Cooking on a budget challenge - ideas for new allergies?

[mjbaby]

Hey all-

Since this is hands-down the most creative budget board I know of, I knew I had to come ask this question...

My husband has been newly diagnosed with a number of food allergies. I've always been pretty decent with budgeting for groceries and cooking good inexpensive meals (we favor local and organic when possible) but this has thrown me for a loop. Our grocery bills over the last two months have been off the hook - like $500/month as opposed to $200 pre-diagnosis, for two adults and two kids - and this simply cannot go on.

Can you suggest some ideas for 1) crockpot ideas and/or 2) entrees that can be frozen ahead? I'm o.k. on a day-to-day basis but I do miss using my crock and the money saving option of putting stuff in the freezer! I need to meet the following criteria:

- beef- and pork-free
- shellfish-free (finned fish is o.k.)
- soy-free
- wheat-free (not gluten, "just" wheat)
- tomato-free
- cow dairy-free (sheep and goat milk and cheese o.k.)
- ETA: also legume-free

Sigh.

Thanks!

 

[cclovesdis]

I'm usually a lurker on the Budget Board, but I'm pretty knowledgeable about allergies (lactose intolerant) so I thought I'd post.

My parents make a wonderful meal where they cover chicken breasts with apricot preserves. We buy sugar-free ones. You could also cover the chicken breasts with orange marmalade. We serve it with rice. We actually microwave the chicken. It's a pretty quick meal.

You can make pasta primerva. Veggies and gluten-free pasta. Still not the cheapest, but better if you make GF pasta for DH and non-GF for the you and your children.

What about serving sandwiches like cucumber and hummus or chicken salad? Again, wheat-free bread for DH and non-wheat-free for others.

Breakfast for dinner is another idea. You could make ham and eggs or omelets with veggies like peppers and onions and goat cheese. A quart of rice milk is often on sale where I live for as cheap as a quart of milk ($1.25).

Sausage is usually cheap and wheat and soy-free. You could add in some peppers and onions and serve. I know I don't need it on a roll or some type of bread.

I think baked tilapia seasoned with lemon juice and served with a side of baked potatoes is great. Tilapia around here is usually less than $4.00/pound.

Hope that helps!

 

[mjbaby]

Thanks so much for kicking off the replies!

The response prompted me that I need to go back and edit that list - he is now legume-free, too (as in, chickpeas, kidney beans, pinto beans, etc.). Black beans are o.k, - maybe a different botanical family???

Anyway - thanks! Keep 'em coming!

 

[HeatherC]

Maybe turkey tacos with corn tortillas? Can also make enchiladas in the crockpot and serve with corn tortillas.

A couscous salad? I used the chicken flavored Near East box. I make that...then I let it cool and add grape tomatoes, black olives, diced cucumbers and whatever else I feel like. Then I add some olive oil to it. Very good.

Cucumber Salad: Cukes, sugar, vinegar, fresh dill.

Grilled fish that he isn't allergic too along with grilled veggies basted with olive oil and salt and pepper.

Panini sandwiches (wheat free bread) with carmelized onions and goat cheese?

Sweet and sour meatballs over egg noodles. You could use turkey meatballs and make them in the crockpot.

Hope this helps give you some ideas!!!

 

[Sagginit]

how about a nice stirfry? you can make some spicy type stir frys with no soy sauce or sweet n sour chicken type things. rice based meals are very budget friendly.

gf(wheat free) pasta is easier and cheaper to find these days. you can serve it with lots of sauces that dont have tomatos, if you want it to be kinda red you can use some roasted red peppers with carrots.

soup/stews that are chicken based may be a good idea too.

 

[lovesmurfs]

Uggh. My sympathies for your DH (and you!).

If you have one near you, Trader Joes has some wonderful fruit salsa (peach, pineapple, etc.). You can bake or grill fish/chicken and top with the salsa.

Kebabs are a great change of pace, and you can put the meat/veggies he can have on them.

Without pork or beef, you're going to poultry yourselves out. Can he do lamb? You may also wish to gather some vegetarian recipes using veggies he can have.

For budget purposes, I'd recommend soups? I save any leftover veggies and add them to a running gallon bag in the freezer. When the bag's full, I make soup.

If you have kids, a suggestion (don't flame me ) might be to continue to cook a better variety of foods for them, not to make DH feel bad, but to keep them eating different meats and vegetables -- I'd hate to restrict the kids to that kind of diet.

 

[mjbaby]

If you have kids, a suggestion (don't flame me ) might be to continue to cook a better variety of foods for them, not to make DH feel bad, but to keep them eating different meats and vegetables -- I'd hate to restrict the kids to that kind of diet.

No flames coming from me, lovesmurfs. I feel strongly that we need to eat together first and the exact same things as a very distant second. I found wheat-free hamburger buns at Wegmans (how I adore Wegmans!) and so he'll have his turkey-burger and wheat-free bun while we have beef burgers and regular buns. So, similar and no one's feeling left out. I've been making oven fries from scratch (most frozen potato products have soy oil, although Trader Joe's might be a good option for quick fry options).

Soy has been the biggest issue - well beyond wheat. Gluten-free products are abundantly available now (although they're certainly not cheap) but soy is in everything.

 

[robinb]

I'm afraid that you're going to have to reset your expectations. There is no way you can feed your family of 4 on only $50 per week now that your DH is allergic to many of the cheaper foods you once used to get it down to that ultra-low weekly amount. Frankly, given the number of allergies your DH has and the specialty foods you have been buying I think that only $125 per week is doing great! While I can understand why you are feeling shell shocked at more than doubling your weekly food budget, I think that you'll have to give up any thought that you'll be back down to LESS than $10 per day for your family of 4 and come up with a more realistic budget given your DH's special needs.

