Would anyone be up for a coeliac chat thread?

[Squirrel125]

Umm...that's it, really! I was thinking a thread for people with coeliac or a coeliac sufferer in the household where we could share recipe ideas and any other questions might be helpful. I did briefly follow something like this on FB but found it a bit intense, as FB groups tend to be!

My DD (12) has coeliac, diagnosed last year. Still getting to grips with some food alternatives but we have quickly found specific favourites (all in different supermarkets, of course!)

So my first question is...any ideas to make GF couscous a bit more flavoursome?!?

@atlaz and now Aldi seem to have got rid of their frozen GF cookies too 😫. To the poster who asked about noodles, I use GF spaghetti as noodles, it's the closest to the wheaty egg noodle goodness we miss! The local asian grocers stock GF teriyaki and hoisin sauce and uncontaminated red lentils too. Bread wise the genius brioche buns are nice. Old el paso wraps are not great and taste of chemicals, Tesco own make are far nicer. M&S rice crispies made with brown rice are addictive, I still haven't been to see if they reintroduced them after Christmas (if you're new to this stock up on favourites after halloween as most shops seem to massively reduce GF for Christmas. M&S seemed to think that having however many different tins of biscuits was somehow compensation for me being unable to get basic breakfast cereal. 🤨) Oh and if you're ever in Skegness go to the "pirate chip shop"!

Suddenly remembered about Lidl's pork and apple sausages that are gluten free and absolutely delicious.

Easter seems to be generally easier to enjoy (GF food wise) than Christmas. Just got to check for the pesky 'may contain' on all the Easter eggs.

I'm going to have to try the Morrison's ones next time I'm in the UK. For a while they sold the Tesco ones in my country but they were dairy free so meh

Over here they advise getting tested yourself if an immediate family member is diagnosed as there's something like 10% chance you or her dad have it.

@CeeCeeDeeBee I meant to say re eating out - we find the big chains the best for gf (Ask, Pizza express etc). Smaller places, independent cafes etc are a mixed bag although we've been pleasantly surprised by some.

If your dd likes fish and chips from a chippy, many will switch on a separate fryer if you give them a bit more time. Sausages at chip shops tend to be no good though, ie not gf.

Asda gf profiteroles are real whipped cream too

@Natsku we have both been tested, both negative.

That's good, lucky you!

I tested via 23andme and I don’t have the gene. So I assume dh must have the gene but he doesn’t actually have coeliac disease (yet) as the GP tested him for it (blood test).

Eating out is interesting as often cheaper places are out but I have found some lovely cafes. If they can guarantee gluten free it generally means they cook more from scratch and are better at their kitchen hygiene. We have a local chip shop who do gluten free Tuesdays as they empty and clean the whole kitchen including fryers in the morning.

https://glutenfreecuppatea.co.uk/2024/02/11/gluten-free-easter-eggs-guide-2024/

becky has done all the research for us 🤩
I wouldn’t have even looked at Reese’s eggs until I saw this. DD will be very happy with her egg this year 🤗

Re local/independent places to eat out… might be worth seeing if there is a local facebook group, I’m in a Nottinghamshire one which is quite quiet but has a lot of recommendations for local places to eat.
or search in the national facebook groups.
im only in 2 but there is one called something like ‘gluten free eat out too’ which might be worth a look

I cook from Delia Smith's recipes a lot of the time, I substitute ASDA GF flour where necessary.
everyone eats the same thing. If you substitute your kitchen basics for the gluten free version, cooking from scratch can be easily GF

@Keeprejoining I really wish it was that easy for us. Unfortunately it isn't. It's hard work accommodating everyone's needs in my household.

I agree that it is far easier to accommodate gluten free if you cook from scratch. Doesn’t mean it’s easy, just easier and cheaper as you don’t have to buy expense gluten free alternatives.

Agreed. I love that cake.

I miss pastry. Pies, sausage rolls etc. the ready made stuff is ok but I do miss a Greggs sausage roll!

@Fenimore I actually had some really nice GF mince pies at Xmas - Italian ones from our deli- I don't even like mince pies much I just wanted something with pastry-! When I feel like this my go to is a pie minster moo pie .

Just to say ASDA this morning had three different flavours of G/F hot cross buns at £2.25 for 4 and Simnel Cake Slices at £2.75 for 5. The slices aren’t listed on the website but were in store.

I had Tesco finest gluten free mince pies this year and they were fab. Their normal free from ones are not great because they are also dairy free. The finest ones were a cross between pastry and shortbread and my partner who isn’t gluten free happily ate them too.

I’ve been to Wagamama for lunch today and had the worst experience and left without eating.

so Dd is coeliac and vegetarian. She always orders the gf chicken and prawn pad Thai and asks for no chicken, no prawns but tofu instead. The tofu is gf and nobody has ever had a problem doing this.

the manager today said no. Apparently there’s a new company policy which says no alterations to the allergy menu at all. So there is literally nothing else Dd will eat as the only vegi main is a coconut curry which she doesn’t like. Or maybe there’s two other things, but certainly nothing she likes.

so manager goes back to talk to the chef. Comes back and says the only thing they can do is do a normal tofu pad Thai….but the sauce has gluten and change the sauce. Which sounded ok. But then she said it can’t go through as an allergy option so she won’t take the order and the head chef won’t cook it. Dd asks if the chef will be told to wipe surfaces down and use new utensils and the manager said no…..because that would push it into the realms of an allergy option.

so we left. With no lunch. An email has been sent! Dd was close to tears, I could see her welling up. Wagamama has been her favourite restaurant for so long and they’re normally so good.

Oh no thats ridiculous!
Why can't they apply some common sense?
I love Wagamama so I do understand how upset your dd must feel if this means they can't/wont cater for her.

Oh wow that is really bad! Your poor daughter!

Will be interesting to see what they say, sadly I suspect the manager might be right and head office have just said to them that they can’t make any changes at all to allergy dishes.

That's awful. Agree it's probably a policy to cover themselves but totally crap for your dd. I'd probably take my business elsewhere but I know it's rubbish for our kids to have another place they like eating removed from the list of potential meals out.

I know they need to cover themselves legally and they're all scared of making a mistake- but if they end up alienating some of their customers then surely that will be counter productive. Also why can't there be a veggie gf option as standard?!

Eta I see there was one gf veggie option. But even so, it's still crap! Especially the bit about not being able to wipe things down, I mean wth.