Milk-free, egg-free and soya-free diet - where to buy foods!

Hi

Our sons are on a milk-free / egg-free and soya-free diet - in the early days i found it really hard to know where to buy foods so thought i'd do a list here - i hope it helps someone!

You should check anything i list before you buy as ingredients to change and please note that some of the products listed contain soya lecithin - we were told this was ok for our children but it may not be ok for all.

Dairy-alternatives we use rice milk and oat milk - both are sold at Sainsburys, Tesco, Morrisons... You can also get an Oatley cream which is tasty but doesn't thicken much - i have only found this at large tescos or health food shops.

We get an icecream called B'NICE ricecream - strawberry and vanilla are lovely. you can check with the supplier where you local stockist is and order it in - check out http://www.beanieshealthfoods.co.uk/bnice.php

Egg we get an egg substitute for baking from our health food shop. You can also order online. I find I often need to add some baking powder too.

Orgran make some cake kits that you can add margarine and water to instead of eggs - the chocolate muffins are quite nice.

Chocolate/Sweets/Biscuits/Crisps Waitrose do a nice range of mint chocolates. Sainsburys and Morrisons also do some own-brand mint chocolates too.

Watch out for Tesco's ones - they recently added a milk warning and After 8's are no longer suitable either. You can also buy Green & Blacks orange chocolate. Morrisons have a free-from range that includes chocolate balls and chocolate eggs - great for kids. sweets - M&S do nice percy pig sweets, also parma violets, gummy sweets, some woolworths pic n mix, julian graves do some banana/shrimps..... there are quite a few if you look carefully.

Biscuits - morrisons do bourbons and rich tea fingers (not the round ones) and tesco do own-brand bourbons and rich tea biscuits that seem ok. lemon puff biscuits and some fruit shorties are ok. crisps - it's easiest to go for ready salted - in the past we've found pringles, hula hoops, walkers and french fries in ready salted were ok (check hula hoops though as made on a line with milk products). there may be other ready salted ones. the only flavoured ones i've found that are ok are salt & vinegar french fries and marks & spencers ownbrand kettle chips had 2 flavours.

Snacks for children Organix goodies do a good range - including cereal bars, fruit bars, carrot crisps, gingerbread men, rice cakes... peperami are ok and my kids like them for quick snack. Morrisons also sell some Bertolli croutons and dried garlic bread slices (made by Ros qui sol - cracker aisle) which i take out for my kids.

Bread - some supermarkets do a few breads that are ok - french sticks, ciabattas and brown loaves are the most likely to be ok but check with each supermarket.

Sainsburys have a really good ingredients list in their bakery and you can check all bread and cake products. Some supermarkets also do some bagels (be careful as some have milk), crumpets and wraps.

Sauces - watch out for ketchup - some contain soya. Heinz is ok. Tesco sell a nice egg-free mayo in their free-from section. cooking sauces are difficult - pasta sauces are sometimes ok but the only indian sauce i've found is mango chutney and Tesco sell a free-from Korma sauce (can also be purchased online).

Oriental foods - i have sometimes found an oriental lemon style sauce in Tesco. Dress Italian make 2 pesto sauces that are ok - i've only found them at asda and waitrose though.

Other things: - asda do a smart price naan bread and a children's curry sauce. - morrisons do a flatbread garlic bread - Sainsburys do some nice frozen thin sausages for kids - Birds eye have a good range - fish fingers, fish cakes, chicken & veg and beef & onion pies, chicken goujons.... - Waitrose do some frozen meats in gravy, falafel, lemon sole goujons, kebabs and some lovely ICED Buns! my kids love them. - frozen lollies are often ok as are smoothie lollies but check carefully as some contain milk. - check fruit juices carefully too - i bought a fruit juice recently that had milk added. - even meats often have dairy added - watch out for Bernard Matthews meats as they add milk protein. Some other hams have it in too. You often have to buy the more expensive cuts. -

Jus roll pastry is often fine so you can make your own pies/puddings. - Pure (vegetable margarine- not the soya one) is really nice and can be used for baking, spreading etc - it makes a nice fruit crumble too! - we've found coconut milk very handy for adding flavour to meals - it's good in italian and asian dishes and yummy if rice is cooked in it.

Eating Out - I'm afraid we haven't found many places so far - McDonalds only do chips and apple pie that are suitable. Burger King only do fries and a childrens hamburger. watch out for carveries as we were told they spray the veg with butter to stop it drying out. I hope some of this helps and it would be great if anyone could add their tips to this too.

Thanks Kitty

Updated 20/10/10 - Parentsown have a fab new 'supermarket' which lists lots of freefrom foods for different special diets. They cover dairy free, egg free, soya free, gluten free, wheat free, nut free, sesame free foods. Read the ingredients really carefully though as some carry contamination warnings.

The Free From Supermarket can be found by following this link

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