Do you ever get totally bored of your diet?

[Mama2Xander]

This is mostly just a vent...

We made some big diet changes/eliminations at the beginning of the summer, and eliminated more stuff recently. I was fine with it for quite awhile, and the kids and DH definitely seem to be benefiting from it. However... it really can be quite a pain in the behind (which I'm sure many here can relate to). I am the one who does the vast majority of the food prep/cooking, and I'm the only one who does not have any food sensitivities, and I'm the one who really likes a varied diet

This is what we are avoiding (not all of us need to avoid all of these things, but it's just easier if we all eat the same thing):
*gluten
*dairy
*nightshade family (potato, tomato, peppers, eggplant)
*meat (seafood is okay)
*chickpeas
*lentils
*the kids and DH are really not keen on beans, although I do make them sometimes
*we don't avoid soy, but don't eat a lot of it
*DS1's school is nut-free, so his lunches need to avoid nuts

My issues are:
a) lack of QUICK dinner options, besides scrambled eggs (I miss being able to order pizza )
b) kids seem to be getting more picky, not less
c) the kids eat SO FREAKIN' MUCH all day long that I seriously need some new snack ideas - I feel like I am just making the same things ALL DAY LONG which is boring and not very healthy. One snack for my oldest is probably more than many kids eat in a whole day... I swear the 2 oldest eat as much as teenagers do, and they're only 4 and 6.5!
d) budget is somewhat limited (we're in a very high COL area which affects things too)
e) I'm worried that they will start reacting to their currently "safe" proteins, because they are eating so much of them (basically eggs, peanut butter, and tuna. They're having eggs at least once a day, PB many times a day, and tuna probably at least 3 times a week. We have salmon once a week but it's too expensive to have more than that).
f) lack of variety - there are really only a few dinners that are both safe and enjoyed by everyone.
g) lack of time - I have a lot going on and not much time for food prep. I do my best, but it's so hard to keep up with how much they eat! I try to bake muffins and stuff like that, but they disappear so quickly, I just can't keep up (eg. 2 dozen muffins are gone in a day and a half)
h) makes social situations (eg. family dinners) pretty awkward

Can anyone relate?? Is this just something that gets easier with time?

I can make good desserts though

[kjbrown92]

yup, that's why I try to recreate everything in a non-allergy way. Hollendaise/bernaise, mayo are my biggest new things (of course DS still can't have them because he can't have eggs) but now I can have tuna salad, chicken salad, egg salad, eggs benedict, etc.

have you tried canned wild salmon (I know at Costco, the cans of that are Wild and pretty close to tuna prices)?

How long have the foods been out? Are they IgE or all intolerances? Have you tried adding any foods back in? I'm trying to figure out what foods to add back in based on either rounding out their nutrition or making my life easier. Like I just tried DS on carrots because I'm having a hard time coming up with things for his lunchbox (it passed). I'm trying to figure out what to try DD2 on next. Quinoa would give us another "grain" but it doesn't seem that exciting. Though I could make a tabbouleh version for me, which would be fun.

Anyway, I just try to make new food all the time to keep it "exciting" and like I'm not missing anything. It's a lot of work though, lots of time in the kitchen.

[ASusan]

How about tostada night? This is super-fast for us, and DS loves it.

Refried beans (can be homemade for extra nutrition/can avoidance. super-easy to make, but I've done it only once). You can mash a cooked winter squash into the beans and no one will ever notice

tostadas or taco shells

ground meat - can mix in herbs/spices and onions/peppers

tomatoes

greens/lettuce

salsa

If YOU aren't dairy free, you can put on sour cream/cheese. DH does this, while DS and I avoid.


I forgot to add:
Try sunflowerseed butter instead of PB a few times a week.
both Trader Joes and Sam'sClub sell salmon cakes (frozen), which we love. Easy, and you can add any veggie and rice to call it a meal. Again, I'm one with the quick things; Kathy would make a hollandaise sauce to go over it and I'm just slapping it on the plate, plain. DH will add a slice of cheese and maybe eat it on a bun/bread, and DS (can't do wheat or dairy) stacks up and calls it a sandwich.

[Mama2Xander]

Originally Posted by kjbrown92

yup, that's why I try to recreate everything in a non-allergy way. Hollendaise/bernaise, mayo are my biggest new things (of course DS still can't have them because he can't have eggs) but now I can have tuna salad, chicken salad, egg salad, eggs benedict, etc.

have you tried canned wild salmon (I know at Costco, the cans of that are Wild and pretty close to tuna prices)?

