How On Earth?

[uhave2bekidding]

My husband was diagnosed a couple of weeks ago, and since then we have been trying to educate ourselves on what he can and can't eat. Every day it's something new. Now I found out I have to get a whole set of utensils, toaster etc for him alone. besides the food being really expensive, is anyone else really frustrated and bummed out by the financial burden of all of this? My husband worries constantly about our money situation, now add this to the mix. Are there any lower priced stores that anyone knows about..? Another thing I was wondering is how do you handle going out for dinner, but to a relatives house, where it always isn't possible to require them to have two of everything in their kitchen? Do you bring your own food? Any suggestions?

[JennyC]

I found out a week and a half ago that my son has Celiac. It took a lot of money to get started. I bought a new toaster ($20) and some new pots/pans/utensils (around $100). Initially I bought some cheaper stuff at WalMart, but it was real garbage, so I plan on returning it. I bought what I can get by with for now. You for sure need a toaster. I bought one large and one medium skillet, a small, medium and large pot, a couple of cheap cookie sheets and a pizza pan, and some plastic utensils because I bought non-stick pans. I had to buy new because all of our stuff was really old. I plan to buy a new set of pots and pans when I can afford it...but for now adjusting to Celiac is breaking the bank! Your glass and ceramic ware should be OK. You can's use anything non-stick, cast-iron or scratched that has been used to cook gluten-containing food.

Well, today was my son's first outing as a diagnosed Celiac, and we simply brought his lunch. He's three so it's pretty easy. For adults and for large gatherings, I would plan to bring some food for everyone. For example I would plan to make a gluten free desert to take. Your husband should be able to eat the meat, if it's served. If they are having pasta, maybe you could bring a serving a gluten-free pasta and cook it there. It will be much more complicated to go out, but you don't want to stall your lives because of this disease. I'm still learning the ropes myself. Hope this helps.

[Viola 1]

Yes, the toaster you do need ... a new one that is. However .. In my opinion utensils can be washed well enough!

You need to worry about teflon pots and pans that are worn. Steal can be washed well enough without replacing them. Baking stuff is hard to clean out of the corners, so I replaced them. Dishes can be washed.

It really is just some good common sense. Check your things and see how clean you can get them. The toaster can't be cleaned enough to be safe, but most stuff can be.

Use paper towels in the micro. And use a plate, or paper towels on counters that might have gluten on them.

I know it's a huge learning curve, but don't panic, and try not to worry too much or you won't be sleeping well

[Viola 1]

My husband was diagnosed a couple of weeks ago, and since then we have been trying to educate ourselves on what he can and can't eat. Every day it's something new. Now I found out I have to get a whole set of utensils, toaster etc for him alone. besides the food being really expensive, is anyone else really frustrated and bummed out by the financial burden of all of this? My husband worries constantly about our money situation, now add this to the mix. Are there any lower priced stores that anyone knows about..? Another thing I was wondering is how do you handle going out for dinner, but to a relatives house, where it always isn't possible to require them to have two of everything in their kitchen? Do you bring your own food? Any suggestions?

Oops, sorry, I missed half your post Must be an age thing.

Friends and relatives ... to start with until you are assured that they know the diet well, bring pot luck. A dish that your hubby can eat and feel safe with.

Something like a shepherd's pie covers all the basics.

It's lean hamburger, browned with mushrooms, onions, and gluten free spices like garlic, pepper, maybe a bit of parsley.

Layer that in the bottom of a slow cooker.

Add a layer of mixed veggies, or just peas .. can be frozen ones.

Then top off with mashed potatoes, or my favourite scalped potatoes (Idahoan is gluten free)

If you use mashed potatoes dot the top with butter or margarine.

If scalper potatoes (you need to cook them first and then layer on top.

Then take the whol slow cooker to your outing and plug in to heat until they are ready to eat.

The only thing you need to do then, is .. make sure your hubby gets his first, or put it far enough away from the other food so someone doesn't use the same spoon from a gluten product and stick it into the shepherd's pie. Hope that helps with that.

As far as eating out goes, it takes practice and patience. It's best to start with a local restaurant that knows you. Go in when they are not busy and take a restaurant card with you.

