On Friday afternoon we made an impromptu decision to go out to eat. It was day 3 of our power outage last week. We’d moved much of our food over to grandma’s house, but we’d exhausted what we took over with us…and we exhausted much of her food supply as well.
After dinner, I stopped by the health food store to restock on some of the goodies that we need for Tyler. We are still under “Operation Fatten Tyler Up!”
From mid-November to late January, he only gained 1/2 lb in 2 months. But at least he gained something! We are shooting for 1 lb/month…more to help get him back up to his original percentile level, but he’s not losing…so that’s good!
$5 DINNERS TV
We have discovered in the past few months that he is intolerant/allergic to dairy, soy and oats (but not other gluten it seems). This makes high calorie snacking difficult…as he can’t have much of the high cal processed foods because of these intolerances.
So, I stopped in to get him some yogurt that I can mix with avocado and oil for some good fats, some dairy free and soy free butter that I can slather all over sweet potato chunks, potato chunks and mixed into squash and other veggies. And some oat-free Cheerios like cereal.
The cereal was 45% off, and the rest was just expensive!!!
This trip, coupled with the fact that we have some goods to replace that we lost with the power outage, means we will be upping the budget for February. More on that tomorrow…
Total for this trip:$26.77
I plan to write a “Food Allergies on a Budget” series in the next few weeks! If you have any great tips to share, please email them to me.
The archer farms yogurt is .49 cents so cheap!
I have to buy dairy free for my baby too and I bought the whole soy yogurt for $1 a cup this weekend! I should go back and by some more tomorrow before the sale ends but 5 for $5 is always nice when they are normally almost $2 a piece! I am looking forward to the Food Allergies on a budget series though because it can be costly!
Coupons can be used at most health food stores. You just have to be extra diligent to check for deals, combine manufacturers coupons plus store coupons and then stock up. We cover pretty much the top 8 allergens in our house. For the past few weeks I have been able to get free coconut milk at Whole Foods. I went to the So Delicious web site and printed a manufacturers coupon for $1 off coconut milk then combined it with a $1 Whole Foods coupon for the same milk. Coconut milk happens to have been on sale for a while now for 2/$4. Free coconut milk when you stack coupons!
I look forward to more of your tips!
boy do i wish that someone had an easy answer for this. my daughter who will be 2 on sunday feb 13 is allergic to eggs, dairy, nuts and peanuts. my 5 yr son all nuts and milk. 14 yr to dairy and she doesn’t like meat. my food budget needs help!
Rice products and other dairy free food items tend to be pretty low in fat. Kroger sells coconut milk yogurt (it is expensive) but it works really nicely in baked goods and for smoothies/milk shake type treats. We are going on 10 years of dairy free living with our son and we have to be really careful that he does in fact get enough fat in his diet. I hope you find what works for your family.
Ooh, we love Daiya cheese! My son is allergic to wheat, milk, eggs, sesame, oat, tree nuts, and peanut, so I feel your pain. (Nitrate free) bacon is our friend. And Whole Foods is slowly draining my bank account. I also have a newborn and have cut the top 8 allergens from my diet while nursing her.
By the way, we also love coconut milk ice cream. Especially the chocolate. Better than dairy!
I am so looking forward to your Food Allergies on a Budget series. I do agree that going to the manufacture’s website of whatever product is where you can oftened find coupons. My DS only has to avoid soy & rice now but we were avoiding dairy, soy, eggs & rice and boy was it tough!
I have also heard good things about the coconut milk yogurt…I haven’t tried it for my son yet though since we still have some soy yogurt. He’s allergic to milk and eggs. Nothing seems to fatten him up and I am about 90% sure he’s going to weigh exactly the same thing he did last year at his 4 year old check up! His weight hasn’t budged all year. He’s gotten taller though…and his feet are huge!
Hello again. I have posted on here before but never got any response or feedback. I had left a comment on your “Operation Fattening up Tyler” post. (I’m the one also with a son named Tyler who was/is going through some feeding challenges.)
Quick update….. our son was just diagnosed with EE (more specifically EoE and EoC). We are gearing up for all the food allergy testing and hoping we can figure out what he’s allergic too so we can avoid it. The reason I’m letting you know is that it may be something worth looking into, especially being that other people in your family have food allergies.
Just a thought, for what it’s worth.
Yogurt is a dairy product so you might want to avoid it with people that have problems digesting dairy or are lactose intolerant. Try making some raw nut milks – they are delicious, have a high calorie count and the good natural fat. Our favorites are Almond Milk and Brazil Nut Milk.
A great smoothie: add to a blender 2 cups nut milk, 1 banana, 2 dates or Stevia sweetener, 2 tablespoons of raw almond butter, a handful of organic frozen strawberries and 1 tablespoon of high quality cocoa or cacao powder (available at health food stores). You can also add in a handful of organize spinach (you will not taste the spinach – but the nutrition will be there). This smoothie is full of healthy nutrition including healthy fats from the nuts.