Food allergies do not have to prevent you from eating tasty menu items. Often times, substitutions for food products that cause high incidences of allergic reactions can be made and taste just as good as the real deal. It may depend on how you use certain food items as to whether there are suitable substitutes that won’t garner an allergic reaction from you.
The key for most food substitutions is being able to use the substitute food product in the same way as you would the original ingredient. This does not always work unfortunately although food scientists do continue to study about it.
5 Food Substitutes
Here are a few every day food substitutions you can try if you have food allergies:
Eggs
You will not be able to find suitable substitutions for eggs if you wanted to eat eggs for the sake of eating eggs – like omelets. However, for baking and cooking, you can substitute leavening mixtures to replace the role of eggs as the binding agent in most recipes. However, if the recipes are for puddings or sauces, egg substitutions will not work.
Cow’s Milk
A common food allergy, cow’s milk and most dairy products made from them do have equally tasty replacements. You can replace cow’s milk with almond milk, goat milk, soy milk and even rice milk. While some substitutions may not taste great but contain enough protein content for cooking, others may taste great as a stand-alone but totally bomb in a recipe.
Beer
While you may not associate beer as being tied to food allergies, the ingredients in this alcoholic beverage may include wheat, corn and gluten. These are common food allergy triggers that may cause an adverse reaction. However, more beer manufacturers are cognizant of these increasingly publicized allergies and have tweaked some of their brew recipes. You can now find some domestic beers without these ingredients. Consider imported beers, especially those from Germany as most of them do not use gluten, corn and wheat. Instead they use traditional yeast, hops and barley.
Flour
Many recipes call for flour made from wheat. But if you have an allergy to wheat products, you can find plenty of flour alternatives that could work in your favor. Keep in mind though that some flours have different chemical properties and could alter how a recipe turns out. Consider alternatives such as millet, rice, quinoa, potato, corn or amaranth flour when substituting for wheat.
Pasta
Pasta has two strikes against it in some cases, especially if it is made from an egg and wheat product. A lot of pasta purchased at the grocery store is egg free, made from semolina and water alone. However, you should still read food labels and ask restaurants when you dine out about how the pasta is prepared. Pasta can be egg free and made from a variety of non-wheat flours. Your allergies will dictate the type of pasta noodles you can buy.
Numerous food swaps exist for a variety of food items. Just remember that your chosen substitutions will have different properties than the traditional ingredients so they may cook or bake differently.
Food allergies do not have to prevent you from eating tasty menu items. Often times, substitutions for food products that cause high incidences of allergic reactions can be made and taste just as good as the real deal. It may depend on how you use certain food items as to whether there are suitable substitutes that won’t garner an allergic reaction from you.
The key for most food substitutions is being able to use the substitute food product in the same way as you would the original ingredient. This does not always work unfortunately although food scientists do continue to study about it.
5 Food Substitutes
Here are a few every day food substitutions you can try if you have food allergies:
Eggs
You will not be able to find suitable substitutions for eggs if you wanted to eat eggs for the sake of eating eggs – like omelets. However, for baking and cooking, you can substitute leavening mixtures to replace the role of eggs as the binding agent in most recipes. However, if the recipes are for puddings or sauces, egg substitutions will not work.
Cow’s Milk
A common food allergy, cow’s milk and most dairy products made from them do have equally tasty replacements. You can replace cow’s milk with almond milk, goat milk, soy milk and even rice milk. While some substitutions may not taste great but contain enough protein content for cooking, others may taste great as a stand-alone but totally bomb in a recipe.
Beer
While you may not associate beer as being tied to food allergies, the ingredients in this alcoholic beverage may include wheat, corn and gluten. These are common food allergy triggers that may cause an adverse reaction. However, more beer manufacturers are cognizant of these increasingly publicized allergies and have tweaked some of their brew recipes. You can now find some domestic beers without these ingredients. Consider imported beers, especially those from Germany as most of them do not use gluten, corn and wheat. Instead they use traditional yeast, hops and barley.
Flour
Many recipes call for flour made from wheat. But if you have an allergy to wheat products, you can find plenty of flour alternatives that could work in your favor. Keep in mind though that some flours have different chemical properties and could alter how a recipe turns out. Consider alternatives such as millet, rice, quinoa, potato, corn or amaranth flour when substituting for wheat.
Pasta
Pasta has two strikes against it in some cases, especially if it is made from an egg and wheat product. A lot of pasta purchased at the grocery store is egg free, made from semolina and water alone. However, you should still read food labels and ask restaurants when you dine out about how the pasta is prepared. Pasta can be egg free and made from a variety of non-wheat flours. Your allergies will dictate the type of pasta noodles you can buy.
Numerous food swaps exist for a variety of food items. Just remember that your chosen substitutions will have different properties than the traditional ingredients so they may cook or bake differently.