Allergy-Friendly Meals & Snacks
Inevitably, as you begin to sort through all that is entailed in safely managing food allergies, your child will tell you he or she is hungry… now. Here are some tips, snack ideas and allergy-friendly meals that will get you off to a confident start.
A Different Approach
It’s easy to get bogged down with checking ingredient lists and manufacturing practices when you’re first learning about food allergies. One of the best ways to take the complications out of food allergies is to think of food in simple terms. Fruit, vegetables, beans, lean, grass-fed meat, and seeds are top-8 allergen friendly and do not contain hidden ingredients. Fish or nuts could be added to that list as well, depending on the allergies you’re managing.
Simplify, Simplify, Simplify
When you start to think of meals in these simple terms, it takes the stress out of meal planning and grocery shopping. Here are some lists of common fruits, vegetables, proteins and fats that can be mixed and matched to create simple, wholesome family meals:
| Vegetables (starchy) | Vegetables | Proteins | Fats | Grains | Fruit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| sweet potatoes | dark, leafy greens | black beans | olive oil | buckwheat | berries |
| squash | carrots | navy beans | coconut oil | millet | citrus |
| corn | broccoli | pinto beans | flaxseed oil | oats | grapes |
| white/red potatoes | asparagus | chick peas | avocado | brown/black rice | apples |
| beets | green beans | grass-fed beef | flax seeds | quinoa | peaches |
| parsnip | Brussels sprouts | free-range poultry | chia seeds | amaranth | pears |
| yam | artichoke | lamb | olives | bulgur | cherries |
| bell peppers | bison | chocolate | grits | raisins | |
| radishes | adzuki bean miso | coconut milk | bananas |
Table Reference: The Institute for Functional Medicine (2014). The Core Food Plan. Retrieved from functionalmedicine.org
Quick Bites
cut vegetables with homemade hummus from Weelicious- fruit (apples, bananas, pears, berries, etc.)
- avocado on wheat/egg-free toast from the Allergy Friendly Kitchen
- apple slices dipped in SunButter (sunflower seed butter)
- fruit salad sprinkled with chia seeds
- Oh She Glows seed crackers with guacamole or SunButter
- homemade granola from the Conscious Eatery
- rice cakes with apple butter and sunflower seeds
- Wellness Mama’s chia seed pudding (with non-dairy milk)
- smoothie with fruit, vegetables, greens, hemp/pea protein powder, water or non-dairy milk and a dab of coconut oil
cut vegetables with homemade hummus from Remember, it’s personal…
What might be allergy-friendly for you may not be right for me. It’s important to remember that this term is thrown around a lot in the world of food production. Labels like “allergy-free” are unreliable for most of the food-allergic population. Nothing really beats reading food labels closely, asking questions of food manufacturers or chefs, and holding a lot of compassion for each other as we navigate this way of life.
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