Gluten free vegetarian meal ideas for a child

[Justdowhatyouweretold]

My vegetarian 10 year old DD has many symptoms that could point to a gluten intolerance. We are going to do some investigations prior to seeing the GP so that we can go with some evidence.

Can anyone recommend some good foods for someone vegetarian gluten intolerant? She has only been veggie for about 3 months and despite me and DH being carnivores is very happy to stay veggie.

Please see the GP first as a coeliac test would be inaccurate if she hasn't been eating gluten. It is much harder to reintroduce gluten for the 6 weeks prior to a coeliac test if you have had improvement of symptoms by taking it out.

As for veggie foods, lots of things are naturally gluten free - rice, pulses etc. But also some quorn products - mince, fillets, one type of sausages (but do check as lots aren't). I think the Meatless Farm mince is gluten free, maybe some other products. Also Mash Direct products are all gluten free. Plenty of pizza options etc. There will be lots of supermarket own brand options too.

But do go for a test first, it will be worth it (from experience!).

I agree, don’t give up gluten until she has had a coeliac test.
Also some people’s guts find a lot of fibre hard to deal with, so if she has changed to a higher fibre diet now that she is vegetarian then that might be having an impact on her.
It is really easy now to get GF versions of all gluten containing foods, so bread, pasta, crackers, biscuits etc, but if she has coeliac disease then cross contamination is the main concern, you need to be aware of this when cooking at home but especially when eating at cafes and also if she eats at someone else’s house. For instance if they use the same knife to cut her a slice of GF cake that they used for the normal cake, or they use the same breadboard or toaster. This all might be fine with an intolerance , but is not fine if she is coeliac.
I have been in a cafe with gluten free cakes and then the waiter has used the same tongs to pick it up as for all the other cakes.. Having coeliac disease means needing to be aware of this at all times and eating out can be quite stressful as a result.

She needs to continue eating lots of gluten. I think it's 2-3 meals a day for 6 weeks before being tested for coeliac. Assuming she has been eating gluten regularly, I would do a home test. It's an easy finger prick test and I had my results back in about 2 weeks. The NHS one took a lot longer.

You need to keep eating gluten until you've had 2 blood tests and very often an endoscopy too to diagnose coeliac disease.

Ah OK, thank you for the replies. I was of the impression like many things the GP would ask us if we had tried cutting out on gluten and see if the symptoms improve.

I will get an appointment, thank you.