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Great Gifts for People with Food Allergies

From Victoria Groce,
Your Guide to Food Allergies.
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Shopping for someone with a food allergy or an otherwise restricted diet? Looking to buy something meaningful to simplify their life? Search no further. Here are seven ideas for gifts to warm your allergic loved one's heart.

1. Safe Foods Gift Basket

Buying food for someone with a food allergy can be daunting. Why not consider a safe foods gift basket? Buy the food and then put it in a cute basket (you can even get one at a dollar store!). Unless you regularly shop for the recipient, only consider this if the person in question is celiac or allergic to "big eight" foods: dairy, wheat, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, or eggs. Stick to foods that state they're free from the allergens you're trying to avoid. Gluten-free foods are wheat-free, but not always vice versa. You'll have the widest selection at a health food store, a specialty market like Whole Foods or Trader Joe's, or an online allergy grocer like Miss Roben's.

2. Allergy-Friendly Food Gift Certificates

If you want to give the gift of allergy-friendly dining but aren't confident in your ability to choose safe treats, consider a gift certificate. Gift certificates to local stores with good selections of allergy-safe foods are always welcome. Another option is to give a gift certificate to a safe restaurant. Any restaurant your loved one already frequents is a good bet; another way to find safe restaurants in your town is to talk to people with the same allergies to see where they have had good dining experiences. Don't, however, accept a restaurant's own assurances of allergy-friendliness as gospel. Unfortunately, not all restaurants take food allergies or cross-contamination seriously.

How to Eat Out Safely with Food Allergies

3. Epi-Pen Case

Fashionable friends -- or younger kids who may change their favorite colors or outgrow coats and wear out backpacks yearly -- may enjoy a new case for their injectible epinephrine (Epi-Pen, Twinject) to match outerwear or purses. Look for a durable case. Depending on your recipient's lifestyle, you may look for a hard case, one that attaches to a belt loop, or one that's waterproof.

4. Time-Saving Cookware

It's a fact of life: If you have food allergies, you're probably going to eat at home a lot. Most food allergies restrict the number of restaurants you can eat at, Even when you can eat out safely, limited menu choices can quickly become monotonous. Great cookware can save time and make cooking more pleasant. A simple forged straight-bladed utility knife feels great in the hand, and a small food processor can speed up simple tasks. Looking to splurge? The one item in my kitchen I can't live without is my Le Creuset Dutch Oven (compare prices).

5. Food Allergy Clothing

Very young children can't tell adults not to feed them, and even older toddlers and preschoolers may not be 100% trustworthy at avoiding their allergens in crowded playgroups or other situations when their parents aren't around. Food allergy t-shirts are a great option to inform adults of a child's specific allergies or to ask others not to feed a child at all without a parent's permission. A thoughtful gift for the allergic child in your life.

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6. Stress Relief

Food allergies are highly linked with stress. If someone you know is living with a food allergy or raising a child with a life-threatening allergy, odds are they could use some stress relief. Consider a stress-relieving gift or even the gift of your time -- a promise to, for example, run errands one Saturday so Mom and Dad don't have to might be more welcome to a parent than anything you could buy.

Why Food Allergies are So Stressful

7. Give a Little Bit

Is your loved one charitably inclined? Then consider a contribution in their name to a nonprofit organization like the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network, Food Allergy Initiative, American Partnership for Eosinophilic Disorders, or Celiac Disease Foundation. If you're pondering a gift for a family with allergic children, look at a family membership to nonprofit support group Kids with Food Allergies. Any donation to these or similar groups will go towards advocacy and research for conditions that directly affect the recipient.
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