Our family is on-the-go quite a bit. We do try to keep fresh fruit, organic pre-packaged snacks, and other healthy quick snacks packed with us. However, we follow the 80-20 rule. 80% of what we eat is pretty dang good, but a good 20% not so much. Balance is a good thing in my book. For my own sanity, and because it tastes delicious, we love hitting different fast food joints for a quick snack or bite to eat. Especially if we are on a road trip or going from one child’s activity to the next.
We have lots of Sonic Drive-Thru’s in Arizona. I originally loved them for their Happy Hour fountain drinks. I don’t drink coffee, so a little caffeinated fountain drink gets a mom through the day til Daddy comes home!
Allergen Friendly Menu
They have a great allergen menu PDF. It’s a couple of years old so there are some things that are temporary seasonal items, new, or otherwise not on the menu. It lists what allergens from the Top 8, as well as any “may contain”. It’s pretty dang awesome!
What Our Family Orders
My kids love to get the popcorn chicken, chicken tenders, hot dogs, french fries, tater tots, and the “temporary item” (hopefully they permanently add it to the menu because it’s delish!!!), pretzels! We love that they have safe pretzels for my peanut shellfish allergic kiddo, because the other local pretzel places we have tried were not safe. So that is fun, and he’s a carb-kid through and through!
Bunless Burgers
My husband is gluten-free, and he loves to get any of their burgers minus the bun. I have done this too, and my favorite with no bun, is the Jalapeño Double Cheeseburger (no bun). It’s what dreams are made of!
Drinks
We DO NOT let our son get any of their shakes or ice cream type drinks. We personally don’t feel 100% confident in that since they do have a lot of peanut butter candies. However, we would feel safe if he chose to have a soda. Crazy thing is he doesn’t like fountain drinks! He actually really just likes water, so we order him a small ice water and all is well.
We avoided Sonic for a long time when my son was first diagnosed, but as we slowly ventured out and began investigating, we realized that there were a few safe options that he could order. It’s been well worth the effort to find what works for our family! Sometimes it feels like a needle in a haystack, but it’s so worth it!
