What about REALLY long haul flights then?

[Weta]

Reading through the other thread on long haul flights, most of you advise taking your own food - which I tend to agree with after having an absolute nightmare with plane food (including DS1 having an allergic reaction in the plane) last time I went back to NZ.

But I'm finding it hard to figure out how to cover the vast number of hours involved!
On the way out we will have to leave home around 6am (or else stay the night before in Frankfurt, which would make the allergy preps even more difficult), 3 hr drive to Frankfurt, 3 hr wait at airport, leave at 12pm, 12 hour flight to Singapore, 15 hour stopover in Singapore airport, 7 hr flight to Brisbane, 2 hr wait then 2.5 hr flight to Cairns.

DS1 is very allergic to dairy - so any advice on what we could take? There is a packet of ready-made ravioli we often buy that just has to be heated in a microwave for 2 minutes, but I don't know whether we could do that on a plane?

Thanks!

How old is DS?

We did a 23 journey (incl stopovers) recently and my 19 month old DS also has a dairy allergy. I mostly relied on porridge, mixed with fruit pots and boiled water (which was easily available on plane). We ate most of our proper meals at restaurants while in transit. I also stuffed him with breadrolls on the plane. But then my DS is a picky eater and actually prefers porridge and breadrolls to most foods.

I took along one homecooked meal (pasta) and he ate that on the first leg of the journey. While packing I considered things like cans of salmon or tuna and wholewheat wraps just in case but didn't in the end. I don't know what Singapore is like, but there's always something at the airport - usually in the food shops (like smoked salmon). Fruit, especially bananas, is essential.

We just let go of the 3 meals thing and opted for a picnic style approach to food.

Oh yes I forgot to say, he's 6 and a big eater! He won't eat porridge though, and we normally avoid eating in restaurants because of the allergy (hence my concerns about Singapore, though maybe we can find something in the airport shop). Bananas used to be great but he's gone off them recently!
Cans are a good idea though...

Singapore airport is amazing - lots of places to eat, lots of shops and a swimming pool and games area to visit. We were only there 3 hours and didn't risk eating because nuts are a big part of their cuisine. However there were lots of inexpensive restaurants including some burger places and noodle bars. They also tend to have staff who speak English. You may be able to get food there.

We don't have to deal with dairy allergy but have had to avoid lactose. We took sandwiches, bananas and cake (Sainsburys jaffa cakes but sounds like you aren't in UK). Flapjack is high in calories and can be made with stork hard margarine instead of butter. We've taken sainsburys instant noodle packets as a back-up as you can just add boiling water to them but have never had to use them as our lactose free person managed to eat airline dairy free food (revolting but warm). Expect to get a lot of fruit salad.

There are several places to eat in Brisbane airport, although we didn't eat there. We found Australians could be very unhelpful about allergies but it was variable so if you try everywhere you may find the nice ones.

You can't take bananas into Australia - they are obsessive about that, so eat any you have on the plane. They are also pretty odd about taking in medicines, we were cross-examined about the antihistamine we had. I had an e-mail from Australian government medical people saying medicines for personal use were fine but didn't need to produce it.

Picnic style approach seems to be the key for this.

Think of easy bits of food that your Ds usually likes and that are quite simple. You cannot plan what is he going to fancy when (particularly during a flight, when we all get funny and tired and grumpy), so just make sure you take a good variety and the kind of things that fill you up, as proper and as solid food as possible, and that also work cold. I found that worked better for me. We had bits of chicken, sausages, pasta (no sauce, sort of pasta salad), all kind of veg. sticks, olives, fruit, homemade cakes, muffins, cans are a brilliant idea make sure they are the ones you can open without a can opener because you cannot take those ... and once you arrive you get rid of the things you cannot bring into the country.

I would avoid too many restaurants in airports unless you are 100% sure about what you are having as reactions can happen a few hours later when you are already flying ... maybe I am tood paranoid, I just cannot think of anything scarier that an allergic reaction on a plane.
Your own food for the full journey will give you safety and peace of mind.

tatt I agree about Singapore airport - have been there a few times and always choose this route because it is so good. I guess we're just so paranoid that we normally take our own food to restaurants so I don't really see them as much of an option...

Thanks for the other ideas - noodles are a good idea, in fact last time when they brought the supposedly dairy free meal and it came with cheese and milk, they ended up finding him some instant noodles so that would be fine. I'm going to get in touch with the airline person who dealt with my written complaint about the meal problems we had last time to try and make sure he gets a genuinely dairy free meal, but will be very picky about what he actually eats from it.

I'm used to lack of helpfulness about allergies in France and Luxembourg so I expect Australia can only be an improvement1

Madrehayunasola - thanks for all your suggestions too, sounds like we'll be able to think up a few options. DS1's reactions seem to happen within about 15 minutes of ingestion, but having dealt with a reaction in the plane (to the 'dairy free' meal provided) I can confirm that it is very scary and I would feel much happier if we took food for the whole journey.

our attitude for very long haul is that its best to run the risks on the ground (so in the airport) rather than the plane as it is difficult to take enough food with you.

You could also look at camping meals as sometimes you can get ones that you can just add water to. They tend to have nut warnings so not something I've looked at much.

That sounds like a sensible approach in terms of the risks, and will definitely look into camping meals - excellent idea!