Download These Allergy-Friendly Travel Apps To Feel More Confident

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Are you new to traveling with food allergies? If so, you’re not alone. I get it. I have a gluten and dairy allergy, that sometimes makes for adventurous trip when traveling. While it can disheartening at first, there really are great foodie experiences waiting around the corner. All you need is to do your research, a careful thought out travel checklist, and download these food apps to help you out during your trip.

With millions of people having food allergies all over the US, technology has really blessed the food and travel industry in incredible ways! While it may not always seem like it, these apps I’m about to share have been tremendously helpful in building confidence and ease around traveling with allergies. There is no one-size-fits-all in the app world (or any world), but each of these apps do a pretty good job.

The key to picking a great food app is to try any that speaks to you. Whether you have food allergies to one of the top eight allergens (wheat, tree nuts, eggs, shellfish, milk, soy, peanuts, fish) or environmental allergies such as dust, pollen, and mold, here are some of the best food apps to download.

After downloading the apps, consider adding some of the following to ensure a safer and smoother trip. These are each helpful if cross-contamination happens, food options are limited, or if you want to cook a quick and easy meal on vacation.

Whether you’re traveling abroad or stateside, use these apps and their wellness tips to help ease your mind when traveling with food allergies. Remember, a prepared mind breeds confidence and creates space for deep enjoyment in your travels.

A prepared mind breeds confidence and creates space for deep enjoyment.

Ciara

Feel free to jump ahead!

Best travel apps for travelers with food allergies

Best overall travel app for allergies	Find Me Gluten Free
Best app for U.S travel	Allergy Eats
Best vegan app	HappyCow
Best app for cooking	Yummly
Best translation cards	Equal Eats
Best allergy apps for traveling abroad	Find Me Gluten Free & HappyCow

Allergy Eats

What I love about Allergy Eats is the awesome community. This app was designed by people with food allergies across the U.S. who rate and review various restaurants. The app specifically focuses on chain restaurants, both big and small, shedding light on allergy-friendly eateries.

If you’re traveling stateside, this is one of the top U.S. travel apps for dining with allergies. Participate by sharing your experiences at a restaurant, which in return helps others dine successful and confidently at the that same restaurant.

App info

Allergy Food Translator

Allergy FT is a travel app that allows you to create dietary translation cards for travel to Spanish, German and French speaking countries. It translates over 86 food allergens to three different languages and the app can be used offline. In other words, no wifi, no problem. This database can be accessed from anyway around the globe.

I personally haven’t needed to use a professional translation card service because I typically write down my translations beforehand since Evan and I travel to many off-the-beaten path destinations.

(Although, this doesn’t always work. Once I accidentally ate dairy in Sofia, because there was a miscommunication between vegan and vegetarian. They gave me the vegetarian option which had cheese and I’m allergic to it. Whoops! This is why an allergy kit comes in handy.)

If it’s your first time visiting Europe, this is the company I would recommend since it specializes in Spanish, French and German, allowing you to confidently visit multiple European countries. However, if you’re planning to visit an off-the-beaten-path destination, I would recommend using a different company like Equal Eats.

App info

Equal Eats

On the other hand, if I did get a dietary translation card done professionally, this is the company I would use. Equal Eats is one of the best travel apps for creating a customized allergy translation card. It’s great for adventure travelers or those wanting to visit off-the-beaten path destinations because it has more translations than Allergy FT.

Equal Eats translates allergies in 50 different languages, has 36 preset cards and covers over 500 allergens. It’s free to instantly download cards in English, for digital cards in other languages it’s $5.00 and for a wallet size plastic card is $7.99.

App info

Find Me Gluten Free

One of the top travel apps for gluten-free folks (i.e. gluten allergy, gluten sensitivity and celiacs) is Find Me Gluten-Free. This food app locates nearby gluten-free restaurants and works well in many countries (U.S., most countries in Europe and Asia, and Australia). In fact, it has one of the largest gluten-free restaurant database and has been voted as the top gluten-free app.

On top of the restaurant selection, the app also shares user reviews about all the eateries. This can be helpful when choosing a restaurant to dine at.

