coastalgirl

I do not know if I need to pick up a white chip or not. I am not sure if I am overthinking. Foods with alcohol in them: I crave the food, I crave the taste, not the feeling, certainly not ruining the sobriety I have. had since 6/6/15.

In my one year of sobriety, there have been about 2 or 3 occasions where I ate something I knowingly had alcohol in it. All my life I had been told that alcohol was cooked out. And then on the other hand my sponsor says that there's still some left in foods that are cooked with it. Do I trust my husband? Or my sponsor with experience? But then again does she really know if alcohol is cooked out of foods?

I don't know. I just don't know.
I am working the steps, I call my sponsor, I go to meetings. I feel like I'm working the program and being honest with myself. I don't know if I am overthinking or not.

I love my sponsor, but now I'm feeling bad and she's basically asking me if I've been trying to find loopholes, or "an easier, softer way." Subconsciously? At all? My sobriety is very important to me and I did not eat these foods with the thought of going out. I want to make that very clear.

I forgot how much I loved these threads. Good to be back. You guys rock. Thanks for letting me share.

ZenLifter

Honestly not too sure about this. It seems like you're taking your sobriety pretty seriously. I mean, it's not like you're gorging yourself on these foods until you're drunk, right? Maybe with certain dishes there might be a way to prepare them without the alcohol?

Ambuler

Hmmm, maybe I'm wrong but when I originally had almost a year of sobriety, I still ate foods with alcohol in them. Like pasta dishes and such. I made sure I cooked the heck out of it for obvious reasons, but sometimes if a recipe calls for alcohol, it just tastes better with the wine or whatever. I serve these dishes to my child as well, which I would never do if I thought there was still alcohol in it after it was cooked. Simple as that. I never once considered this to be a relapse or anything. Never once. Now if you're talking about a rum cake or something, where you just basically let it soak up the booze and it isn't cooked, that's a whole other story...

It's up to you though.

Anna

This question comes up from time and time and alcohol does not cook out of food:

The highest rates of retention were with alcohol added to boiling liquid and then shortly after removed from heat. In this case, the alcohol retention rate was around 85%.

◾The second highest alcohol retention rate came when using the flaming method of cooking, which resulted in around a 75% retention level.

◾When using no heat and storing overnight, about 70% of the alcohol was retained.

◾When baked for 25 minutes with the mixture not being stirred, the retention rate was 45%.

◾When baked/simmered where the mixture is stirred, produced the following results: ◾15 minutes 40%
◾30 minutes 35%
◾1 hour 25%
◾1.5 hours 20%
◾2 hours 10%
◾2.5 hours 5%

Ambuler

Well all I can say is to my knowledge no one has ever gotten buzzed off of my shrimp scampi. As for my Christmas rum cake can't say the same lol

uncorked

My opinion (since you asked) is that it's going overboard to not eat food you enjoy because it has a trace amount of alcohol in it. For pete's sake, don't drink orange juice, then. That has more alcohol than N/A beer (ask your sponsor the last time she had o.j. with her cereal...) Actually, almost all fruit juices have some alcohol in them since they are fermented. So does hot sauce and some dijon mustards. I mean, you could go crazy avoiding all of this stuff. It's not like you're getting drunk on Tabasco. Here's just a partial list: (sorry if anyone's seen this in another post):
Mouthwash
Honey buns
Hot sauces
Sugarless gums (alcohol is a sweetener)
Inhalers
Hand sanitizers
Anti-bacterial soap
Household cleaning products (bleach, dish washing soap, glue, laundry detergent, air fresheners)
Windshield wiper fluid
Energy drinks
Protein Bars
Vitamins
Alcohol free beer or wine
Hygiene products (deodorant sprays, after shave, perfume, body sprays, toothpaste, cosmetics, skin applicants, mouthwash, insect repellent)
Medicines (suppressants, decongestants, antihistamines, sleeping aids, etc.)
Ripe fruit
Fermented soda drinks
Chewing tobacco/dip (fruit flavors)
Over the counter/prescription drugs (consult pharmacist)

Your sponsor has probably violated her own rule hundreds of times without knowing it.

FLCamper

I'd say you're a bona fide, sober recovering alcoholic with over a year of sobriety. Don't let her make you feel guilty or that you're somehow cheating. And don't let her take away your year of success. What kind of sponsor does that?
Congrats on your year! Just don't celebrate with any gum, hot sauce or windshield wiper fluid.

soberaccountant

It's hearing stuff like this that made me give up and leave AA. Never was sure I was much of an alcoholic anyway, but sometimes the people there are just well...they can go overboard.

oldsoul112249

I had an interesting experience. I had bbq meat and thought/felt nothing of it until someone told me it had whiskey in it. I freaked when I was aware and in my mind felt drunk.

