Thousands of moms each year discover that an immediate family member has a food allergy, resulting in a dramatic lifestyle change for both the individual with allergies and the cook in the family. The good news is that if your family has just made this discovery, you will find many resources online to help you. Many moms have walked this road before you and it is possible to manage the allergies and still provide nutrition and taste when cooking. Below are some of the best resources for the major categories of food allergies, including websites and suggestions for cooking meals that are gluten-free, casein-free, and egg-free. If you have others to add to our list, let us know.
Websites dealing with food allergies and diet-related syndromes
The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network
The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN) is
the world’s largest nonprofit organization providing information about food allergy to the media, schools, health
professionals, pharmaceutical companies, the food industry, and government officials, as well as the
food-allergic community. They operate two sites for kids with allergies, http://www.faankids.org/ and http://www.faanteen.org/.
The GFCF Diet: Gluten Free Casein Free Food Wheat Free Dairy Free
Focused on dietary intervention treatment for autistic spectrum disorders, GFCF contains a large directory of acceptable foods for low protein diets.
GlutenFree.com
Resource for gluten-free foods
Celiac Disease Foundation
This is a large site with product listings, how to deal with holidays, recommended books, and more.
Living Without
The Living Without magazine is a publication for people with food allergies. Their website has articles (available as excerpts of back issues of the magazine), resources, event dates, recipes, and more.
New Diets
Website with gluten-free, casein-free recipes; the site is set up strangely so when you click on a food category at the top right, the recipes display in the lower box on the right, not in the main content area on the left.
Kids With Food Allergies: Food Allergy Support and Food Allergy Recipes
Kids With Food Allergies is a national nonprofit food allergy support group dedicated to fostering optimal health, nutrition, and well-being of children with food allergies by providing education and a caring support community for their families and caregivers. It is a large site with many useful resources including publications, posters, recipes, news, allergy alerts, and more.
Resources for purchasing gluten-free, casein-free (GFCF) foods
Orgran Natural Foods
Resource for GFCF foods; back issues of their Everyday Health magazine can be downloaded (PDF)
Enjoy Life Foods
Resource for gluten-free and allergy-friendly foods; website includes good informational resources including wallet-sized quick reference cards
Ener-G Foods
Foods for diet-restricted individuals, including dairy-free, low-protein, and gluten-free products; their egg replacers are recommended by moms on Menus4Moms Yahoo group
Starting a GFCF diet:
This is not medical advice and should not be taken as such, just a list of ideas. Please use discretion and diligence to follow the advice of your doctor and read labels.
Suggestions from Connie on Menus4Moms Yahoo group:
My suggestion is to throw out "recipes" and instead cook and serve her
plain food. "Plain" includes salt & pepper for seasoning, but avoid
seasoned salt or any spice mixes. Adobo, for example, can contain gluten.
This means cooking things like:
- Plain meat, roasted or grilled with no additions (chicken, beef, pork).
If you buy the packages of individually frozen chicken breasts or
thighs, they need to be the ones without added fillers or solutions.
Whole chicken is best, doesn't have to be organic. Frozen fish is also
susceptible to additions. Don't add anything except water or oil--no
butter, barbeque sauce, soy sauce, salad dressing, canned cream of
anything soup, packaged dry onion soup mix, etc. No catsup, sorry. No
sausage mixes: Italian sausage, breakfast sausage, bratwurst, hot
dogs. Brand-name ham and bacon should be ok, but read labels carefully.
- Plain vegetables, fresh or frozen, raw or steamed: carrots, peas,
green beans, broccoli, spinach, cauliflower, corn, cabbage, tomatoes.
Baked potatoes. Not frozen hash browns or french fries. Onions added
to anything for flavor, esp. if they're cooked in a little oil.
- Plain fruit, fresh or frozen: choices are wide open here.
- Rice cooked from raw. No rice mixes such as Rice a Roni. Other grains
such as quinoa, spelt, barley, etc. should also be ok. Oatmeal cooked
from scratch is ok, no instant just-add-hot-water mixes. [Ed note: these grains may be contimated with gluten during processing even though the grains themselves do not contain gluten]
- Dried beans/lentils/split peas cooked from raw. Again, no bean mixes
that have their own flavoring added.
- Soups made from only the above ingredients. Don't used canned broth as
a starter for soups. Use your own vegetable water or broth from
cooking meat.
- Sorry, no cheese. For a beverage, go with water.
It's hard to follow a "plain food" regimen, because we aren't used to cooking from whole foods, but it's very healthful, and it should actually be cheaper than the way most American families eat. Our family isn't there, but this is really the model I strive for.
Recommendations for Cream Soup Substitutions
Suggestions from Jammie, a Menus4Moms Yahoo group member:
If you have a grinder, you can make your own rice flour and bean
flours. I have 2 cookbooks full of recipes for that type of diet. They are Country Beans by Rita Bingham and Natural Meals in Minutes by Rita Bingham.
Here is a recipe that you might try...sorry I haven't tried it. It isn't for
bread, but considering how many recipes call for Cream of Chicken Soup, I think
it might be helpful for you.
3 Minute Cream of Chicken Soup
- 6 c. boiling water
- 1 c. fine white bean flour (Grind your own or look for Bob's Red Mill brand)
- 2 T. chicken or vegetable soup base (check label to make sure it GS/CF)
- 1 c. diced chicken pieces (opt.)
In a md. saucepan over md. heat, whisk bean flour into boiling water and add base. Stir and cook 3 minutes. Blend for 1-2 minutes. Add chicken, if used. Serves 3-4
Cream of Chicken Soup Substitute
This can be substituted for any recipe calling for condensed soup.
- 1 3/4 c. water
- 5 T. white bean flour
- 4 t. chicken bullion or soup base
Bring water and base to a boil. Whisk in bean flour. Mixture will be thick in 1 minute. Reduce heat and cook over medium low for 2 more minutes. Blend 2 minutes on high speed. Mixture thickens as it cools. This mixture can be refrigerated up to a week.