Old style budget meals with dairy/soya allergies

Timetochange2014

My son has been dairy and soya free since he was four months old, he's now 2. We have spent a fair bit of our shopping budget in the past on free from products which can be really expensive.

Are there any top tips from old stylers on how to reduce a shopping budget when you have these types of issues to take into account?
Our weekly budget is £40
Thanks x

Soworried

Can you not just make normal meals instead of buying expensive free froms?
Spaghetti bolognese, shepards pies minus the cheese on top, tomato based pasta dishes, chicken roast dinners.
It shouldn't be too hard if you plan it out.

Timetochange2014

Forgot to add lo has eosinophilic esophagitis which means he care at any foods that can't be identifiable (so no saucy food) and food must be able to be eaten by tiny bite sizes

shandyclover

My kids are vegan, though obviously they do eat soya. I have found lots of recipes on Pinterest, you can do a quick search for dairy-free, soya-free recipes, though you would have to check each recipe individually as the search function doesn't always get it quite right.

http://www.pinterest.com/search/pins/?q=dairy%20free%20soya%20free%20recipes

Apart from Almond/Coconut/Rice/Oat milk, and Pure sunflower spread I have really not found any 'free from' products worth the money, to be honest. With research I have made my own dairy free cream, cheese and even milk, which my kids preferred to shop bought, though obviously it's all time consuming. I'm hoping being teenagers the knowledge of how to do all this stuff will stick when they go off to uni!:rotfl:

daisiegg

What free from products are you buying? What sort of things do you normally cook?

I am allergic to dairy, eggs and nuts and I don't think it really affects our shopping budget or the types of meals I make (with the exception of things like omelettes lol)

Timetochange2014

We buy loads, and I know we shouldn't. Things like cakes, biscuits, fruit flakes, cereal bars etc..

terra_ferma

There are good alternatives to soya milk, as your friend probably knows, almond milk is great to bake or make shakes, if he likes its taste.
I think baking your own, once you have learnt how to do it, is the best way to be able to control ingredients and eat great cakes.
Baking is not that difficult, you could even cheat and buy a bread machine with a bake programme...
I agree, stay away from 'free from' food aisles, they are just a rip off, once a food is labelled 'free from' the price shoots up.

parkgirl

terra_ferma wrote: »

There are good alternatives to soya milk, as your friend probably knows, almond milk is great to bake or make shakes, if he likes its taste.
I think baking your own, once you have learnt how to do it, is the best way to be able to control ingredients and eat great cakes.
Baking is not that difficult, you could even cheat and buy a bread machine with a bake programme...
I agree, stay away from 'free from' food aisles, they are just a rip off, once a food is labelled 'free from' the price shoots up.

I'm in agreement. I am lactose intolerant and it costs a fortune if you use a lot of the free from stuff. Much easier to make your own from scratch. And I suffer with oesophigitis - my sympathies on that score

Linda32

Timetochange2014 wrote: »

We buy loads, and I know we shouldn't. Things like cakes, biscuits, fruit flakes, cereal bars etc..

I have to say, I had to Google the condition and I still don't really understand what it is. However, if you are buying cakes, biscuits etc can you make your own? Could you swap fruit flakes for fruit?


I assume your son is under medical care or a dietician, do they give any support?


Does the condition mean you have to have soya free, I would have thought that was easy as pie. Its normally the other way round and you have soya rather than milk.

kezlou

Not sure if this is, any good my youngest chokes very easily so his shops has to be cut quite small.

How about mince beef mash and gravy. Its stodgy but should be easy to swallow. Or even leave out the gravy.

Almond milk is quite good as is goats milk and you can use both in cooking

theoretica

Flapjacks are a good alternative to bought bars- you can add nearly anything you want and replace butter with sunflower or other oils.