Easter + Food Allergies = No Problem!

Let’s start with the basics. What is a food allergy?

A true food allergy is a hypersensitivity to the dietary substances found in the offending food, for example milk, eggs, or peanuts. A

reaction to the allergy trigger can cause severe physical symptoms including anaphylaxis.

The Easter Egg(less) Hunt

Let’s Trade

Just because you’re allergic to eggs doesn’t mean you have to have an eggless Easter! It may sound like I’m contradicting myself, but when you consider how many options there are, it’s much easier to understand. Here are some options for replacing traditional eggs.

For your Easter egg hunt, find fillable eggs (WalMart, Target, Michaels etc.) to fill with your favourite allergy-friendly treats! You can also fill them with stickers, bouncy balls, fake tattoos or jewelry. For painting, find Styrofoam, wood, plastic, porcelain eggs to make some beautiful Easter creations! (You can also decorate them with stickers, paper mache or glitter!)

For more ideas or to find safe crafts and recipes to have some family fun this April, have a peek at our Easter Pinterest board!

We’ll show you some of our favourites…

Kid friendly substitutions

The Easter Tree

A beautiful and fun craft to do with the kids is an Easter tree. Using sticks or branches from your yard and some craft supplies you can create a wonderfully easy and eye-catching centerpiece! You can use wood, paper, coloured cotton balls, satchels etc. We found some great examples here.

Paper bunnies!

A classic! Simple and lots of fun for the kids (and parents!) Transform yourself into an Easter bunny with nothing more than construction paper and glue! Find some neat ones here.

The Easter Recipe Challenge

Ugh…When you have food allergies it seems like every holiday in North America is geared towards food you can’t have, just to spite you. Of course, this isn’t the case but it can make folks, especially kids, feel excluded from certain activities. Whether it be at school, work or even at home, not being able to have those little chocolate candies or cream-filled delicacies can get depressing. Never fear! We

went and found some great alternative recipes to some Easter staples.

Food, glorious food?

There are lots of ways to substitute ingredients and have a delicious allergy-friendly Easter meal. Here are some great recipe ideas to help you out this April. Here’s a biggie for this month, egg substitutes! You can buy egg replacers from your local grocery store, or if you’d like a more natural route you can also use bananas or applesauce. What about milk? Well for many recipes you can substitute rice, soy or almond milk. Try to buy the ‘original’ flavour unless you want another flavour mixed in to what you’re creating J. Here are some seriously scrumptious recipes that will satisfy your cravings without the worry.

Let’s get cooking

“Milk” chocolate

Thanks to www.godairyfree.org we have some links to some manufacturers offering allergy-friendly chocolate Easter treats! Alternatively, if you’d like to make your own head over to www.dinner-mom.com for a tutorial.

So many recipes, so little time!

My mouth is watering just looking at these pictures from www.thehumbledhomemaker.com. Take a trip over and find some great allergy-friendly recipes to try out in the coming weeks!

Having a food allergy doesn’t have to be a limitation, if you know how to manage it and where to look for alternatives. I hope that

this blog has given you some ideas on how to make this Easter the best ever! As always AllergyAble aims to help people with

allergies live better lives, at home, at work and at play!

Happy Easter from AllergyAble™

Are there any topics you’d like to see us blog about? Let us know in the comments or CONTACT US!