Keto on the go! Top Tips from Daisy’s Keto Café

A big Daisy thank you to our kind and knowledgeable Keto Café parents/carers for gathering together an absolute wealth of ketogenic diet  Top Tips.  We hope their collective voice will encourage and inspire families to take keto 'on the road’!

For quick and easy referencing, we’ve highlighted key words and products. All personal recommendations, products, and insurance costs mentioned are correct at the time of going to press.  However, prices do change from time to time, so always double-check costs in advance of making a purchase/booking.

UK Travel

Sarah
“The night before we went away, I made scotch eggs, sausage rolls, cupcakes, brownies, sausage, egg and cheese wraps, spag bol, shepherd’s pie etc. Brought a cool box and everything luckily stayed frozen for the journey.  We’re quite new to the keto diet and we haven't eaten out yet.  Might try braving it whilst we're here, but even if we don't the diet's still totally manageable 'on the go!” 

Lauren
“We’ve just been away in our caravan for a long weekend. We took IKEA chicken meatballs, frozen cauliflower rice, eggs, spring onions, peppers, mushrooms, clotted cream and fruit for my daughter. We had fish and chips twice for lunch while out and about and she had her usual porridge in a morning. We also had a BBQ with bratwurst from Lidl with celeriac mash and when we did chilli another night, I made a separate portion to meet her [keto] macros” 

Vanessa
“I always take food out in little boxes with sticky labels with fats and carbs written on them, with note pad and pencil added as we went along.  Always take extra fats like BabyBel and Cheesies. Flaxbread is a good one for us to take out with butter (it's 10g fat per small slice before adding butter).  We take eezy-freezy carb-free ice lollies wherever we go or homemade ones in throw away plastic sealed tube, both stay frozen between 2 ice blocks.”

Stephanie
“We plan ahead for every meal, so we know what our son will eat for breakfast.   We make him a packed lunch each day for day trips and work around his evening meal. We also take the ingredients to make fat head dough pizza with us and plenty of keto snacks.”

Isabel
“When eating out I have been enjoying plenty of salads, fry ups, and sandwich/potato fillings without the main carbs (always raising eyebrows)!  Ice lollies made and remade daily, and K.Yo taken in my daily pack!” 

Shereen
 “I was worried about travelling on keto but brought these essentials which have really helped: Ketocal powder, pork crunch, erythritol for baking, sugar-free jelly sachets, a K.Yo for every day and lots of low carb bread and rolls. Top tip for holidaying away from home: pack a bag with all your keto essentials and have a couple of recipes you can batch cook before or when you get there.” 

Camping

Helen
“We go camping a lot!!!! We find salad and BBQ is an easy one. Tomato soup using tinned soup, olive oil double cream and frankfurters is quick and fuss free. Egg mayo and low carb veggies. Make risotto with cauli rice, frankfurters, olive oil and double cream. scrambled eggs. Fruit and clotted cream with K.Yo is a good snack or breakfast.”

Natasha:   “Fallow Fields, Selson Farm, Kent. Great staff, lovely location and lots of activities for children. Plus, a field kitchen and bar for parents!”

Gina
“We are in Cornwall at the minute, not brave enough for a tent, in a caravan. I think it’s Newparren campsite. My son likes bacon butties (keto bread), hotdogs, BBQ burgers and chicken. For snacks we found skinny biscuits with zero sugar which he is so excited about (we are on MCT version of keto so we have a bigger carb allowance). Best thing we purchased was a cool bag for going out as it’s been so hot. We make my son a sauce from ketchup, mayo and MCT oil.  We take this with us so I only have to work out part of his meal if we eat out.”

Kim
We’re lucky our son eats the Ketocare bolognese and chicken pouches - hot or cold.  I also bulk cook, so when
we go on holiday in our caravan etc. we take a travel freezer.  It looks like a cool box and plugs into
the vehicle.”

Charlotte
“We’ve stayed at a number of sites across the UK and always look for a site that has disabled
facilities and washing machine/dryer as these are a must for us due to wetting; and now he’s bigger
we need room to manoeuvre him and assist in the shower/toilets. We really enjoyed Love2Stay in
Shrewsbury last year.”

