Expensive

[Guest flowermom6117]

My 4 yr old has NCGI and a ton of other food allergies. She was diagnosed 2 months ago. I'm now behind on my house payment and car payment. I find myself every payday tring to decide if I should pay my bills or feed my daughter. I have basically quit eating myself in order to be able to afford food for her. I try to plan cheep meals, but that is impossiable. The cost of produce is unbeleavable,same with meat. It is to cold to start a garden to get what little out of there that I could. My husband says to let her live off cereal, but how can I do that knowing she needs more than that to grow. I know eveyone else experences the same expenses that I do. How do people cope with this? I'm loosing my house as fast as I'm loosing my mind.

Her allergies are wheat, oats, rye, corn, eggs, peanuts, tomatoes, oranges, banannas.

I cannot even give her anything with cooked eggs or any corn starch or syrup. If I do she spikes a high fever that can last for days.

Today was her valentines day party at school and she wanted to share her treats with her friends and I had to tell her no, with the cost of the mix to make 12 cupcakes, I have to freeze them nd make them last so that every time some kid brings a treat to school for a birthday she also has something.

The amount of money I have tossed in the trash in the last 2 months because she refuses to eat it brings me to tears.

Please if anyone kows of a place to get finacial assistance we coud really use it.

I have applied for food stamps and got very little, her special diet means nothing to them.

[kareng]

I live in the Kansas City area so I will tell you a few basic places here & you can see if they have that there.

Food pantries might not have a lot you can use, but some assistance is helpful.

Catholic Charities can give you food and sometimes they have money to pay your utilities. I don't think you have to be Catholic, just live in the area they serve.

Some school districts have a food pantry/clothes pantry/assistance.

Other churches have food pantries and different kinds of aid.

Call you gas, water & electric compnaies and see what kind of assistance they might have. some have assistance for people with medical issues.

You might check with your county Human Services. There might be a program you are eligible for like food stamps or WIC.

If you child is being followed by a doctor at a hospital medical center, you might be able to see the Social Work Dept. They might have some ideas.

If I think of anything else, I'll let you know.

Could you get a job while the hub is home to watch her? Or the other way around. You can make a good amount of money delivering pizza or waiting tables on Fri & Sat nights.

[kareng]

Google "Catholic charities Your county state" I think you might see something under "Emergency assistance"

[maximoo]

If you are on food stamps oftentimes you qualify for other help as well.--like free cell phone or help with utilities. Most states have a "211" help line. They will refer you to all available help in your area. Good luck!

[Marilyn R]

Hi Flowermom,

Karen G gave some excellent recommendations. I would also suggest checking to see if you have any local gluten-free support groups to write or visit. Ours has an assistance program for families that are struggling.

Does she like rice? My mom used to mix cooked white rice with plumped raisins and a bit of brown sugar and butter. I loved it! I also loved baked potatos with butter and sour cream. Cabbage is still pretty inexpensive, and packs a powerhouse of nutrients and anti-oxidants. (Coleslaw made with shredded carrots and a homemade vinegar dressing, steamed cabbage, soup with cabbage. I loved canned beets as a child too, and they keep well.

Will she eat beans? I find that the dried beans are the most frugal. You can soak them overnight, or for eight hours, then cook them on the stove top for a few hours on low of in a crockpot. I love beans and rice, or bean soup, or beans in a salad with a little homemade salad dressing of olive or other oil with a bit of lemon juice or vinegar, maybe some sugar. White beans mixed with safe tuna is good with a little of that dressing.

It's really easy to make your own applesauce in a slow cooker on the stove. Another good breakfast or lunch or snack is safe peanut butter on a ricecake or with apple or celery slices.

If you're close to a metropolitan area, google to see if they have Indian or Asian markets. The prices are often much better on staples there. I get 5 lbs. of Jasmine rice for $5.99 there, just went up from $5.00. 5 lbs. of rice makes a lot of rice! They sell it in 10 lb. bags too.

Wish you all the best!

[rosetapper23]

I am SO sorry that you're experiencing these difficulties. It reminds me of something that Dr. Alessio Fasano, a leading celiac expert, said six years ago at the Gluten Intolerance Group's Annual Conference in Salt Lake City: "Woe to the American celiac who cannot afford to buy food." He alluded to how countries in Europe ensure that celiacs can afford gluten-free food (government subsidies, etc.) but that Americans who have difficulty managing to feed themselves are not generally helped by the government or food banks--they don't tend to have gluten-free products. This is why I donate gluten-free food to our local food bank--I place the products in a large bag, staple it, and write "gluten-free food" on it.

You've received excellent suggestions....and I do wish you and your family well.

[Marilyn R]

Flowersmom,

If you send me a private message with your addy, I'll send you a care package for your little girl without oats, tomatoes, eggs oranges, bananas or corn.

I also suggest calling your school system to inquire if they have a social worker on staff for the school district. The SW could have more local resources.

