Please help ! Need some cheap meal ideas for allergic and intolerant family

[puffylovett]

We normally eat quite well, but I'm spending so much money in the supermarket. I need help ! I need ideas, but am restricted by the following -

DP is newly diagnosed diabetic, so is low carbing.
DS2 is allergic to dairy, eggs, sesame and possibly wheat.
DS1 is fussy and doesn't like anything saucy !
I will eat anything but have little time or motivation to cook... I don't suit bread at all and try to minimise wheat.

Any ideas would be most welcome, pleeeeease ! DP is useless and bless him works really hard, he cooks on the weekend to help out but even he is clueless as to what to cook. we'd both happily live on veggie stir frys with noodles, but of course they have egg in.... and DS1 only eats peas.... argghhh...

Quinoa is really useful as surprisingly high in protein. Add a stock cube or something or it'll be pretty tasteless. I use the flakes for convenience.
Barley is a slow-release carb so would be fine for your DP.
You can buy delicious barley couscous from sainsburys in a little box.
Lentils and beans are all slow-release carbs too. You can quickly make a chilli or stew with the tinned ones. Or soup of course.
Cauldron foods in the chiller section of supermarkets probably have ready made products that would work for you, eg falafel.

'Free from' fish fingers.

Do you know if your DD is allergic to egg yolk as well as egg white?
I'm okay with yolks and I'm okay with Tesco organic mayonnaise as it doesn't have whole egg in it.

Rice noodles are available.

Sausagemeat pie, a bit like cottage pie but easier to make and not saucy.

take about 1lb sausagmeat (get this from your local butcher and ask about wheat content they are often wheat free or very low)
Push into a rectangular dish (lasagne or cottage pie dish)
and slices of peeled cooking apple to cover sausagemeat.
Cover the apple in slices of tomato.
Top the lot with a layer of mash.
You can add mixed herbs between the meat and apple if you like them.
Put pie in medium hot oven for about 45minutes till crispy on top.
This pie comes apart easily so if you don't want to eat all or part of a layer it can easily be left.

HTH

Thank you everybody. We do have rice noodles from time to time, but they're not easy to come by in our local tesco. Shall have to stock up.

Last time I cooked a fab lamb and barley hotpot dp farted nonstop for 3 days . Am wondering about gluten issues there too!

Ooh I need to check out free from fish fingers (and yes he is yolk allergic too :()

I do a rocking bean chilli actually, haven't done it for a while. Ds1 won't touch it though :(
Thank you :) shall try the sausage meat pie!

I think you can buy frozen free from chicken nuggets.

Yes, you can get Free From chicken nuggets and fillets in large Sainos. You can find dried rice noodles in most supermarkets I think - try the Free From section. if not, try the section for foods from different cultures.
Jamie Oliver's 'Feed Your Family For a Fiver' Sausage casserole is really easy - and there's no sauce (unless, like me you add it). You just roast veggies, sweet potatoes and sausages together in the oven, with a healthy splash of oil. (Jamie's recipe used red onion, red and yellow peppers, with broccoli on the side). Pan fried fish (sea bass or salmon) with sauteed potatoes is also easy and uses no sauce either (serve with veg of choice).
'Tis all I can think of, for the mo, but hope it helps!

You can buy gluten free pasta and make bolognaise and any other sauce your family would eat. Just be careful not to overcook the pasta.
Sounds like boring meat and 2 veg is fine. I buy things like mini chicken fillets, flatten them and breadcrumb them ( using yoghurt to make it stick- so you could use soya yoghurt and Gluten free bread).
Jacket potatoes and chilli,
curry and rice
Lots of fish simply cooked,
Be careful getting sausage meat some of it has egg.
Most of the things I would cook have some kind of sauce - eg plum sauce on chopped up bits of pork chop in foil in the oven, or BBQ sauce on chicken - again in foil in the oven. - any good? or not plain enough?