Gluten free tips and recipes? Newly diagnosed coeliac!

[beeble347]

Hope it's okay to post here! As title says, just been diagnosed coeliac (bummer) age 33.

I've been pescatarian since I was 6 which is quite inconvenient now tbh since it limits my options further!

Found some good GF alternatives but my god they're so expensive! Barilla pasta £4 for 300g, I saw a 1 for 1 flour with xantham gum mixed in on Amazon: £20 for 1.5kg!

DH and I both enjoy cooking but I think I'm going to have to do a lot more from scratch for myself and maybe bring food out with me for on the go?

Anyone who's gone gluten free got any good tips or recipes? TIA!

I've been gluten free due to celiac for 8 years now, and I'm vegetarian and it is quite limiting.

Becky Excell cookbooks are very good, and she's often suggested as a starting point. The food is very expensive, and not usually very nice so I just tend to avoid most things. What I do buy are the Tesco pastas at 75p a bag which is mostly good, though I find the spaghetti a bit sticky, gnocchi, and I've found Warburtons Tiger loaf to be the best bread, but I only buy it when on offer. I use the Doves plain and self raising flour which has also been fine in whatever I've made.

There's a lot of trial and error, both on successfully making things yourself and getting the right proportions and finding foods that you actually like. There's been many things I've bought and then had to throw because there awful!

Another recommendation for Becky Excell I don't think I have had a bad recipe from her.

I wouldn't buy from amazon, supermarkets are generally cheaper. Doves farm is the best flour and easily available.

My sister is gluten free and she buys a lot from Asda and Tesco.
She just converts normal recipes I ever know I’m eating a gluten free lasagne for example.

The Morrisons gluten free pasta tastes great and is only £1 a box - my dad and LO are both coeliac and tbh we find it easier to stick to food that is naturally gluten free so lots of rice and potatoes. The warburtons brioche rolls taste really like normal bread but they are expensive

I’m gf pescatarian too and tend to focus on things that are “naturally” gf like fish, eggs, cheese and vegetables, with potatoes/sweet potatoes or rice as my carbs.

As PP said, Warburton’s tiger bread is probably the nicest, but is mighty expensive compared to regular bread. Generally I find shop-bought gf biscuits and cakes a bit unpleasant/unsatisfying, although Marks & Spencer’s gf range of baked goods is quite good. If you like breakfast cereal, the M&S gf granola is good, as is the Deliciously Ella gf granola. Also recommend Becky Excell.

Sainsbury's own brand gluten free pasta, in blue bags, is great - my husband is GF and the whole family now just uses this pasta as it saves making separate portions. It's not hugely more expensive than regular stuff either. Lidl have a lot of snack type oat /fudgy bars that happen to be GF so we have a cupboard full of them in lieu of biscuits/cakes.

When my daughter was diagnosed I thought I’d have to stop baking. But I just substitute Asda gf flour and a bit of xanthan gum (only a teeny bit!) into my usual cake recipes and they work fine. The cake doesn’t keep for so long but that tends not to be a problem in this house! Biscuits/shortbread can be trickier. Nancy Birtwhistle has a good gf bread recipe - mine is never as risen as hers but my daughter says it’s tasty. And supermarket gf pasta is fine. Agree that M&S do good stuff - my daughter likes their croissants although they are eye-wateringly expensive!

Warburtons gluten free wraps are also quite good. I also buy things from the Schär range - bread, muffins, crisp breads etc. Nairn has a good range of gluten free stuff too.

Schar rolls and bread sticks are nice. The Becky Excell recipes are excellent. We actually prefer the gluten free Yorkshire puddings.

Asda’s own make GF garlic bread is lovely.

Oh and the white rabbit gluten free pizzas and garlic bread are delicious

This - the only things I buy from Amazon are things I can’t find in the shops. Breadcrumbs, crispy onions and litre bottles of soy sauce as I use loads.

My favourite bread is Promise, it’s crazy expensive but sadly after a while you just get used to spending that much.

The doughballs 🤤

My husband’s favourites are

Schar frozen rolls

Promise bread - especially the sourdough

Any of the supermarket GF pasta at under £1 per 500g bag. I make macaroni cheese with Morrisons GF macaroni and use GF flour in the cheese sauce

Marks and Spencer free from cheese and onion quiche

Marks and Spencer free from fish fingers

Crosta and Mollica GF pizza

And obviously lots of naturally GF food. Vegetable chilli - either beans or GF quorn

Jacket potatoes, beans and cheese or Houmous and salad

Lots of felafel are GF

Curries

Peroni or Daura Damm GF beer

He loves biscuits and we spend a small fortune on them. Favourites are Schar rich tea. Morrison’s often have them on offer - still expensive though

Another fan of Becky Excell - especially the Yorkshire puddings and any of the cake/pudding recipes. Oh and the Daim bar no churn ice cream

I'm not GF but I do sometimes bake for somebody who is. I use Asda GF SR flour, it's already got xanthan gum in it, so you don't need more. I find cakes can be a bit dry and crumbly, so make the mix a bit wetter usual, then let it stand for 2-3 minutes before putting it in the tin, then into the oven. Polenta/cornmeal (best bought from your local Asian grocer) is GF, combined with ground almonds it makes excellent cakes, it will need some baking powder to make the cake rise. Chickpea flour/gram flour is also Gf, farinata/flatbreads are very easy to make. Commercial bread seems to be a problem, a friend makes her own using a "no knead" recipe, that is fairly acceptable.

