Maybe ask the parents of allergic child about hidden ingredients to be aware of—they should know.
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Can’t all the kids eat the same diet as the allergic one? I know the others have their favorite foods, but can’t they all eat the new special/fun/vacation food for a week?
I think that’s what I’d do especially while this grandson is so little and still putting things in his mouth or playing with toys that may be contaminated. “Hey, everyone, fruit pops for snack.” “how about some XXX that are grandson’s favorite. He wants to share with you.”
If the other foods aren’t in the house, they can’t have them and will have to eat something else.
My friends with a celiac child just didn’t have anything with gluten in the house, even though they could eat it and so could grandchildren (who they watched several times a week). Easier than trying to keep it all separate.
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That will eventually come as he gets older but for now the allergic child has a very curated menu. His parents make all his food. They batch prep and freeze foods that are also good for his health condition.
Agreed. One of my kids had a milk allergy - among others - when young and it was one of the harder allergies to deal with because it’s in a lot more things than we realize. Casein, whey are just two protein ingredients we had to look for and they’re found in crackers, bread, and just so many things you wouldn’t associate with dairy. I’m sure that alternative cheese has come a long way since then, but every type of alternative cheese was gross back then. We just avoided it altogether.
The thing I worried about in playgroups and among young kids that age was things like wrong sippy cup accidentally being picked up because 2 year olds will put it all in their mouth. We did not offer milk to even our other child for that reason. It was safer if everyone just drank soy milk (Our other child had a nut allergy so almond milk wasn’t an option).
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Oat milk is another consideration —no nuts.
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Another thing about dairy allergies is that things can be legally be labeled “non-dairy” while still containing dairy. It’s insane.
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We are getting ready for a week at a lake with all the family. We need to bring most
Of the food. We have some menus planned that accommodate the allergies but I’m struggling with bread. Allergies are dairy, egg, sesame, mustard for the 2 year old. Garlic for one adult,almonds and soy for another adult.
I’m surprised at how many bread products have sesame flour in them. I also still need to get a vegan butter. Not sure if I can find a vegan mayo with no mustard.
These are the two best plant-based butters, and they are available in most grocery stores.
I heard they changed the olive oil one and people don’t like it as much. I’ve always used the avocado one. (It does have soy)
I think all of the versions of Earth Balance are good, but the soy free would meet all of your needs.
Hellman’s plant based mayo is mustard free. Stores around me are all carrying it.
Your best bet for bread is going to be a local place that does sourdough. IF you have a Trader Joe’s nearby, they have a sourdough with no sesame, eggs or soy. Trader Joe’s is very good about listing sesame as an allergen and seems to try to avoid it in their products.
Thanks, I think Hellmans might be the same as Best Foods. I’ll have to check. I found a potato sandwich bread at a local grocery store that looks like it satisfies all the criteria. They didn’t have the recommended vegan butter so I got a Mykonos oat milk one.
You might want to taste the Myoko’s one butter. While I like it, they’ve recently changed their formula and it tastes very “sour”. I would not bake with it.
I’ll try it on toast before we leave. . I’ll do another shopping on the way to the lake so I can keep looking. Not planning on doing any baking. I have regular butter for when the dairy allergy family goes home.
Yes, Hellman’s is ‘Best in the West’. I think the two brands merged years (and years) ago and kept their names with an east/west split.
Tons of shopping done for 8 adults and 4 toddlers. I’m at my daughters house so not
My regular markets. I feel I did pretty good. The two stores we
Went today did not have the Hellmans mayonnaise. I bought Sir Kensington which is
Migraine friendly for my one daughter. None of the kids are going to be eating a sandwich. I don’t know if anyone will use it but we can use it once the allergy GS goes home.
I tried the Mykonos vegan butter on toast and I didn’t dislike it.
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Update- we made it through the 5 days together with no allergic reactions. We have some meals we can repeat in the future. Thank you all for the suggestions.
Next up is a family reunion.
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