[Philmont] food allergy

> We have a scout who wants to attend Philmont next
> year on our trek. He has severe food allergies.
> The #1 item he reacts to is wheat. In reviewing
> the ingredients on the Philfood, wheat is in 99%
> of the meals. Has anyone experienced this problem
> and how did you overcome it for a scout?

As previously stated, you will need to supply suitable replacement meals
for individuals with allergies. You will very likely have to bring a
substantial part of the food for this individual because wheat is a
component in a large percentage of the meals at Philmont.

This past year we had a crew member with an allergy to cheese. I
contacted Philmont and they provided the trail menu with the ingredients
lists for each item. Together with the crew member's parents and
another advisor who happens to be a dietian, we reviewed the lists and
determined which meals were going to be problematical. The Food
Services folks were very helpful in this regard although you may have to
wait until early next spring when the trail menu is finalized.

We knew that squeeze cheese would be a problem but we were able to
"adjust" by swapping between the other lunch meals (we also had an odd
number of crew members that helped this situation too). For the dinners
that had cheese as an ingredient, we brought replacement meals. Each
meal was securely wrapped in a plastic trash bag and marked with the
crew number and the meal number the package replaced. We turned in the
meals at Logistics when we were getting our itinerary finalized. They
also marked the commissary location on the meals.

The process worked very smoothly, but we only had to replace three
meals. The only glitch was the Rivera Mesa fire. Because of the fire,
our itinerary changed from trek 28 to trek 21. One of the meals that
included cheese was for the night of the chuck wagon dinner - the change
in itinerary changed the day of the chuck wagon dinner. It was a
problem easily remedied; we were able to get a substitute meal from the
swap boxes we encountered along the way.

We found the process very efficient and easy to work with, but we only
had to make a few substitutions. With wheat, as previously stated, you
will likely have a larger task.

We also took an Epi-pen just in case something slipped through the
cracks. I would encourage you to do the same.

Happy Trails,

Roy Fisher

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Received on Mon Aug 28 20:22:12 2006