Help Please. My One Year Old Has Been Diagnosed With Celiac Disease.

[Sammys-mom]

In need of help. I've been reading and talking to other parents about the disease so I'm good there. My main problem is what to stock my pantry with. What are the basics that I need to get me going? I have xanthum gum, a few different kinds of flours but other than that I'm stuck. I cook everything I can from scratch, and now he has Celiac its gotten tricky. He has Gluten Free cereal, oatmeal, crackers, ect for snacks and those have been a blessing. If anyone can help me out it would be greatly appreciated. List, links, anything will be helpful. Thank you in advance.

Mandy

[CeliacMom2008]

It sounds like you're doing just fine. It's hard to answer the question of what to stock in your pantry without knowing everythign your family likes. There really isn't a "pantry list" that fits every family.

What a lot of people (myself included) relied on heavily in the beginning is to make out weekly menu each week and see what ingredients you'll need for the week. This also helps in making the most of meals. For example, when I make a roast with veggies I know the leftovers are going to become stew. My son really likes PB&J on fresh baked bread (vs. frozen), so I make a loaf to have with dinner and the next day we have French toast for breakfast with PB&J for lunch. The remaining bread gets sliced and frozen for future use. With working and juggling day to day activities, it really helps me to know what the week is going to look like.

That said, here are some things we keep on hand in case it helps:

Pasta - spaghetti, various shapes, lasagna

Bars - fruit bars, nut bars, "granola" type bars, rice treat bars, etc.

Tomato sauce and paste for fresh pizza sauce

Spaghetti sauce

Canned tuna and turkey

Dried fruit

Crackers

Rice

Potatoes

[jeanne-]

Hi Mandy,

This could be a good time to reduce your dependence on grains and shift more to fruits and veggies as snacks. Our family has been gluten free for three weeks now. I try to have a bowl of fruit or on the table each day for snacks instead of crackers etc. Take care.

Jeanne

[ToHelpMySon]

My 16 month old has been on a gluten-free diet for 5 days now and I have shifted his snacks and meals heavily to fruits and veggies. Occasionally he snacks on gluten-free cereal like Chex Honey Nut Gluten-Free cereal. I also have shifted focus to meats and dairy products that are gluten-free. I have yet to give him any gluten-free breads or pastas because I don't even know where to find them. I think I need to go alone to Whole Foods or Vitamin Cottage and really looks around or ask questions.

Good luck, this isn't easy!

Melissa

[Sammys-mom]

Thanks everyone. We are a huge fresh fruits and veggies household, and that's mostly what we eat. I'm just trying to find the good "flours" to cook with so when it comes to birthdays, holidays, and get togethers I can cook some stuff up. Friends and family have been great at making meals that he can eat when we go out but it all taste funky. I'd like to find the good stuff so I can make him rolls for when we have stew, topping for the baked chili, etc.

He's been Gluten free for almost 3 months and has gained 7 lbs. He started out at 13 lbs when he was 10 months old and his now 20 lbs at 13 months old. He caught up and has now leveled off. I get so happy when he smiles at me cause I'm laughing at his new "fat" rolls. Who knew the fourth one would be so much trouble. I thought that was supposed to be the middle children.

[scarlett77]

In need of help. I've been reading and talking to other parents about the disease so I'm good there. My main problem is what to stock my pantry with. What are the basics that I need to get me going? I have xanthum gum, a few different kinds of flours but other than that I'm stuck. I cook everything I can from scratch, and now he has Celiac its gotten tricky. He has Gluten Free cereal, oatmeal, crackers, ect for snacks and those have been a blessing. If anyone can help me out it would be greatly appreciated. List, links, anything will be helpful. Thank you in advance.

