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

Hi @ButterOllocks I totally understand the difficulty as my boyfriend can eat gluten and I’m the gluten- free one. At first, we’d also make two separate meals in our house (he wasn’t keen on what I had to eat!) but as I became more proficient at making those sneaky swaps that nobody would ever notice, it was completely natural that we’d scrap the ‘double dinners’!

I’d highly recommend starting by cooking gluten-free classics (like a chilli con carne or curries for example) which are often naturally gluten-free to start with if
you make it from scratch, then go from there. We then moved onto enjoying pasta dishes together (don’t overcook the pasta and people rarely ever notice the difference!) and the rest is history.

Hi @prawncocktailcrispss The charity Coeliac UK does have a barcode scanning app that you can use when shopping. You can get this if you become a member of Coeliac UK. However, whilst apps can be helpful at times, I would never solely rely on an app - the only way you can truly tell if a product is safe is by reading the ingredients label on the physical product in your hand. An app isn’t always up to date or even correct. Similarly, supermarket websites, whilst they do often have filters, I have found things to be listed incorrectly. It’s frustrating but it’s reality.

So what I suggest is learning what to look out for on ingredients labels. At first it
seems time consuming checking everything but you get quicker the longer you do it. If a product contains gluten it will have to highlight this legally within the ingredients list so it cannot be ‘hidden’. But equally if you have Coeliac Disease do look out for ‘may contains’ too which need to be avoided.

Hi @MovedonfromMartin Yes and ‘horrified’ is great way to describe how I felt upon realising this too! You’ll find unexpected gluten in everything from soy sauce, baking powder, gravy, sausages and many condiments too - in these cases wheat flour is used to either thicken or bulk out the product. Fortunately, because thickening and bulking can easily be performed with a gluten-free starch (rice or potato starch for example) it’s quite easy to find gluten-free alternatives to all of the above in supermarkets. However, for malt vinegar, try searching online for ‘non-brewed condiment’ which is a like-for-like swap that I first found in a health food shop. It changed my fish and chips for the better!

Hi @Focusplease I’m so sorry to hear about the stress that this situation is causing and I can’t express how much I relate to it! In your immediate situation, I would contact the resort ASAP and let them know my dietary requirements and enquire about their cross-contamination processes. If you’re lucky, they’ll be super accommodating and make everything clear about what you can and can’t eat; though for future trips I wouldn’t personally book anywhere without checking this first or getting a recommendation for a particular resort from someone else! It really can be hit and miss depending on the place, which is why I usually recommend doing a lot of research prior to going on holiday. My golden rule is this: if you’re not sure, don’t risk it and never be afraid to ask. As you mentioned, it’d be less than ideal if you did get glutened, so take no shame in putting yourself first around food and being polite but firm in making sure everything is safe for you!

With regards to gluten-free oats, it’s integral that Coeliacs only consume oats labelled as gluten-free - that’s because ‘normal’ oats will always be cross-contaminated through manufacturing processes. However, a small number of
Coeliacs still report experiencing symptoms from even gluten-free oats too and
because of this, they’ll avoid all oats (gluten-free included) entirely. Yet, I’d advise only avoiding oats if you really have to and they make you feel unwell as good sources of gluten-free fibre are harder to come by and oats can be a great one… if you can consume them without any problems, of course!

Thanks so much - I've loved the opportunity to be involved in this discussion and to learn your own gluten-free budgeting tips and strategies. If you'd like to find out more please check out my new book Budget Gluten Free as it's packed full of affordable gluten-free recipes and tips!

Thanks so much to Becky for sharing your answers and gluten free tips. Some great gluten-free advice here, from budgeting to travel to meal prep !

📣There are only 5 days left to engage on this thread and be in with a chance of winning the £200 voucher plus a signed copy of Budget Gluten Free - Becky's new book! Keep your tips and questions coming - we'd love to know:

• Which Becky Excell recipes have you already tried?
• Which recipes are you most excited to try if you won a copy of the book?

Gluten free is, like all restrictive diets, more difficult. It’s also more expensive if you want pre-prepared food or to try and replicate gluten equivalents.
My advice for being more frugal is to cook from scratch and more simply (and batch cook for speed). Slow cooked casseroles and soups, grilled fish and vegetables, salads and meat/fish/eggs. It’s healthier, less expensive, and honestly is not that time consuming (for reference I also have a FT job; 3 kids; lots of batch cooking because life is busy).
I live by a meal planner to save time, and bulk cook: one batch of bolognese for example becomes chilli for another night with a tin of beans added, and served with jacket potatoes another. Love my slow cooker and freezer btw!

oh forgot to say. Desserts are most tricky so really looking forward to trying them from Becky’s book. Chocolate fudge pudding sounds divine!

