My comment was met with blank stares from the kids and a "What? Why?" from the husband.
"Well, W can't have them, " I retorted. Apparently, I was in the minority in thinking of family solidarity and the only one that had been secretly panicking as the days of separate meals for him vs. us dwindle.
At first it irritated me to think that any member of our immediate family would balk at the thought of ridding our house and diets of all of W's allergens. Then the more I thought about it, the more I realized how much my children and husband had already given up and I wondered how realistic was it to have my entire family go egg, peanut, dairy, wheat, and everything-else-free for every meal, all the time.
Egg-Free
Because the egg allergy is an ingest/inhale/contact allergy, our house has become virtually egg free. We no longer enjoy daddy's weekend breakfast tacos or my Mother's Day staple of eggs benedict in bed. My daughter's favorite meal on earth, fried rice, now has to be ordered without eggs, for which we get very odd looks and even had one restaurant serve all of our meals except hers because according to their chef, "Fried rice takes longer to cook without the eggs." Really?
One weekend we all wanted my husband's famously wonderful waffles for breakfast (which are only famously wonderful because they include whipped egg whites) so he took everything outside and cooked waffles for us on the back porch.
Peanut-Free
We are not yet sure of the severity of W's peanut allergy, but at the suggestion of our allergist, have rid the house of all peanut products.
While I thought this one would be much more difficult, given my kid's affinity for a PB&J, we transitioned to almond butter quite easily. In fact, my older two were offered a peanut butter sandwich while staying alone with their grandparents one weekend and they refused because of W's allergy.
I do miss Reese's Peanut Butter cups, and I let out an audible sign as I pass by Trader Joe's Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Pretzels (found here on amazon so that I can eat them vicariously through you.) But all in all, those are just things that serve to add to my hips, not my nutrition.
Dairy, Wheat, and Everything-Else-Free
Because none of his other allergies seem to be contact or inhaled as of yet, we have not eliminated them from the household diet. I know that there will come a time when we might have to, and that meals made for the entire family will need to use soy milk, rice flour and such, but for now we just take it in baby steps. I bought gluten/wheat-free oatmeal yesterday instead of our run-of-the-mill Quaker brand (I will review it here shortly), so we will see where this journey takes us as a family day by day.
Either way, I know that it will break my heart to see my sweet boy staring hungrily at his big brother and sister as they enjoy some yummy, dairy/egg/wheat -filled treat, so I am hoping that we can find substitutions and alternatives for all of us by the time we get there.
"Well, W can't have them, " I retorted. Apparently, I was in the minority in thinking of family solidarity and the only one that had been secretly panicking as the days of separate meals for him vs. us dwindle.
At first it irritated me to think that any member of our immediate family would balk at the thought of ridding our house and diets of all of W's allergens. Then the more I thought about it, the more I realized how much my children and husband had already given up and I wondered how realistic was it to have my entire family go egg, peanut, dairy, wheat, and everything-else-free for every meal, all the time.
Egg-Free
Because the egg allergy is an ingest/inhale/contact allergy, our house has become virtually egg free. We no longer enjoy daddy's weekend breakfast tacos or my Mother's Day staple of eggs benedict in bed. My daughter's favorite meal on earth, fried rice, now has to be ordered without eggs, for which we get very odd looks and even had one restaurant serve all of our meals except hers because according to their chef, "Fried rice takes longer to cook without the eggs." Really?
One weekend we all wanted my husband's famously wonderful waffles for breakfast (which are only famously wonderful because they include whipped egg whites) so he took everything outside and cooked waffles for us on the back porch.
Peanut-Free
We are not yet sure of the severity of W's peanut allergy, but at the suggestion of our allergist, have rid the house of all peanut products.
While I thought this one would be much more difficult, given my kid's affinity for a PB&J, we transitioned to almond butter quite easily. In fact, my older two were offered a peanut butter sandwich while staying alone with their grandparents one weekend and they refused because of W's allergy.
I do miss Reese's Peanut Butter cups, and I let out an audible sign as I pass by Trader Joe's Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Pretzels (found here on amazon so that I can eat them vicariously through you.) But all in all, those are just things that serve to add to my hips, not my nutrition.
Dairy, Wheat, and Everything-Else-Free
Because none of his other allergies seem to be contact or inhaled as of yet, we have not eliminated them from the household diet. I know that there will come a time when we might have to, and that meals made for the entire family will need to use soy milk, rice flour and such, but for now we just take it in baby steps. I bought gluten/wheat-free oatmeal yesterday instead of our run-of-the-mill Quaker brand (I will review it here shortly), so we will see where this journey takes us as a family day by day.
Either way, I know that it will break my heart to see my sweet boy staring hungrily at his big brother and sister as they enjoy some yummy, dairy/egg/wheat -filled treat, so I am hoping that we can find substitutions and alternatives for all of us by the time we get there.
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