Dee74

I've made a conscious effort to avoid foods with alcohol in them, not because I think I'm going to turn into Mr Hyde if I walk past a tiramisu...but because for me it makes things simple & it reflects my desire to stay in recovery, and to me it reflects the respect I have for my recovery..

I also don't miss the alcohol.

I honestly think taking the alcohol out of the recipes allow the other flavours to come out.

D

tursiops999

I don't cook with alcohol anymore, and I don't order dishes in restaurants that list alcohol in the description. Just keeping it simple for myself ... I avoid it.

That being said, if I found out I'd been served a dish cooked with alcohol at a dinner party or something, I wouldn't freak out or reset my date. If it wasn't my intention to use or get loaded, but an inadvertent ingestion, I wouldn't worry about it.

Andante

To me, practicing "rigorous honesty" and staying firm against an "easier softer way" has nothing to do with stressing about every stray molecule of alcohol that might inadvertently pass your lips, and everything to do with your intent.

If you check your intentions and are rigorously honest with yourself about them, then I don't think there's any need to stress too much over trace amounts of alcohol in cooked food. As Dee pointed out, it can be simpler just to avoid cooked foods with alcohol so the question doesn't even arise, but in all events the key phrase is "To thine own self be true." If any part of you secretly wants to get a buzz off eating food cooked with alcohol, then there's a problem.

In other threads on this topic, I've seen some great substitutes mentioned if the flavor of the alcoholic ingredient in the recipe is absolutely necessary.

advbike

It's all about the obsession, whether you do or not. Whether the little hint of a taste is going to cause one to obsess about it enough to want more. If so, then that's a problem. For me it wasn't. In three years I've had NA beers early on, and a few desserts that had a rum raisin sauce or similar and enjoyed them without remorse, relapse, or problems. Forgot the next day. But I'm a bit more wary now, knowing about the retention. It just makes it even more clear to me though, how much of this disease is mental.

Soberwolf

What D and Anna said also I think it would be a good idea having a sticky of this and NA alcohol for the amount of times these two things come up in threads

LadyBlue0527

Until I was on this board I didn't even think about alcohol content in food. I also assumed that when alcohol was used in cooking that most of the alcohol cooked off. Was surprised to find out that this wasn't true.

In conclusion I found that it's a personal choice and I respect that. I don't find anything wrong with that as long as there's honesty involved.

Here's some alcoholic thinking for you though. This happened after having read that some orange juices have a trace amount of alcohol. When I was last headed for my relapse I had begun drinking N/A beer. This made my husband very nervous. I tried to calm his fears by telling him that I could drink orange juice and it would have the same amount of alcohol. I think this speaks volumes to what I just mentioned about the importance of honesty with one's self.

I wouldn't have a problem eating the chili I make that requires a bottle of beer but that one bottle goes into an enormous pot and it cooks for a while. However, if it was a recipe where you could taste it forget it. Like rum cake. You wouldn't even catch me eating that if I wasn't sober.

Again, total respect for personal choice as long as it's coupled with honesty.

August252015

There are different types of alcohol. Don't think these are the ones we are really talking about.

uncorked

Some are different but all would test positive for alcohol, at least in North Carolina. Orange juice has more alcohol than N/A beer at .07% to .09% alcohol.

From a law firm that specializes in DUIs:

Additionally, in North Carolina, the devices used for testing have the alcohol detection rates set lower then any other jurisdiction in the country. Because of this, it is important to follow the steps listed above and avoid any of the following items which may contain trace amounts of alcohol:

Mouthwash
Honey buns
Hot sauces
Sugarless gums (alcohol is a sweetener)
Inhalers
Hand sanitizers
Anti-bacterial soap
Household cleaning products (bleach, dish washing soap, glue, laundry detergent, air fresheners)
Windshield wiper fluid
Energy drinks
Protein Bars
Vitamins
“Alcohol free” beer or wine
Foods cooked with or contained with alcohol
Hygiene products (deodorant sprays, after shave, perfume, body sprays, toothpaste, cosmetics, skin applicants, mouthwash, insect repellent)
Medicines (suppressants, decongestants, antihistamines, sleeping aids, etc.)
Ripe fruit
Fermented soda drinks
Chewing tobacco/dip (fruit flavors)

Foods or Drinks that May Contain Traces of Alcohol | MINICK LAW