Gluten free help

[bringonyourwreckingball]

Dd2 is gluten intolerant- not coeliac but too much gluten sends her eczema and digestive issues into overdrive. We’re about to get into GCSEs so I am keen to minimise gluten as much as possible to help her feel well. Can you hit me with your best gluten free products, recipes, tips etc? She’s fairly unfussy and loves fruit and veg

Becky Excell - blog, books and FB group - is a great place to start.

Good tip, if you see reduced price gluten free bread, buy it and freeze it, make it into breadcrumb to use for coating things.

All the major supermarkets do a great range of gf products now too. Waitrose gf lemon drizzle cake is so good.

Is she OK with dairy as that can make eczema worse too. ?

Yorkshire puddings with cornflour saved us in our first few weeks of DH and DSx2 being gluten free!

Be mindful that sausages and burgers can contain wheat. Crisps often add wheat for flavour too- avoid Pringles!

We like the schar gf rolls from the freezer, when baked they're just like bakery rolls. Otherwise tiger bread is the better option of the bread.

Sushi is amazingly easy to make and a great lunch option. You can cheat by using microwave sticky rice.

I cook with GF pasta most weeks, Sainsbury's and Tesco (most major supermarkets) do a few types. Whatever the cooking time guidelines say, add a minute to the longest they give.
Bisto best gravy granules, Nestle free from cornflakes, cornflour, Colmans dry mustard in the tin and Nairns crackers are staples in my house.

If she likes cake, make your own- the shop bought ones tend to be dry and super sweet. I tend to adapt ordinary recipes by switching to GF flour and adding a pinch of xanthan gum and a splash of milk. I often bake and freeze individual slices wrapped tightly in clingfilm, they don't take long to defrost.
This has turned out great every time I've made it https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/naughty-chocolate-fudge-cake

I'm a noodle lover, so rice noodle dishes - thought be careful to use gluten free soy in asian dishes.

Rice and potatoes are also delicious gluten-free carbs which have a plethora of uses. Rice can even be used for desserts too!

For a more unusual option polenta - especially cheese polenta - is really tasty, and if you buy the quick cook version it's fast too.

Don't bother too much with ultra processed products apart from pasta and difatti gnocchi. Get GF flour for thickening sauces cook as normal but substitute with brown rice, potatoes and sweet potatoes. Mash with olive oil. Breakfast can be fruit, yoghurt, gf oats. It isn't hard once you get used to it. GF oatcakes also make a good snack.

The warburtons GF soft pittas are a good lunch option filled with cold meat and salad

Aldi and Lidl so good burgers that are GF
marks and Spencer's have a lots of options in their picnic section that are GF like cocktail sausages
There's a good TikTok page that show unexpected GF find and most are pretty good

Don't use gluten replacements.. in my experience, people with gluten intolerance don't feel much better if they eat pseudo gluten foods either.

Choose rice and potatoes instead.

We made a 2 ingredient cake last week... whisked egg whites, beat in egg yolks, add melted chocolate, cook... it was pretty great!!

But the gf bread is horrible and the specially marketed products tend to disagree with my family

Basically buy all the Becky excell books. Wish she'd had them out when I first had to stop gluten!
It means anything your dc misses on this journey you'll be able to relatively easily replace.

Also it tastes so good everyone can eat the same.

My biggest advice would be to do as many gf meals so that everyone eats the same as often as possible, helps isolation when you've spent the whole day watching everyone snack on gluten and saying no thanks to everything.

E.g everyone has gf pasta at home and no one complains. All our seasonings are gf etc

https://www.mygfguide.com/ Laura strange has has just been published but there are 100s recipes on here. Her recipes are amazing, many of them you really can’t tell the difference! I personally think it’s better than Becky excell- some of her bakes especially could be a bit dry and heavy.
doves freee are a good gf brand for flour. Nestle go free is best for cereals. But Asda or a big Tesco have the biggest gf range of products. Avoid biscuits using oat flour they are often dry, and always look at the ingredients in bread- some have loads of sugar and crap in them!

Prewitts biscuits are really good, Waitrose definitely sell them.
Mrs Crimble is also your friend for sweet stuff.