Eve
“Oh definitely Camp Jojo we had an amazing couple of stays there. I also like Crealy Theme Park &
Resort - Devon for glamping. Proper beds loads of space. The theme park has a splash park and
accessibility is great. Rarely a queue as well. Loads of indoor play areas and a small farm.”

Autistic Haven CIC host August camping holidays at a beautiful site in Bala, North Wales. We have a
4-night and 3-night stay. We lease our own private field and host various activities throughout the
day such as, games and giant bubbles, arts & crafts, guided walks, meditation and storytelling.

Keeping Camping Food Cool

Sarah
“We used a food camping box/fridge, it has a USB charger so you put it in your boot plugged in x”

Fiona
“I use an electric cool box from Halfords to take my daughter’s meals on holidays. It’s been so good.
I’ve got a small size I keep in the car all the time for cans of pop and use the bigger size for family visits and holidays.”

Kim
“I freeze all our lad’s meals and take them in a portable freezer like a plug-in cool box. We got it
off Amazon there was a few to choose from. It can be plugged into the car and the mains. We use it
in our caravan. Works great and kept enough meals frozen for almost 2 weeks.”

Marie
“When I was out and about all day I literally filled little water bottles, froze them, and packed the
bottles around the food in an insulated bag.”

Karen
We drove to Cornwall last year from Northern Ireland. We have an electric cool box that connects
to the car to keep food cold. Just remember to turn it off when the car stops as it runs the battery
down.”

Jo
“I usually half freeze a camping water container, put that in our Arctic Zone Titan Cooler from Amazon
(takes up around half the space) and then pack the food around it.  It also means you have cool
water to drink on the journey and to take with you to the beach, which also keeps your food cool x”

Travelling Abroad

Julie
“We've been on keto about 6 years and have continued to holiday abroad. We've just booked for Lanzarote!  A self-catering, villa works better than apartments for us as we tend to BBQ and I have a kitchen to do meal prep area. We've holidayed in Spain and Portugal, both work.  I google local supermarket websites to see what ingredients I can get. Consider taking prescription products, lolly moulds (if going somewhere hot) Planning is key - take recipes to bake easy snacks or take them with you. A chill factor makes instant ice cream. You'll need to book special assistance with the airline and sort paperwork, but again that's all doable. Greece would also be a good option, on our list but not got there yet!”

Sarah
"My first time taking my daughter on a plane. Here are my top tips:
1. Get Nutricia to send you one of their free wheeled boxes, use zip ties to close it and rope to tie around and pull it along. Remember zip ties for return journey. This box held all her keys, milkshakes, oil, pork scratchings etc and nappies.
2. We flew with Easyjet. Phone them and request special assistance. This box was transported in the hold for free. We were told that they may need to check so we didn't tie the zip ties until after they had checked the luggage in. They never did check inside. We had a letter from the Dietitian which they never looked at.
3. Her ticket was marked up as special assistance so we boarded quickly - less waiting in queues for her made it easier.
4. Get yourself a sunflower lanyard. It is absolute gold. We didn't have one and a aggressive customer at the airport made me resort to approaching another family and ask where they got their lanyards from and they very kindly gave us one of theirs. It made an absolutely massive difference and I will be getting another one for the adult chaperoning her to wear also. We didn't have to wait in any queues for passport control.
5. Sunflower lanyards are recognised in foreign museums too - no queues at the Acropolis or at museums for us!
6. Eating out was easier in Greece than in the UK- she could always have a Greek salad or gyros/fried meat or fish and salad.
I think that's it! Even when she refused to get off the aeroplane for ages in Gatwick and I cried, the air hostess was awesome and got her up and out!" 

Chloe
 "A tip from me - weigh scales don’t work on an aeroplane due to the movement so I had to guesstimate my daughter's meals on the plane… it must be a magic skill we get (guessing the correct weight) as her ketones were the same as usual! X"

Natalie
“We use sunflower lanyards from the hidden disabilities website and you can also buy personalised ones. I have one for me, my husband and my mum who also looks after our son and I bought one with a radar key for when I need to use the disabled toilets. Not very expensive at all xx"

Crystal
“Self-catering is the only way for us as so many all-inclusive hotels don’t have nutritional values readily available.” 

