Eliminate the Overwhelm of Severe Food Allergies with Simple Meal Plans -
Whip Up More Variety in Your Meals withOUT feeling burnt out of constantly cooking & baking
If you’re a food allergy mom looking to feed your family healthy, safe meals without adding hours to your day, you probably already know that you need to start meal planning. I’m sure you’ve heard how meal planning can be a total lifesaver and a complete stress reducer.
But did you also know that meal planning along with my other tips specifically for food allergy moms can also help you to:
Take the pressures of cooking EVERY. SINGLE. NIGHT. off your shoulders so you can feel less burnt out.
Allow you to serve NEW foods your family loves so you can stop making the same 5 things over and over again.
Inspire you to cook whole, unprocessed foods so you can remove new brand anxiety and the stress of constantly reading labels.
I see you working hard to feed your family with food allergies, but sometimes you just want a break from all the extra tasks that food allergies require, like cooking everything from scratch and reading labels.
If this is you, it’s time to get off the hamster wheel. Read on to find out why It doesn’t have to be so hard!
A pic of my daughter who had severe milk and egg allergies, eating her favorite egg and milk free waffles with coconut whip.
Tip 1: Meal Plan
First of all, imagine what it would be like to only think about dinners once a week or even once a month (instead of EVERY.SINGLE.DAY). You have everything planned and ready to go and you’re confident you don’t need anything extra from the store. What would you do with all that extra time you used to spend stressing about what to make? Would you be able to enjoy your family more? Would THEY notice that you’re more fun to be around?
To get this huge boost of freedom, try meal planning.
One mistake moms make when they’re first starting to meal plan is that they don’t do it in a way where they can RE-USE their hard work. So when you start, make sure you’re using a template where you can plan and then reuse that same plan later. This way you’re planning for more than just ONE week at a time and not starting over every week.
The benefit here is that you work once and benefit MANY times. This will make sure your system doesn’t cause you to get burnt out and tired because it’s inefficient.
To give you some new safe meal ideas I’ve created this 5-day menu plan with recipes so you can feel less burnt out in the kitchen.
GET IT FOR FREE HERE.
Tip 2: Stop the Recipe Search
I know what you’re thinking: “More recipes means more variety”. I hear you, but there are ways to decrease the task of constantly finding new recipes so you’re saving time WITHOUT sacrificing variety.
Imagine that you always had safe and delicious recipes at your fingertips. No matter WHAT day of the week it was, you have something that you could whip up. You wouldn’t need to spend your precious weekend hours looking for new recipes or desperately searching Pinterest or Google for something to make at the last minute.
This is possible!!
When you’re creating your meal plan start by grouping your recipes and re-using them in a strategic way so you can always have something delicious and easy to make.
I group my recipes into 4 different categories:
Regular Rotation - Meals that require a recipe and you need to cook on the day of consumption.
Freezer Frenzy - Meals that you’ve bulk cooked and put in the freezer as a homemade convenience meal.
Convenience Meals - Meals that you buy at the store, ready made.
Pantry Panic - Meals that you can pull together JUST using whatever is in my pantry or fridge.
Start by planning the days you need something super quick (when you have limited time to cook or eat). I usually plan a Freezer Frenzy or Convenience meal for those days. Then plan the Regular Rotation meals around that.
To get that much-needed variety, make a list of your family favourite recipes; then add them to your meal plan by alternating them in different weeks. Use them as little or as much as you want based on how many times per month you want to have that recipe or meal. By planning for a whole month, you can see how many times you’ll be serving that same recipe. Then add in the other meal groups as you need them.
It takes a little bit of time to organize your recipes this way, however, I know food allergy moms will do what it takes to keep their family safe. It’s important though that your work is efficient and will benefit you in the long run so you don’t get burnt out.
Tip 3: What To Do When You’re Not Motivated to Meal Plan (OR YOU FEEL OVERWHELMED WITH LABEL READING)
I know food allergy moms are label reading ninjas, but it’s time consuming and overwhelming at times.
Yes, you can read a label like nobody’s business, BUT, that doesn’t mean that you couldn’t use your hard-to-come-by time doing other important things. And what happens when you want to try something new; but EVERY single product seems to have your little’s allergen. It’s a ticket straight to frustrationville!!
What if you never had to worry whether you can trust a company’s labels or suffer from new-brand anxiety? Read on to find out how!
I know there’s no way around reading labels to make sure the pre-made products are safe for your kids; but what if you weren’t shopping for pre-made products??
How about cooking with whole, unprocessed foods that don’t even require a label, or have no more than one thing on the list?
You can accomplish this by shopping the perimeter of the store and staying out of the aisles.
How freeing would it be to pick up every single thing in the produce department and know that you could make it into a delicious meal without even thinking about what’s in it?? Not only that, but cooking whole foods is way less expensive, healthier, and are more fresh and delicious than the pre-made allergy-friendly meals.
I use this trick when I’m feeling unmotivated to meal plan.
I first think about how many meals I need to cook that week (I do this by subtracting the meals for the quick nights where I’ll use Freezer Frenzy Meals or Convenience Meals, and then I’m left with the number of meals I need to make). Then I look for whatever looks good or is on sale in the fresh meat and produce section for the rest of the meals.
See how easy that is??
Now that you know some of my best food allergy meal planning tips, grab my free meal plan so you can stop feeling so burnt out in the kitchen.
If you want new allergy-safe meal ideas, CLICK HERE to get 5 free allergy-friendly meal ideas with recipes and a shopping list.
OR, if you want to start learning how to cook with whole foods, grab The Feed Your Food Allergy Kids Fast Without Stress or Sacrificing Variety Starter Kit. You’ll get a whole list of flavors that go together so you can start to cook delicious family meals just from the produce isle!
Conclusion
Wouldn’t it be nice to feed your family healthy and delicious food, without the extra pressures of food allergies?
I know this seems like a tall task, but implementing the tips above will help you have more time with your family. You’ll be able to worry less and feed your family healthier food. You’ll save money so you can get out of debt or maybe even book a massage once and awhile. Imagine feeling happier and having your kids notice that you’re more fun to be around.
This is completely possible and you can do it!
Which one of these tips will you implement today? Share in the comments below. I love hearing from my readers!
