It’s an allergen-free week in our kitchen this week and I am … most decidedly not an allergen-free cook.   We love our salmon, our milk, pecans and peanuts and a slew of other foods that’ll send our allergy-prone readers into anaphylactic shock just by reading the recipes.   So, this week, you’ll have to bear with me   as I muddle my way though not one, but two combined challenges: a dwindling budget coupled with allergen-free cooking.

As I wrote out, revised, revised and revised this week’s meal plan again, I felt stumped.   To be sure avoiding one allergen is, more or less, an easy task.   Avoiding all eight major food allergens proved difficult – leaving me with   meal plan with which I’m not entirely satisfied and recipes that’ll have to wait to the end of the week before being shared as I tweak and adjust my way into palatability.

Food allergies and intolerance pose a major problem and they seem to be growing year by year.   Indeed, some elementary and preschools have outright banned major allergens from lunchboxes and cafeterias for fear of exposing allergic kids to potential lunchtime dangers.   While a handful of obscure food allergies crop up now and again – citrus, tomatoes, chocolate, cane sugar or even pork for example – eight foods account for the bulk of food allergies world-wide.   Wheat, dairy, soy, shellfish, fish, peanuts, tree nuts and eggs account for 90% of the food allergies in the United States.   Coconut, though technically considered a tree nut by the FDA, is not likely to cause reaction; indeed, coconut allergy is exceptionally rare.

In many families, food allergies cluster together and sufferers experience cross-reactivity among highly allergenic foods.   And, while you may not suffer from classical allergies, you may still suffer from food intolerances.   While far from life-threatening, food intolerances can lead to gastrointestinal distress, eczema, headaches, irritability, anxiety and poor ability to absorb nutrients.   Food intolerances are also implicated in unexplained infertility.

The challenge is that allergen-free foods are expensive foods.   A pound of butter costs $1.99, but a small jar of coconut oil rings in at $5.39.     Five pounds of whole wheat flour rings in at less than $2, but just two pounds of buckwheat flour is well over $6.   It’s expensive … very expensive.   Those families challenged by allergies coupled with a low budget face a significant struggle.   Low cost standbys such as eggs, wheat flour and milk can’t   be purchased.   This week, we’ll make heavy use of rice porridge for breakfast, beans, vegetables and buckwheat bread.

I’d hoped to prepare ghee this week and at $1.99 / lb for butter, it’s considerably less expensive than coconut oil.   Ghee is a wholesome fat, rich in CLA and a remarkable source of vitamins A and K.   Free from the milk solids that contain allergenic components like casein and lactose, ghee is suitable for even the milk-allergic.   While preparing ghee at home is simply and easy, it may be difficult to fully separate the milk solids from the pure butterfat at home and I recommend purchasing ghee online (see sources).

Download this week’s meal plan. Recipes will be forthcoming after a few tweaks.

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