Nikki
“We did Florida pre-keto with Virgin and they were fantastic. My son went into NCSE [seizure activity] on way home, sky high (pardon the pun) temperature. They closed a toilet off at back of plane for us.  They always have spare staff on board flights for medical emergencies. So, we were assigned our own flight attendant. They had a SATS monitor, ambubag, oxygen, got flannels and ice cubes from First Class to keep him cool. They patched down to their Drs in Arizona to discuss giving 3rd dose of buccolam. Four Drs travelling on plane, one an ED Dr who offered assistance if needed. We were given the option to land plane in Montreal before heading across the Atlantic. Basically, they were more than amazing. Nothing, and I mean nothing, was too much trouble for them. You’re in exceptionally safe hands. The flight attendant got so good at recognising my son’s seizures she was telling me that another one was starting.”

Lorraine
“We have been to Florida the last few years and have stayed at both Disney and Universal. Disney.  They allow a Walmart shop to be delivered onsite so this may be worthwhile after the long flight.  Heavy whipping cream is our go to for getting fat in. There are lots of keto options in Walmart. We are on modified keto now so less strict, but last year we brought K.Yo and Ketocal for during the day and cool bag backpacks for the park. The onsite transportation is fantastic and allows easy access to and from the park if you need it.”

Sarah
“We've just been to Croatia and took a big box of supplies with us without any problems. Special assistance on the plane also allowed us to take a cool bag on board which meant we had a few supplies for my son whilst travelling. Don't be afraid to take what you need. We took all sorts and got our dietician to list them so we had everything covered... even took no sugar beans, ice pops and sugar free vimto! I put ice packs in the box so any dairy products stayed cool. And before we went I made sure we knew where the supermarket was so we could do a big shop once we arrived. We have two cool bags from Decathlon, a back pack one that we use for days out in the UK and we took their soft camping ice chest to Croatia x"

Angela
“We are just back from two weeks in the USA and no hassle at all.  Hand luggage had medicine, food for the flight (tuna mayo and egg mayo) in a wee cool bag (courtesy of DG), enough Ketocal drinks for flight and the first few days, copy of prescriptions and letter from Keto Dietician explaining we're on keto and what products we needed to carry. In the hold case we took Ketocal drinks, a few tins (tuna, sugar free hoops etc), kitchen scales, ketone machine etc. We were self-catering in a villa so were able to buy food and using the EKM on the ipad rejig our recipes. Just made sure when out and about we carried food.  When we were in restaurants my son simply ate what we had in the cool bag for him and restaurant staff never questioned it or told us you can’t do that. I understand you are able to ask for extra luggage with airlines if carrying medical bits and pieces. My son is three and half now and not walking yet so when we arrived in the US you don’t get the buggy back till after immigration but we had a carrier which means he gets a piggy back from dad, but is all strapped in so can’t wriggle and fall. Travelling on keto for us just means a bit more thinking and organising, but totally worth it for us.” 

Isabel
“The one thing I have learnt from travelling abroad on keto is make sure you have a spare copy of prescriptions, and know what to look for.  Self-catered accommodation is really useful as the only meals you then need to worry about are mainly lunches, which K.Yo pots are very handy for!  I found that where I could have meals out, the K.Yo could then be used as part of supper and it gave me the chance to still have "normal" meals while out, usually in the form of tuna or caesar salads. My main piece of advice for travelling on keto is to always carry a snack pack; mine would always contain a K.Yo pot, Ketocal vanilla liquid, small prepacked bag of nuts (a pack of Olly’s olives, and keto-friendly chocolate (everyone needs a treat once in a while!). While on holiday I would also have emergency meds in case I was 100% certain I'd forgotten to take them or needed an impromptu visit to A&E, a spork and of course no keto food pack is complete without an "I can only have food from home" badge (available free of charge from The Daisy Garland).  Ice pop moulds and sugar-free squash are also really useful if you happen to have a freezer and are taking a summer trip!” 

