Festive food ideas for guest with multiple allergies and intolerances

[Festivefood]

One of our guests has the following issues I’m struggling what to get/make !
Coeliac
shellfish allergy
seed intolerance (sunflower, pumpkin, chia and linseed)
can’t eat any leafy green veg
cashew allergy

I’ve seen a lot of supermarkets have free from ranges are these 100% safe for coeliacs ? I don’t want to take the easy option and say for them to bring their own food as I’d like to make the effort but I’m a bit stuck ! Not least as we always have a lot of seafood which I need to swap out completely as they can’t be anywhere near it.

Celiac is the one allergy that scares me enough that he I would probably be calling caterers .

If I decided to rise to the safety challenge, I would do a nice beef roast, potatoes, and roasted vegetables. Do a vinaigrette for the veg and a couple of rich sauces for the beef. Both will help the meal feel more decadent.

for a salad course I would do endive and apple with blue cheese. Leave out the endive for the person who can’t handle the greens.

Just watch fish as some prepackaged is not safe for coeliacs. Morrisons is particularly bad for this with may contain warnings on many products on the fish counter.

Fish pie (thicken sauce with cornflour not flour) and use cod, salmon, smoked haddock

Kedgeree with smoked haddock

Thai or other veg curry and rice

Chilli and rice

Steak and baked potato with tomato and mushroom

Stir fry and rice

Cottage pie

I have a friend with a similar list of allergies. She has Christmas elsewhere, but tbh festive food is generally very easy to do with these requirements - meat is fine, it's not complicated to make a stuffing using things that aren't a problem, and side veg from among the many many veggies that aren't in the leafy-green category. Make gravy with cornflour. It's always better to cook completely from scratch using new packets of known-to-be-safe ingredients rather than using ready-made "free from" things.

do you mock/exclude people with other disabilities too?

This doesn't sound that tricky a list at all!

My son was at one point allergic to milk, wheat , eggs, soya,.lentils,.cod and all nuts.

It was perfectly manageable once we had figured out all the stuff he can have

Op - best bet is to ask your guest.

But sounds like they can have (just as a starter!)
potatoes, turkey, gluten free stuffing and gravy and carrots and parsnips
Cheese
Gluten free bread
Marmalades, jam
All meats
Salmon, cod,
Almonds, peanuts
Lentils and chickpeas
All fruit
Tomatoes and aubergine and courgettes
Chocolate
Gluten free biscuits

Definitely always better to just make everything safe. It takes the stress out of it then
And get your guest to double check ingredients. I only feel comfortable if I have double checked everything for DS and we usually bring any special treats /hard to find bits

I wouldnt buy anything, not only will it cost a fortune and probably not be very nice and it will be quite limited.

I would make stuff, try to do things you can make in advance, put in the freezer and either just eat defrosted or pop in the oven/airfryer whatever

Good for you but it’s not recommended ….

Risks with Mixers:

• Crevices: Flour and dough can get trapped in the nooks and crannies of mixer beaters, whisks, and the mixer head.
• Porous Materials: Wooden or plastic parts can absorb gluten particles.
• Shared Use: If anyone else uses the mixer for gluten-containing foods, even a small amount of flour residue can "glutinate" your gluten-free food.

In this case, I would check whether they have any favourite safe brands/foods that you can get in for them (if packaged).
Otherwise, stick to naturally gf foods.
For snacks,
A pimped up cheese board as a pp suggested is a very good idea - fruit gf crackers, walnuts, olives. A homemade hummus with crudités, if you buy gluten free pastry you could make all sorts of things, eg. Gf sausages/veggie rolls
Baking with gf flour for cakes, you could make some gluten free gingerbread
Instead of seafood, you could get some high quality fish eg sea bass which is still nice and light. Smoked mackerel dip, salmon & cream cheese

For main meals, meat, potatoes, veg all good. Be careful with gravy. Gf Yorkshire puddings may be a kind thing to think of
scrambled eggs on gf bread

It's not too bad a list really.

Just be super careful with contamination if coeliac. Wash everything, clean surfaces, store on top shelf etc.

A plate of ice cubes.

Srsly though, she should bring her own dish or at least give you a couple of ideas.

You are such a good host (and good person) to be taking this so seriously. People like you make life a little bit less crappy for those of us on medically restricted diets! ❤️
Speaking as a coeliac myself, I recommend checking in with the guest about what you're planning to prepare and how you're preparing it. Communicating with them will save you time, effort and stress (and probably money) as you'll find they'll will probably offer to do/bring certain things for you, and you'll also find (like with the mixer conversation between PP) a lot of coeliacs consider shared equipment like mixers to be too high risk for cross contamination, and you might be going to the effort of baking for nothing. I hope it goes well.

One of my good friends is coeliac (though without those added issues). Just be careful with stuffing and gravy and use black pepper not white. And obviously cross contamination in the kitchen.

I'd avoid bread and go for crackers your friend is fine with for cheese.

Leafy vegetables can just be avoided and do smoked salmon or a no fish whatever starter. My friend eats lovely food.

That's easy as long as you cook.

A roast is fine, roast potatoes in goose fat, thicken gravy with corn flour.

Carrots
Parsnips
Red cabbage

Cook any stuffing separately but it's quite easy to get GF stuffing.

You dont have to thicken gravy with anything, just cook the meat juices down so they reduce and stuffing can be just meat, nuts she can eat, fruit, herbs.

The ‘nice’ pigs in blankets and stuffing balls that are 2 for £5 are generally GF (Tesco/Sainsburys,Morrisons).

Oh that’s ok if they’re fine with fish. Some people include fish in “seafood”!