Having a food allergy can make it stressful to find safe, tasty meals – particularly if it’s difficult for you to prepare food from scratch. This Allergy Awareness Week, Oakhouse Foods makes it simple to enjoy delicious ready meals that suit your diet.
Many people who have allergies choose to prepare their food themselves, so they can be absolutely sure they don’t contain allergens. But for older people living at home, cooking meals each day can become a challenge.
Easy to choose – and cook
Our home delivered meals service helps support independent living – and we’ve made it simple for people to find ready meals in our range that suit their diets, allergies and intolerances. Take a look through our 24 Free From lists, covering common allergens such as wheat, shellfish, molluscs and eggs, to find dishes that are right for you or a person in your care.
For extra peace of mind, we also have a list of all our meals that could contain nut traces, as well as a list of dishes that are completely free from nuts.
If you’d like to find out more about which of our ready meals are suitable for specific allergies, call us on 0845 643 2009. We’ll be happy to help answer any questions.
Be allergy aware – spotting severe reactions
This Allergy Awareness Week, Allergy UK is focusing on teaching people about severe allergic reactions, known as anaphylaxis. This can affect the lungs and airway and cause blood pressure to drop – and can be life threatening. The more people who know how to help someone having an allergic reaction, the safer sufferers will feel.
Allergy UK has come up with the acronym FEAR to familiarise people with the symptoms of anaphylaxis:
Face – is their face/lips swollen? Have they gone pale?
Eyes – are their eyes red, watery and puffy?
Airways – are they wheezing/coughing uncontrollably? Do they have shortness of breath? Are they unable to talk?
Rash – do they have a raised, red, itchy rash, particularly on their face or neck?
The best first aid response for someone with these symptoms is to give them a shot of adrenalin. Anyone who has been diagnosed with a severe allergy should have been prescribed an adrenalin pen. This should be injected into the upper outer muscle of the thigh, giving a shot of adrenalin that can instantly work against symptoms of anaphylaxis. The emergency services should be called, as anyone who is experiencing a severe allergic reaction will need medical attention on top of the adrenalin injection.
Get in touch with Allergy UK for more information about allergies.