Julie
“We have holidayed in UK and abroad and self-catering is my preference. I've picked up quite a few tips over the years!  If flying, phone special assistance well in advance. They should give you an extra 10kg hand luggage free of charge for your dietary products and will probably give you extra hold luggage if you need it. Tell them if you're likely to be consuming nuts on board. We always ask to be seated together so that we can manage any seizures. Ask if they can fast track you through security if your child needs it and also ask if you can pre-board if needed too. They'll tell you what paperwork you'll need - usually a letter from your consultant to say that your child is fit to fly, that you'll be taking medication on board (detailed in the letter) and that you are trained to manage/treat seizures if this is likely to happen. Also detail in the letter all the dietary products you will be carrying, blood testing kits (lancets) etc. Depending on frequency of seizures you may need to complete a medical declaration form. Also take a copy of a repeat prescription. Make sure all medications are in their original packaging. When we board the aircraft, I always tell the cabin crew that my child has epilepsy. Usually, this information has already been passed on, but I like to make sure! I look up the supermarkets in my destination online before I go so that I have a rough idea of what food products I will be able to get so I can start tweaking recipes before I go if I want. Pack ice lolly moulds, sachets of chocolate syrup, some little tubs and I always take my frying pan and spatula. We find BBQs are the easiest - sausages, salad with mayo and ice cream made with cream and syrup. Ketocal liquid, K.Yo and Ketocare chicken meal are all good for holidays! If holidaying in the UK, I plan keto meals in advance and take frozen meals for my daughter's dinner.”

Jo
“We’ve been taking our daughter abroad for about 5 years now on the keto diet. We had a gold star holiday at the Grecotel Margo Bay in Halkidiki, Greece!!! Highly recommend that resort and the head chef there. We normally go self-catering which works well in Spain as we do spaghetti courgetti and it’s easy to find cream cheese and bacon and eggs. We pack low carb bread and take liquid hermasetas, Ketocal liquid, K.Yo, and lots of home-made keto biscuits. We also find Spanish restaurants easy to eat out in too with tapas etc. We went to Mallorca recently and all good. France was a disaster as we stayed in a caravan with only a single hob. And although I speak very good French, none of the restaurants would swap out chips for vegetables etc., so France is off the list!! Went to Venice at Xmas and was a little tricky as mainly pasta, but restaurants tried to help by doing grilled fish, vegetables and olive oils or grated cheese and bowls of cream.”

Ashley
“We haven’t stayed in a hotel. But been abroad 4 times. I’ve found Greece the best in terms of eating out. Just pack your digital scales. TUI were great giving us extra luggage allowance to pack medical items… we loaded up with all the keto foods before we went. What I would say is don’t expect self-catering places to have the appropriate cooking stuff. We took whisk, spatula and non-stick frying pan and many packets of sugar free jelly sachets.”

Sarah
“We got back from Lanzarote this week, our first holiday since my daughter has been on the diet. I was so nervous; researched, planned, worried, questioned if we were doing the right thing.  At best I expected we might get to eat out once or twice, at worst I expected to be cooking in the apartment every night, her ketone levels would plummet and it wouldn’t feel like a holiday.  Well, it turned out so much better than we could have expected!  We ate out every single night, kept her in ketosis for the whole week, and had a brilliant time. It really did feel like a ‘normal’ holiday.  I’m so glad we did it and I now feel so much more confident about future holidays. If anyone is on the fence my advice is DO IT!  For us, choosing the right location was key for our first try xx”

Claire
“I’d recommend Mousses in Lefkada through Simpson Travel - 12 small villas in a gated development with a pool, kids club and restaurant. They will cook anything you need from scratch, but the villas have a full kitchen. We have been 7 times.”

Maria
“I wanted to share a little tip I wish I’d known earlier for anyone travelling abroad this summer with children who rely on Nutricia products. Nutricia actually offers a service that can arrange delivery of their products abroad, depending on the country you're visiting. However, you need to give them at least 6 weeks’ notice so they can look into the request (it’s not guaranteed, though). Unfortunately, I only gave 5 weeks’ notice, not knowing about this, and now we’re trying to figure out how to travel with 16 cans of Ketocal...”

Claire
“We've just booked an all-inclusive holiday to Majorca in a couple of weeks with Jet2. I’m hoping I can be imaginative with the buffet and make the most of the omelette station!  But anyway, Jet2 called within 24 hours to check my son’s condition and requirements which was great. We have seats together and an additional hand luggage for meds and keto supplies, and we can use the assisted queues for check in and security. I’ve asked for a fit to fly letter, a copy of his repeat prescription, and a fresh back-up supply of all his meds. I’m planning on taking a few cans of tuna, veg and a bottle of mayo to make some meals if we get desperate. Of course, some K.Yo, liquigen and MCT oil will be coming along too!!”

