Living the Soy Free Life

My son is allergic to soy. We are on the journey of living the soy free life. When shopping we mainly buy foods in the produce section, milks and beef or chicken. Breads and bakery items are difficult to find without soy. I have been making baked goods from scratch since realizing my son has the soy allergy. I have found several things in grocery stores that are soy free. However, food companies change formulas from time to time so ALWAYS read the ingredient list. When reading the ingredient list it is also important to realize that the word "Soy" doesn't have to be there. It may be listed as MSG, natural flavorings, texturized vegetable protein, to name a few.

To help some others here are some items that I have found that are soy free:

Frito Lay's Sun Chips Newman's Own Chocolate Alphabet cookies Snyder's Sourdough Pretzels Amy's Organic soups (check the label, some do have soy) Cape Cod Potato chips Good Season's Italian Vinaigrette with Extra Virgin Olive Oil dressing RUFFLES chips(although check the label PLEASE) does not contain soy as of now. Also peter pan peanut butter does not as of now.

French baguette bread is soy free. It comes in long sticks of bread so can freeze it. You can get it at wal mart in the bakery section.

SNACKS THAT GENERALLY DON'T CONTAIN SOY(but do check the label) - Corn or rice Chex - Dried fruit such as raisins or prunes - Certain brands of Baby cookies - Cheerios - some brands of chocolate milk mix syrup - Jello - Gummy bears and similar candy

Some things that are soy free are Fritos (original). Boboli pizza crust. (good for making pizza since it is the only soy free pizza crust) Horizon chocolate milk (it uses actual cocoa and sugar, most others have soya lecithin) Fresh fruits are good to eat as well. Most packaged food has soy lurking somewhere. I would recommend making food fresh to avoid most problems. Also consider investing in a bread machine. (so you can make soy free bread.)

In a way your child's allergy to soy will make them a healthier adult since they won't be exposed to soy and other harmful substances contained in so many foods that people eat when they consume prepackaged food. Be very weary of anything listing vegetable oil but not specifying the type. Soy is the most common and cheapest.

Some Wasa crackers are soy free. Walmart and Kroger's carry them. Try Newman's own Alphabet Cookies & Hain Animal Cookies Carr's table water crackers are soy free!

Just about EVERYTHING has soy. I would also recommend avoiding ANYTHING that contains CANOLA oil . In my research, I have discovered that Canola shares properties of Soy. Also, when you see VEGETABLE OIL, know that it is ALWAYS soy. It is very difficult to survive with this allergy especially when one lives in a high paced environment. Stick with High protein foods from scratch and avoid pre-packaged snacks and all deserts. Most ice cream, except for Breyer's vanilla, is full of soy. Lay's Plain Potato chips are now made with all sunflower oil. FYI: as a precaution, I also rinse out my canned vegetables just to be safe. Good Luck out there!!

I know that Macaroni Grill has quite a few things that are soy-free, and several of Panera Bread's items don't have soy, either. You always have to check, though!! Those are the two places I know of. Hope that can help!

Kraft macaroni and cheese is not soy free. Neither is their BBQ sauce. They inconspicuously label it "natural flavors". When I emailed them to ask if there was soy, the response I received was that they follow all FDA guidelines. What a dishonest company that won't even disclose if there is soy in their products to someone who has told them they have a soy allergy. My advice is to avoid Kraft products if you have a soy allergy.

Most breads have soy and dairy - except for the artisan breads that are usually wheat, water and yeast.

Avoid Chocolate because of the soy lecithin - which is in everything processed. Most candy, and even TEA can have soy lecithin in it.

The weirdest thing I've found is that Mountain Dew and Gatorade have soy in them. Mountain Dew has Brominated Vegetable Oil - which is soy oil, and Gatorade has either that or soy lecithin...quite aggravating.

The other thing to watch out for is Natural Flavorings, which sometimes means soy derived additives.

For breadcrumbs I have discovered Cream of Wheat works well, I coat fish and Chicken in it and use it in meatloaf. Any brand of Organic cracker/cookies I have found are soy free, these are life savers. He also likes "enjoy life" brand cookies and granola bars. Generic brands tend to have soy, good luck