Newly diagnosed with gluten sensitivity...

[TheApprentice]

and it's in so many foods. And from my brief experience over the week, it's also expensive to eat gluten free. Anyone want to share how they do it? What about going to a restaurant, that seems almost impossible with all the cross contamination.

 

I'm in a bit of denial, but my eating habits are going to have to change dramatically. :crying:

 

Any helpful hints?

[Susan C.]

I'm doing a trial of gluten free. Asian is usually a safe bet, just make sure the noodles are rice with no wheat. I even ate at an Italian restaurant, asked them to use grilled chicken for the chicken parmesan, and got mashed potatoes and a salad. Most restaurants have a gluten free menu if you ask for it. A nearby steak restaurant supplied one. There, I order salad and steak (and sometimes a sweet potato). Meat and vegetables and/or salad, rinse and repeat! At home, a dinner salad with meat thrown in with homemade salad dressing works well. GL

[Mnemosyne]

The cheapest way to eat gluten free is to not do substitutes. Meat, veggies, rice, and potatoes.

 

Restaurants you'll have to play with. Some are good about contamination, some are not. Meat and veggies are usually fairly safe, as are salads (without the croutons of course). But depending on how strong your sensitivity is, you have to be more or less careful.

[BrittanyM]

It is definitely cheapest not to use subs, especially flour mixes are expensive. Buy your own supplies and make your own. Corn tortillas are cheap, eating at Mexican places is generally safe. Olive Garden now has gluten free pasta and PF Chang's has a great gluten free menu. You can get most hamburgers lettuce wrapped without a bun and that is safe.

[Staceyshoe]

When we started our journey, I found a few blogs, searched Pinterest, etc to get some inspiration.  Gluten Free Goddess makes amazing dishes.  I use her recipes a lot.  We don't really substitute except on rare occasion.  We've just changed the way we eat.  At first, it was very hard.  Now it's no big deal.  It's become routine. 

I would recommend looking at some GF blogs and making a list of a several recipes you want to try, a few quick meals for hectic days, snacks, and some on-the-go options when you're away from home.  Make sure you have the ingredients, and go for it.  Having a go-to list or game plan helps so much.  It saves the hassle of lots of planning (which often happens when first starting GF) and saves you from the I'm-starving-and-don't-know-what-to-eat problem.

[J-rap]

Three of my children are gluten-sensitive and eat gluten free.  It's surprisingly not too difficult when cooking.  We realized we didn't have much gluten in our diet anyway, except bread and pasta, and now there is gluten-free pasta!  Honestly, we have all pretty much gone to this diet, generally, because we have found it easily done.  Stews, meats, veggies, fruit, eggs, legumes, potatoes and rice...  The only difficult part is bread that you might want to have on the side, sandwiches, and desserts.  One of my daughters is a cook and loves experimenting.  She has perfected most desserts, gluten free.  We keep rice flour and another flour that is a gluten-free mixture on hand.  As far as sandwiches or sides, well -- if they're desperate, they can always have gluten-free bread, which we keep on hand.  There is also pretty good gluten-free bread mixes available.  We have also found that rolls and bread served as sides to dinner meals really aren't even necessary.

 

I guess breakfasts can be tricky if you have relied on cereal, but eggs and black beans, or oatmeal, have become very popular in our household.  :)

 

Eating out is harder.  Fortunately, my children do not have an extreme reaction if there is a trace of gluten in something, so they can eat a lot of things that are on the menu.  I'm not sure how you would know for sure that a restaurant that advertises itself as gluten-free has no traces of it in what it offers.  Perhaps others have more advise regarding that.

[Hikin' Mama]

I've been gluten free for several years because I have celiac. I began by eating things that are naturally gluten free, as in whole foods: meats, veggies, potatoes, sweet potatoes, rice, quinoa. I think rice and potatoes are incredibly inexpensive foods. It's the processed gluten free foods that are expensive. After just eating whole foods, I branched out into some baking with gluten free flours. They are more expensive, but I don't bake a lot, because I don't want to eat it. 

 

As far as eating out, I have always been fine at Outback. It also seems that locally owned places (not chains) that focus more on good food than fast food seem to be more aware of gluten and cross contamination. I don't eat out a lot, because I don't like the expense. But I have found several places that are fine.

 

Asian food was mentioned above as okay, but Asian food is rarely safe, as it heavily uses soy sauce, which has wheat in it. There is gluten free soy sauce (tamari and Bragg's liquid aminos), but most restaurants don't use the gluten free version.

 

I did lots of research to find what ingredients can contain hidden forms of gluten. I also Google everything of which I'm unsure. If I'm still not sure after Googling, I don't eat it.

 

Some of my favorite sites for gluten free food are Gluten Free Girl, Elana's Pantry, Gluten Free Gooddess.

 

Good luck!

 

ETA: Olive Garden and PF Chang's are other places with great gf menus and knowledge of cross contamination. I forgot about them, because they are two hours away from me.

