Dietary Concerns
There are always choices at a meal, including various hot and cold cereals, egg dishes, breakfast meat, etc. at breakfast, and always an extensive salad bar and various side dishes at lunch and dinner. Keep in mind, however, that our cooks are typically preparing meals for up to 250+ people throughout the day (plus cleaning, ordering food, etc.). We are not staffed to be able to prepare separate entrees for individual campers. Therefore...
Non-Allergy Issues - (e.g. vegetarian diet): We typically have some campers each week with various food preferences that do not line-up with the main entree at a particular meal, and have several program staff with more restrictive diets who spend the summer at camp with no food issues. If you are concerned, however, feel free to send some supplementary food items up with your camper, if needed.
Food Allergies / Dietary Restrictions - (see Nut Allergies, below, if applicable): We serve gluten-free alternatives for those needing them, as well as almond milk for those unable to drink milk. If your child has food allergies requiring further restrictions, please do send supplementary food items with your camper. We can store both refrigerated and pantry items in the kitchen where your child’s counselor will have access. Just check-in with the kitchen staff during registration on the first day of camp. Finally, if it would be helpful to know in advance what items we serve will be safe for your child to eat, please email our kitchen supervisor on the Friday before the Sunday your child’s camp begins and she will send you a menu for the coming week. Please only email Ruth if there is a concern related to your camper's food allergies at: ruth@campspalding.org. We are NOT able to take time to track down specific ingredients of the various menu items, however (if in doubt, please pack a substitute food item). And again, there are always choices at a meal, including various hot and cold cereals, egg dishes, etc. at breakfast, and always an extensive salad bar and various side dishes at lunch and dinner. Thanks for your understanding!
Nut Allergies - While Camp Spalding is NOT completely nut free, we are nut-sensitive at all elementary-aged camps (including Mom/Dad & Me and Family Camps). We take the following precautions:
- Nuts are not included in any meals or desserts served to our campers (though we cannot guarantee that all ingredients are made in nut-free environments). Peanut oil is not used for cooking.
- Parents are asked to not include nuts or nut-based products in care packages.
- No nut-based snacks or candy are sold in the camp store
- The above practices are intended to allow an elementary-aged camper with a nut allergy (allergic to ingesting nuts or coming into contact with nuts) to be able to attend camp without fear of an allergic event. We do not, however, imply that the above will necessarily protect against an airborne allergic reactions to nuts.