Top tips for egg allergy

[cairnterrier]

Subject says it all really, DS has just been diagnosed with egg allergy via skin prick testing. Sooo, other than avoiding egg, any top tips?

I was thinking along the lines of egg replacement products (good and bad), recipes, websites, other stuff??

Thanks

Thanks BeerTricksPotter - just the most fabulous name by the way.

Top tip re the glaze thing as well, hadn't really thought about that. Any other school boy errors?

I've no experience of allergies but I have just learned that you can use gram flour, mixed with an equal amount of water, as an egg substitute in baking. So 30g flour/ 30mLs water is approximately equal to 1 large egg.

I've tried it in some simple 1-egg loaf cakes and it seems to work really well.

I bet everyone over on this board already knows this though

Sorry to be thick but what is gram flour? Can I get it in Sainsburys to be more exact?!

Sorry to hear about your DS's allergy. Both of my dds are allergic to egg (dd2 is also allergic to dairy products).

We haven't found avoiding egg too difficult but it can sneak into a few products you wouldn't necessarily be aware of:

• some ice creams
• Royal icing
• some gravy granules.

dd1's diet became a lot less restrictive when she had 'passed' a baked egg challenge in hospital so could tolerate baked egg.

Beertricks- your cake sounds good. And dairy free too!!

Gram flour is gluten free as well. I get mine in Morrisons so you must be able to get in in Sainsburys.

My LO is now 8 and has just outgrown his egg allergy, unfort. he is now coeliac which is a whole other ball game

Why would you put egg in gravy??

Am still a bit bewildered by it all as DS had quiche and mayo in the past w/out probs but 2 bites of an omelette and hives came up. Still, I suppose they were probably sensitising events.

The worse was when my mum gave him tuna sandwich, she never thought about the egg being in it .....

Watch out for breaded chicken products and the like they often contain egg. Sausages quite often contain egg to bind them so check the labels carefully.

You can get a very good Mayo substitute on tescos and sainsburys in the free from aisle. No one can tell the difference in my family.

Cakes are the hardest, it is not possible to buy an egg free cake in the supermarket. Definitely a gap in the Market there IMHO. Mashed banana, cold custard( obv bird's eye which is egg free) or silken tofu make good subs, or you can buy egg replacement powder in health food shops.

A lot of ice cream contains egg so watch for that too.

these cakes are egg free!

at BeerTricksPotter - can't wait for hubby to come home so I can tell him my new factoid for the day.

OkieCokie, thanks for the link, will keep an eye out for them.

So what do the egg substitutes look like? Are they a powder that you have to rehydrate?

When ds had his egg allergy (he outgrew it last year, thank god) he didn't really miss cakes because he had never really had them.

In his mind, good substitutes were rice crispy cakes, jam tarts, hot cross buns (not luxury ones), chocolate biscuit.

I found shops like M and S were difficult to shop in as egg is seen as an expensive item and added to lots of hi-end foods. At the time, they had no bread rolls that were egg free and no sandwiches without mayo.

Many cookies, luxury ice-creams, fresh pasta, pies, sausages, pizza, nugget-type foods (although Macd's are fine ) all had to be avoided.

Many times in restaurants I would have to get the waitress to double check in the kitchen about their food ingredients and not just say ''x is probably ok''

It really is not too bad and just becomes a way of life.

ps, I'm not sure if anyone has linked to a vegan chocolate cake recipe but they use vegetable oil and are moist and lovely

Gram flour is chickpea flour. It's used a lot in Indian cooking for pakoras etc, but I spotted a little snippet in the Sainsbury's magazine about using it as an egg substitute, so you should definitely get it in Sainsbury's!. The one I use is Dove's Farm.

Beertricks - I made your cake this afternoon and its lush and really easy to make!! Thank you!!

OP- other things that egg sneaks into are sausages, batter, (so beware of chip shop chips if cooked in oil which has been used to cook battered fish), glaze on baked goods.

But on the whole I haven't found it too hard and dd's nursery have been really great.

BeerTricksPotter

Have made your lovely ginger cake this afternoon and thank you again for the recipe.

:)