Baked potatoes in restaurants

[Vegankit]

Jeff, my DH is very sensitive to salt. He has to eat out often in restaurants (he has no say in the choice) as he travels. Some times he's offered a baked potato - baked without oil but salted on the outside. He never eats those potatoes and often ends up with a meal of only lettuce and no starch.

Does the salt migrate through the peel? Or would the potato be safe to eat if he removed the peel.

[JeffN]

Jeff, my DH is very sensitive to salt. He has to eat out often in restaurants (he has no say in the choice) as he travels. Some times he's offered a baked potato - baked without oil but salted on the outside. He never eats those potatoes and often ends up with a meal of only lettuce and no starch.

Does the salt migrate through the peel? Or would the potato be safe to eat if he removed the peel.

Sorry, but I don't know and don't know of any valid answer either way.

However, my experience has been that even if the outside is salted, the inside has never tasted salty to me and I am extremely sensitive to salt too. I have eaten the inside many times.

Can he bring his own potatoes? That would be my second choice in such a situation.

In Health
Jeff

[Vegankit]

Thanks for your response, this is very helpful. Unfortunately he has to fly to multiple locations for these meals so he doesn’t always have time to visit a grocery store and can’t always bring food from home. Sometimes he carries oatmeal in his suitcase for breakfast and emergencies.

I’ll tell him that you haven’t found the interior to taste salty and h should try it himself.

[JeffN]

Thanks for your response, this is very helpful. Unfortunately he has to fly to multiple locations for these meals so he doesn’t always have time to visit a grocery store and can’t always bring food from home. Sometimes he carries oatmeal in his suitcase for breakfast and emergencies.

I’ll tell him that you haven’t found the interior to taste salty and h should try it himself.

Sounds like my life for many years. I was "on the road" about 70% of the time. Often for days/weeks at a time.

- raw potatoes travel well and don't need to be refrigerated. And, if you stay in rooms with a microwave and mini fridge and you can zap them as needed.

- hotels will also bake you a plain potato if you ask them in advance.

- oatmeal is readily available. Starbucks is 100% steel cut and almost everywhere. I buy them without the water and add as needed. Of course, one could do the same with oats at home before leaving. Just put it in a bag to carry and put in cup with hot water as needed.

- same with mcdougall low sodium soup cups. I empty them into a bag to travel with abs add to cup with hot water as needed. All salt is in the separate flavor pack so one card as little, as much or none as desired

I am very curious to what degree sodium restriction he is aiming for and why.

In Health
Jeff

[JeffN]

- oatmeal is readily available. Starbucks is 100% steel cut and almost everywhere. I buy them without the water and add as needed. Of course, one could do the same with oats at home before leaving. Just put it in a bag to carry and put in cup with hot water as needed.

UPDATE: turns out Starbucks has changed their ingredients which are now:

Ingredients: oatmeal (water, whole grain oatmeal [whole grain rolled oats, whole grain steel cut oats, whole grain oat flour, salt, calcium carbonate, guar gum].

Best bet, unless someone knows a 100% osts product out there, is just carry your own. Add a little cinnamon &/or raisins and all you need is hot water and a cup.

In Health
Jeff

[Vegankit]

UPDATE: turns out Starbucks has changed their ingredients which are now:

Ingredients: oatmeal (water, whole grain oatmeal [whole grain rolled oats, whole grain steel cut oats, whole grain oat flour, salt, calcium carbonate, guar gum].

Haha, I was going to ask you because I googled and found salt in the ingredient list so I was wondering what you were buying - and well neither of us will be buying those oats.

DH has figured out that he can control his vertigo with his salt intake. Prescription medication and Eply type movements weren't effective. His father had it and DH assumed it was hereditary and inevitable. DH was at times bed ridden with it when he added excessive amounts of salty condiments to his food. It might be hereditary or age related - but it's not inevitable if you eat properly. I control my inflammation, especially in my joints with my salt intake.

