Do you cook for someone who has food allergies?
Cooking real food is work enough, but when you’ve navigating around food allergies, the challenge is multiplied. In my family, my youngest son is highly allergic to many common foods including gluten, eggs and nuts. My husband has intolerances to gluten, nuts and dairy. You’d better believe this mama needs a plan!
Working around these various needs was overwhelming at first, but these 6 tips make it possible to cook around food allergies in my kitchen and I’m sure they’ll help you too.
Although food allergies certainly keeps me busy, these few strategies help me stay efficient in the kitchen while sticking to a grocery budget AND keeping everyone’s tummy full.
6 Tips for Cooking Around Food Allergies
1. Make multiple versions of similar dishes.
This is the way to go for special foods like cookies and cakes. I might make a safe cookie for my youngest and my husband (like these gluten-free, egg-free chocolate crinkle cookies) and then a “regular” cookie for the other kids. Cooking this way keeps the budget from getting out of hand (those gluten-free flours are so expensive!), but it creates a lot more work to make two recipes instead of just one. That’s why I usually use this tactic in combination with the next one…
2. Make extra batches to freeze.
If I’m going to make two different versions of cookies, it’s MUCH easier to make an extra batch – while I’m already making cookies in the first place – and pop unbaked cookie dough in the freezer (properly labeled of course). This saves me TONS of time the next time I want to make cookies.
3. Make the allergy-friendly version first.
Frequently, with baking, I’ll take advantage of a clean kitchen and make the allergy-safe version first. Then I can make the “regular” version without first worrying about cleaning up all the dust from the flour, crumbs from the nuts or drips from eggs. I may even skip washing the bowl completely (shh, don’t tell!) if the recipes are similar.
This strategy doesn’t change the flavor of my second batch of cookies and there’s no worry about accidental cross-contamination since the “safe” cookies are already finished baking. At the end of the baking session, I can clean the kitchen thoroughly. This saves a lot of clean-up time.
4. Serve “build-your-own” meals.
Meals like tacos or loaded baked potatoes can easily be customized at the table based on each person’s needs and wants. I put out corn taco shells for my son and flour tortillas for the other boys. My husband and I stick to a salad. My husband avoids the sour cream and cheese and everyone enjoys the other toppings. I love this kind of meal because it’s no extra work for me.
5. Stick to the “lowest common denominator.”
I use all the above techniques, but often, I’ll just serve a meal that everyone can eat. My older kids enjoy sandwiches for lunch and eggs for breakfast, so it’s not a big deal to them if their dinner is designed with their brother’s allergy restrictions in mind.
6. Plan, plan, plan!
It goes without saying that a good meal plan is a lifesaver when you’re navigating food allergies. For us, eating out isn’t practical since my son usually ends up itchy from cross-contamination when we do. We can’t realistically resort to eating out if we don’t have a plan for dinner.
A Few Safety Cautions…
Thankfully for us, we have not had to eliminate my son’s allergens from the house, although we are extra careful around peanut butter. Of course you will need to take the needs of your allergy sufferer into account and avoid any of these tips that would put your loved one at risk. When in doubt, consult your doctor.
A few other tips:
- Make sure to use dedicated serving spoons at the table
- Make sure similar foods don’t look too much alike. For instance, I usually make allergy-safe muffins in the mini size and “regular” ones in the larger muffin tin. This way, it’s easy to know which one is which.
- Clearly label all leftovers. A glass marker or a piece of masking tape works great for this.
Cooking for someone with food allergies isn’t really that hard, but it does have a learning curve.
For some easy allergy-friendly snack ideas, check out my Allergy-safe Real Snack Food Cheatsheet (with gluten-free, egg-free, nut-free, dairy-free options).
I don’t have to do this, thankfully, as it has always sounded like a monumental task to me. But breaking it down this way makes it seem much more manageable.
Yes it does! The idea of dealing with allergies scares me, and makes me thankful that I don’t have to. BUT, these tips make it seem SO much more practical, and not far out of reach. 🙂
Thanks for the great tips! They are well thought out. The link to the allergy safe real snack food cheatsheet keeps coming up with an error.
Thanks Erica! We’ll get that fixed. 🙂
Sorry about that – it’s working now. Thank you!
My 6 year old is anaphylactic to peanuts and eggs…we avoid most tree nuts as well (he can have almonds that have not come in contact with any peanuts or tree nuts, Barney Butter is great for this!). We nearly lost him during his first reaction to peanuts at 15 months old, so we tend to keep his allergens out of the house. I do keep eggs sometimes, but I am super careful. We have a dedicated small skillet and spatula for the occasional times that we cook eggs. I pre-wash everything that I use to cook eggs (and throw away whatever I use to clean them.) before running them through the dishwasher.
It sounds like you take great precautions for allergies in your home Melinda, and with good reason! It’s a blessing to families who deal with allergies to NOT have to go to such great lengths, but safety ALWAYS comes first. Good idea for having a dedicated skillet and spatula, and tossing the sponge you use to clean it. Do you buy chance cut your sponges to make them last longer? Cutting them into thirds might help stretch that portion a bit. 😉
That reaction must have been terrifying, Melinda. We have never had one like that, although we are prepared. It sounds like you are taking excellent precautions. Do you think he might outgrow his allergies? My doctor has mentioned my son still has a good chance of outgrowing most of his so I am hopeful.
Thanks for sharing.
This is a very helpful list, especially for beginners. We have a daughter who is on FODMAPS, cannot have dairy, gluten or any gluten cross-reactive foods. (No corn, rice, millet, nuts, honey, eggs, chocolate, oats, garlic, onion, yeast, potato, apples, to name a few) We do good to be able to have one sit down meal together each week. My other kids are sensitive to dairy, have trouble digesting certain foods, and so on. A good Meal Plan is necessary to NOT break the bank each month and keep everyone healthy. That’s why the Frugal Real Food Meal Plans are working for us. It’s been easier for me to tweak the recipes that have already been laid out, than to reinvent the wheel each week. That allows me to pay more attention to my children and enjoy our days together. Health issues in a family, whether big or small, can really zap you!
Thanks Peanutplus7! Although the credit must go to Sarah. 🙂 I truly think it’s awesome that you’re USING the meal plan how it best suits your family, rather than not using a plan at all and hoping for the best. You’ve got your hands full as it is; why not use a tool if it helps? 🙂 I’m glad you’re able to spend more time with your family!!
I myself am allergic to gluten so that takes away many food options when I’m dining out. Worst case scenario, I have medication to help control any side effects if i don’t have a choice.
My nephew had a list of food allergies so long as a kid it was bothering of ridiculous. But at the age of 14, he has outgrown most of them. He’s still allergic to chicken, seafood and beans though.