If you lead a busy life and have a family to feed, you probably know all too well that it takes some effort and time to plan your meals for the week. However, you have some backup options like frozen dinners or take-out when you’re in a pinch. Life is hectic but you have some options.
Now, imagine a family whose members have food allergies and/or food restrictions. Maybe this family can’t eat dairy, wheat, gluten, soy, corn and sugar. Maybe the youngest member is also allergic to eggs.
Unfortunately, there are many families who face this reality every day. If you don’t have these food restrictions yourself, you may not realize how much this limits one’s diet.
Eating out is “out”
A family on such a diet has a hard time eating out, if at all. One main problem is that most restaurants use “vegetable” oil or soy oil to cook their food in. This basically eliminates eating-out.
Fortunately, there are a lot of restaurants popping up that offer gluten-free options. However, sometimes it is hard to get the wheat/gluten and dairy-free combo at a restaurant. For instance, they may put dry milk powder in the gluten-free pizza crust.
Grocery shopping is a chore
Even buying food at the store becomes a chore. You basically have to read all the ingredients lists and even then, finding foods that are free of dairy, wheat, gluten, soy, corn, sugar and eggs is tough!
This is why I create my menu planners. I personally am on a very limited diet that forces me to cook basically everything we eat. If I don’t do some planning for the week’s meals, I usually end up spending a lot of time driving back and forth between home and the grocery store. I also end up spending more money because every time I go, I end up buying things I didn’t plan on.
The Nourishing Foods Menu Planners
My plan is to create menu planners for just about any limited diet. My next series of menu planners are going to be for the extremely limited diet such as the following (these are subject to change as I get more feedback from people)
- The GAPS diet: this is a wheat/gluten, grain, starch and sugar-free diet that helps people’s digestive systems to heal. This diet also works great for people on “low-carb” diets or the Paleo diet because it is free of grains and uses high protein nuts and seeds for flours.
- Egg-free, Dairy-free and Gluten-Free
- Nut-free, Legume-free, Wheat/Gluten-free and Dairy-free
- Common-allergen Free: free of wheat, gluten, dairy, soy, corn, eggs, nuts, fish, peanuts
- Kid-Friendly menus
As of now, I have the following weekly menu planners available:
Meat and Seafood Diets:
- Wheat-free and Gluten-free Menu Planner
- Gluten-free and Casein-free Menu Planner
- Dairy-free Menu Planner
- Wheat/Gluten-free, Dairy-free and Soy-free Menu Planner
- Nightshade, Wheat/Gluten-free, Dairy-free and Soy-Free Menu Planner
- Holiday Menu Planner for Limited Diets – this is a grain, dairy, soy, corn, and sugar free menu
- Thanksgiving Menu Planner
Seafood/Vegetarian Diets
Dessert
Gift a Gift of Nourishing Foods to someone on a limited diet this Holiday Season!
I recently updated my Gift a Gift page where you can gift your friend or family member with one of my many menu planners. I also offer hourly consulting over the phone as well as personal chef services for the Washington DC, Baltimore and Frederick, Maryland areas.
If you’re looking for a gift that keeps on giving, that can really help someone improve the quality of their life and can bring renewed inspiration to their dinner table, buy a menu planner for your loved one or friend. They will love it and continue to thank you!
