Can anyone suggest food ideas with these restrictions please?

[AngelDog]

I am really struggling to know what to feed our family as the list of our intolerances / allergies expands. For the sake of everyone's sanity I need a basic repertoire of things I can cook.

I can't eat:

• wheat (other sorts of gluten are okay)
• lactose (ie no dairy unless the lactose-free variety)
• dried fruit
• hazelnuts
• peanuts

DS can't eat:

• nuts (other than cashews & probably almonds)
• tomatoes
• coconut
• kiwi
• banana
• citrus
• spicy food

and doesn't like:

• potatoes in any form
• fish (apart from tuna or shop-bought fish fingers)
• eggs (apart from egg mayo)
• raw cheese (he'll eat it sometimes but is really unpredictable about it)
• cooked veg (apart from sweetcorn & sometimes peas)
• raw veg (apart from cucumber, peppers and raw frozen peas)
• salad
• anything mashed

I also follow a high-protein, preferably wholegrain diet.

I need things that are quick to prepare. I'm a really slow cook and 2.5 y.o. DS insists on helping cook everything - to the point where chopping vegetables involves him holding the knife, with me putting my hand over his to do the actual work.

Wheat intolerance is the latest issue, and I'm finding it difficult to adjust to. We all eat together for most meals.

Breakfast is okay - porridge with fruit & sunflower seeds.

Lunch is dull - a tin of meat soup with cheese on toast for DS and LF cheese and jacket potato for me.

My snacks are oatcakes, cashew nuts and fruit.

Dinner is - well, I can't think of any ideas!

Oh, and we need food which is as cheap as possible - we are WAY over our food budget, and our expenditure is increasing exponentially. :(

Will your DS eat hummus?
What about fish or quinoa (high protein grain)?
Could you make a rice dish, and add more interesting things to yours after you've taken a portion out for DS? I do that with things like risotto, but in your case it would be a pilaf I'm guessing, because of the dairy issue. You could even make the base and add microwaved peas and sweetcorn with ham for DS and add onions fried in spices and whatever you fancy for you.

But that is more work than one dish you can all eat, of course. :(

So it's just tea-time ideas you need?

Brown basmati rice with stir fried veg for you both (egg fried maybe for you, tiny diced veg for your DS, not a lot, I've had the joint veg chopping thing, too. Usually I chop veg & child has job of putting the pieces in the pan)

Buckwheat noodles with home-made meatballs (mince mixed with egg), sauces you can have & whatever veg your DS will tolerate

Friend with same intolerances as you manages to eat a few types of tortilla chips, them mixed with soup or salad is an easy lunch.

Thanks both. :)

Yes, it's mainly dinner suggestions I need, although I am bored with snacks and lunches.

DS didn't use to like hummous, but I've not given it to him for ages so I should try it again. Same for quinoa. He's only recently started eating cheese after 18 months of refusal, so I have some hope!

I'm not averse (in principle) to the 'this is it: take it or leave it' approach to meals, but if he doesn't eat any protein, he gets tired and has tantrums later (just like I do!) and if he doesn't have many carbs, he either eats his bodyweight in meat (expensive) or is asking for snacky foods later (healthy but expensive - and I'm trying to cut down on those).

I just don't know what you do if veggies are that awkward. Obviously, something like big piece of meat (say chicken breast) for you with plenty veg & cheesy pasta + carrots for your DS could be quick to prepare, but not if you can't easily prep the veg.

We just take a very long time to cook...

DS is good in that he'll try things, so I usually cook 3 types of veg for dinner and he has to try some of each. It's usually easy to prepare stuff, but it does make sauces etc more difficult.

He used to be able to be fobbed off with being in charge of putting peelings etc in the compost bin, but not now he Wants To Do It All Himself. I can just about manage to keep him away from raw meat and hot things, but he wants to do pretty much everything else either on his own or with assistance. He has no interest whatsoever in play cooking - he can tell the difference from the real thing! I'm hoping the pay-off will be that he can take over the cooking from a young age.

Mind you, we've had a couple of days where he's been so engrossed in Duplo bridges that I've got part-way through cooking before he's insisted on helping, which has been bliss.

My tomato substitute for bolognese and chilli is to add blended cooked beetroot and grated carrot, it works quite well.

You could have very mild chilli with rice and add extra chilli at the table for you
I have made lasagne with gluten free lasagne and lactose free milk for the béchamel.