Food budget will go through the roof!!

whatatwit

Just to confirm a previous poster, Lidl had organic carrots when I was there this morning, they were included in the half price offer as well. 42p for 750g I think.

alice's_mum

Hi jamiedodger, my dd (4) has a MSG and aspartame free diet, and it is surprisingly easy to do once you get into the hang of which things have aspartame and/or msg in. LIdl and Aldi are surprisingly good at things like drinks and yoghurts which DON't have either of these things in. Hardly any lidl cartons of juice have aspartame in. in aldi you have to check the particular bottle/carton, but it's surprising what you can get.

As someone said above, it's worth taking it slowly but definately cut out the Aspartame/MSG as a first base and then work in the other stuff you need. I don't find my food budget is any higher it's just a case of reading everything, if you've not bought it before, once you know your in the clear with it, it goes in each week or how ever often you buy it. Making things from scratch is the way to go with most non additives, we have very little if any "prepared food" and yet I don't spend a fortune.

Good luck with it, it's worth doing, my DD has Trichtillomania (she pulls her own hair out), but withdrawing aspartame and MSG and some other foods she now has a lovely (if thin) head of hair.

Emmzi

Jamie,

I ate gluten-free macrobiotically for about 2 years (I think) and I could feed myself really well without gluten etc for about a fiver a week. Eliminating costly meat and dairy and going mainly vegan really cut the cost.

The supplements are a different issue, but you've done tight budget meal planners before - don't assume you need prescription food straight off, there are other ways.

So don't panic, and don't waste your cash in the 'free from' aisle of the supermarket. Just start with a list of what has to be eliminated, and go from there.

edited to include recipe sites

http://www.autismshare.com/
http://www.woggle-bug.com/gfcf-diet-lunchbox-ideas/
http://www.wellnessgrocer.com/gluten-free-c-1383.html

looby-loo_2

Hi, I do wish you good luck!

As has been said Lidl have an excellent range of fresh vegetables although I have bought very few because I try to grow my own where possible. If you can cook from scratch you will know exactly what goes in to it and will definately save money.

One thing, remember to watch what he has for school dinner/breaks. A mother I know was so careful to control what her son ate, I think often bribing him but he spent the money she gave him on junk at lunchtime and my goodness what a difference in his behaviour before and after lunch! (ADHD in ths case)

Toto

My daughter has autism and we had her on the gluten free diet for a while, for her it made no difference at all, we began to re-introduce foods again after about 2 years and still no change. I do know though that lots of parents get great results so it's certainly worth a try. Don't feel bad though if it doesn't work, some kids respond to different things to others.

I have always given my daughter food which is additive free where possible, but that's a life choice rather than something to help her autism. It doesn't have to be expensive, in fact I often find organic foods in the reduced section. Grow veggies yourself (been meaning to do that for years) and home bake as much as you can. Good luck, I really hope it works for you.

JAMIEDODGER

toto - oh its not the diet that is the therapy, my son is going on chelation therapy but has to be on this diet first. i am determined to give the whole process my all as there are children recovering from autism after this therapy, speaking, toilet trained and attending mainstream school with no trace of autism so the diet is just the first step...

Little_Miss_Winner

JD, I really don't know a lot about autism, or gf foods.

But i used to work in a medical centre, and one of the patients used to order gf food on repeat prescription for her child.
Think the child was under the local hospital though (nhs), under either a clinic there, or a consultant. Not sure about his condition?

But, i do know she used to order loads of gf bread, rolls, pizza bases, biscuits etc. On repeat prescription.

Wonder if your medical centre would issue nhs scripts for you child? Could ask, worth a try?

Hugs
pot
xx

painted_lady

I know an awful lot about autism and have studied it at post graduate level, work with it on a daily basis and have 3 close family members with autism, dont expect the diet to be cure, IT IS NOT, but in some cases it can help the behavioural aspects. Social Interaction has much better results, see https://www.intensiveinterction.co.uk
Good luck,

ZTD

Such a diet doesn't have to be expensive in money but it will be in time - you will have to do a *lot* of label reading.

Cheap, convienient, wholesome: choose any two.

If something screams "Gluten free" at you, then it will be more expensive than they identical thing, but without the label.

While I remember: "Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein" IS "Monosodium Glutamate".

Toto

Wow ok, just done a bit of reading and it looks interesting. How long do the kids need the chelation therapy for? and how is that administered? I will be really interested to know how you get on. My daughter is 9 now and although she has developed language in the past couple of years she is developmentally a 2 year old. My guess would be that her disability is too severe to allow a therapy to ever get her to mainstream school ability. But, anything that could give her a better chance at developing life skills is worth thinking about.