Peanut free foods in US (ie: brand names)

[casper_jj11]

I was going to bring cereal bars, granola bars, cereal, etc. from home but DH is concerned about taking it across the border. While it would likely be just fine, we don't want the hassle. We need to stop for things like fruit and cheese anyway so I'm going to pick up some breakfast and snack things at Walmart once we arrive. Here, I know the brand names that I can depend on. While I read the ingredient list every time anyway, I"d like some recommendation for peanut free brands of cereal, cereal bars, granola type bars, bagels, english muffins and crackers that would be safe for DD.

Thanks!

 

[Cheshire Figment]

As long as you will have a car I would suggest going to the Whole Foods Market on Sand Lake Road just off I-4. Yes, they are a bit more expensive that WalMart but their food quality is much higher. And the have large special food departments.

Probably the best source for gluten-free or other special dietary foods is the Whole Foods Market in the shopping center between I-4 and Turkey Lake road, just on the South side of Sand Lake Road.

To get there take I-4 in the direction of Orlando and get off at Exit 74, Sand Lake Road. Stay in the left lane and turn left, going under I-4. Ignore the traffic light for the other off-ramp (unless it is red, then stop). The next full intersection is Turkey Lake Road. Turn left here and then make the first available left into the shopping center. Note the Whole Foods Market faces Sand Lake Road.

If you are driving from the airport and want to stop there on the way to WDW, take the Beach Line (SR-528) to where it ends and head in the direction of Orlando. The first exit after you get on I-4 is Sand Lake Road.

 

[disfan07]

How severe is her allergy? Is cross contamination a problem?
The reason I ask is because if cross contamination is a problem I would not reccomend going to Whole Foods.
I am allergic to peanuts to the point where I cannot eat anything that is produced on the same line or in the same factory as peanuts and I find that most of the things such as granola, granola bars and cookes have a MAY CONTAIN or MADE IN TEH SAME FACTORY warning.

Personally, I am able to find more things at our regular grocery store than at whole food and the prices at whole foods are ridiculously high IMO.

Some examples of what I eat:
CEREAL: cinnamon toast crunch, shreaded wheat, apple cinnamon cheerios, corn pops, frosted flakes
ENGLISH MUFFINS: Thomas' English Muffins (I love the cinnamon raisin english muffins)
BAGELS: Thomas' Bagels (I find that they are pretty good for packaged bagels...obviously not as good as fresh but they are an acceptable substitute)
CRACKERS: what type are you looking for? If plain crackers I eat: Club crackers or ritz crackers. If snack type crackers I eat: Wheat thins and triscuits
Granola Type Bars: This is much harder. I have yet to find a granola bar that is safe for me. There are peanut free ones but not cross contamination free because peanuts and peanut buuter are such common granola bar ingredients. I do like Nutri-grain bars for a quick breakfast or snack though.

When I visit my grandparents in West Palm Beach, FL I am able to get everything at Publix. Walmart might have all of the stuff as well...or at least some of it (I don't know for sure because I don't shop at walmart) but I would avoid Whole Foods unless Organic is extremely important because I find them ridiculously expensive...JMO.

HTH.

 

[casper_jj11]

Thank you Chesire Figment.

How severe is her allergy? Is cross contamination a problem?
The reason I ask is because if cross contamination is a problem I would not reccomend going to Whole Foods.
I am allergic to peanuts to the point where I cannot eat anything that is produced on the same line or in the same factory as peanuts and I find that most of the things such as granola, granola bars and cookes have a MAY CONTAIN or MADE IN TEH SAME FACTORY warning.

Personally, I am able to find more things at our regular grocery store than at whole food and the prices at whole foods are ridiculously high IMO.

Some examples of what I eat:
CEREAL: cinnamon toast crunch, shreaded wheat, apple cinnamon cheerios, corn pops, frosted flakes
ENGLISH MUFFINS: Thomas' English Muffins (I love the cinnamon raisin english muffins)
BAGELS: Thomas' Bagels (I find that they are pretty good for packaged bagels...obviously not as good as fresh but they are an acceptable substitute)
CRACKERS: what type are you looking for? If plain crackers I eat: Club crackers or ritz crackers. If snack type crackers I eat: Wheat thins and triscuits
Granola Type Bars: This is much harder. I have yet to find a granola bar that is safe for me. There are peanut free ones but not cross contamination free because peanuts and peanut buuter are such common granola bar ingredients. I do like Nutri-grain bars for a quick breakfast or snack though.

