My go-to brands for Allergy Friendly Foods…

My little one had to keep away from all the top 8 food allergens and a few more till age 4 – wheat, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shell fish, soy, dairy, peas, sesame, poppy seeds, sunflower seeds and garbanzo beans. The only place he lucked out was – he was not allergic to the gluten part of the wheat protein so he could try oats and barley. So, in the first instant it seemed like there was literally nothing he could eat but I did find quite a few items that he could have. My son has outgrown a few allergies like wheat so remembering the brands free of all the top 8 food allergens was a trip down memory lane. I have not mentioned any of the Indian brands I use because I use it exclusively for Indian cooking and neither have I mentioned local New Jersey brands that I see and pick up once in a while in my local health food store but the supply is not consistent. Given my background in Food and Nutrition – my focus has been on nutrition and variety. Here are some of the go-to brands in our Allergy Friendly household (I will keep updating as I remember more or find new brands). Here are my top go-to AF (Allergy Friendly) picks as of now…

1. Dari-Free (http://vancesfoods.com ): This is at the top of my list because this is where it belongs. Tasty and versatile substitute for milk. It is available in powder form – in sachets and boxes which, makes it very easy to take it with us wherever we go without worrying about spoilage and spillage. Apart from using instead of milk I have seen that it also lends itself very well to cooking – desserts, entrees and more.
2. AllerEnergy (http://www.allerenergy.com ): The Company has a range of Allergy Friendly energy bars, pretzels and marshmallows. The energy bars are excellent.  Hard to believe but I travelled through Africa with a 2 year old with this bar as as my main backup 🙂 His favorite is obviously the chocolate chip energy bar!
3. Andean Dream (http://www.andeandream.com ): Their range of cookies and pasta has made it so easy for my little one. His favorites are  cocoa-orange and chocolate chip. I love the way individual cookies are packaged. Makes it easy to carry around.
4. Cravings Place (http://www.thecravingsplace.com ): If I could give a thankful hug to the brains behind the flour mixtures of this brand, I so would! Their range of cookie and cake mixes is delicious especially ‘Ooey Gooey Chocolatey Chewy Brownie Mix’. Decadent is the only word for it and even his friends with no allergies love it. Has graced my little one’s 3rd and 4th birthday 🙂
5. Newman’s Own Organics (http://www.newmansownorganics.com ): Their wheat-free, dairy-free Fig Newmans and Newman O’s (like Oreos) taste like the real thing. Today my son is not allergic to wheat but he still will refuses to have any other kind of Fig Newman. This company gives back so much to society that it feels right to love their products!
6. Galaxy Nutritional Foods (http://www.galaxyfoods.com ): Their Rice Vegan Cheese Slices and Blocks are amongst my little’s one’s favs!
7. Enjoy Life (www.EnjoyLifeFoods.com):  Ofcourse – enough good cannot be said about their products. Till today my little one relishes their snickerdoodle, double chocolate brownie and chocolates. They used to sell bread that tasted really good but had to discontinue that line 😦 I even called them up to see if they would ever revive that line but alas!
8. Vegan Rella: Despite their supply being very sketchy, my son cannot have enough of this rice cheese. They probably recognize my voice by now based on the number of times I have called to ask about supplies 🙂
9. Tinkyada Rice Pasta (http://www.tinkyada.com ): Even my extended family has started using this range of rice pastas because they are so much softer than the whole wheat pasta and many would even say – tastier.
10. Ian’s (http://www.iansnaturalfoods.com ): This company is my favorite allergy friendly company for making an attempt to make foods for children with allergies fun. My son loves their entire range of chicken nuggets (though the coating used to be very hard till recently), fish sticks, Kids Meal (my little one’s favorite) and Alphatots.
11. Orgran (http://www.orgran.com ): Love, love, love their range of rice, amaranth, corn, millet and quinoa pastas apart from their other products.
12. Pacific Foods (http://www.pacificfoods.com ): Until I found Dari-Free, my son loved Pacific Oat Milk. I still use it on occasion and their Hemp Milk works well in desserts because of its creamier texture.
13. Turtle Mountain (http://www.turtlemountain.com ): I do think I am a little in love with this company. The smile on my son’s face when he eats their icecreams – priceless!!! The coconut milk beverage, creamer, icecream tubs and bars and yogurt are all excellent.
14. Living Harvest (http://livingharvest.com ): I discovered this just recently but am already impressed. Sold under the brand name Tempt – their range of icecreams and Hemp beverage are quite tasty.
15. Nature’s Path (http://www.naturespath.com ): My son just loves their gluten-free waffles and their rice bars.
16. Cherrybrook Kitchen (http://cherrybrookkitchen.com  ): Their sugar cookie and brownie mixes have been special favorites.
17. Chebe (www.chebe.com ): I have used their gluten-free pizza  mix with egg substitute and it has worked reasonably well.
18. Bob’s Red Mill (http://www.bobsredmill.com ): Have used many of their flours for making my own flour mixes (oat flour, barley flour, brown rice flour, flaxseed meal) and never had a complaint.
19. Ener-G (http://www.ener-g.com ): This has been my go-to brand for egg replacer, tapioca flour, potato starch and potato flour. Have used their bread on occasionally especially for bread pudding!
20. Glutino (http://www.glutino.com ): Only for pretzel sticks!
21. Barkat : My absolute one-stop shops for years when it comes to sugar wafer and ice-cream cones.
22. Let’s Do… (http://edwardandsons.com ): Yet another go-to brand for ice-cream cones. Yes – my little one loves cones more than ice-cream itself 😉
23. Ancient Harevest Quinoa: A staple in the household since we discovered the Incan gold a few years back 🙂
24. Arrowhead Mills (www.Arrowheadmills.com): Has been my go-to brand for Amaranth, Millet and Brown Rice for making my own flour mixes and more.
25. Earth Balance (http://www.earthbalancenatural.com): No substitute for this every single day for dairy-free butter and whenever I bake for dairy-free sticks!
26. Daiya Vegan Cheese (http://www.daiyafoods.com ): Since I came to know about my little one’s life has taken on new meaning. He loves his quesadillas and pizzas so much more 🙂
27. Neocate (www.Neocate.com): How can I not mention ‘the’ company that served almost 100 % of my son’s nutritinal needs till he was 18 months of age!

It was an absolute joy writing this post as I recalled the many trips to food stores and exeriments at home 🙂