Skiing with severe food allergies

[Lovingit81]

My DS1 is 3 years old and severely allergic to milk, eggs, nuts and some seeds. He carries epi pens, inhalers and antihistamines everywhere with him.

We would like to take him skiing. We always went skiing every winter before he was born and would love to get him out in the snow.

I wondered if anyone had any advice about the best place to go for food safety. We obviously need to be self catering but we need to be sure there is a supermarket with soya products etc as well as a hospital with good paediatric care. Previously we have always been skiing in tiny villages up mountains but I know there are some larger resorts.

Anyone have experience in a holiday like this with severe food allergies?

I’ve taken my son at that age and he has severe allergies / anaphylaxis.

We were in an English run chalet and I had lengthy chats with their chef before we went. Possibly you could look into doing an internet food shop if you are self catering.

I also contacted the local medical centre to be sure they were equipped to deal with anaphylaxis. They were really helpful in reassuring me.

I took translation cards with me.

I also took loads of his safe snacks / milk/ bread etc in our luggage so we had fall back options. But found quite a lot out there too.

I was really nervous about going but am so glad we did, and since then my son has travelled all over Europe with me.

Lots of advance planning and you will have an amazing adventure.

We have to find a way to make sure they get to still live life to the full. For me that means planning like a neurotic so we can still do everything we want to do!

(He is allergic to milk, egg, nuts, wheat and some fruit!)

Thank you so much for your response. The food delivery idea has got me thinking!

I totally agree with you, that it's vital they don't miss out. Neurosis is my middle name

Can I ask where you went? No problem if you'd rather not say.

It was Val d’Isere. Ask away, I remember how nervous I was!

In Austria (and Germany) it is a legal requirement that restaurants list allergens on their menus - they have a letter code for things like dairy, wheat, nuts etc. which helps when you are eating out on the mountain.

And all supermarkets seem to sell soya milk etc. DS is coeliac so we need to be careful.

If you find somewhere where you can self cater and near a large supermarket you should be ok.
We went to Samoëns in France over the summer which is a small town but a busy skiing destination in the winter. There was a large carrefour supermarket where we could get soya milk and yoghurt, but no dairy free spread. However I found a health food shop in the town which sold some and found a really nice dairy free soft cheese. I’m pretty sure you could get gluten free stuff too.
We also did the usual allergy cards which we used in restaurants and people were really accommodating. Cafes are always difficult anywhere so we tended to make sandwiches and brought lots of snacks with us for daytime.

Thank you for all the responses. Nevertwerked how long ago did you go?

Was about 5 years ago now

I’ve done self catering skiing in France and also catered hotels with Crystal and Esprit in France.

Dairy free substitutes were widely available when we self catered so we didn’t need to take anything special with us.

The catered hotels were mostly brilliant with DS’s multiple severe allergies. In fact a lot of the time he ate better than us! We had pasta from a buffet and he got specially cooked steak and chips!!!