In our last three and half years with Harrison we have become accustom to life and living with his allergies, never leaving the house without his epi pens, always having atleast two packs of baby wipes on us; unfortunately a necessary evil, and always bringing along safe foods for Harrison while out and about. Our monthly/ weekly shops now occur with regularity and ease. These are our staples for an easier life with as many allergies as Harrison.

Bread:
A staple in most of our lives and diets, unfortunately bread safe for Harrison was one of the trickier foods to find. Although the amount of gluten free breads out there are vast, Harrison has so many allergies it was difficult to find one that excluded them all. Finally we found wheat-freebakerydirect.com a company based in Scotland who not only specialised in wheat free bread substitutes they also had sections that were dairy and egg free too. A completely nut free factory to put our minds at rest, not only do they provide a brown and white sliced loaf they also have every bread option to suit the whole family’s needs; Pizza bases, pittas, nan, you name it, even a good old tea cake for elevensies’! we order monthly now as the bread can be frozen. Also good to know the company are fab with keeping you up to date with your order.

Milk:
Currently Harrison is on Quinoa milk. It doesn’t taste anywhere as near bad as you are imagining and he seems to love it. Not quite got used to it in my tea yet but after having Dairy, Soya and Nut milks ruled out. Its great finding a milk he can enjoy.  Still to try it in a pan cake. waitrose.com

Butter:
There are hundreds of dairy free butter alternatives to choose from these days, and I would say we have probably tried and tested the majority. The ones that we always come back to have to be  Pure sunflower or Olive based butter and Vitalite. the Pure range is very light and smooth and great as a replacement for butter when cooking. The Vitalite tastes more like real butter, a slightly more salty after taste which works really well for baking cakes!

Cheese:
Violife have saved us when it comes to cheese alternative products, I can’t sing their praises enough. coconut based, their cheeses definitely hit the spot. the original cream cheese is not dissimilar to another well known brand of dairy based cheese (sounds like the name of a Tom Hanks film) They have also reworked the cheddar block and slices so their texture is more like what we are used to, and their block of blue is to die for. Check them out here violifefoods.com

Pasta:
The variety out there for gluten free pasta is immense, personally our favourites are Tesco own brand gluten free pasta. Sainsbury’s own gluten free macaroni and a new product on the shelves in Waitrose, Ugo Thrive raviolini filled with pumpkin and sage. A big hit for the whole family and only takes a minute to cook. Ugo Thrive is also free from the top 14 allergens.

Gravy:
This might seem like an odd one, but harry loves his mash, sausages and gravy, unfortunately gluten free gravy granules aren’t easily come by. Tesco however have brought out there own free from versions which go down a treat!  Its vegetable based so even me, the vegan mum, can enjoy!

Sweet Treats:
One of our biggest fears when we first found out about Harry’s allergies was that he would miss out on the simple pleasures in life like chocolate, cakes and all the sweet treats children should get to enjoy. I’m am so happy to say that we have a stock pile of suitable free from treats for Harry which he enjoys on probably a far to regular basis.

Tesco Free From chocolate in both ‘Milk’ and white variety are his favourite. Although these do contain soya letchins. For completely free of the top 14 allergens I would recommend Essy and Bella  Their chocolate and factory is free from the top 14 allergens and any animal products.

Doves farm biscuits which are gluten, wheat, egg, peanut, soya and milk free come in a variety of different flavours and are super yummy. Harry’s favs are chocolate chip, obviously, and mummy here loves a ginger!

For a long time Harry kept asking me for squirty cream, it was a challenge to find one and after trolling the internet far and wide I actually managed to find two brands which were harry friendly! Rice Whip and Schlagfix Schlagcreme Rice whip I have only managed to purchase once as it seems to never be in stock on my regular shopping sites but we actually prefer the Schlagfox brand anyway, much sweeter and very similar to the usual whipped spray cream. Free from everything harry is allergic to and vegan but god knows what’s made of.  One of the ingredients listed has 28 letters in!