In need of food ideas (GF)

chirpychick

Hi, long time no post lol 
Hope everyone is doing well! 
My almost 9 year old Autistic son is allergic to cows milk protein, my husband allergic to nuts, kiwi, banana, grapes, celery and now my son is Gluten intolerant! 
We do eat meat, though not often and I really am funny with chicken (I am also autistic with food texture issues). 
I am really struggling to come up with meals that all 3 of us can sit and eat of an evening. 
The gluten intolerance has only just been picked up on and honestly has made such a remarkable difference to him that i'm scared to let even the smallest amount be consumed as prior to coming off it he was so sickly. 
He is generally very good with veggies though no mushrooms, aubergines or courgettes. 
The food shopping is sky high and having moved this year into a house that's been non stop problems I really need to stick to our budget. 
Can anyone help with any recipes? preferably a couple of really quick and easy ones for those nights we have clubs. 
At the moment he will enjoy GF pasta and pesto, omelette with spinach, onions and dairy free cheese, baked potato with dairy free cheese and beans, roast dinners always go down well with beef, beef casserole, he also really likes white fish but i'll confess I haven't ever made it from scratch just brought battered/breaded ones which he obviously can't have now. Everyone enjoys sausage and mash obvs GF sausages. My husband will eat all kinds of spicy chilli and curry etc but I cannot eat anything spicy as it makes me sick lol. 
Do you see my dilemma? Any suggestions or recipes would be gratefully received.

caronc

Crushed (gluten free) cornflakes make a very good crumb coating for white fish (and all sorts of other things) and would let you keep something you know your son enjoys in his diet.  

CapricornLass

I do feel for you.  I also cook for a son who is on a gluten free / casein free diet, and I am allergic to nuts and to gluten, and my other son's partner is allergic to eggs.  Mealtimes can be quite a challenge.  Much of the time its a case of learning to adapt your current recipes.  My go to for that is  How to Cook for Food Allergies by Lucinda Bruce-Gardyne.  She's Pru Leith trained, and there are five chapters adapted to the major allergens and suggested replacements for them in recipes.  The other book I use is the Allergy Free Cookbook by Alice Sherwood.  Both women give recipes adapted to suit those allergic to the major allergens.  They also have children with multiple allergies and there's a lot of practial advice on coping with them.  The only thing is that I don't know if they are still in print.

You can get gluten free/milk free fish fingers, if your son will eat those.  Obviously they are not as cheap as the ordinary ones - (sigh!)

You could also consider fish pie with a mashed potato topping - make in advance and then cook when its required.

Will your son eat rice?  We do a bowl of rice with finely chopped spring onion and a fried egg on top, drizzled with some G/F soy sauce on top.  Officially its a Korean breakfast, but it might provide a quick and easy tea for cub night.  Stir fries are also quick, especially if you cut up some of the left over beef and buy the prepared packs of stirfry veg.

Mince?  You could make spaghetti bolognaise with that.  Or meatballs in tomato sauce on top of pasta - just blitz a slice of G/F bread in the blender if the recipe calls for bread crumbs  You could make both in advance and then warm through for club night.

If you have time in the morning before work, consider cooking something in the slow cooker, so that all you have do is the accompanying potatoes and veg.

maman

What about stir fry? 🤔

-taff

How are you with rice? Risottos are fairly quick, leftovers can be made into rice valls filled with something, whether spicy or not spicy, or mince, or whatever. We used to eat leeks and rice for supper sometimes, super easy, leeks chopped up small and sweated, add a small handful of rice per person and throw in a stock cube and water, sprinkle some non d cheese on top or yeast flakes. Add only enough water so it ends up like a thick soup. Very filling and very tasty.

Gram flour for flatbreads, or puddings or biscuits, sweetcorn fritters, onion bhajis etc. A bit of a heavier texture than flour but feasible. I've made sticky toffee pudding with it before.

Ramen noodle bowls, add rice noodles instead of egg ones, throw in veg and/or meat, soy or miso or a stock cube.

theoretica

How is he with goat milk?  I get on better with non-cow milks (but mine is an intolerance, not an allergy) and it would open up goat cheese as well as whatever is in the dairy free stuff. 

Floss

G/f mac & dairy-free cheese?
White fish baked in paper (greaseproof) with g/f pasta & tomato sauce?
H/m meatballs & g/f pasta?

theoretica

Chickpeas in tomato sauce, black eyed beans and rice.

Toasted buckweat - cooks like rice but a bit faster, is gluten free despite the name and very nutritious.  The raw untoasted stuff goes really (really, really) gloopy.  I buy mine at an Eastern European shop but health food places may have it too and it is a nice change from rice.  Works well in risotto type recipes.

MrsStepford

My husband has a gluten intolerance as well. So here are some of my tips.

Read labels. Products in free from aisle can be marked not suitable for coeliacs ! Be aware that 'may contain gluten'could be a trace amount that won't bother your son, or enough to cause a reaction. If in doubt contact the manufacturer. 

Last time husband went to Aldi, he couldn't find a single bag of frozen oven chips without wheat flour. McCains do some but he does his own oven chips now and uses sweor turnips - both cheap. 

Fish & chips - do a bit of googling. Some chippies do gluten free nights. Our local chippy has one fryer just for gluten free and people come from miles around. Buying the fish but not the chips might save money if you can make them yourself.

