This post is to help give you an idea of the kinds of things you might need/want in your kitchen if you are a family with multiple food allergies who is looking for what you CAN eat!

(Update: As our kids are getting older and we have fewer allergies to contend with, this is still how we eat to fill them up and meet our nutrition needs)

After a horrible mouse plague when we lived in the desert (we’d sometimes kill more than 20 in a night inside!!), everything needed to be airtight so we have A LOT of Tupperware. You can check out my fridge and pantry in more detail out below:

IN THE FRIDGE we have:

Nuttelex: We use Nuttlelex (a vegan butter) for the dairy free option, especially in baking. A separate knife is always used in this.

Butter: Plain butter for the non dairy free.

Milks: Full cream cows milk for 3 of our family, lactose free UHT for one, another drinks UHT oat milk and I whilst I don’t really enjoy any kind of milk, I use high protein almond milk in smoothies. We also use soy milk in baking. It’s quite the selection!

Yoghurts: I don’t make our dairy yoghurt any more (it is a time issue) but we buy a natural, high protein greek yoghurt. This is the best at filling the kids and is the most flexible for us to flavour and sweeten in the different ways we prefer. E’s yoghurt is always homemade soy. Both recipes are here.

Eggs: 5 of the 6 of us can eat eggs now (YAY!).

Cheese: Dairy Cheese and Bio Cheese. I buy 1kg blocks of the fairy cheese and grate in my food processor to save money. Pre-sliced cheese also helpful for a little portion distribution when teens make their own food!!

Medjool dates: I buy them in bulk as they are the base for many of things we make.

Dips and spreads: Cream Cheese (soy and dairy), sunflower seed butter & hummus,

Herbs/Spices: minced garlic, ginger and chilli, coconut aminos, thai chilli paste, lemongrass (when our garden allows)

Extras: Tahini for making hummus, lemon juice, maple syrup and a constant supply of hemp seeds. There is always a container of bliss balls on the go too.

We always have loads of in season fruit and vegetables on hand for easy snacks.

IN THE FREEZER we have:

I am lucky enough to have a big freezer. It is split into 6 labelled drawers (Yup, I’m a massive nerd!).

Drawer 1: Loaves of sliced light rye bread, wraps (usually whole grain, seeded or high protein), wholemeal pizza bases.

Drawer 2: Baked goods like scrolls, pizzas and, portioned cakes, pikelets or muffins. These are cut and frozen in ziplock bags, to pull out easily for making lunch boxes each night.

Drawer 3: Meat. I buy for a month at a time based on our menu and portion it out and label it before freezing.

Drawer 4: Pre-made meals. I cook in bulk and freeze the additional portions. Also here I have homemade gravies (in reusable squeeze pouches), jars of salsa, apple sauce and ice cubes of aquafaba (for replacing eggs in baked goods).

Drawer 5: Frozen fruits & herbs. Peeled, overripe bananas, peeled and seeded avocados, mangoes, berries, and extra herbs from my garden.

Drawer 6: Frozen Veg – always a BIG bag of mixed frozen veg, plus peas, corn, spinach (I freeze half the bag if I buy it fresh), green beans etc.

We have an additional freezer in our garage (yes – VERY lucky!) that we use to buy and store extra loaves of bread and bottles of milk – this saves us making unnecessary trips back to the shop. Also portioned meat if we happen to find a very good sale.

IN THE PANTRY we have:

Flours: A few different kinds but we largely use spelt, a 50% of white/wholemeal self raising or a store bought GF mix.

Sweeteners: Honey, golden syrup, rice malt syrup, raw sugar, also icing sugar for cakes. I used to use coconut sugar a lot as I liked the caramel taste, but to save cost, we no longer use it.

Carbohydrates: We use mostly mix of GF pasta & spaghetti, including lentil and veggie based pasta. Also brown rice, quinoa, corn couscous and sometimes arborio rice for risotto.

No egg: a powdered egg replacer made by Orgran

Cereals: We make porridge or overnight oats made with plain rolled oats, but we also make our own muesli (with a mix of seeds and dried fruits) or granola and have some allergy friendly cereals like puffed rice, cornflakes and oat bran flakes. GF weetbix is a massive favourite (we’re desperate for a bigger sized box!) … and occasionally, when it is half  price, the generic version of Nutrigrain (that is a new addition with teenage boys 🤨).

Condiments etc: salt and pepper, dried herbs and spices (galore!), tomato, bbq, (homemade) sweet chilli sauce and coconut aminos. We use balsamic, red wine, white and apple cider vinegars, Massel stock powder (chicken and beef style). The oil we use is mostly extra virgin olive oil. We love the lemon, garlic and chilli flavoured olive oil to add a flavour boost. I make my own Mexican Spice mix and French Onion Soup mix. Nutritional yeast features heavily too.

Spreads: Honey (we are very lucky to get most of our honey from my mother in law’s hives), vegemite (in the biggest vat we can find!) and of course there is always a huge jar of Sunflower Seed Butter. We also like to make almond and walnut butter.

Dried fruits: Sultanas, apricots and prunes are the staples. Dried mango when it is on sale, and occasionally dried apple.

For baking: GF baking powder, bi-carb, glucose syrup, vanilla bean paste, cocoa/cacao, cinnamon, ginger and other fragrant spices.

Seeds and nuts: Our regular stock is: sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds and chia seeds. Raw and dry roasted almonds, dried chick peas or dried broad beans. A dried soup mix that I make by mixing red and french lentils, yellow and green split peas and barley. We also have white and black dried beans ready to soak. The nuts we can have in our house are almonds, walnuts and pine nuts. Macadamias are also safe .. but who can afford those 🤣

Crackers and biscuits: Multi-grain rice/quinoa squares, and wholegrain sa-ka-ta rice crackers. Biscuits are normally homemade but we keep a backup packet of allergy friendly ginger nuts as a back up too.

Tins: Beans and legumes – allll of the beans, coconut cream, baked beans. Crushed tomatoes, tomato paste and passata. Tins of salmon, flavoured to add to lunches and plain for recipes. Tinned fruit (in juice rather than syrup), especially pineapple and stone fruits like peaches or apricots that are often too expensive in their fresh form.

Snacks and special items: Organ makes a good custard powder. Mini marshmallows or Sweet William chocolate or choc chips, also ‘Free From’ Cake mix sometimes on standby. Popcorn kernels – so cheap and easy!! Packaged items like choc covered chickpeas (from the Happy Snack company) and Harvest Snaps peas (Calbee) and roasted edamame (The Only Bean company), and sometimes banana chips.

If it is available and our budget allows, I buy Australian grown/made when possible. I admit that this is getting harder and harder with the rapidly increasing cost of living.