Food allergies can create havoc. Suddenly, a food that might have been a staple is off limits. You are reading every label with a fine tooth comb and hoping that the food company has properly declared everything.

Life becomes a constant process of educating yourself, your friends and family, and tracking what you can and can’t eat.

If you have food allergies, it’s likely to one of the top 8 food allergens. While you could be allergic to almost any food, these account for more than 90 per cent of all food allergies.

However, the biggest issue for food substitutions are the foods that are used for baking. It’s for these 4 items that we’ll look at some simple and easy substitutions.

1. Replacing dairy: the market now has all sorts of substitutions for conventional dairy, from soy, rice, potato and oat based “milks” to soy and rice based “cheese”. In some cases, it’s as simple as replacing the milk in a recipe with water – but always check. Most non-dairy milks will substitute one for one in a recipe.

2. Replacing eggs: For recipes that require leavening, you can substitute 1.5 tablespoons of vegetable oil mixed with 1 teaspoon baking powder and 1.5 tablespoons water. If you need the eggs for binding your baked good together, try 1/2 banana, or 1/4 cup of applesauce. These substitutions work best when you are only replacing 1 egg.

3. Replacing peanuts: There are lots of alternative butters available on the market. Try sunflower seed butter for sandwiches if you are sensitive to all nuts. Soy butter and hemp seed butter are also good alternatives. These butters also work well for school lunches if there is a nut-free policy.

4. Replacing gluten: Most folks who develop a problem with gluten will end up looking at rice flour for a substitute. However, for the best results in baking, a combination of flours is often better. Consider mixing 1 part rice flour with 1/2 part chickpea or fava bean flour plus 1/2 part potato starch and 1/2 part tapioca starch. This combination gives a much better result with a texture more like gluten based baking.

Sources: Associated Content; BeAllergyWise