Peanut Allergy - Arlington, VA

Hello,
My son was allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, and eggs. For birthdays I made a recipe called Kingma's Favorite Chocolate Cupcakes. I found it at http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=1... . It is really, really good. You may have to adjust the cooking times. I would always have to keep taking it out and checking to see if it was done. I used it for cakes & cupcakes. The cupcakes freeze really well so I would take a freezer bag to his pre-school so he would have something good for all their little parties.

I would buy my own halloween candy to switch his bag out with. I tried checking the candy he got trick-or-treating the first year but they don't have the ingredients on all the wrappers & it was taking way to long. I always had good luck with oreos & chips ahoy chocolate chip cookies (regular). I never found any granola bars that didn't have trace & stopped looking after awhile so maybe there are some now. I made my own granola bars--they are really easy to make.

I agree with previous posters, you have to check the label each time because they do change the ingredients. Also, your allergist should have given you a list of all the alternate names that they use for peanuts in products. Take it with you while you shop. It really adds to your shopping time. I found that the name brand products were better about trace peanuts. A lot of the generic stuff has trace. The peanuts were actually much easier to avoid than the eggs--they were a huge pain. Also, I found (at least with eggs) that they don't always put an allergy warning on the food & I would find it in the ingredients.

I would not experiment on your own to see if your daughter is ok with trace in her food. With peanut allergies each exposure can trigger a more severe reaction & could result in anaphylaxis. My son had food challenges last November & he has developed a tolerance for everything. His allergist said that he now HAS to eat peanuts at least once a week to keep the tolerance. She said that the people who avoided the food after they developed a tolerance were more likely to have a severe reaction in the future. The food challenge was an all day event. We got their early in the morning & they fed him increasingly larger amounts of the foods & then checked him over for any reactions.

Make sure you screen her food at other people's houses as well. Not everyone takes peanut allergies seriously, or (like my parents) they just don't think about all the un-obvious foods that have peanuts in them.

Chick-Fil-A uses peanut oil for cooking.

Some restaurants put their ingredients on their websites. Don't be shy about asking to see the packaging for other foods & don't let the waiters give you a flip answer about the ingredients either. Watch out for ice-cream shops that use the same scoop for different flavors.

Walmart will generally sell you their cake decorating tops for $5.00 if you ask nicely & explain to the worker about the allergy. They aren't supposed to, but I've had really good luck in finding really nice ladies their who will do it anyway. If not, you can buy them online if you search but they will be more expensive.

Have fun!

A.

L.,
I am sorry to hear about your little girl being allergic to peanuts but if it makes you feel any better, it is one of the easier food allergies. My middle boy is allergic to peanuts and soy so I can relate. Most candy - sugary treats - are peanut free but always check labels. A lot of chocolate will have peanuts or are process around nuts so be very careful with chocolate. Enjoy Life products are nut free and they make chocolate chips if you want to make sure you are good to go. Also, Betty Crocker's Fudge Brownie mix is good! I have learned I am better off making my own cakes and baked goods from scratch for my son. It elimanates any contamination possiblities. Ian's products are also nut free, allergy free. The natural, organic section of one of your nicer grocery stores will offer products but don't go crazy, they are expensive! Just read labels carefully. If nuts are processed anywhere nearby, stay away! It is not worth taking the chance.
Hope this helps,
A. http://foodallergymomx3.blogspot.com/

Sorry to hear that you have joined the club, but once you learn more it will be so much easier for you. Just a few of my staples are hershey's kisses, tootsie rolls and dum dum lollipops. Always double check the label, even if you bought them before because they are constantly changing manufacturing processes and labeling. I also buy hershey's chocolate chips to make my cookies because they have no nuts but toll house does. Again, always double check. I think you can use Ghiardelli also. As for cakes most of the boxes are okay that I've found. My son also has an egg allergy so I mix a box of chocolate cake with a can of pumpkin and the amount of water on the back of the cake mix and you have a nut free egg free cake. Good luck with your peanut free research. There are tons of websites for parents and kids.