12 Gluten-Free Fish Fingers | Birds Eye £3 Tesco, 3.20 ASDA, Waitrose
2 Gluten-Free Fish Fillets in Breadcrumbs | Birds Eye 2.99 Tesco don't know about others
Birds Eye potato waffles and alphabites are gluten free now 
Öresundschark AB Swedish Meatballs 900g | Pork & Gammon | Iceland Foods 4.50 for a 900g bag so quite a few meals 
 Scottish Haggis Scoticus Glutenless online from Macbeth's Butchers (macbeths.com)
Scottish Gluten Free Slicing Haggis online from Macbeth's Butchers (macbeths.com)
Gluten Free Black Pudding online. Scottish Black Pudding (macbeths.com)

A lot of the veggie plant-based stuff isn't gluten-free, eg Quorn. Also many of them contain nuts and soya. Tinned soups are another surprising food which contain wheat. Heinz has taken the gluten out of their baked beans, but not the soup.

Noodles, even pot noodles, are out unless made without wheat and no cross-contamination. A Japanese/Chinese deli will sell shirataki noodles made from konjac. Holland & Barrett sells own brand konjac noodles which are gluten free and cheaper than the Eat Water stuff. 

ASDA has a decent offer on cod loins at the moment, £3 for 2 fillets. Just dump the fish on a piece of foil big enough to make a loose parcel out of. Place on baking tray, oven 17-23 mins IIRC. No mess, no fishy smell. They are decent size so maybe your husband could cut each fillet in to two and you could do them in separate parcels. Or use greaseproof and bung in microwave for way shorter cooking time. 

For a fish pie, have a look at a free from dairy free gluten free white sauce. Iceland is doing 3 bags of frozen fish pie mix for £10 atm (normally £4 per bag) and it's wild fish, including salmon. Mashed spud on top. You might only need half a jar and some of the fish or you could batch cook several. 

Stir fries - good way of using up veg, just read labels for sauces. It is possible to get some gluten free tamari sauces. Rice or konjac rice. or cauliflower rice if you have a food processor. 

The Food Standards Agency has info on allergens and intolerances and a free online course (not difficult, I just did it) with certificate so if any healthcare worker talks down to you, you can say actually I have completed Food Standards Agency training on this.

:Low carb recipes are gluten free and Paleo should be. 

The milk thing is difficult because the Australian company which sold the specialist milk pulled out of UK. However I have read that Jersey milk is higher in the more digstible protein. Might be worth investigating this. 

Lactose free milk mostly sold under Arla Lactofree brand but often out of stock. IIRC it comes from Sweden. Candia Just Milk sells it and you can buy direct Lactose Intolerance - JUST MILK NB lactose intolerance and milk protein intolerance/allergen are different. 

If your son has been tested by GP ask if there is any thing heis able to get on prescription. Not all CCGs will dish out prescriptions for bread etc now. 

Home - Coeliac UK

wort

I'm coeliac , and get gfree breaded and tempura chicken , and fish from Marks n Spenncer,  also sausages . At the moment in party food they have mini kievs. And pigs in blankets. Curries are usually gfree would Need to check for dairy though.

Labels have allergies written in bold . And then sometimes a warning about cross contamination unless it's a separate wheat allergy if it has gfree on label and mentions wheat it possibly has codex wheat starch which is under the parts per million which is suitable for coeliac. 
The most random things have gluten that you wouldn't expect so vigilance is key. 

RAS

Agree, check out the goats and sheep's cheeses in Aldi and Lidl. Both do proper feta, avoid the salad cheese, and rolls of soft cheese  The later is good worked into pasta with peas and pesto or roast veggies. Or stirred into a tomato sauce just before serving. Both reasonably priced and sometimes on offer. Or on baked potatoes.

Aldi do a mild Gouda type cheese and Lidl a stronger Manchego which can last ages as you only need a bit for cooking. Grate the butt ends as a parmesan alternative. 

And both intermittently have others on offer.

None are so expensive that you and hubby couldn't finish them if your son doesn't like them.

If hubby is nut-free can he tolerate soya milk? 

And when you say you don't like spicy food, do you mean you don't like hot spices, or may react to pepper-based spices or don't like anything that's not "plain food"?

IRL most dishes from the Indian subcontinent don't include any or much chilli. If you can tolerate cumin, coriander seed, and ginger there are lots of options. More if you add turmeric and a few other spices. And a lot of curries are better the next day. The quick stir-fried bhajis are better freshly cooked but take 10-15 minutes. Give OH a small bowl of pickled chillies or chilli oil of he wants hotter dishes.

And poppadums are GF and take less that a minute in the microwave.

Tinned beans are brilliant, in a big fat veggie stew, a "chilli" with rice , huevas rancheros, or a tomato based stew topped with  sausages, or roast pork. And chick peas make great stews or curries as well as providing faba water for vegan baking

Check out pan-breads, dampers, or bannock depending on the heritage of the writer. It'll be easier if you can use soya milk, and go for a recipe with egg(s) and added acid to improve the rising.

And there are GF cornbread recipes. The best I have read that are dairy free start by making a porridge with a third of the cornmeal and then adding everything else really quickly.

Or polenta?  A ready made block from Tesco is 75p.

Slice both ways to make chips. Or into blocks, lay overlapping in a tray, brush with a little oil, grill or bake for a few minutes, add some sauce (tomato or even the remnants of a stew, mashed), and cheese. Cook until heated through and browning.