Recently Diagnosed

[Dawn R]

I am a fairly new Celiac as Is my 24 year old son.I am finding it so difficult to shop as it takes me so long to read all the labels and I end up with very little at the end of my shopping as so much says modified,artificial,natural flavouring,spices ect. and so much has wheat and grains in it.I was so shocked to find candy has wheat.It would be a perk if I actually lost a little weight but I keep gravitating towards gluten free bread as it is faster even though it kind of tastes to me like stale angel food cake and is never soft.I wondered if there is a list of brands of meats or sauces that are proven to be gluten free as I am still not sure all my areas of sensitivity.I am learning to mix up veggie's and our pastas but I could really use some help .

[psawyer]

Welcome to our community.

Try these links for useful information:

Unsafe ingredients.

Safe ingredients.

Open Original Shared Link If you don't see "wheat, rye, barley, malt, or oats" on the labels, its not there, or hidden in "flavors, starches, etc."

I am not a supporter of lists--they are out of date the minute that you print them. Formulas are constantly changing. That is why I like to buy from companies who will label clearly (see the third link above). Always read the label.

[lizard00]

I remember those days!

Welcome to the forum It'll get easier!

I agree with Peter, lists aren't really a good thing. Maybe in the beginning, but they can change at a moment's notice. It's better to know the brands that won't hide gluten. As far as meats and things, fresh meats, veggies, fruits are safe. The more whole foods you can eat, the easier things will be for you. I have noticed that more and more foods are being labeled as gluten-free, or 'no gluten ingredients used', which basically means they can't vouch for their suppliers, but it *should* be gluten-free.

And prepare to be amazed at the things you will find wheat in. I'm still sometimes caught off guard!

[T.H.]

It's pretty crazy to realize how much has gluten in the beginning, yeah? and then everything that's gluten free seems to have more sugar, sigh.

The hard part of the lists is that they change so fast. However, I just got a book that I've been enjoying a lot: The Gluten free grocery shopping guide. It's updated every year and lists brands and what of their products are gluten free. And it has a web page to update when the list changes.

It has its limits, though. Some companies have more than one brand, and the book will only list one of the brands, so you have to research sometimes to figure out that they are the same company, you know?

San-J gluten free soy sauce was a godsend for us - stir fry any number of veggies with a little garlic and then add soy sauce and it goes well over rice. Or add a little brown sugar to the soy sauce, some dry sherry too, and it's like teriyaki sauce. :-)

We did a lot with baked potatoes and beans, too.

But some things that got us?

1. Boar's head meat is pretty much all listed as gluten free right now. However, a lot of the grocery stores will recommend that you don't buy boar's head meat sliced in their deli as there is a high risk of contamination, so it's better to get the meat that has been pre-packaged.

2. Nuts are actually a challenge to find gluten free. Many are processed in facilities with wheat.

3. Kraft currently has a policy of listing any gluten ingredients in their sauces, so that's helpful. However, cross-contamination might be more of a problem.

4. Oil, pine nuts, garlic, salt, and basil all blended together work as a pesto sauce. I've heard you can do the same with blanched broccoli heads instead of basil and filberts instead of pine nuts.

I've gotten a lot of good food ideas at many of the gluten free bloggers, but so far, most of the stuff we've ended up with have been pretty much home made. Which is really time consuming, but has kept us much healthier, at least. :-)

[WheatChef]

Almost all Hormel meat products are gluten-free. When I drove across the country, their chicken packs were my primary source of protein! As mentioned above all boars head meats and cheeses are gluten-free as well however they may be sliced in your deli right after that same piece of equipment was used to slice an unsafe meat product. A great deal of "gourmet" sausages are gluten-free, just check the packaging of the more expensive brands for a gluten-free claim.

One of the best tools you can get for this is to acquire a gluten-free list of house brands from your local grocery store. If you're in the SE then Publix maintains a semi-regularly updated pdf file of all of their house brand gluten free products and are also quite helpful if you call their 800 number. On the west coast Trader Joe's saves you the trouble and has somewhat excellent labeling (once you get used to checking that each product has BOTH the "no gluten-ingredients" label on the front, and that it's not processed on shared equipment listed on the back). At each Whole Foods store they keep a list of every gluten-free product in their store at the help desk, this list is specific to each store's individual offerings.

[Skylark]

I bought the Clan Thompson software my first year. It really helped me get used to the shopping.

Open Original Shared Link

Peter is right that ingredients can change. Always check the label and verify that the ingredients haven't changed when you are using a list. Clan Thompson does periodically verify the gluten-free status of products and if I remember correctly the list has dates for when they last contacted a particular manufacturer.

[Tina B]

I remember those days!

Welcome to the forum It'll get easier!

I agree with Peter, lists aren't really a good thing. Maybe in the beginning, but they can change at a moment's notice. It's better to know the brands that won't hide gluten. As far as meats and things, fresh meats, veggies, fruits are safe. The more whole foods you can eat, the easier things will be for you. I have noticed that more and more foods are being labeled as gluten-free, or 'no gluten ingredients used', which basically means they can't vouch for their suppliers, but it *should* be gluten-free.

And prepare to be amazed at the things you will find wheat in. I'm still sometimes caught off guard!

Especially things like plain chicken broth. Who would have even thought to look but some have added wheat gluten.