Food Allergy Fridays: All About Snacking

Once I got over the initial shocks of L's allergy, it hit me that our snacking would have to change drastically. No more goldfish, bunny crackers, Ritz crackers. The more I learned, the less comfortable I was with fruit snacks. And trust me...fruit snacks were a staple in our house. As were cheez-its. Cookies. Pretzels.

So what do we snack on these days? Well, not everything is healthy. (I say this as I eat my Haribo gummy bears as I type.) And we do eat things with oils that aren't the best option, as well as corn. But we are doing our best to get by, and hey, it's better than the way we used to eat.

Here is a list of our favorites:

Glutino pretzels. These bad boys are pricey but worth every penny. They are easy to bag up for a snack and they seriously taste just like regular pretzels.

Squeezable applesauce. Trader Joe's has ones called Crushers that are our favorite (and yes, we've tried a few varieties). We buy three boxes a week and invariably tear through them.

Trader Joe's also carries the best dairy-free chocolate chips that work well for when my sweet tooth takes over. I love mixing them with raspberries or strawberries.

We also throw the chocolate chips in with Chex/nuts/raisins/dried fruit to make our own trail mix.

B and I both eat a lot of chips and salsa, especially peach salsa from TJ's. L is allergic to tomatoes, too, so he can't indulge. More for me! I kid. Well, I don't. But, yeah. Moving on.

Fruit leathers are possibly our favorite snack in our house. TJ's brand are only fruit and vitamin C, nothing else added in. In our opinion, the best flavors are boysenberry and apricot.

We do eat several different kinds of chips in our house. Lay's potato chips are safe for the boys and have very few ingredients. However, I know they aren't the healthiest choice, so I keep veggie chips and sweet potato chips on hand too. My boys have a weakness for chips and sometimes I need something to bind them up, ahem, so we do eat them.

I love me some hummus and if G is in the mood, he'll share with me. Pair it with peppers, sugar snap peas, or carrot sticks...mmmm.

Popcorn was my favorite food prior to going dairy/gluten free. Now I make my own in my air-popper and add my dairy/soy-free butter and a little salt and it's better than any other popcorn out there.

Thanks to my girl Saf for the FAF - All about Snacking suggestion. Let me know if you have any other ideas for upcoming FAF posts.

Namaste.