Easy and fast everyday gluten-free meal ideas needed please for newly diagnosed teenage dd with coeliac disease

[tigerchair]

Hi, dd has just been diagnosed with coeliac disease. A lot of our day to day meals tend to be based around pasta and other wheat containing foods eg pizza, bread. It would be great to get some ideas for other meals sop that I can start doing a new meal planner.

Thanks

I have a coeliac 5yo, a 'probable coeliac 4yo and a 2yo. At home we all eat gluten free. We now eat a lot of simple, naturally gf meals (chicken/salmon with potatoes/rice and lots of varied veg. I have reAlly cut down on pasta/pizza type meals and think we are all much healthier for it. I have read up on paleo/primal eating and am very convinced by this although we are a long way from eating this way. Roasts are a big favourite. Jacket potatoes with heinz baked beans and cheese are a useful standby.

I shop with ocado now - by far the best supermarket for gf IMO.

Good luck!

Thanks for being honest, anotherworld. It doesn't sound like a pleasant procedure, I wish it wasn't necessary but it appears to still be the 'gold standard' of diagnostic testing for coeliac disease.

Bumblechum, thanks too. I like to eat low carb when possible but tend to still bulk out the dc's meals with pasta, bread etc. I do think we'll all feel better if there's a focus on gluten free foods. Good suggestion re: jacket spuds and roast dinners. Is is easy enough to make gravy and sauces without wheat flour, eg to make a roux.

Sorry,is it easy enough to make sauces/gravy without wheat flour...is what I meant to type!!

gf flour makes a better roux than wheat imo. I use Bisto best granules for gravy

That's good to know about the gf flour, CMOTdibbler, I'll give it a try in some cheese sauce to make a cauliflower bake. And dd will be delighted that she can still have some of the Bisto range, she's always been a bit of a Bisto kid

I don't eat gf anymore, but for a while I did when other health problems suggested coeliac. A usual meal plan for a week would be-

Breakfast-scrambled egg with chives
Lunch- jacket potato with beans
Tea- roast chicken dinner without gravy

Breakfast- smoked salmon and a poached egg
Lunch- chicken salad
Tea-chicken risotto with leftover roast

Breakfast- fruit salad and a smoothie
Lunch- omelette/frittata
Tea- aubergine parmigiana

Breakfast- eggs again
Lunch- quinoa with roast peppers and veg
Tea- salmon with new potato and veg

Breakfast- fruit or eggs
Lunch- halved roasted red pepper filled with new potatoes , green beans and a small amount of cheese.
Tea- chilli and rice

Breakfast- eggs on Cocotte
Lunch- new potato and ham salad
Tea- lamb tagine with quinoa.

Breakfast- fruit or eggs
Lunch- aubergine boat with cheese and spices
Tea- pork and prawn meatballs in a spicy chicken broth with rice noodles and bakchoi

Generally I ate rice dishes-fried rice, paella, multigawny soup, etc. and roasts featured more frequently than otherwise. rice noodles are readily available and delicious.
I didn't use substitutes- at the time they were expensiv. as you can see breakfast was a bit egg focused (though I keep chickens so that's a factor)
But it is an achievable if slightly restrictive diet. Hardest as you have anticipated is eating out. I felt limited to chain places where they advertise gf on the menu. And at the time coffee shops were pointless, though reading other replies I see this is no longer the case More and more places are catering to gf, it's much easier now than it used to be. Good luck.

Thanks pregnantpause for giving an overview of your menu plan, that's very helpful. DD doesn't eat eggs so I will have to think of good substitutes for her usual toast and cereal (all wheat-based)!! Thinking maybe yoghurt and fruit or gf crispbreads and cheese.

I often have the previous nights leftovers for breakfast. So this morning I had Thai fish curry in a bowl. Sometimes I will have yogurt and fruit. Fried rice.
Most of the specialist gf stuff has potato flour so its out for me (and to be honest I think its generally vile, like the meat substitutes veggies have to put up with). I've certainly gone way up on vegetables since I got my diagnosis and I even enjoy them now! Initially I channelled my inner 3 year and thought I'd have nothing to eat ever as I lived on pasta and bread but the paleo/primal eating sites helped as did learning to enjoy veggies and fish and be more creative.
There's a lot of grain free recipes here for when I'm feeling fancy but most days its simple veggies and fish because I'm lazy and because there's 4 other people to cook for who are not gf and because I've been cooking for my kids for 24 years and to be honest I'm fed up with it all
You can easily make gf cakes that are way better than the shop ones. Again, I only bother for special times as I dont eat sugar (sends me hyper) and biscuits. I just use rice flour and they turn out the same as my old cakes (slightly wonky and burned but edible )

Thanks twistyfeet. I've had a look at that link and it will be very helpful. I think we will end up all eating healthier without so much reliance on gluten containing foods as I will be cooking all of our meals from scratch (which I enjoy but can easily slip into using convenient foods such as pizza or pasta on a busy weekday night!!). I'll just have to be more organised to ensure there's a good variety of gf food at home.

That's good news about the homemade gf cakes still being tasty