Bisto Best isn't actually labelled gluten free and whilst I've had it without problems before, the last batch really caused me issues, so I'm thinking it might be cross contaminated now.

Other things to avoid: anything made by Walkers. Literally anything. Seabrooks are fine, as are the majority of Co-op crisps. Unless you like weirdly sweet but fundamentally disappointing, avoid Freeeeee products. Waitrose do some etter tasting and better textured things.

I cannot have gluten or diary but have a good receipe for cookies.

1 egg
1 cup of of peanut butter
1 cup brown sugar

can add gluten free marshmallows etc if want to.

Just mix all together, roll into balls and cook on medium heat for 13/15 minutes.

Good protein in them and tasty when let them cool.

I do gluten free pasta with shredded chicken, or tuna.

Can buy all the breads or pitta in shop but so expensive.

I eat lots of salads with fish or chicken.

Rosy&Jim do a lovely gluten free crispy chicken breast that is really tasty and gluten free.

I always lightly toast the gluten free bread buy in lidl as cheaper than more expensive supermarkets as it falls apart and not nice untoasted. Also a good g/f snack are g/f corn cakes can add lots of saviour things or peanut butter and jam etc.

Becky Excell is fantastic and Eve made a recipe of hers that didn't work.
Took her Gf cake to work and nobody noticed
Staples here are looks "Pringles " , Aldi tempura chicken from the fridge and lots of meat/ cheese platters as snacks

Bisto Best is ‘may contains’ so you could well have got a batch that was cross contaminated.

Walkers are the worst, in my head I imagine the factory has gluten sprinklers to make sure that every single potato/ corn based product that they make doesn’t come out untouched.

Promise bread is the best GF loaf and I also really like the M&S tiger bread - it’s one of the only GF bread products I can eat untoasted.

I would cut out gluten completely rather than minimise it. With gluten, it’s not like some intolerances, like dairy where you might be ok in small amounts. If she’s not coeliac, she should be fine with ‘May contain’ foods though.

Are you near a Gail’s bakery? They do a GF loaf that is a lot less processed than most stuff on supermarket shelves. My local Waitrose also stocks it.

I usually order a few loaves from Gail’s then freeze them.

WRT other GF products, it pays to shop around the different stores. Asda do great stuff esp for lunchboxes and at the other end, Ocado has some other things.

As I’m the one that’s GF, and I do the cooking, we just eat GF food. I don’t announce it 🤣

Lastly, don’t forget that GF also covers meat, or fish, and two veg. You can keep it really simple and delicious too.

M&S also good for "wheat free", especially the treat foods like cake. Their GF frozen Yorkshire puddings are excellent. Some of their ready meals are also wheat/gluten free even if not named as such eg the Count on Us spicy chicken curry with potatoes.

Home made flatbreads with yoghurt and GF flour are amazing (but easy to overeat as they are yummy and so much nicer fresh out of the pan)

Thank you all so much that is all so so helpful. There’s quite a few meals we enjoy regularly already that can easily be made gluten free with a few small tweaks eg gf soy sauce and some great ideas here for new things to try

I swear by black farmer sausages as the best gf option that taste like decent sausages. Serve with mash, red cabbage and peas and gf gravy.

I usually make a massive batch of meatballs (kg of meat) with seasonings and grated cheese mixed in with an egg. Those are baked before adding the sauce (two tins of chopped tomato, onion, garlic, puree and Branston pickle.) I then pack into portion sized tupperware for the freezer and can be served with mash, rice or gf pasta.

Yes yes to Sushi, just be wary of any sauces as most soy sauce contains wheat. You can buy a gf one which tastes the same. Sushi which is just rice, fish, nori, sugar, vinegar and veggies is fine though.

Most of the TTD sausages in Sainsburys appear to be Gf and they're all pretty good.

Ooo, I came on here to ask a question about GF diet myself, and I can see some good advice here. Does anyone know if you can/should sneak a little bit of gluten in if you get stuck? I am really trying to be completely GF, but sometimes if you're out, or just not prepared, it's hard to stay away from it 100%. What I'm asking is, is it a waste of time eating GF products if you're just going to ruin it with a normal bread sandwich or a late night normal toast craving? I had a sausage sandwich from the van near work this morning, then a GF lunch and planning a GF tea tonight. Is that just madness??