Marilyn

[Juliebove]

I hear you! You can't quit eating yourself because you need to keep up your strength to help raise her. And it doesn't help to have a corn allergy because corn is in everything. I would suggest that you look mainly to things that are naturally gluten free. Try to eat mainly beans and rice. Dried beans are cheap but they do require a couple of hours of cooking. So it's a toss up to me whether those or canned beans are cheaper.

As for the produce (at least in this area), apples and carrots are usually the cheapest things to buy. Potatoes and onions are cheap. You can layer slices of onion and potato, drizzle with a little olive oil, melted butter or margarine or whatever kind you have and moisten with a little chicken stock. Bake, covered until the potatoes are tender. A little cooked meat can be added to this if you have it.

Try to get coupons. Write to companies that make foods you know you can eat. Even produce companies like Dole are good to write to as well. And if you have any brands like Best Western or HyTop in your area, write to them as well. Praise their products. Chances are you'll get coupons. I did that with HyTop and Best Western and got $3.00 gift certificates for any of their products. We used those for paper products.

We have multiple food allergies here too. I am getting my daughter retested in the hopes that she has outgrown some. If she hasn't, I won't get angry. But I would be super happy if she could eat cheap tuna again. Did you know they use peas in the broth for most water packed tuna? Yep. And she has a pea allergy. She is also allergic to lentils. Two cheap sources of protein.

I don't know if you would qualify for WIC or to be able to use a food bank. If you could do so she might not be able to eat much of that food but at least you and your husband might have some things to eat. And if you do get some things you can't use, perhaps you could trade them with a friend for something you could use? I don't know how legal this is but I did make the offer to a friend once who wouldn't take me up on it. She had complained because at holiday time, some churches got her name and brought her food baskets that were mostly canned beans. She hated canned beans. I love them! I could eat them every day. So I asked her what she would like and I would get it and trade her for some beans. But she wouldn't do it.

[mommida]

Sometimes there are 4H groups that do community service. A local4H group adopted a single mother with cancer. The kids from the group went out to the house fed and cared for the family's animals, secured food and monetary donations, and just stopped by to visit the family and watched the kids for her to rest.

[Emily30]

Since she is under 5 and you are on some food stamps you should qualify for wic and you can get some free food that way.

My husband is allergic to wheat, corn, soy, shrimp, shellfish and couple others that we dont eat ever so I cant remember what they are. My son has celiacs. We eat alot of ground meat or whole chickens or chicken breast with the bone in-its much cheaper than buying no bone chicken. We do alot of beans-watch out for kidney beans they have corn syrup in them and some canned tomatoes will too. I buy huge amounts of canned beans, canned vaggies, canned tomatoes, canned fruit, etc. Also potatoes are great for an easy cheap meal. I make my own butter-its cheaper when you are using it alot and its soft and spreadable. You take heavy whipping cream(aldis-1.87) put a dash of salt in and put it in the blender until it turns to butter-delish and easy. I store it in a sour cream tub.

rice chex, cinnamon chex, fruity pebbles and cocoa pebbles are gluten free, and made from rice-you would have to check for cornstarch though-I dont have any in the house right now.

[kareng]

I make my own butter-its cheaper when you are using it alot and its soft and spreadable. You take heavy whipping cream(aldis-1.87) put a dash of salt in and put it in the blender until it turns to butter-delish and easy. I store it in a sour cream tub.

I am soooo going to try this just for the fun factor! "Yes, Dear Family, I even made the butter!" You could probably add stuff in like herbs or honey.

[Marilyn R]

The OP has not replied, but I'm loving this topic. I look for what's on sale and buy in bulk when there's a good deal. Next month corned beef will be on sale. I love corned beef for breakfast with fried onions and potatos, or with steamed cabbage and taters, or with saurkraut. And you can make a mean gluten-free Ruben fairly easy.

[kareng]

I am soooo going to try this just for the fun factor! "Yes, Dear Family, I even made the butter!" You could probably add stuff in like herbs or honey.

I told my hub about this! He soooo wants to do this. Emily's price on the cream at Aldis is really good. I needed 1/3 cup today for ganache and the little school lunch milk size at the regular grocery was $1.59. I go by Aldi's all the time so I will stop in.

[come dance with me]

When things are really tight here, I make lots of rice dishes. Spinach and pumpkin risotto is a fave here, and is just rice, water, pumpkin, ans spinach. We grow fruit and veg which keeps costs low.

[mommida]

Hey the BetterBatter website has financial aid applications to help with the expense. It says if you have already qualified for some financial aid it should be pretty easy to qualify for special pricing from them.

(I don't know the exact ingredients of the product, so if this doesn't work out maybe other product companies will follow this lead.)

[Kelleybean]

Another option is to dial 211 - works in a lot of areas. It's free and connects you to the local information and referral center. Their job is to be up on community resources.