Meal planning for a family with food allergies can be challenging. Sometimes that perennial question: “What’s for dinner?” even gets overwhelming. But let’s dial down those worries. In this installment of Allergic Living’s video series “Megan’s Minute,” contributor Megan Lavin comes to the nightly dinner rescue.
Megan, the blogger behind AllergyAwesomeness.com, has meal planning down to a science. She is a busy entrepreneur and mom to four kids. Her two boys have food allergies, and make that multiple food allergies in the case of her eldest.
In this video, Megan walks us through a meal plan for a week – what she buys and the recipes she plans to make. These are expensive times for grocery shopping, and when you have food allergies, choices more limited and costs can rise quickly. Yet, with a family of six, Megan also shops with her and our budgets in mind. “Nothing is going to waste,” she notes.
In the video, Megan says: “I’m going to show you everything I buy for my family of six with multiple food allergies, what recipes I’ll turn those ingredients into, and what we eat in a week.”
Plan and Stretch Ingredients
Megan covers creating a fancier family dinner, then going to an easy kids’ dinner on a night she and her husband will be leaving the children with a babysitter. She illustrates how she plans and stretches ingredients to cover several varied and delicious meals – and to simplify life.
To help you follow along with her shopping and meal planning system, here is a spreadsheet of what Megan purchased for the week, and what it cost on her grocery bill of just over $200. (Plus, see the monthly meal plan she mentions here, and find the individual recipes she mentions on her blog.)
Wondering about snacks and school lunches? In the video, Megan purchased products and ingredients for those, too. Once again, she keeps things simple yet tasty. By figuring out her weekly meal plan on Sunday evenings and placing an online order, Megan says she sleeps easier. “I know it’s scheduled, it’s figured out, I can breathe for another week.”
We know some ingredients will vary depending on the allergies you’re managing, but Megan truly hopes you will find her planning tips insightful, helpful and time-saving.
Megan’s Minute Series
Join Allergic Living monthly for a new installment of Megan’s Minute with Megan Lavin, the creator of the Allergy Awesomeness blog, which features great Top-8 free recipes and articles. Follow her on Instagram and Facebook.
More videos from Megan Lavin:
Married with Food Allergies: Relationship video
How to Hire a Babysitter
Creating a School 504 Plan
Soccer, Snacks and Allergy Safety
View the full video series on the Allergic Living YouTube Channel here.