You can get this from your national Celiac Ass. or there is places on the web you can print them off of. I believe one of them is the Kinnikinnick site. Just do a search. I got mine from the Canadian Celiac Ass.

Most restaurants are slowly learning about this diet. Just be sure to ask about cross contamination .. fixing the meal in the same area that buns or bread are worked with. But you will find that most places are now being schooled on allergy information. You just have to make sure they know what gluten is .. Do it with patience and friendly politeness and they will work with you.

If you are out for lunch, or breakfast. Omelets are fairly safe ... bacon is, not always ham or sausage. Check the hashbrowns With dinner, a grilled chicken breast, or steak is safe for starters, baked potato and steamed veggies, no sauce.

Start with the easy stuff!

Hope this helps!

[tarnalberry]

My husband was diagnosed a couple of weeks ago, and since then we have been trying to educate ourselves on what he can and can't eat. Every day it's something new. Now I found out I have to get a whole set of utensils, toaster etc for him alone. besides the food being really expensive, is anyone else really frustrated and bummed out by the financial burden of all of this? My husband worries constantly about our money situation, now add this to the mix. Are there any lower priced stores that anyone knows about..? Another thing I was wondering is how do you handle going out for dinner, but to a relatives house, where it always isn't possible to require them to have two of everything in their kitchen? Do you bring your own food? Any suggestions?

I replaced the wooden spoons and beaten up spatulas, but not the metal utensils. There were a handful of other things I replaced, but not too much (though I didn't have much non-stick - it might have been different otherwise).

As for cost, gluten free rice, beans, meat, eggs, fruits, and veggies cost no more than regular rice, beans, meat, eggs, fruits, and veggies - 'cause they're all naturally gluten free. (The unprocessed, non-prepacked, non-prepared stuff, of course.) That's the best way to keep the costs down - don't buy the expensive specialty stuff, and instead cook from naturally gluten free ingredients. It may mean a bit more cooking, but needn't reduce your variety of meal options at all.

When going out or to someone else's house, I either try to direct the choice of restaurant to a place I can eat (some restaurants have gluten free menus) or try to figure out from my trust in my friends (and their cooking and knowledge of my food situation) whether or not I can be safe in their kitchen. It varies by person - I have very good friends of more than a decade whom I would not trust to read every last ingredient (because it's not standard practice for normal people) and know everything to look for, but I have a friend of less than a year whom I would be fairly comfortable trusting, and those levels of trust change over time as well. That, and, no matter where I go, ask lots of questions.

[DebbieInCanada]

My husband was diagnosed a couple of weeks ago, and since then we have been trying to educate ourselves on what he can and can't eat. Every day it's something new. Now I found out I have to get a whole set of utensils, toaster etc for him alone. besides the food being really expensive, is anyone else really frustrated and bummed out by the financial burden of all of this? My husband worries constantly about our money situation, now add this to the mix. Are there any lower priced stores that anyone knows about..? Another thing I was wondering is how do you handle going out for dinner, but to a relatives house, where it always isn't possible to require them to have two of everything in their kitchen? Do you bring your own food? Any suggestions?

Check out some of the other forums - NoGluGirl has a GREAT starter list, with common items that are gluten-free.

The biggest adjustment will be learning what is safe and what is not safe. I tend to buy as many safe alternatives as I can find, and just not have the non-safe brand in the kitchen. It's rough for you right now, because it's like stocking a whole new kitchen. As you learn about foods that are naturally gluten-free, you will build up lots of easy menu choices.

Take it easy on the new cooking utensils. Wooden spoons, and anything with a porous surface is a good candidate for replacement. steel or glass pans are easy to scrub clean.

Also - get his own jar of jam to go with the gluten-free toaster. Double-dipping when spreading on regular bread can put crumbs back in the jam jar. Get a sharpie in the kitchen and write "G F" on anything that should NOT be contaminated (not sure if you have kids in the house, but they need BIG clues )

Now finding an acceptable gluten-free bread to go in that new toaster is the topic of many a discussion thread over the gluten-free baking forum!!

It gets easier as you learn and adjust. Take things simple at the start, and stick to the basics.

