Left Over Gluten Foods

[Idahogirl]

Since going gluten free, I have had a pantry full of gluten containing foods. I used to stock up on Hamburger Helper when it was on sale, so I had a ton of those. I was thinking about giving them away, but winter is hard for us financially since my husband owns a semi-seasonal business, so I decided I needed to do something with them. So yesterday, I got out all of my frying pans and started cooking. I made 15 boxes of Hamburger and Tuna Helper in less than 3 hours (2 burners at a time), and put them in large freezer bags, flattening them out and then stacking them in the freezer. Now, when I don't feel like cooking, or don't have enough gluten free food to make a meal, I can just defrost one of those meals, and feed it to my family without having to cook two separate meals. I also cooked the 5 boxes of mac & cheese, and put them in separate smaller bags (about one portion each). These will make good snacks for the kids or lunches. Soon I will tackle the rice-a-roni's I have left.

I thought I would share this in case there is someone relenting over all of the gluten food they have stocked up on and now can't eat and don't want to make two dinners at a time. It goes by fast once you get going and will be a huge payoff when you're done!

Just make sure you don't eat any finger foods while you're cooking. I found out it was not a good idea to eat a piece of (gluten-free) pizza while cooking (it is too hard to keep up on the hand-washing!)

Lisa

[Nantzie]

That's a great idea!

Nancy

[Guest nini]

that is a really good idea for someone who has to cook for a non gluten-free family, thanks for sharing

[Judyin Philly]

Lisa,

What a great idea.

since it's just my dh and I at home now, my wonderful Chiropractor dr came over to my house when I was first dx'd and she 'de glutened' my kitchen for me. I sure didn't know about soy with wheat - carmal coloring etc...

I gave all the goods to her and she took to her church food pantry for needed members in her church.

Judy in Philly