GFCF anyone else?

[Barbara]

Were are going to start a gluten free and casein free diet for two of my boys.  I have no idea what to serve for menus.  Anyone have some suggestions?  I am pretty much 100% German and brot is so, so, so good...so is all of the other starchy foods that I grew up loving.

I cried after leaving the Fresh and Natural grocery store the other day.  $5.35 for 12 slices of GFCF bread!!!!!!!!!!!  Are they nuts???  $3.15 for a bag of CF choc chips!  A pound of rice, potato or any other GF flour was close to $6.  I am going to go broke trying to implement this diet for the entire family.  I can't just give it to the boys and eat something different in front of them.  Any suggestions on how to cut the grocery bill will also be appreciated.

Barbara

[Jimbob]

Instead of trying to substitute everything it might be worth offering different meals that do not contain gluten or caesin.

For breakfast you could give a rice or corn cereal that is also caesin free, obviously you will have to use a safe milk. I know there are plenty in the UK so should be able to find some in US. You could give fruit with this. My dd also likes banana with honey for breakfast and usually has other fruit with it. You could make hash browns and serve with egg and bacon. You may be able to buy ready made hash browns but you would have to check the ingredients. Fruit smoothies are also a great hit in our house. These are great because you can put lots of fruit into them so really healthy aswell.

For snacks you can give fresh or dried fruit. Carrot sticks are a firm favourite in our house. My dd also likes ham and egg for a snack sometimes. Make sure you check ingredients on ham though.

For Lunch Jacket potato with beans goes down well. Jacket potato with tuna and sweetcorn is a good one aswell. You can also make salads which could be taken to school.

For dinner roast chicken with vegetables is a favourite. You could also do stir frys just make sure to check sauces used if you use ready made ones. BBQ's are great aswell you just don't have the buns. You can do lots of lovely tasting meat, corn on the cob and a nice rice salad to serve with it or just a normal salad.

Hope that is of some help.

[Barbara]

Thanks for the suggestions.  I hope that I can get my son to eat some of the foods you listed.  As of date he refuses to eat any fruit, vegggies, eggs, potatoes (unless french fries or cheesy) most cereals.  He really self limits want he eats.  It's going to be very ugly when I start to take away the foods he eats and subsitute with new ones.

[Jimbob]

That will obviously make things harder for you. For what its worth I can sympathise with you as my food allergic son will only eat raisins and drink neocate advance. His consultant says he has developed a severe food aversion due to the amount of allergic reactions he has had.

I guess you could buy the GFCF alternative for some things and gradually try and introduce other things. That way hopefully the cost will be reduced in time. Does your son like pasta? I know we can get some great gluten free pasta in UK and its not that much more in price. It is also caesin free. You could do very simple sauces for them like a tomato based sauce with hidden vegetables in etc. Obviously this will only work if he likes pasta.

It might be worth you joining the kidswithfoodallergies website as they have a great recipe database. It has lots of yummy suggestions. You can tick boxes of foods that you want to avoid and that way it will only come up with recipes that are safe for your son. It does cost $25 to join but they do also do sponsorship for people who are on a tight budget. You may also like to post on there as there is some very experienced people that might be able to give you some great tips. They also may know where you can buy cheaper alternatives.

[fujbeck]

Check this out for some tips and recipes:
http://tacanow.org/dietinfo.htm

We're not doing it now, but considering doing it soon.