Great Businesses, Websites and Products For Food Allergy Families

As a mom of two kids with food allergies, it is essential to find great resources to help my family. Here are some of my favorite local allergen-free websites and businesses:

• On Facebook: Gluten Free Friends of Tampa, GlutenFree InFlorida, Gluten Free for Life Expo
• Tampa Celiac Support Group (contact jchtbc42@tampabay.rr.com for info) – meets monthly at the Jimmie Keel Library in Tampa.
• , which has an entire aisle dedicated to gluten free and offers many allergen free products

Allergy Eats and Gluten Free Registry are some great apps to download to your smart phone. That way you can check for allergen-free dining anywhere. They can also be accessed on their websites at www.allergyeats.com and www.glutenfreeregistry.com.

A good way to save money on a special diet is to order the items by the case (after you find what you like). Amazon.com has great deals on pasta and snacks. Also, Nutrition S’Mart in Wesley Chapel offers a 10% case discount.

A better way to keep from trying every product available is to ask someone who knows what is good (yeah, that’s me :) ).

So, here is a quick list of my family’s favorite allergen-free foods (besides fruits and veggies).

• Tinkyada rice pastas – it is essential to follow the directions in cooking any rice pasta. Also, rinsing with cold water is critical; otherwise it becomes a mushy mess! We put olive oil and salt on ours.
• DeBoles spaghetti pasta – delish! Cook it right and you cannot tell the difference between this and wheat pasta.
• Cascadian Farms fries – easy to prepare and organic too!
• Smoreables graham crackers – these are a simple snack or you can make them into a mini sandwich.
• Rice cakes – plain rice cakes are a great snack that you can top with jelly, apple butter, or any other spread.
• Corn chips and potato chips are usually allergen free, but check the labels!
• Applegate Farms hotdogs and sausages – the chicken maple sausage is our favorite.
• Bearitos taco seasoning – combine that with some ground turkey or beef and you have a tasty meal.
• Bob’s Red Mill has a Biscuit and Baking mix that is amazing as a breading for chicken nuggets – literally better than any nugget we have eaten anywhere!

We have been on this allergen-free journey for 3 years now. I’m happy to
help anyone who needs some advice on allergen free baking or cooking. Also, let
me know what you would like me to blog about!