How long have the foods been out? Are they IgE or all intolerances? Have you tried adding any foods back in? I'm trying to figure out what foods to add back in based on either rounding out their nutrition or making my life easier. Like I just tried DS on carrots because I'm having a hard time coming up with things for his lunchbox (it passed). I'm trying to figure out what to try DD2 on next. Quinoa would give us another "grain" but it doesn't seem that exciting. Though I could make a tabbouleh version for me, which would be fun.

Anyway, I just try to make new food all the time to keep it "exciting" and like I'm not missing anything. It's a lot of work though, lots of time in the kitchen.

Some things I recreate in a safe way, and other things we prefer to just avoid. It just depends on the food. We do use canned salmon sometimes - I have a few recipes that use it that DH and I really like, but nothing that the 2 older kids like. The youngest will eat just about anything, fortunately. I should see if they would eat canned salmon mixed with mayo, the same way they eat tuna (on rice crackers). That might work.

Everything is an intolerance except for the chickpeas and lentils, which DH is allergic to. I also forgot to mention that we avoid split peas because it seemed like he was starting to react to those as well.

Gluten & dairy have been out since early July. DS1 doesn't have a huge reaction if he has a bit of gluten, but he definitely has some reaction. He can't do dairy at all. DH and DS2 have definite, strong reactions to gluten and dairy. DS1 definitely reacts to the nightshade stuff, esp. potatoes. He had a HUGE improvement when we figured that one out (actually it was our homeopath/naturopath that figured that out and suggested eliminating them). When we first went GF we were eating a lot of potatoes, which we enjoyed, but that is out now. So... based on the limited experiments with adding stuff back in so far, I'm really not seeing anything that can be added back in at this point. Hopefully in the future!

We actually really like quinoa and eat it fairly often Let me know if you want any quinoa recipes! It's really high in protein too.

I hear you on the "lots of work". That's a large part of the problem, lol.

[Mama2Xander]

Originally Posted by ASusan

How about tostada night? This is super-fast for us, and DS loves it.

Refried beans (can be homemade for extra nutrition/can avoidance. super-easy to make, but I've done it only once). You can mash a cooked winter squash into the beans and no one will ever notice

tostadas or taco shells

ground meat - can mix in herbs/spices and onions/peppers

tomatoes

greens/lettuce

salsa

If YOU aren't dairy free, you can put on sour cream/cheese. DH does this, while DS and I avoid.


I forgot to add:
Try sunflowerseed butter instead of PB a few times a week.
both Trader Joes and Sam'sClub sell salmon cakes (frozen), which we love. Easy, and you can add any veggie and rice to call it a meal. Again, I'm one with the quick things; Kathy would make a hollandaise sauce to go over it and I'm just slapping it on the plate, plain. DH will add a slice of cheese and maybe eat it on a bun/bread, and DS (can't do wheat or dairy) stacks up and calls it a sandwich.

Tostadas sound super yummy to me, but unfortunately there are a lot of things on that list that are on our "avoid" list

We eat vegetarian at home (except for seafood) - I've been veggie for many years, and DH is mostly veggie now too. He's never eaten meat at home here, only outside of the house, and even that is pretty rare now. I'm the only one who likes refried beans. DH is not picky, but there are 2 things that he absolutely will not eat: refried beans, and avocados. They literally make him gag. So it's not really something I'm going to force on him, lol.

I am not 100% dairy free, but I do not eat things in front of the kids that they can't have. I figure they have to deal with that enough already at school etc, so I'm not going to add to that. I realize that different families may handle this differently, but that's what works for us.

I had high hopes for sunflower butter when we tried it a few months ago, but alas, they all hated it (actually I did too).

I haven't found any commercial salmon cakes (or similar products) that don't contain gluten and/or potato. They're all insanely expensive anyway. I should try making salmon cakes sometimes though, when I have a bit more time for meal prep. Mostly I need SUPER quick things for the days that cooking just isn't happening! I guess that is just too much to ask, huh?

[northerngirl]

I hear ya! I feel like I have no time to think of new food combination/recipes.
I've been off gluten, dairy, most nuts, corn, soy, ferments, nightshades, onions, some fruits, and egg yolks. I only eat chicken and rarely tuna. This was due to nursling having mucusy poo. But then I found out that my system was wacked out.
Older dd has been off gluten and tomatoes. This is a tough one for a kid that doesn't eat meat and is somewhat picky. She LOVES pizza and pasta. But the no tomato thing makes that kinda hard. I do give it to her occasionally, but her mood changes so quickly after, I have to think twice about doing it.
We use to eat a lot of mexican type food and pasta dishes veggie pizza....It's so hard to find a meal that everyone can eat, and make it easy on a mama, come on! Dh is working during the weeknights so it just dds and I. I have to make 2 dinners every night. It sucks. I am so bored with this too.