This meal plan is cheap and free of the top 8 allergens! Allergy-free meals can be pricey, this simple meal plan will help you eat safely without the extra stress on your budget.
My daughter has 4 food allergies (down from 8) that make meal planning super difficult. So this one is for the mamas (or anyone) who needs some tips on meal planning and avoiding certain foods.
Food allergies usually make your budget WAY more expensive because you have to buy higher quality products (like products without cross-contamination of other foods), and the alternative products to something like milk and cheese are crazy expensive.
If you want my general meal planning strategycheckout my post about it here.
General notes- all of these prices are from Kroger, but it is WAY cheaper to shop at Aldi. We go to both! But Aldi has there own gluten-free brand that is half the price than most of their competitors.
Also, I won’t necessarily make these in order, it just depends on our week.
To cut down on costs I usually make my daughter her allergy-safe meal that is an exact replica to what we are having. So if we have cheese she has Daiya Cheese. We eat all of her allergens in the house and have not had an issue.
BUT this whole meal plan is for purely top 8 free meals unless noted. So there is definitely room to cut costs.
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Top 8 Allergen Free Meal Plan
Just a note here for all of you. Make sure you still check all the ingredients and cross-contamination warnings on any of the products I mention here. I regularly cook for 4 out of the 8 here, so I very well could have missed something that is important for your child’s allergies.
As always:
These recipes are ones that I make often for my daughter and our family, so I can promise they are yummy! They also are a little cobbled together because #allergymomlife.
Taco Lasagna
Cost: $5.74/ $1.43 per meal
This is a spin-off of an enchilada recipe that I make that is definitely not dairy free. Also I want to note that literally HALF the cost of this recipe is dairy-free cheese.
Use the filling from this recipe: Butternut Squash and Black Bean Enchiladas (I do not use the enchilada sauce).
Then get a baking dish and layer corn tortillas and the filling back and forth, you might have to make a few of these stacks. Then top with your favorite Dairy Free cheese! We use Daiya.
Pop them in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10-20 minutes. You just want these cheese to get melty.
Teriyaki Chicken and Rice
Cost: $11.10 / $2.22 per meal
This recipe usually gets us about 5 total meals and it is SUPER yummy.
Teriyaki Sauce Recipe(I omit the water in the mix). To make this recipe soy-free and wheat-free you can replace the soy sauce with Trader Joes Coconut Aminos or this recipe for a soy alternative. I’ve done it both ways and they turn out great.
The more cost-effective method is to use the soy alternative recipe if you don’t have access to a Trader Joes! The coconut aminos accounts for more than half the cost here since I got the amazon price.
Then I just cut up some chicken and throw it in the pan with the sauce atmedium-highheat. Throw some cornstarch on it to thicken it up and you are golden.
I use my instant pot to make white rice and it makes it perfect every time like a charm.
Chicken ‘Parmesan’ and noodles
Cost: $12.17/ $2.02 per meal
So I make chicken parmesan a little different than your typical parmesan recipe. I don’t add the crusty outside to the chicken. My mom always just baked chicken in sauce with some cheese on top so I do the same, and it is yummy.
I’m estimating getting 6 meals out of this, it depends on how big your chicken breasts are! We usually don’t eat a full one for a meal.
Ingredients
4 chicken breasts
1 jar of Prego
1/2 cup of dairy-free parmesan cheese or just dairy-free Mozzarella
1 box of gluten free pasta
Mushrooms
Salt
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Put chicken breasts in a casserole dish, salt as desired, and throw in the whole jar of prego and canned mushrooms. Bake for 30 minutes.
Then add the cheese to the top of each breast, and bake for another 10-20 minutes (it really depends on how big your chicken breasts are.)
While it is baking make sure to turn on your water and boil your noodles up.
Mini Meatloaves with Baked Potatoes
Cost: $5.25/ $1.31 per meal
This mini Meatloaves recipe is adapted from Allergy-Free and Easy Cooking (a book that I would definitely recommend for any allergy family). It’s super yummy and easy to transport for leftovers.
Ingredients
1 1/2 teaspoons of Ener-G egg replacer
5 Tablespoons of rice milk
1.5 LBS of ground turkey
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
2 cloves of garlic minced
1/2 tsp of salt
1/4 tsp of pepper
7 tbsp of Ketchup
3/4 cups of crushed cornflakes (2 cups of cornflakes put through a food processor)
2 tbsp of oil
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
Mix the egg replacer and 2 tbsp of milk. Now throw 3 tbsp of ketchup and everything else in and mix together (leave the cornflakes for last).
Shape into 4, 3 inch loaves.
Heat the oil in an oven safe skillet, over medium-high heat. Cook for 2 minutes on each side starting with the flatter side.
When the flat side is back on the bottom spoon 1 tbsp of ketchup onto each loaf and bake for 20 minutes.
The Baked potatoes are pretty straight forward, cook them your favorite way! Mine is to throw them in the oven with olive oil and salt in aluminum foil.
Pizza
Cost: $18.24/ $4.46 per meal
Yay Pizza! This is my daughter’s favorite, and it is SO easy. Warning- this recipe is WAY more expensive than I’d like for a whole family.
This is a prime example where I would make my own pizza separate from my child’s so that we can save money on the costly ingredients.
Our favorite Top 8 free crust: Simple Mills Pizza Crust Mix
Our favorite gluten-free crust with egg: Caulipower Pizza Crust
Prepare pizzas as directed with sauce and your favorite Dairy-free cheese!
We like to make pizza and have a movie night with a yummy dessert!
Total Cost $52.50
Now, this is only the cost for dinners, and snacks seem to be one of the most expensive things about having food allergies.
We stick to fresh fruit and Aldi gluten-free products mostly for snacks or trusty corn flakes!
Want to learn how to make your own cheap, easy meal plans regardless of what diet you have to stick to?
Check out my full course Food Budget Overhaul! We went from spending $800 a month to under $300 with all the things I teach here.
Have any questions about saving money on food with allergies? Comment below!
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