Going gluten-free - where to start? - £200 voucher plus signed copies of Budget Gluten-free to be won

[CeriMumsnet]

Going gluten-free can be a challenge, especially when it comes to budgeting. For those of you who are gluten-free, what would your top tips be? What are your favourite gluten-free products? How do you stick to a budget on a gluten-free diet?

And if you’re just starting or even have been following a gluten-free diet for a while what questions or concerns do you have? Becky Excell, author of new book Budget Gluten Free will be online in the next few weeks to answer some of your questions.

Everyone who posts on this thread by 18 March will be entered into a prize draw where one lucky winner will win a £200 voucher plus a signed copy of Budget Gluten Free by Becky Excell. 9 runners up will also win a signed copy of the book.

*Don't forget to also take part in the poll below about the cost of a gluten-free weekly shop (according to Coeliac cost of living report 2024) - the answer will be revealed on this thread next week!

T&Cs

Definitely wouldn’t recommend gf diet unless you absolutely have to - coeliacs or some sensitivity as people have mentioned . It’s not ‘healthy ‘ in itself. It’s just hassle and the food is less nice and it’s amazing how little it is catered for eg Pret and Costa don’t have any gf sandwiches and the Starbucks one is meat which doesn’t work for us . McDs doesn’t have a gf bun. I’ve once or twice bought a mcDs without the bun and used our own bun so DD doesn’t feel left out. School trips (residential) and sports and activity camps have been a lot of hassle and involved creative solutions (she always packs a loaf of gf bread and lots of gf cereal bars for such events just in case!)

My DD is coeliac and the biggest challenge is dealing with her sadness. It can be hard to miss out on party cake and McDonald’s when you are a gluten free child. I think once you become an adult and are more open to better food choices then it’s not so hard.

I just checked my order history and mine have done a litre of soy sauce in 2 weeks! I buy it in bulk from Amazon which is a LOT cheaper than in supermarkets, and it forms the basis of most of my holiday meal planning!

Find things naturally gluten free rather than advertised as such, like egg or rice noodles instead of wheat ones. So much cheaper.

Learn to like oatcakes.

Gluten free due to dermatitis herpetiformis which is an ongoing rash reaction to gluten. Developed late in life after Covid although doctor says there is no connection.

For bread l buy Thins in Aldi, keep a good stock in freezer and toast. Also an lrish brand McCambridge brown bread which is lovely.

My biggest issue is eating out. The good is completely gone out of it and on holidays now l go full board as l can choose from the buffet myself and have odd things together without any fuss.
I am adjusted now but it still hangs over me a bit and l have to get used to bringing snacks on long journeys as l can't count on getting stuff.

I've been dithering over gluten free for ages now so I'll keep my fingers crossed 🤞

What are the main "hidden" gluten items that you recommened to look out for? PP mentioned stock cubes, which I hadn't thought of 😬

We (by that, I mean my household) don't need to go GF for health reasons (none of us are allergic/celiac), but we don't consume a lot of gluten products, and prefer to cook from scratch - we are also vegan, so this makes everything easier. I did try eating fully GF for four months a while ago (before I had kids), just as a challenge, and I actually did feel trimmer for doing so.

Doves Farm flour is good. It also isn't wildly expensive and is available in a lot of places.

Lots of foods are naturally gf so aside from the odd loaf of promise bread I don’t think it’s much more expensive . Best advice would be to stay away from the gf aisle in supermarkets and learn to bake . My daughter is coeliac but we are not a completely gf household as I see no reason to do so if you are careful about cross contamination . Eating out has definitely got easier over the years as more places make an effort to cater for gf .

Focus on what you can still eat, rather than what you can’t. I generally don’t eat gf bread as it’s awful and your sandwich falls apart as soon as you take a bite! GF pasta isn’t bad though, or too expensive, and the whole family eat it. GF stock cubes and soy are a must here, and I use loads of tamarind in stir fries now. Luckily I’ve never been a cake person but I do miss pies and sausage rolls. 🥲

Travelling can be a pia. I recently did a fairly long train journey (a few hours and changes) and needed lunch. The only GF thing that I could find was an apple in the Upper Crust at Crewe, despite there being multiple food outlets. Keep snacks in your bag for emergencies.