I’ve used this app a ton while traveling in Cyprus and have found some amazing restaurants because of it. It’s effortless, convenient and makes dining out in new countries safe. This app and Happy Cow are my go-to restaurant apps for traveling anywhere.

App info

WebMD Allergy

Stay prepared for allergy season with the WebMD Allergy app. It works great for those seasonal and environmental allergies by sharing both weather and allergy forecasts. Inside the app you’ll also find research based health articles and a symptom checker. With the symptom checker you can share how you’re feeling, what hurts via the virtual body map, then it will give you the best treatment plan for your symptoms.

I’ve tried the symptom tracker and it’s very straight forward and easy to use. This is a great resource to keep on hand when traveling, as it immediately connects you to care and can help you find a doctor. However if you’re traveling abroad, I’m not sure how connecting to a doctor works, so I highly recommend getting travel insurance. Travel insurance has been a life saver many times and has helped us when we’ve had a injury/accident abroad. For instance, while living in Cyprus for a couple months I had a serious infection that landed me in the hospital. Luckily, we had travel insurance which covered all our expenses and led to a speedy recovery.

App info

HappyCow

Happy Cow is one of my favorite travel apps to find local vegan restaurants. The app or website is super easy to navigate helping you find the best vegan food near you. This was the app I used to find some of the best vegan restaurants in Barcelona, Sofia and Kiev. It specifically came in handy during the times we didn’t have WiFi access because the app allows you to save your restaurants and use offline.

In the app you’ll find a wide-array of eateries to choose from: bakeries, quick eats, coffee shops, farmers markets, food trucks, fancy sit down restaurants, etc. Filter in your eating preference (vegan, vegetarian, or veg-options) to see what tasty new spots pop up.

Also, recently this app added more in depth features specifically for the vegan community. Now you can search for vegan bed and breakfast retreats, hotels, and hostels. In addition it recommends vegan products and you can join its ever-growing vegan community.

App info

Allergy Force

This app is hands-down the best app when it comes to grocery shopping in a foreign country, especially when the language isn’t in English. I can’t tell you how many times, I’ve run around the grocery store in a different country trying to decipher what it says. This app saves you the trouble.

For adventurous foodies, who love to cook it up in the kitchen… this is your app. Download it, try it out in your hometown, then take it for a spin abroad. All you do is grab the food item, find its barcode, then scan it to check out its ingredients.

Also in the app there’s epinephrine reminders, emergency handles, a recipe search bar and more. Honestly, I haven’t used the recipe search because there’s better options like Yummly. Besides, I like to experiment in kitchens and always find some great cooking inspiration in the countries I visit.

If you need some cooking inspiration on what to cook in your Airbnb during vacation, read this — simple and tasty Airbnb recipes.

App info

Yummly

Don’t know what to cook on vacation? Yummly has you covered! This app has an abundance of easy and tasty recipes to choose from (over 2 million to be exact). Whether you’re on vacation or at home, this app (or website) helps you personalize your meals without sacrificing those juicy flavors we all crave — cheesy goodness, delicious soul food, spicy Thai dishes, you name it.

It also shares recipes based on your skill level and gives you the option to save your recipes based on the categories you create. In my opinion, the free option works excellent for what I need and has plenty of options for any travelers who love to cook.

App info

Substitutions

Just as the name suggest, Substitutions is all about finding quality substitutions for a dish you’re whipping up in the kitchen. For those vacation chefs who love to explore local new ingredients, Substitutions is an excellent app to have on hand. The list of replacements are separated in the following categories: gluten-free, dairy-free, alcohol, vegan, bake and cook, low-carb, low-sodium, migraine, seafood and meat, and more.

Personally I find cooking in Airbnb’s are a great way to make sure you’re food is allergy-friendly. While it may not be the top of the to-do list on vacation, it can be quite fun getting down in the kitchen and exploring the ingredient local in that area. This app is especially useful during a trip, when if you can’t find a certain ingredient you need for a dish.

App info

What are your favorite travels apps for allergies? Or in generally? Feel free to share yours below and I will update the travel apps list. Thanks!

More allergy and wellness travel resources

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