Peanut/Tree Nut Allergy

[ikesmom]

My little ds is turning 5 next month and has peanut/tree nut allergies. He has had one serious reaction and a few hive outbreaks. He used to have eczema that gradually disappeared around the time we declared the house a nut free zone around age 2.5.




We go camping a lot with friends and cub scouts and usually bring food for our famiily of 6. We are finding ourselves doing more active hiking and kayaking. Dh and I are planing a big trip to the Grand Canyon in the spring. We are going to start hiking locally to prepare and get in shape.



Dh has a few friends that he hikes with and they live off nuts and butters and bars. I don't know how I feel about going with them because I can't imagine exposing ds to anything when we are miles and miles away from a hospital or even a town. We have already come across this on family camp outs with the cub scouts. On last outing someone brought a huge bag of trail mix to share when played with tag football. I was so nervous since everyone was eating and then touching the ball. I let ds run around with them , but told him not to touch the ball.

Anyone have any experience with this?

Anyone have any energy sustaining and lightweight backpack ideas? I am hoping that I could prepare a bunch of dehydrated meals and bag them for everyone. It would be a lot of work , but maybe the only way to keep it nut-free on our hikes.

[maple_mama]

I've not really been in your situation, but my 5 y.o. dd also has peanut and tree nut allergies. Thankfully, she's not contact allergic, just by ingestion. With me making and taking her food/snacks most places, and explaining to her why she can't have what the other kids are having, we've not had any issues outside of our home.

Is your son allergic to all nuts? What about seeds? My daughter is allergic to peanut, walnut, pecan, pistachio, and cashew, but can eat almonds and seeds (sunflower, flax, pumpkin, sesame and chia are what we mostly use) freely. I bake a lot with almond and sunflower butter and the seeds for healthy, filling, portable snacks.

Other than cookies and homemade snack bars, I'll have to think some on other lightweight backpack ideas. Oh, what about making some jerkey? Or, if your hikes are only a few hours, what about cheesesticks or boiled eggs and some dried fruit?