- roasted garlic hummus
- sweet red pepper hummus
- pita bread
- jello (pre-packed)
- goldfish crackers
- life cereal
- cherrios
We also brought a refillable water bottle to save on all those sugary drinks. But we did decide to eat one meal at the park and have dinner at our hotel. The only restaurant choices were IHOP and Denny's. Since Denny's was right next to our hotel we stopped their for dinner. I searched on my phone for vegan options at Denny's and found this website, Vegan Restaurant Hub. I saw that the veggie burger was on there so I went with that.
I ordered it on a whole wheat bun (usually they are vegan) along with ketchup, mustard, grilled onions, avocado & pickles. I ordered it with the seasoned fries (which I don' know if they are vegan)... but I would have to say for my first meal out being plant based, I think I did pretty good.
Our hotel was under renovations so we got a breakfast bag with a water, apple, blueberry muffin and granola bar. I ate the apple for breakfast and snacked on the remaining fruit we had. But we all started to get hungry. We were at Disney California Adventure that day and I had to try to find a place for us to eat in the park. While searching on my phone I came across a blog called The Very New Vegan and she listed a place called Award Wieners that had a vegetarian mushroom and pepper cheese steak.
The only options I changed was that I asked for it without cheese (to which the waited replied, then it would just be peppers and mushrooms?... yup) and I got it on a gluten free bun. I was a little irritated that he asked me if it was for allergy or personal reasons because to me it doesn't matter. Any who! It was absolutely delicious... super oily but super good.
My 6 year old did want a hot dog so he got one... which used to be a daily food item for him. He was perfectly happy to eat it with his rare bag of chips.
I have to say that we concurred Disneyland without eating too much (actually loosing weight) and I was able to stick to my new love of vegetables!
when I told my husband I was going vegan the first thing out of his mouth was 'we'll never be able to eat out again' ...but it's a lot easier than you'd imagine. ask for what you want and wait staff can just stuff it! Restaurants will only change when enough people ask for better food
ReplyDeleteThey had a hard time answering whether or not the whole wheat bun was vegan but I just went with it. If you do you research you can eat anywhere. I am looking forward and dreading my first sushi date night!
ReplyDeleteI've had a lot of waiters ask me if my eliminations and substitutions are for personal or allergy reasons, and I actually really appreciate it, because I am allergic to dairy. They have to take a lot of extra precautions when there is a food allergy (some don't even cook on the same station) and they have really specific guidelines that wouldn't necessarily come into play for someone that just doesn't want meat. So it can be annoying, but I think it's more them trying to avoid a lawsuit over a food allergy.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering why they kept asking that. Being new to the plant based lifestyle I would never have thought of that. I am allergic to nothing so I have never been asked... Thanks!!
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