Hi L.-

My son was diagnosed with a peanut and egg allergy at the age of 18 months- he is now 3 1/2 and we are still hoping he may outgrow it yet. One brand of sweet stuff no one has mentioned is "Cherrybrook Kitchen". They have boxed mixes for cakes, cookies, muffins, frosting, brownies, pancakes, etc. and everything has no eggs, no nuts of any kind AND no dairy. They also have a line of gluten-free products, too. They're not cheap, but sometimes the convenience of a boxed mix is nice. Wegman's has some, although it seems (at least at the Woodbridge store) that most of them are the gluten-free ones, and why avoid gluten if you don't have to? Whole Foods usually has a much broader selection. You can also order it online at Cherrybrook's website.

I don't know where you live, but there's also a woman who runs a peanut-free, egg-free bakery out of her home in Manassas. She does birthday cakes, cookies, and ridiculously good scones! (I was still breastfeeding when we found out about my son's allergies, so *I* couldn't eat eggs or peanuts, either, and I was desperate for some good junk food!) Her website is: www.thelemonadebakery.com

I asked our allergist about eating at Chik-Fil-A or other restaurants that cook in peanut oil. She said it was OK, because they use a cheap peanut oil that doesn't have the protein in it-- but that if we were at an upscale, expensive place, they were more likely to use the "real deal" which he shouldn't eat. Obviously, check with your allergist to get her/his opinion first. (and of course, since he had never had Chik-Fil-A in his life, when we finally went, my son didn't like it! Oh, how I miss it...)

Good luck!
Amy

Hi L.
Welcome to the club.
Some guidelines to sanity...
1. Be prepared. If you are going to someone's house or a restarant, take some foods that you know are safe. We went to a new Japanese restarant and my son took his lunchbox with him. We had stir-fry and he had bologna. It turned out to be a good thing, becuase while the stir-fry was not fried in peanut oil, most everything else that was presented was.

2. Don't be afraid to ask questions. Ask to see ingredients lists, what type of oil is used, etc. They shouldn't be surprised or put out by the question. I've asked cooks at Bowling Alleys, Mom and Pop shops, and Chain stores, and even the church woman's group. Its your kids life, you need to know.

3. Educate family and friends. The biggest offenders will be your closest family and friends. I always have to be on the lookout around one aunt, becuase she'll offer my son anything! Luckily he's old enough now to know to check with me first.

Now the ok stuff. There are many things out there that are ok. Regular and Chewy Chips Ahoy, Oreos, Honey Grahams, Pringles, Cheez-Its, Chips, etc. Again, just read the ingredients.

Some restaurants to aviod: Chik-fil-a, Jerry's Subs & Pizza, Boardwalk Fries.

Good luck in your new adventure.
M.

Check the packaging, but my son had a classmate who was allergic to EVERYTHING, and we threw a bday party for my son making sure to buy the stuff the little boy could eat. It consisted of gummy bears, skittles, starbursts and such. Pretty much anything that has loads of sugar. Like I said, just make sure to check the packaging first!

I've noticed that the organic section of my grocery store has many peanut/wheat/gluten/egg free products. Maybe check there??
Good luck!

My 25 month old son was diagnosed with peanut, milk, and egg when he was 15 months. The peanut was the highest, like a 4 out of 5. But the weird thing is that he is one of those kids who can eat things that don't have peanuts in them even if they "may" contain traces. I just experiment. Like I said he can't have like a peanut butter sandwhich or granola bar with peanuts or reese's peanut butter cup, but he can have sesome seed butter sandwhiches(life saver and actually good, Wegmans Grocery sells it and he like it with honey), chocolate chip granola bars even if they are made in the same factory or whatever as the peanut butter ones, and twix candy bars. I just always have Benadryl in case, but so far haven't needed it. So, my point is that your daughter may be super allergic and need to completely stay away, or she may be like my son who does fine with things that just don't have straight up peanuts in them. Any cake is fine, cookies without peanuts (any kind) are fine, and any candy bar other than like snickers or reeses. I hope your daughter is like my son and not the extreme case! It's bad enough as it is! Good luck!

An excellent site to check out:
www.foodallergy.org
The organization is FAAN - Food Allergy and Anaphalaxis Network.
They have recipes, including substitutes, and tons of information for all the allergies.

Good luck!