Camp and Gluten-free diets don't mix. :-(

Good News: My ½ week at camp went well, as far as the kids, activities, etc. The kids seemed to have a blast.



Bad News: The cook is an @#$%@^#. I emailed the Monday before camp with specific concerns- such as if they used real eggs, potatoes, etc. and if certain things contained gluten. He NEVER emailed me back! I finally called a higher-up Friday night and left a message. We were to be at camp Sunday afternoon…So I receive an email Saturday morning from the cook. He was obviously pissed off. Here was his response…on SATURDAY MORNING (when we had to leave Sunday to go to camp!!!):


“My suggestion to you is if you are concerned about any food items you can bring your own food as a replacement. The items must be in a clear plastic zip-lock type bag with the child’s name and date of packaging clearly marked on the outside of each bag. We will store the food items in the kitchen for you and have them available for you to prepare at each meal service. A microwave oven and other kitchen equipment will be available for your use. We also have a book with the list of ingredients for the items being served at camp available in the kitchen for review. I hope this helps.”



Ummm HELLOO!!!! The camp is about an hour away but I had been near it 3 times the week before. If I had known there was a book I could have stopped by and checked it. But telling me Sat morning- less than 24 hrs before we have to be there, isn’t going to help me! I also obviously didn’t read it very well because I completely missed the “available for YOU to prepare” part! But more on that later.


So we get there. The camp director volunteers to help haul my cooler to the kitchen. I go in and start unloading it. The cook gets an attitude and says “You have another cooler right?” I was like “umm no. This cooler contains things other than his food items. It is for our camp site. I wasn’t aware I needed to provide a cooler. Everything is marked with his name.” His reply “Fine! I will see if I can find something.” He returns with a clear tote. We store his food where it needs to go and I am about to leave when he says: “you are going to be here 15 minutes early to fix his food, right?” –Remember when I said that I didn’t read the email thoroughly? So this was a shock to me. Literally. -- I was floored.


So I am waiting outside for the camp director, getting really pissed off. While he drives me back to our camp site I decide to confront him. I told him I didn’t realize I would have to fix J’s food. I didn’t have to last year (as I hadn’t been at camp) and that I would need to be there 30 minutes early because I didn’t realize I needed ready-made stuff. I provided the same stuff I did last year, such as pasta for spaghetti and mac &cheese that needed to be cooked. The camp director was like “We are short-handed. He is just asking you to volunteer.” I replied that he didn’t ask me to volunteer he told me to do it. And that last year I didn’t have this problem. I also thought that he was only being like this because I was in camp, where-as last year I wasn't.” He said he would look into a solution and get back to me.


So I fixed J’s dinner that night. Thankfully it wasn’t much- he was able to eat most of what was served. I just needed to heat a g-f roll and provide a cookie for dessert. At dinner the camp director told me that they had figured out a solution and the director of activities would fix J’s food. I thanked him and told him if I was there as J's parent, without any responsibilities, it wouldn’t be an issue but I wasn’t there as J’s parent. I was there in another capacity, one that kept me separated from J most of the day.


So the cook never said anything else to me, although he gave me dirty looks the whole time I was there. And I only had to fix 2 of J’s meals.


Oh and the other thing that ticked me off…they had a white board in their kitchen with a list of allergies on it. So every kid/group that had an allergy should have been on that board; so-so from this group has a peanut allergy, etc. Well J’s name/group wasn’t listed at all!! How are you to know which kid has an allergy if you aren't listing all the allergies?!? Maybe they didn't list him because I provided most of his food but he still should have been listed because he also ate their food. His raw carrot allergy should have at least been listed, especially since I wasn't providing alternatives for that. (Oh and by the way I was right about the salad bar- it was all pre-packaged mix with carrots in it.)


The camp directors told me they hope to keep the cook. I personally hope they don’t but either way they WILL be cooking J’s food next year…come to find out they get Federal Funding…and there is this thing called the Disability Act Law that all groups who get Federal Funding must comply to…Guess who is going to be pressing this issue next year? ME!! ME!! (Hand in the air!)


The thing that really got me in the end is that all the cook needed to do was communicate.
I wasn’t asking them to provide food, just tell me what was in their food. If I read the Act right I could have forced that issue (providing food) as well. But I am not here to add extra financial burden on them. I just want them to cook the food I provide. Is that so hard?