Living with Food Allergies: Eating at Home

Living with food allergies is challenging. Feeding food allergy kids can be scary. It’s definitely more mental work than feeding a regular child/person. As the mom of two egg allergy kiddos, I’ve learned a thing or two along the way. If you have just received an allergy diagnosis, this might be helpful.

Feeding Food Allergy Kids at Home

I find eating at home to be less frightening, but sometimes more work than just going out to eat. Here are some steps to keep your kids safe:

• Prepare their food first. If you are making something separate for the allergy person, prep his/her food first. My husband and daughter love spaghetti. Safe noodles can be a challenge to find, so I always make Riley something different (usually chicken nuggets). On these nights, I prepare his food first. By doing this, I know his food will not be subject to cross-contamination.
  • We always assemble Riley and Remy’s plates first. When we grill burgers at home, we will get their plates made up before anyone opens the mayonnaise.
• Have equipment dedicated to egg-use… and equipment never used with eggs. If your allergy is highly sensitive, like my boys, then the doc probably told you shared equipment is not ok. The dangerous proteins can hide out on pots, pans, spatulas, mixers, etc. Most of what we use at home is safe for the boys. We have specific kitchen items assigned for egg-use. There is one frying pan that Stu and I use if we are making scrambled eggs (rare, but we do). I have 2 Instant Pots – a big one for egg use and a smaller one for that egg-free life. My stand mixer is purely egg-free. I even have a set of cooking utensils that remains egg-free.
  • I know, this seems like a lot of work. It is. The best way to accomplish this is to color coordinate. The egg-free utensils are grey. I ordered this set from Amazon, I love it. It looks great on the counter, and I know it is safe for the boys’ food.
• Consider cutting the allergen out altogether. It is really difficult with an allergy toddler to eat allergen food… he wants to try everything. Riley has no interest in snacking off our plates, he has a healthy level of fear when it comes to new things. But Remy is usually curious. He wants to take a bite of your tuna fish sandwich; he wants to taste the pasta salad.
  • We are mostly egg-free. I rarely make eggs… like scrambled, hard-boiled, etc. But we do still have mayo and other items like that which contain egg.

Later this month, I’ll share what it’s like to dine out with food allergies.

Brands that saved our food allergy journey:

• Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer – I have the TEAL one! It is perfect for making egg-free cupcakes!
• Instant Pot – Like I said, I have 2. The smaller one is exclusively egg-free.
• Instant Pot Accessories – These will make your life so much easier. I have several of the “silicone egg molds”. I use blue in my bigger IP for egg bites (Reagan likes them for breakfast). The purple ones are for egg-free foods in the egg-free IP.

Delicious egg-free recipes:

Riley LOVES these. And he fully endorses them. Click on the pics for the recipes.

I’ll share some more yummy recipes soon!

Thanks for reading!

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