[kbutton]

I think there is a website called Gluten Free Easily that has recipes for easy GF eating. Don't do a lot of substitutes--save those for treats (if you like them) or for those times when someone is freaked out about what you can or can't eat. :-) Or comfort foods that you eat as a treat (I nearly fell over when I found GF pierogies!)

 

I heard recently that you can get a phone/tablet app that lets you scan any barcode to find out it it's gluten free.

 

I agree that Asian is NOT safe.

 

Hidden sources of gluten are the hardest to root out and can derail progress at feeling well. However, they are difficult to grasp at first. I would revisit the list from time to time for a refresher.

 

As for contamination, I don't seem to have trouble with "shared equipment," but "may contain traces of" is not a happy thing for me.

 

Seek out grocery stores with good, clear, and consistent labeling. Both Aldi and Trader Joe's have good labeling. TJ's distinguishes between GF and no gluten ingredients used. Aldi has gluten free marked on their products when applicable. Some stores have websites (or handouts in store) listing all of their GF products.

[TheApprentice]

Thanks for the support. I'll definitely look at those suggested websites. I know it will get easier, and considering I'm not much of a cook; it looks like that will be changing to keep costs down.

[mamabear2three]

I've eaten gluten free for 2 years - the first year we were also dairy, soy, and egg free b/c my daughter was sensitive to all of them and had chronic diarrhea because of it. Backing back down to just gluten free after she tested clear of everything made gluten free seem so easy!! 

 

Honestly, the best advice I got during the process was to find new favorites. I still miss my beloved bread bowl of broccoli cheese soup, but for the most part I don't miss what I can't eat. When there are special events I make gluten free cake/cupcakes that guests have no idea are gluten free (I do this for the kids birthdays even though they don't have to eat gluten free - it's nice to be able to enjoy a cupcake with them!). I find that I bake very seldom now, (and this is a huge change for me because I used to make all my own bread). Just keep a running list of products that you try that are no good because a lot of boxed substitutes aren't very good. For example, stay far far away from gluten free bisquick... that was the worst biscuit I've ever eaten! (Pamela's is a great option for good biscuit mix/pancakes)

 

A family favorite dinner is a chipotle creation - rice, beans, slasa, cheese, whatever other toppings you like. I had a delicious pork chop and mashed potatoes last night. Meat, potatoes, rice, vegetables, all safe.

 

Also, there's limited research out about this but one study showed that true sour dough bread (without any added yeast - Trader Joes sells a good option) does not cause any reaction - the souring process apparently kills the gluten if you allow it to sour enough to not need to add yeast. I eat it without any issues at all and I am sensitive enough that a bag of nuts that I missed the "shared equipment with wheat" line on the label made me sick for 2 days. 

 

Also, just make reading labels a life-long habit. I've gotten to where I will read labels of things as I get them out of my own pantry, just out of habit. You never know when the supplier will change and your favorite brand all of a sudden isn't safe anymore.  (that said, I do miss things, stupid bag of nuts...)

 

Sorry this is so scattered, it's been a long day. Good luck with your transition! I can honestly say that going gluten free changed my life... the health changes were that dramatic!

[mamabear2three]

double post

[Susan C.]

Sorry about the Asian recommendation.... I go to Thai and Vietnamese places that don't use soy sauce much or at all. At home, I use tamari sauce.

[Erin]

I don't really do the "gluten-free" stuff.  I just avoid the things that used to be gluten-y so I manage to avoid most of the expenses, too.  

Like Hikin'Mama mentioned, I just do whole foods for the most part.  Meats, cheeses, lots and lots of veggies (frozen veggies are my "filler" now instead of pastas) and so on.

[umsami]

It's a learning process. In the beginning I used to carry rice cakes in a baggie in my purse to sub for bread, because I hated the commercial GF bread. (Still do.)  Chick-fil-a, Five Guys, heck even McDonald's will do sandwiches without a bun for you, and many restaurants now have GF menus.

 

Pinterest is a great source.  We found that almond flour pancakes worked better for "bread" when wanted….but also rethinking sandwiches.  DS2 loves those long English cucumbers as "bread" with cream cheese and turkey.

 

I usually plan meals around rice as a grain.  One favorite is to take a bag of mini peppers (yellow, orange, red, whatever), slice and sautee with onions in olive oil. (Add some s&p).  Then add in ground beef to brown along with S&P, and onion powder.  Once browned, you add in leftover cold rice, and a can of tomato sauce.  Cook for about 10 minutes.  It's like a deconstructed stuffed pepper.

 

Breakfast…you can find GF oats by Bob's Red Mill at many stores these days.  Target and Walmart both have expanding GF sections.  Chex cereals are pretty much GF.  There are GF Rice Krispies too.

 

We use hash browns, mashed potato, or rice as "crusts" for quiche or do a crustless version.  

 

The Betty Crocker GF Brownie mix is a favorite.  

 

Trader Joe's carries GF flour which is similar to King Arthur.

 

Expect to make mistakes. :)