Don’t make any assumptions - check EVERYTHING. I’ve glutened myself many times by assuming there couldn’t possibly be gluten in something when there is. Also don’t be afraid to double check or refuse food offered by others. I’m no longer willing to put my health at risk through fear of offending someone who has gone to the trouble of making me food.

If you eat out, the ‘Find Me GF’ app is brilliant for finding places with a gf menu. Otherwise you’ll doubtless end up in pubs where gammon and chips is the only gf option on the menu (and even then the chips might not be gf).

Tomato ketchup/condiments in general are always worth checking. Sausages are usually 50/50- the premium ones are often gf but not always. Chocolate- even just normal, plain bar of chocolate- often has a may contain warning.

"Accidentally" gluten free ie not in the free from aisle is getting more common which is great, some great savings to be had! Party food type bits especially- I always look out on Becky Excell's insta around holidays as she has great guides (with pictures) about gluten free party food/Easter eggs etc in all the different supermarkets.

We get a lot.of gluten free bread and bread-type.products (e.g. Crumpets) from various people.on Olio.
We've had all.sorts of different bread to try, including Promise which is nearly £4 a loaf!

Homemade gluten free breads is a lot nicer than shop brought. I recently started using psyllium in my bread making and it makes a massive difference - made burger buns that were big and soft instead of small, dense and tough like GF ones usually are. Whey protein in the flour mix also helps.

The Schar white loaf is the best shop bought sandwich bread that I've found, its soft and reminds me the most of normal sandwich bread. It can't be too good for you though considering how processed it must be to last so long but sometimes I just really want a soft cheese and onion and crisp sandwich and "better" breads just don't cut it for that!

I am gluten intolerant rather than coeliac so lucky in that sense. I tend to avoid bread / pasta / pastry but don't worry about small amounts in sauces etc.

My biggest find was the sainsburys brown rice pasta in the normal pasta aisle - I hated gf so had stopped eating it.

The bread is awful and too expensive as everyone else has said.

Most annoying thing for me is reading the ingredients list on every supermarket item, especially now that I need reading glasses (and have usually forgotten them).

I often find gluten free bread and other things being given out on Olio, I guess the market is smaller so often there is surplus. Worth keeping an eye out for.

Hi, there’s an app you can use for this. It’s £14.99 a year. It’s through the coeliac UK society. It has a barcode scanner which is very handy. It’s also got a venue and travel guide, discounts and things. It’s another cost of course, but very useful.

In the past I always avoided bread, pasta, pastries but the gf options now are incredible and not badly priced compared to when I first cut out gluten.

£2.90 for 4 small break cakes that taste half decent! Tip tip for budget is learn to go without, stop thinking of bread as a quick cheap lunch for toast, sandwich etc. rice or jacket potatoes is my go to. I find I eat the typical meat and veg, curries and slow cooker food since diagnosis. I still have bread/pasta but not often. Also make my own cakes as shop bought are full of absolute crap, and since avoiding gluten I also try to avoid upf, as inflammation with autoimmune diseases is generally best avoided

Is it cheaper to use carbs that are already gluten free, rather than the expensive GF bread?

If you go to Spain, the Canary Isles or Portugal, you can get GF McDonalds. 😊🍔

I bought Becky's book that came out last year which was GF air fryer recipes - there's an amazing donut version that is amazing - and my son and DH both ate them happily despite them being gf.

My daughter has been gluten free since the age of 7, she’s 16 now so living a gluten free life is normal for us.

she doesn’t like any free from bread so we don’t buy that, but genius wraps and warbutons pitas are great so she sticks to those if wanting something bready.

we make our own cakes, I follow normal recipes but use supermarkets own free from flour instead and we’ve never had any problems with the bakes.

we eat a lot of fresh veg/salad/meats so only have to check the stock cubes/any sauces to make sure it’s gluten free.

we also take food with us everywhere we go, it’s as normal for us to do that as it is to take car keys with us, as so many places don’t cater for gluten free snacks or the prices is too much.

we've always been very positive about being gluten free so my daughter doesn’t feel like she’s missing out, and we don’t buy in snacks that she can’t eat so to her she lives just like everyone else which is very important to a teenager,