When I visit my grandparents in West Palm Beach, FL I am able to get everything at Publix. Walmart might have all of the stuff as well...or at least some of it (I don't know for sure because I don't shop at walmart) but I would avoid Whole Foods unless Organic is extremely important because I find them ridiculously expensive...JMO.

HTH.

Thank you so much for this! We're new at the allergy thing. DD was only diagnosed a few months ago. While DD's allergist said to avoid cross contamination, he did say that 'may contain' is probably ok. I avoid it. Her reaction was face swelling and we carry her epipen so I'm not taking chances. So glad to hear many of the same brands that we buy here are available in the US and are also peanut free. I had cherrios, triscuits and nutrigrain bars packed initially so I'll just buy that when we arrive. Do they carry the flavoured thin triscuits there (thinking parmasan garlic)? Great to know about Thomas. Last time we went before the allergy was diagnosed it was crazy trying to buy bread items believe it or not because none of the brands in the US are the same as here. Its the same here with granola bars. The closest we get is nutrigrain and the strawberry kelloggs bars (the other flavour has a may contain warning). I thought I'd ask just in case there was something available there that we could try.

 

[disfan07]

With the knowledge that you avoid anything that could cause cross contamination issues, I would say that you will probably not find real granola type bars. I've been peanut free for 1 1/2 years and I have yet to find granola bars.

Yes they do have the flavored triscuits here.

 

[Zoebear]

Just a note- we find it notoriously hard to get true "peanut-free" snack products in the States. Canadian companies seem to be out ahead of the pack on this one, IMHO. (Dare, etc)

We do bring new boxes of our safe products from home here in NL. We've never had a problem. We have some snacks in the suitcases and some in the carry on (non-liquid, of course). Also I have even toasted bagels and brought them in carry on, as we don't let our DS have Tim Horton's bagels at all and we usually have VERY early morning flights.

 

[disfan07]

I forgot to menion this before. If she will want desserts or snacks such as cookies, candy, chocolate, etc. She will be extremely limited on options at Disney because of cross contamination. Everything packaged has a may contain or made on the same line warning except for divvies but personally, I don't like their cookies. I'm not sure about the desserts at restaurants because I am allergic to eggs as well so all if it is off limits for me.

If she will want anything like that, I would recommend getting it at the store. I usually get Oreos, chips ahoy cookies,mallomars or pinwheels are my personal favorite (double check these those because I haven't had them for a while) and for candy and chocolate I would stay away from nestles. They do t seem to to derstand the problem of cross contamination. Basically everything is made on the same line ( at least in the US) . I would recommend stcking with hersheys brand instead.

There are probably a lot more treats you will be able to pick up for her but because of my egg allergy, my knowledge of those treats is kind of limited.

 

[casper_jj11]

Just a note- we find it notoriously hard to get true "peanut-free" snack products in the States. Canadian companies seem to be out ahead of the pack on this one, IMHO. (Dare, etc)

We do bring new boxes of our safe products from home here in NL. We've never had a problem. We have some snacks in the suitcases and some in the carry on (non-liquid, of course). Also I have even toasted bagels and brought them in carry on, as we don't let our DS have Tim Horton's bagels at all and we usually have VERY early morning flights.

I had planned to do this but DH travels a lot for work and has seen many people stopped at customs. The customs form asks if you're carrying 'food' and although its sealed, you'd need to answer 'yes' which could result in a long delay. He really wants to avoid this so we're not going to carry with us with the exception of things in our carryon for the kids to eat on the plane. Technically, the same thing but I think its easier for customs to understand....