What's your best gluten free fakeaway which I can give the whole family - I'd LOVE some ideas for a family meal which we could all enjoy and could be cooked as one meal

Spicy chicken or prawns - briefly dip into lemon/lime juice or yoghurt, then coat with GF flour, garlic powder, chilli, salt, pepper, turmeric, etc. Fry or spray with a little oil and air fry until cooked. Serve with salad/rice/beans/etc.

You can choose between curry spices, chinese ones, use jerk or all purpose caribbean seasoning - or as long as you pick GF gochujang, you could do Korean chicken, making a sauce with that, ketchup and tamari and putting the cooked spicy chicken or prawns into it, too.

Becky’s Yorkshire pudding mix never fails and everyone loves them, also her triple chocolate brownies are a massive hit everyone I make them!

I'm back on a gluten free diet after a few years. I used to suffer badly with migraines and my acupuncture therapist suggested it once she saw my blood results showed I was really low in iron despite having a good diet and was generally healthy. It helped 100%. I've noticed lately that I'm feeling very sluggish and having pains in my stomach and body again so I'm seeing if it helps.
My GP wouldn't test me for coeliac previously so I'm assuming I'm just intolerant and it seems to be a stress thing with me. I knew that it was making a difference when I used to accidentally gluten myself and had a migraine within the hour. I'm better now at checking ingredients and not just trusting that something that sounds free of wheat or gluten actually is. Like chips or mars bars.

I'm happy to see a bigger range in supermarkets than before, but as an Aldi shopper I'm having to make more home made meals as they don't seem to stock any free from food other than vegan.
Doing a small top up shop costs quite a lot for just my bread and cereal. As much as I'm happy to cook from scratch I do love toast so can't forego that. The pasta is better when cooked and then baked in the oven but that takes away the quick meal benefits of it.

Making meals for my family is a bit harder. I was single and living alone last time which made life a lot easier.

I buy gluten free oats from Asda or Morrisons and make my own granola, much cheaper than buying ready made cereals plus I know what goes into it.

I am having a problem finding out if quinoa is ok to use. Sainsburys own brand is not coeliac friendly. Does anyone know if quinoa is safe?

Becky’s Yorkshire pudding recipe is my go to recipe.

Guests have never realised they are gluten free and I make a a big batch of 12 at a time and freeze what we don’t eat then pop them in the oven to reheat when we need them.

Just because something has always been gluten free before. Always check that it still is.

I find it very annoying that supermarkets tend to combine GF and dairy free in the same products.
Thereby increasing the likelihood it will taste like shit.

I hate that too. Though on the other hand, its very useful for my brother who had coeliac disease and a dairy allergy.

I'm coeliac and don't buy any special food. I just cook gluten free. I find the gluten free bread and biscuits taste horrible anyway so I make my own.

I'm not gluten free but my friend is gluten free and vegan. Does the recipe book have much to tick both of those boxes? I'd love to be able to cater better for her.

I generally find that things that are naturally gluten free are better than things trying to imitate gluten containing products. Gluten adds the "bounce", so things like cake, or pastry are worse than biscuits. You could probably give someone a concussion with a pre-made gf pizza base, but rice noodles are brilliant.

Also, gluten is in a lot of things you would never consider, like soy sauce and corn flakes. Check every table and always challenge people who are cooking for you as they may not realise.

Gluten free isn't necessarily bad with cakes, my mum always made the best gluten free birthday cakes using a fat free sponge so very light and properly moistened, far better than the normal cakes I would eat at my friend's parties.

Certain types of squidgy cake are fine GF.
Brownies and flourless chocolate cake are 2 examples.
It’s hard to make a good Victoria sponge gf but there are plenty of alternatives that work well.

Look for products that are naturally gluten free and find groups on social media that share these finds.

Thanks again so much to everyone who contributed on this thread. What an interesting and (hopefully) helpful discussion, whether you've just started a gluten-free diet or have been gluten-free all your life.

Happy to share that the lucky winner of the £200 voucher and the signed copy of Budget Gluten Free is @Pythonesque and the runner-up winners of signed copies are @CerealPosterHere @NeverDropYourMooncup @Schoolrefusa @tunainatin @Assumingthebest @Gorondola @SoManyTeeth @Moonlightstars and @Purpledreampig - congratulations to all our winners! 🎉

We've invited our winners to return to this thread once they've tried recipes from Budget Gluten Free, so stay tuned for further tips and recommendations!