I don't know how to characterize our level of salt intake. I have a rule that we can only have one item a day with salt added - and often we don't have any. By added salt I mean a small sprinkling of salt, or I use a little low sodium tamari in a stir fry or add a little French's mustard to colcannon. I cook from scratch so beans, soups, home made ketchup etc. have no salt. The rare packaged item, like Pomi tomatoes are salt free. DH used to add salty condiments to the food I cooked - until he realized the impact salt had on his vertigo. We're big label readers.

Prior to his discovery, he used to take bread, McDougall soup and apples when he traveled and would supplement with food from grocery stores if he had time and reasonable access to one. Whole Foods is a favorite because of the microwaves and area to sit and eat. He's thrilled with your suggestions. Bread was so handy - but it's far too salty.

[JeffN]

UPDATE: turns out Starbucks has changed their ingredients which are now:

Ingredients: oatmeal (water, whole grain oatmeal [whole grain rolled oats, whole grain steel cut oats, whole grain oat flour, salt, calcium carbonate, guar gum].

Haha, I was going to ask you because I googled and found salt in the ingredient list so I was wondering what you were buying - and well neither of us will be buying those oats.

This is why I alway say I can't recommend a specific brand/product because we all must be checking these labels on a somewhat regular basis. Companies change the recipes and the ingredients all the time and rarely do the get better.

Forgive me for my momentary false sense of overconfidence in Starbucks. Theirs had been 100% steel cut for many years. Sad

DH has figured out that he can control his vertigo with his salt intake. .

This is good to hear. My experience with vertigo patients, which can be a terrifying experience, is that most are able to do fine with a sodium of 500-1000, which isn't much but does allow for the sprinkle of use here or there, or the occasional item with added salt.

Prior to his discovery, he used to take bread, McDougall soup and apples when he traveled and would supplement with food from grocery stores if he had time and reasonable access to one. Whole Foods is a favorite because of the microwaves and area to sit and eat. He's thrilled with your suggestions. Bread was so handy - but it's far too salty.

He can still do the McDougall Soups cups and just ditch the flavor packets and add a little of his own spice. I do this and put them in individual baggies to travel with. Same with oatmeal. Its an adventure but he may find some other soup/meal cups that are salt free and he can just add hot water.

In Health
Jeff

[wildgoose]

Jeff, have you ever done steel-cut oats in a Thermos when on the road? We do it all the time. It’s easy and very tasty. And we're guaranteed plain oats, no added ingredients.

We pack a 16-ounce wide mouth Thermos (the company calls them "food jars") that just fits inside our small electric kettle. Plus a ziploc bag of steel-cut oats and a 1/8 c measuring cup.

Before bed, do this... Preheat the Thermos for 2-3 minutes using water heated in the electric kettle. Pour out the hot water. Put in 4 scant measures of oats, fill Thermos with fresh boiling water. Put lid on Thermos, shake well. Wrap in a towel, lay ON ITS SIDE (very important for even cooking) on a counter. In the morning, voila, steel cut oats.

I’ve always taken the kettle, Thermos and oats in my carry-on and never gotten any grief from the TSA.

Goose

[JeffN]

Jeff, have you ever done steel-cut oats in a Thermos when on the road? We do it all the time. It’s easy and very tasty. And we're guaranteed plain oats, no added ingredients.

We pack a 16-ounce wide mouth Thermos (the company calls them "food jars") that just fits inside our small electric kettle. Plus a ziploc bag of steel-cut oats and a 1/8 c measuring cup.

Before bed, do this... Preheat the Thermos for 2-3 minutes using water heated in the electric kettle. Pour out the hot water. Put in 4 scant measures of oats, fill Thermos with fresh boiling water. Put lid on Thermos, shake well. Wrap in a towel, lay ON ITS SIDE (very important for even cooking) on a counter. In the morning, voila, steel cut oats.

I’ve always taken the kettle, Thermos and oats in my carry-on and never gotten any grief from the TSA.

Goose

Yes. Thanks.

In my thread on emergency food, I talk about using the Thermos “food jar” and give a link to the one I use.

When I traveled by car, I would keep these and also 2 coolers, one to keep food warm and one to keep food cold on my trips. I still carry them if we are going somewhere to the day. We just want to a poetry conference and I brought these each day from home.

These days, I don’t travel as much and my only real travel is to the McDougall program. .

In Health
Jeff