Mandy

My special gluten-free staples are:

Chex

Pamela's Baking & Pancake Mix

Chebe Mix (Original or All Purpose)

Tinkyada Pasta (I prefer the spiral and shell shapes for little ones)

Udi's bread

Van's gluten-free waffles or french toast sticks

San-J Tamari (soy sauce replacement)

Annie's or DeBoles box Mac & cheese

Other than that everything is pretty normal and main stream. For snacks we do things that are normally gluten-free like popcorn, fruit, fruit snacks, cheese, etc. Be careful with yogurt because some of them have barley in it. My babies loved yogurt but hated me feeding it to them so I buy the drinkable kind and put it in a sippy cup. Great for breakfast on the go with some dry Chex.

If you get stuck with dinner ideas try googling for a gluten free version of a traditional gluten favorite. I've done this for all kids of things from Mongolian Beef to donuts. And for the record I successfully made gluten-free donut holes with the Pamela's mix over the weekend that were a HUGE hit. The recipe is on the Pamela's website.

[Talia]

Hi Sammy's mom,

My 3 year old daughter has now been on a gluten free, dairy free and egg free diet for about 5 months now.

I understand how hard it is! A mian staple at our house is rice bread crumbs to make chicken nuggets with : )

If you coat chicken with olive oil and then combine cumbs with chives, parsley salt and pepper. After coating with olive oil coat with the crumb mixture bake at 350 for 8 mins on each side. They are soooo good!

A bread maker is key when really doing this diet because the ready made gluten free bread is dry and grose in my opinion.

Anyways hope this was helpful : )

[mommida]

Hi Talia,

Can you share your bread recipe? I have been buying ener-g and the cost is killing me.

[seezee]

We use mixes for bread usually gluten-free pantry but there are about a dozen different ones. I think there are some good recipe books too that you can check out. Most of the mixes I get online because it's about half as much as in the market. I suggest trying them out first if you have a whole foods nearby and then getting them in bulk online.

[Talia]

The base of the bread is a pre made mixture with all the yeast etc. already in it.

Its a brown/white rice bread mixture you get two packages in the box for about $6.00 and all you need to add is water and oil.

It is so good and freezes really well : ) On your bread maker use the sweet bread setting it works the best...and if you want add some garlic powder, rosemary, parsley, chives and some rice cheese (if you cant have dairy either).

Its super easy and tastes like actual garlic cheese bread : ) My daughter and I love it!

Hope this helps : )

[Grace'smom]

My special gluten-free staples are:

Chex

Pamela's Baking & Pancake Mix

Chebe Mix (Original or All Purpose)

Tinkyada Pasta (I prefer the spiral and shell shapes for little ones)

Udi's bread

Van's gluten-free waffles or french toast sticks

San-J Tamari (soy sauce replacement)

Annie's or DeBoles box Mac & cheese

Other than that everything is pretty normal and main stream. For snacks we do things that are normally gluten-free like popcorn, fruit, fruit snacks, cheese, etc. Be careful with yogurt because some of them have barley in it. My babies loved yogurt but hated me feeding it to them so I buy the drinkable kind and put it in a sippy cup. Great for breakfast on the go with some dry Chex.

If you get stuck with dinner ideas try googling for a gluten free version of a traditional gluten favorite. I've done this for all kids of things from Mongolian Beef to donuts. And for the record I successfully made gluten-free donut holes with the Pamela's mix over the weekend that were a HUGE hit. The recipe is on the Pamela's website.

Us too! Looks like our pantries are the same. It gets so much easier after several months on the diet; we've been on it since June for my six yr old...definitely I've had some surprises, exhausted moments and frustrations, but its sort of leveling out now that we have our "staples" down. She loves Udi's bread products and I keep a lot of their frozen pizza crusts in the freezer so I can quickly make my own mini pizzas for her which she loves. She also loves Bell and Evans gluten free chicken, and we also discovered grilled chicken is a new favorite for her...so that opened up a ton of options, even for eating out at restaurants that offer a Gluten-Free menu. She enjoys veggies too...so glad your little one does, it makes it so much easier. I would recommend the book that the Celiac Sprue Association puts out, it has a list of every gluten free product in America and some stores around the country that sell gluten-free things too. Takes a little while to find foods, so its nice to have this "bible" of gluten free options. You can get it by going online to their website...which of course I don't have on me, but you can google the Assoc. and order the book if you see their phone no. For 30 dollars it made a HUGE difference in how to shop, where to shop, what to buy and even includes body/health products. Best of luck mom. Emily

[Sammys-mom]

Hi Sammy's mom,

My 3 year old daughter has now been on a gluten free, dairy free and egg free diet for about 5 months now.