I forgot to menion this before. If she will want desserts or snacks such as cookies, candy, chocolate, etc. She will be extremely limited on options at Disney because of cross contamination. Everything packaged has a may contain or made on the same line warning except for divvies but personally, I don't like their cookies. I'm not sure about the desserts at restaurants because I am allergic to eggs as well so all if it is off limits for me.

If she will want anything like that, I would recommend getting it at the store. I usually get Oreos, chips ahoy cookies,mallomars or pinwheels are my personal favorite (double check these those because I haven't had them for a while) and for candy and chocolate I would stay away from nestles. They do t seem to to derstand the problem of cross contamination. Basically everything is made on the same line ( at least in the US) . I would recommend stcking with hersheys brand instead.

There are probably a lot more treats you will be able to pick up for her but because of my egg allergy, my knowledge of those treats is kind of limited.

I've been in touch with special diets so we do have a list of 'safe' foods. Our kiddos don't eat much in the way of sweets so they won't really be eating desserts. I have a list of the safe ice creams in the parks (like Mickey Bars and Dole Whips ) and they'll be thrilled with those. I'll just buy her a bag of chips for when the boys eat popcorn and that kind of thing. Thanks for the advice of nestle vs hershey. We have Chapmans here which has a completely nut free manufacturing facility so its so much easier. I would have assumed that nestle was the lesser of two evils since hershey makes peanut butter cups....

 

[disfan07]

Yeah I would have thought the same thing with hersheys and nestles. I don't think nestles separates any of their production from each other so peanuts and non peanut items are made together.
Hershey kisses are safe as are SOME Hershey bars. And I'm pretty sure most if not all non chocolate hersheys candy is safe.

This is definitely something that the US is terrible at and with companies trying to save money, it seems to be getting worse all the time

 

[hildarumpole]

Enjoy Life makes cookies, granola, granola bars and breads that are gluten and nut-free. They're not bad. I haven't seen them at WalMart, but they're available at many grocery stores. Publix might carry the products. Dare cookies and crackers are available in my area (Wisconsin), but I don't know if they're available in Orlando.

Double check the Hershey Kisses. The plain ones are usually o.k, but last Christmas I was going to buy a bag of holiday wrapped plain Kisses at Walmart and they had a peanut warning. I have no idea why, but was glad I checked. The silver wrapped ones were safe. Some of the flavored kisses have warnings, too.

Look for Divvies cookies and French Meadow Brownies at Disney. They usually sell them at resort shops and the bakery in MK. Supposedly, a safe chocolate bar made by Enjoy Life is available at Disney, but we never saw them during our June trip.

I order a lot of my kids treats from www.peanutfreeplanet.com. They offer safe Kit Kats, Mars bars, Skittles (like M&Ms) and safe Quacker Oats granola bars that come from Canada. I'm glad to be able to order these items, so my kids don't feel so left out on normal treats, but it's ridiculous that manufacturers in the U.S. can't get their act together to produce these things here or at least import them for wide availability in local stores.

 

[MK4ever]

Granola Type Bars: This is much harder. I have yet to find a granola bar that is safe for me. There are peanut free ones but not cross contamination free because peanuts and peanut buuter are such common granola bar ingredients. I do like Nutri-grain bars for a quick breakfast or snack though.

HTH.

Disfan07 Vermont nut free recently came out with granola bars (www.vermontnutfree.com)

 

[HETRICKL]

My comfort level is not to eat food that is made on same line with allergen, whether or not they use a 'may contains statement'. The brands that I am comfortable with and have called and spoke to them about their labeling policies are General Mills, Kellogg's, Pillsbury, Keebler, Pepperidge Farms and Hershey's. All will use a 'may contains statement' if made on same line, not just if 'they believe' there is a possibility of cross contamination.

With that in mind, I only buy Kraft products (Nabisco) if there is no other substitute. Like Nestle, Kraft uses all the same production lines and will not even tell you if something is run on one if you call.

Another possibility is to ship a box of safe items to your hotel. We usually do this for items that may be hard to find. The parks also have Divvies products which are nut free items.

The previous poster mentioned Thomas English Muffins. The last time I called them on these, they were not nut safe. That was a couple years ago, so I'm not sure if that has changed or not?