Charlotte
“We are in Majorca now! I would recommend bringing double cream if you can as it’s limited here if you use it. They do have mascarpone in the supermarkets if you can use that?  We got an expensive yeti cooler to bring double cream to Spain once!  We managed to get a grant from a charity to pay for it!”

Julie
“We use nata para montar (whipping cream) in Spain. It's a bit lower in fat and higher in carb but it's the closest you'll get to double cream. We've also added Ketocal powder to it to increase fat if you have that with you! X” 

Nicki
“We have been all-inclusive over the years and I took all snacks, clotted cream, cheese slices and keto bread and then relied on the buffet for everything else.  Always take a cool bag down to breakfast with you and stock up on buffet bits for the rest of the day if needs be. I took my scales to each mealtime too and then relied on MyKetoPlanner to make up macros at the table. We had a mini fridge in our room so I set up a keto station close by with my spatula, bowl and whizzer to make up MCT smoothies etc. Nutribullet do an amazing travel smoothie maker which I would recommend.  Military operation but it does work.” 

Travel/Holiday Insurance

Julie
“My daughter has Lennox Gastaut Syndrome. We have used both Avanti and Staysure. Premium will depend on various things like how many meds, unplanned hospital admissions, number of seizures where they lose consciousness. Questions are usually standard from one company to the next. Think we paid about £200 for Portugal last week as she was having almost daily TCs. Not cheap but you need decent cover for peace of mind and we still like our holidays. Hoping to do Lanzarote this year!”

Kasey
“I’m currently doing a pay monthly with Staysure, I’ve also used post office.”

Simmone
“I use epilepsy action insurance”

Emma
“We’ve always used Insurewith x”

Kay
“We used Staysure for all our holidays but we haven't been abroad for a very long time.”

Sarah
“My son-in-law now uses his bank for my granddaughter’s holiday insurance and it was an extra £35 after they’d been paying £400 just for 1 week!! So might be worth checking with your bank.”

Charlotte
“There is a list on the government website for complex medical travel insurance that are cheaper, but the company we used had the cover that we felt best met our specific needs. For my husband and I, and anything other than epilepsy related, our son is covered in our usual bog-standard insurance this is just for our son and anything related to his health needs. We’ve just managed to get cover from GoodToGoInsurance they are one of the government-listed providers for complex medical cover. They will only cover single trip for the illness and it took a long time on the phone with a lot of questions including last two years admissions/GP visits! They’ve offered three levels of cover for complex epilepsy; ASD and learning disability ranging in premiums from around £400 - £850 for 10 nights in Portugal over Easter.”

Lee
“We use all clear usually pay about £130 for 11 nights that's for the top cover for me and my daughter who has epilepsy.”

Anna
“We have 2 children with epilepsy and I have MS and my husband anxiety then one ‘healthy child’ and paid £113 for 12 days for all of us!  Go on a comparison site. Ours is through Insurefor.com. Although as a caveat we haven’t had epilepsy-related admissions for 2 years.”

Samantha
“I have a Lloyds club silver account that has travel insurance, mobile insurance and breakdown cover included for the monthly fee which is about £11.50. It covers my daughter’s epilepsy under their ‘no screen medical conditions’ so we don’t have to pay any upgrades. For us, it’s worth paying the monthly fee all year round as it works out cheaper than taking out an annual travel insurance policy which covers her epilepsy and we get breakdown cover and phone insurance as well.”

Keriann
“They tried to charge me £580 and we’ve had no unplanned visits for a while over 6 months. I went into Tesco and they wanted £136 x”

Fo
“We’ve managed to add my daughter to our bank account insurance for an extra £150, so all good.”

Albena
“The following is not advice but just sharing experience. I would suggest you get a UK Global health Insurance card. Prior to Brexit those were accepted in EU. I know that for many emergency situations the European Health card is still accepted in UK. I would advise you to check with the authorities where you are travelling. I never did a private insurance for my son when travelling in Europe, however he is EU citizen.”