Meal Planning With Allergies 101

Pulled pork on a bagel with pickles and cabbage. all on a picnic blanket.

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The basics - why a meal plan is awesome.
Why do we do this?
We are new to SFED and elimination diets. How can I do this?!
What benefits are in a meal plan for our budgets?
But a meal plan takes time!
Meal planning with allergies is HARD!
Are the meal plans from a medical or health professional?
Will it work for everyone?
This Week's Meal Plan
The Collection of Meal Plans Weeks 1-10
The Collection of Meal Plans Weeks 11-20
The Collection of Meal Plans Weeks 21-30
The Collection of Meal Plans Weeks 31-40
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The basics - why a meal plan is awesome.

Whether you are new to an elimination diet or have been slogging along for a long time meal planning with allergies is something that can help you and your family enjoy your food and meals. Here is the deal every week we sit down and make a plan for what we are going to have for dinner each night. Find our family's weekly meal plans at the bottom of the page. Click on the pictures to get the full meal plan, top tips, and links to the recipes.

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Why do we do this?

The short answer - we cannot eat out so this keeps us on track.

The long answer - We need to plan. Like I said before we can't just order in so on busy days or days I am exhausted we NEED a plan. It needs to be something that everything is all bought and in our fridge and pantry. We have a variety of tastes in our family, some of our kids like more flavours and spice than others, we have some REALLY picky eaters, and some that will eat anything and everything. Our kids are growing and the food bills are rising, especially on a restricted diet food is expensive!!! Not just kind of pricey but down right bank breaking, putting you in overdraft wallet draining, EXPENSIVE!!! We have four kids who since they aren't fighting their trigger foods are now big eaters. our budget is in the forefront of our minds when we make dinner for 6 every night.

We are new to SFED and elimination diets. How can I do this?!

I remember just starting out and crying a lot. Not a tiny bit but for days. When I let it all out I sat down with all our favourite recipes and all our recipe books to go through each recipe to see what we could still eat. I had zero idea what substitutions were safe for us or what would work where. It left me feeling pretty defeated. I worried we were going to eat the same meal every night for the rest of our lives. After many, and I mean MANY trials and errors, loads of research, and a huge learning curve we came up with tried and true recipes our kids loved. Our email meal plans will help you find what works for you and how you can eat everything but with different ingredients that are safe for you.

What benefits are in a meal plan for our budgets?

We try to keep to foods that are in season to keep our food costs down. Our killer trick is we eat leftovers every week. In our meal planning with allergies we put in days that are set to use up the leftovers. Some weeks it is just a jumble of what is left over, 2 kids choose a burger and the other two will finish up the leftover soup, and the adults will finish up the pasta. Other weeks, we take the leftovers and everyone eats the same thing jazzed up in a new meal with a short prep time. The leftovers are also fabulous for lunch.

Many days the kids will take a thermos full of hot chilli or spaghetti in their school lunches. It breaks up the monotony of sandwiches and cold lunches. They like to time them to days their schools have special lunches brought in.

But a meal plan takes time!

Our meal plans are flexible, you can switch up the days you make a certain meal to tailor it to your schedule and activities. The only ones you cannot really change up are the leftovers unless you also move the main meal before that too, of course. So if Wednesday you have kids going to activities or you have a late meeting you can change the schedule around to have what works for you that night. Spending a few minutes a week to plan can save you so much time and frustration later. If you sign up for our weekly meal plan emails we do all the planning for you. All you need to do is go shopping and make dinner!

Meal planning with allergies is HARD!

Once you have been doing meal plans for a while it gets easier. We set aside a certain day to do all of our shopping. For us less trips to the store means less impulse buys. I tend to grab that coconut ice cream I don't need but now have seen and really want and now need to get enough for the whole family. Unless I eat it in the parking lot alone. No judgement here, I *may* have snuck in treats here and there. I do the shopping, I felt I deserved it.

Every week's meal plan will be archived so you can find ideas that work for you easily. If you make your own meal plans and are looking for the perfect recipe check in the archives. We want to help you find what works for you. Our goal is to make food no longer an enemy and planning no longer something you dread.

Are the meal plans from a medical or health professional?

No. We are parents with zero medical or dietician and nutritional training. What we are sending and posting is our family's meal plan.

Will it work for everyone?

No. Restrictions differ from person to person and many kids with EoE need extra nutrition and balancing that can only be done with a pro. What we can help with is to give you ideas of what meals you'd like to make, show you how we substitute for our restrictions so you can work with your medical and dietician team to find what works for you and your health. Always go with what your health team says, they are the professionals.

One thing we have found useful is if we find a new trigger or our team asks for what the kids have eaten. We can produce a list with recipes in minutes. All the info is in our meal plan! it has helped see what is and isn't working for our kids. The plans are a great resource for food allergy monitoring.