Gluten free, any tips?

[Houseoflego]

Hi thinking of trying the family on a gluten free fortnight. It looks really tricky! Not totally sure where to start, advice appreciated.

[edanna]

It's worth remembering that there are lots of ordinary foods that happen to be gluten free - there is no need to buy expensive products marketed as gluten free. Coeliac UK gives lots of advice. But personally I wouldn't attempt it without a proper diagnosis.

[vch]

If it's only a temporary trial, just avoid the usual suspects: wheat, barley, rye, oats, & spelt, that's usually found in breads, pastries, biscuits, and pastas. Instead of having gluten-based starches, substitute with rice, quinoa, corn, beans, potatoes, etc. If you find you miss oatmeal or muesli for breakfast, you can buy gluten-free oats. Oats are inherently gluten-free anyway, it's just that they get harvested/processed/packaged along with wheat products and sometimes get contaminated.

Here's a short list of our go-to breakfast, lunch, and dinner ideas:

1. Oatmeal with gluten-free oats

2. Natural yogurt with fruit

3. Quinoa salad

4. Chickpea salad

5. Rice/corn pasta with bolognese sauce

6. Gluten free sausages with mashed potatoes (or sweet potatoes or mixed root vegetables)

7. Stir fry with rice (or rice noodles or bean thread noodles)

Like the other poster said, gluten-free products can get pretty expensive, so only spring for them when you have a craving. If you're going to go gluten-free for the long haul and have a lot if time and patience, maybe try your hand at gluten-free baking.

Good luck!

[Houseoflego]

Thanks for tips, searched gluten free on ocardo as well and was good to see how much is fine to eat.

Starting today, thanks again.