I understand how hard it is! A mian staple at our house is rice bread crumbs to make chicken nuggets with : )

If you coat chicken with olive oil and then combine cumbs with chives, parsley salt and pepper. After coating with olive oil coat with the crumb mixture bake at 350 for 8 mins on each side. They are soooo good!

A bread maker is key when really doing this diet because the ready made gluten free bread is dry and grose in my opinion.

Anyways hope this was helpful : )

Thank you so much. I'll be trying this very soon.

[bakermom]

Mandy,

I cook and bake from scratch too, and I've been doing it more than four years now. My six year old daughter doesn't get enough fiber, and I haven't yet found a ready-made bread or bread mix she'll eat that has enough fiber. I invested in a few books from Bette Hagman, who is a gluten-free baker. I use her books for bread recipes which can go in the bread machine or be made the regular way. I add ground flaxseed to each recipe (3T) and it really adds a lot of fiber to keep my daughter regular.

Bette has a cream soup mix recipe which helps you replace soups in cooking. She has a lot of recipes that have helped me understand how to make over a lot of my old favorites into gluten-free delights. I now work on my own, but those have been invaluable resources for understanding how some of the ingredients you have bought interact together.

I'll be happy to share more if you wish, but just wanted to get this reply out. In four years, I feel so good about everything, and usually my family can't tell too much difference with gluten-free items anymore......

Bakermom

[Ashlin's Mama]

I recently found this website - www.celiacdisease.net. It's to the University of Chicago Celiac Disease Center. Tremendous amount of information. If you click on "Programs and Events" at the bottom of the screen and then care package, it'll give you directions to get this awesomely huge gift basket from them. My daughter was so excited to get it! It's stuffed full of information and food.

Loucinda

[glutenfreemommy]

Just wanted to share a bread recipe I got from Living Without magazine...it is our new favorite and my kids and husband finally enjoy fresh bread again!

Champion Sandwich Bread

2 cups white or brown rice flour

1 cup tapioca starch

1 cup potato starch

1 Tbsp Xantham Gum

1 Tbsp Gluten Free Egg replacer

2 tsp salt

[Leah's Mom]

Mandy,

I know you probably feel like one of the unluckiest people in the world right now, having a one year old diagnosed with Celiacs. In reality, you and your child are so lucky they discovered it so early. We spent the first 7 years of our daughter's life in the pediatricians office on a regular basis and even took her to psycholgists and psychiatrists because of the extreme behavior problems that resulted from her gluten allergy. We had one psychiatrist tell us she was certain our daughter was bipolar; Easter Seals thought she was autistic. Her endoscopy diagnosis changed our lives for the better. After 6 months of being gluten-free, Leah was as normal and intelligent as any child could hope to be. I'm not going to lie to you . . . the diet is soooo hard, because of the lack of labeling. I'm so grateful when a company volunteers to label their products as gluten-free.

To add to your food staple list:

Bisquick now makes a gluten free baking mix--it just came out a few weeks ago . . . it's great and not nearly as expensive as some of those other gluten-free brands!

Chef Boyardee has A RICE W/ CHICKEN AND VEGETABLES single serving bowl that's pretty reasonable--it's made by Con Agra, and they label allergens(plus we called)

Yoplait yogurt labels the flavors that are gluten free

Buddig lunch meat and Hormel now will label if they're certain a product is gluten free

Kraft also lists allergens most of their products are gluten free

Progresso soup now labels when something is gluten free (their lentil soup is very good)

Go to Betty Crocker's website to find a list of their Gluten-free products--they've made a huge effort to accomodate gluten allergy sufferers

Good luck and never forget that you are your child's best advocate!

-Marcie taylor