Get used to reading the ingredients list of any pre-made meals or snacks. Most things are either obviously risky or fine, but the disappointment of finding some silly ass has included wheat in, for example, an Easter egg, or cheesy nibbles gets old fast.

Keep notes, stick them somewhere that you'll see.

Don't assume that because an item was ok yesterday that it still will be today- manufactures mess around with recipes.

There are a lot of items on the shelves that are labelled gluten free, but not marketed for gluten free so in the usual section- knorr stock pots for example. Check labels so you don't pay a premium unnecessarily.

If you have favourite places to eat out, ask them if they can cater. Our favourite places cook from scratch and have gluten free alternatives if you ask. One of our favourite Italian restaurants can do most things on the day, but they ask you to let them know about lasagne the day before so that they can prep it

Most meals that you cook can be adapted easily. Pastry is not one of them- buy this ready made. Yorkshire puddings need extra whisking to get air in for them to rise.

You can eat everything you did before but just gf versions of the gf food. Most restaurants offer a gf menu. Gf ingredients are much more widely available these days . Supermarkets sell ready made gf sandwiches. It should really cause a huge problem once you get used to it.

Asian grocery for large bottles of GF soy sauce.

Not coeliac myself but increasingly intolerant to gluten in processed foods so I try to avoid it.

Yet another Becky Excell fan here!
I agree about the ingredients of things changing, also beware of things having almost identical. For example, there’s a Daim bar cake that is GF. There’s also one with a biscuit base that isn’t GF. I had my fork to my mouth before I realised I had the wrong one! Things like gnocchi - can be GF but don’t assume the potato ones automatically are.
if you do your homework, you’ll find out which eateries are good for GF (I went to the Cosy Club yesterday, excellent GF options, they treat any allergen flags as an allergy and have separate fryers). Beware of places that aren’t clear on that, Wetherspoons, I’m looking at you!
A lot of GF are expensive (they have to be processed separately) and wheat is cheap. Often cheaper to eat meals that are naturally GF, rice and potato based dishes.
You do adjust to knowing what you can and can’t eat. However, it’s wise to keep checking things and also to have contingency food and snacks for things like days out.

When you eat out check that they use separate fryers for gluten free food. Cross contamination means lots of gluten free food isn’t prepared safely so it’s always worth checking. It feels awkward at first but you get used to just asking when you are looking at restaurants. Self catering is better than hotels as buffets are pretty much out due to CC. We have found our diet has improved massively as we are mainly whole foods now. Checking labels means you realise how much junk is in pre prepared food!

There's an online bakery I use called Knife and Fork - it's VERY expensive, but the best GF bread I've found in 18 years of being GF, especially their focaccia. I tend to bulk buy about 3x a year, slice the loaves on arrival and freeze - really convenient and absolutely no waste that way.

Not all recipes work with a straight swap to gluten-free flour, so if you're trying something for the first time, don't make it a presentation piece!

I'm a competent (but far from brilliant) baker. My gluten free cakes/brownies/cookies are far nicer than anything I've been able to buy outside a specialist bakery. I use Doves gluten free flour.

Bread isn't great; pastries are even worse (unless anyone can recommend some). I simply no longer eat sandwiches or danish pasties.

It'll feel very frustrating to start with, but you'll get used to it. Last week we were away, and every restaurant could offer me several meals I wanted to eat; however that's not always the case, and the lower your budget, the fewer the options. I've eaten a lot of jacket potatoes at family attractions.

If you're in the UK, the GF flours are fabulous, I use regular recipes, and just use GF flours in place of standard flour, especially the M&S, and the Tesco.

Thank you so much everyone for the great tips! Saving this thread and making notes.

Amazing to hear M&S free from croissant are decent! I thought I'd never be able to eat one again.

Great tips on the GF flour as well. I've always cooked with gram flour for pakoras, sauces etc but DH was (trying to) helpfully suggest he make me apple crumble with gram flour 🤢 it'll be a learning curve for both of us!

Plenty of choices available these days compared to when a friend of mine was diagnosed some forty years ago.
Bread was only available on prescription, had to be baked, and he said was horrible.