A Guide to Hosting a Food-Allergy Friendly Party

With the amount of people that suffer from food allergies increasing year by year, it’s getting more and more difficult to host a party that involves any kind of food. At first thought, making a gluten, peanut, or lactose free dish may seem like an impossible task, but once you take some time to learn a few tips and tricks you’ll see that it’s not so impossible after all.

Here’s a guide that will have you hosting an allergy friendly party like a pro.

Get to Know Your Guest

First, you should get to know the people that you’re hosting the party for. Whether it’s a group of your kid’s friends or a group of your friends, this can be done easily. Place a note in the invitation with relevant questions. Does anyone in the group have any life-threatening allergies? If so, what are they? When you find the answer to this, that’s when the prepping can begin.

Substitutions

Believe it or not, finding replacements for common food trigger isn’t that hard. There are plenty alternatives out there that will not ruin the quality of the dishes. Here is a list of replacements that will work like magic:

• The easiest way to work around milk is by simply using water instead. Of course, this is something that you want to try out beforehand since the effect will vary with each dish. If water doesn’t work out, try soy milk, rice milk, or oat milk –all of which are successfully trialed substitutes for cow’s milk.
• Since eggs are primarily used as a binding agent, foods like apple sauce or any other type of pureed fruit can serve as a replacement.
• With nuts… Well, just skip out on the nuts altogether.
• If you are trying to cook gluten-free dishes, it’s best to start from scratch. Choose naturally gluten-free whole foods to cook with.

And just to be extra safe with the meal preparation, read the food labels while you’re out shopping.

Hosting the Party

When hosting, use ingredient cards for each dish. In this way, you can ensure that anyone with food allergies isn’t reaching for a dish that they shouldn’t. Also, avoid cross-contamination at all costs. While prepping the food, use different utensils and wash them thoroughly if another dish requires its use. When it comes to serving the food, invite food allergy sufferers to serve themselves first. Also, have a utensil for every dish so the same utensil isn’t being used for multiple dishes.

Even by taking these step, it’s still important to know how to respond to any situation just in case someone does interact with a life-threatening allergen. Make sure that friends and family that suffer from food allergies, have their auto-injector epinephrine on hand. Be ready to seek immediate medical care if necessary.

When it comes to food allergies, it’s always better to be safe than sorry. Food allergies are more common now than ever, and a host that keeps that in mind someone that everyone will want to party with.