How do you plan meals around a client's allergies and the foods they avoid?
In short: Sort what the client avoids into allergies, intolerances and preferences, because each needs a different level of care. Remove allergens completely, including the less obvious ingredients that contain them, replace the nutrients you've taken out, and tell the client to read the label of every packaged product they buy. Dislikes can be handled more loosely, but leaving them in is the quickest way to get a plan ignored.
1 min 10 s videoCaptions onUpdated 28 September 2026
Allergy, intolerance or preference
Clients may use terms such as ‘allergy’ and ‘intolerance’ interchangeably, but the distinction matters. Before building the plan, establish what the client avoids and why, as a diagnosed food allergy, coeliac disease, food intolerance or personal preference will require different considerations.
| Type | What happens | How strict to be |
|---|---|---|
| Food allergy | An immune reaction, from hives to anaphylaxis, often from a small amount | Remove completely, including hidden sources and cross-contact |
| Coeliac disease | An autoimmune reaction to gluten that damages the gut | Strictly gluten free, even without obvious symptoms |
| Intolerance | A non-immune reaction to a food or food component; symptoms and tolerance vary depending on the cause | Individualise according to the specific intolerance and the amount tolerated |
| Religious or ethical | No physical reaction, but a firm rule | Remove completely, as the client defines it |
| Dislike | They just won't eat it | Leave it out, or they will skip the meal |
Ask the questions that set the rules
- What happens when you eat it, and how quickly?
- Was it diagnosed, and by whom?
- Do you carry an adrenaline auto-injector?
- Do you avoid products labelled "may contain"?
- Is it the food itself, or only in large amounts?
The answers decide whether a trace in a stock cube matters. Put these on your intake form so you have them in writing before the first plan. What a nutrition intake form should include covers the rest of it.
If a food allergy is suspected but has not been medically assessed, refer for appropriate assessment rather than using the meal plan to diagnose or test the allergy.
Look past the obvious foods
Taking out the peanut butter is easy. The risk sits in ingredients that don't look like the allergen. UK and EU law names 14 allergens that must be highlighted on food labels, and the US names nine, so check the list for the country your client shops in.
- Milk. Butter, ghee, whey, casein, most cheese, many breads and sauces.
- Egg. Mayonnaise, fresh pasta, some noodles, glazes on baked goods.
- Cereals containing gluten. Wheat, barley and rye can appear in foods such as soy sauce, couscous, bulgur, stock cubes and gravies.
- Fish. Worcestershire sauce and Caesar dressing (anchovies), fish sauce, some pesto-style sauces.
- Sesame. Tahini, hummus, many seeded breads.
- Tree nuts. Marzipan, praline, some pestos and curry sauces.
Replace what you take out
Food exclusions can remove important sources of nutrients as well as the food itself. Check that the overall diet still provides appropriate alternatives.
| Excluded | Nutrients to watch | Swaps that help |
|---|---|---|
| Dairy | Calcium, iodine, vitamin B12, protein | Fortified plant milks with calcium and iodine, calcium-set tofu, tinned fish with soft bones |
| Wheat or gluten | Fibre, B vitamins, iron | Oats labelled gluten free, buckwheat, quinoa, potatoes, beans and lentils |
| Fish | Long-chain omega-3 fats, iodine, vitamin D | Algae oil supplements; walnuts and flaxseed add plant omega-3, which converts poorly |
| Eggs | Protein, vitamin B12, choline | Usually easy to cover with other protein foods |
Several exclusions together, such as dairy, egg and wheat, need a proper look at the whole week, not a meal-by-meal swap.
What a meal plan cannot promise
A plan lists recipes and ingredients. It can't see the brand the client buys, the factory it was made in, or the chopping board at home. Manufacturers change recipes without notice, so a stock cube that was safe last year may not be now.
Tell clients with allergies to read the label of every packaged product, every time they buy it, and to follow their allergist's advice on "may contain" warnings. For a severe allergy, say this in writing on the plan itself.
How to do it in Foodzilla
Foodzilla stores a client's allergies, foods to avoid and favourite foods on their profile and applies them every time you generate a plan for them. Foodzilla picks recipes that fit the targets and leaves out anything with an avoided food.
- 1Open the client's dashboard, choose Health & Diet Goals and go to the Diet Preferences tab (Professional plan and above). Tick the labels under Health & Allergies, such as Peanuts Free or Gluten Free, and add Foods to Avoid and Favourite Foods.
- 2Or let the client fill it in: send the built-in Meal Plan Preferences & Dietary Restrictions form, which writes their answers straight onto this tab.
- 3Go to Meal Plans, choose the client and press Auto-Generate. Under Dietary needs & ingredients, the client's labels and foods are already filled in. You can use up to four labels at once.
- 4Exclude ingredients works on names. "Onion" also removes red onion and onion powder. It can't know that salmon is a fish, so for a fish allergy tick Fish Free. Type salmon and Foodzilla suggests that label for you.
- 5Press Generate plan, then read the ingredients of every recipe yourself. When you use Auto-Swap, keep Match Health Labels on. Recipes you add by hand with Add Recipe or Manual Swap come from your whole library, so check those too.
Good to know
- Labels for groups, exclusions for single foodsUse a label such as Dairy Free for a whole food group and Exclude ingredients for single foods like mushrooms. A list of dairy words will always miss one.
- Some allergens don't have a Foodzilla recipe labelFoodzilla doesn't currently have a recipe label for mustard, lupin, molluscs or sulphites. Add the specific ingredient names to Exclude ingredients, then check each recipe.
- Custom preferences stay on the profileA custom preference such as low oxalate is saved on the client's profile, but the meal plan generator can't filter on it and shows a warning. Plan those by hand.