Now that you know what he can't have, it's time to come up with a list of what he *can* have. I think one you have that picture, you can come up with some inexpensive meals. It might be cheaper to make new meals rather than trying to retrofit your previous recipes with expensive Gluten Free specialty foods. I know that if you go to http://allrecipes.com/ you can search by ingredients you have on hand.

Here are some I came up with off the top of my head ...

Fruit
- all fruit

Vegetables
- all veggies except beans, soy beans and peas.

Grains
- corn (make and freeze polenta in servings)
- rice
- spelt
- quinoa
- oats

"Dairy"
- sheep milk
- goat milk
- rice milk
- almond milk

Protein
- poultry
- eggs
- lamb
- fish (tilapia is quite cheap)


I shop at a local "health food" type store caters to vegetarians and vegans and has a lot of specialty grains available in bulk. They also offer shelf-stable containers of rice milk and almond milk as well as fresh sheep's milk yogurt and two brands of vegan "ice cream" one made from oats and the other from coconut. I don't know where you live but it might be worth a monthly "road trip" to a place like that to stock up on spelt flour to make your own bread and get some other specialty foods.

I made a really good quinoa salad yesterday for our neighborhood potluck. quinoa is VERY high in protein and can be used like bulger wheat or couscous.

1 C quinoa (pronounced "keen-wah")
1/2 - 1 C diced cucumbers
1/2 - 1 C diced peppers (your choice in color)
2 T chopped cilantro
1 T olive oil
1 T lime juice
(I also included a can of drained and rinsed black beans, but you would skip that one)

I cooked the quinoa in 1 1/2 C water for about 20 minutes, cooled it and then added the other ingredients. Very simple with lots of protein. The downside is that quinoa can be fairly expensive which is why I buy it in bulk.

 

[lunalibre]

Robinb had some excellent suggestions. My DH has a long list of foods he can't eat, and I had a much easier time figuring out what to cook once I figured out what he COULD eat rather than what he couldn't. I sat down and figured out a list of 30 main dishes I could make that fit what he could eat, and then planned meals accordingly. I plan my weekly menu before my Saturday trip to the grocery store. Also, definitely buy "safe" foods in bulk. It helps a lot with the cost. I buy giant bags of frozen chicken at Sam's, for example. Ground turkey substitutes well for ground beef in everything except hamburgers (still looking for the perfect turkey burger recipe). I also usually buy this in bulk at Sam's.

One dish I make nearly once a week is italian chicken in my crockpot. For one pound of FROZEN boneless/skinless chicken breasts, I add 1/2 cup water, 1 package dry italian salad dressing mix, plus a few shakes of basil/oregano/italian seasoning. In my crockpot, that cooks on low in 6 hours. You can eat the meat as-is, shred it for sandwiches/salads, use it as a topping on baked potatoes, etc. If the dry italian dressing mix isn't safe for your DH, just use extra italian seasoning/garlic powder/onion powder/basil/oregano.

Someone else mentioned apricot chicken. I make this in my crockpot, again with frozen chicken. My version uses onion soup mix, but I think that may have beef bouillion in the mix, which would be off-limits for your DH. If it's safe (or you can find a version he can eat), the recipe is 1 pound of chicken, 1 (10 oz?) jar all-fruit apricot preserves, 1/2 package onion soup mix, 8 oz. sliced fresh mushrooms. The onion soup and mushrooms cut the sweetness of the apricot preserves. If you can't use the soup, maybe try adding dried minced onion and some garlic to the preserves. Serve the chicken over rice.

Good luck! Hopefully by cooking with more whole foods that your DH can eat (as opposed to more processed substitutions), you can get your food budget down to a more livable level. However, with all his restrictions, chances are you'll need to permanently increase your food budget.

 

[CoP Luv]

My husband has a number of allergies (including sugar free and starch free!!!)and we are able to keep our food budget relatively low.

Here is a website for his diet, but you can taylor it to your needs. We have to make everything from scratch so we spend a lot of time in the kitchen, but we both eat this way at home so that I don't eat anything infront of him that he would want.

It has been quite an adjustment, but we are both eating so much healthier now that we have cut out sugar and complex carbs. Good luck!!

http://heal-balance-live.blogspot.com

 

[ekatiel]

No flames coming from me, lovesmurfs. I feel strongly that we need to eat together first and the exact same things as a very distant second. I found wheat-free hamburger buns at Wegmans (how I adore Wegmans!) and so he'll have his turkey-burger and wheat-free bun while we have beef burgers and regular buns. So, similar and no one's feeling left out. I've been making oven fries from scratch (most frozen potato products have soy oil, although Trader Joe's might be a good option for quick fry options).

Soy has been the biggest issue - well beyond wheat. Gluten-free products are abundantly available now (although they're certainly not cheap) but soy is in everything.

My DS outgrew allergies to wheat, barley and rye less than a year ago-- our grocery bill went WAY down. Sorry you're having to experience it on the other end . I wanted to comment quickly about soy oil/lecithin. The vast majority of people with soy allergies can tolerate both soy oil and soy lecithin. I'm not sure what type of reactions your DH has (if he has anaphylactic food allergies, then he should trial these two in the allergist's office under supervision)-- if his reactions are not anaphylactic, he can try adding soy oil and lecithin back to his diet to see if he can tolerate them. If he can tolerate those two, then many foods would be opened up to you. --Katie