Debbie

[boho*mama]

I am right there with you. We haven't gotten my son's results back but are going gluten-free anyway to see if it helps regardless of what the tests say. We've decided to have a gluten-free house for safety reasons and so ds has one place he's aloud to eat everything. I've wraped black electical tape around everything with gluten in it as we cannot afford to throw away all of our food! I didn't know about the pans/utencil thing, I use cast iron that has a good coating on it, do I need new? I really don't want to have to start reseasoniing pans, it takes years!

I've found a grain mill atachment for my kitchen aid on ebay, it can be cleaned well (submerged etc) so I can make our flour and then all of our baked goods from scratch a friend of mine told me I can find a rice cooker at the good will. I am having a hard time building a menu (we also don't eat beef or pork) it seems like all we'll ever eat is rice and chicken! I've decided not to buy the gluten-free alternitives for now, they are too expencive. We'll just have lots of veggies, chicken and rice...I can't wait for the farmer's market to open so I can start stocking up on in season veggies!!

I'm concerned about Easter dinner at the in-laws...ham and rolls and mac and cheese...I guess ds will have mashed potatoes with a side of...mashed potatoes...

Sorry i'm not much help, just wanted to let you know I'm in the same boat. I hope this gets easier!

[Jestgar]

You could probably get a new pasta pan and omelette pan for gluten-free. For the other pans, cook gluten-free in them for a while, but not for your son. At some point you will have cooked out all the gluten and they should be fine.

Maybe for Easter you can bring your own mac and cheese with gluten-free macs.

[mommida]

I still haven't bought a new toaster, after three years I still don't like gluten free bread. If I eat it at all it is for a grilled sandwich.

You can use a sheet of aluminun foil on the the old pans.

You can order gluten free specialty items on-line from amazon and other sites.

You can join a co-op like united natural buying clubs that might be local for you.

L.

[sherylj]

My husband was diagnosed a couple of weeks ago, and since then we have been trying to educate ourselves on what he can and can't eat. Every day it's something new. Now I found out I have to get a whole set of utensils, toaster etc for him alone. besides the food being really expensive, is anyone else really frustrated and bummed out by the financial burden of all of this? My husband worries constantly about our money situation, now add this to the mix. Are there any lower priced stores that anyone knows about..? Another thing I was wondering is how do you handle going out for dinner, but to a relatives house, where it always isn't possible to require them to have two of everything in their kitchen? Do you bring your own food? Any suggestions?

only thing I can add: Instead of buying new cookie sheets I just line the cookie sheet with aluminum foil..

[Tritty]

Aluminum foil - what a great idea!

I bought a toaster oven instead of another toaster - my only investment so far. Well worth it! I love that it's so easy to clean and everyone can use it - since my house is not all gluten-free (yet - we may be doing that soon)...

I posted something that explains how you can claim it on your taxes for NoGluGirl and I don't know how to insert the link into this...I'll try and figure it out and then post it....

[Phyllis28]

A gluten free diet is only expensive if you by the specilaty foods. Cooking with naturally gluten free food is the cheapest why to go. There are lots of receipes on this site and on other sites. I put Gluten Free and what I want into a search engine to find receipes. An example is "Gluten Free Steak Marinade". I found one my gluten eating husband loves.

Cooking naturally gluten free means stepping outside the standard meal box. Don't try to replicate gluten laden meals, locate tasty new meals. Spagetti sauce goes over rice, baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, and layered in with cheese between corn tortillas. Scrambled eggs and rice are a dinner favorite.

[Sinenox]

I know how you feel. I found out in college and on a tight budget. People will tell you up and down that it's cheap to eat gluten free but that's bologna. I still had a low level illness nearly constantly until I finally got a whole new set of utensils and pans and things. So for me at least, using a completely different and seperate set of tools was a necessity and not a cheap one.

In addition, it's hard to quit most of what you're used to eating at once. I did, perforce, and I was left with polenta, rice, fruit and veggies. That's an awfully hard diet to abide, especially given the thought that you can never go back to those things and watching everyone around eat them constantly. It was and still is the source of a lot of depression for me. For those reasons alone I'd argue that buying the alternatives is a necessary expense. But if the entire household starts to eat meals that are naturally gluten free (potatoes and salads and carefully selected meat, say) that'll keep the expense down. The one advantage to starting out with nearly nothing as I did (if you can take it, which I couldn't) is that you find out all of your other food intolerances along the way. It's hard and expensive but it gets better. Good luck.