New To All Of This...

[digerati]

Hello everyone! I just joined the forum here, because it looks like there's a lot of knowledgable people offering support.

I diagnosed myself about 6 weeks ago based on internet research on my syptoms and talking with a cousin who has celiac disease. I had a severe stomach bug that had me in bed all weekend during which I lost 6 pounds in about 8 hours. I decided then that I needed to do something about my health since i'd been having problems with my stomach for about 2 years. So, i've been gluten-free since then and am feeling MUCH better.

Now, though, I've gotten to the point where i'm getting bored with the limited foods that I've found that I can eat. I'm scared that I'm going to lose it and have a whopper combo or something. Does anyone have any suggestions on easy-to-prepare foods that they like?

[KaitiUSA]

There is so much you can eat. First these are mainstream products that will not hide anything. The following labels will list wheat,rye,barley,oats on the label or they will be safe:

Aunt Nelly’s

Balance

Baskin Robbins

Ben&Jerry

Betty Crocker

Blue Bunny

Breyers

Campbells

Cascadian Farms

Celestial Seasonings

Country Crock

Dove

Edy’s

General Mills

Good Humor

Green Giant

Haagen Daz

Hellman’s

Hershey

Hormel

Hungry Jack

Jiffy

Knorr

Kozy Snack

Kraft

Libby’s

Lipton

Martha White

McCormick

Nabisco

Nestle

Old El Paso

Ortega

Pillsbury

Popsicle

Post

Progresso

Russell Stover

Seneca Foods

Smucker

Stokely’s

Sunny Delight

T Marzetti

Tyson

Unilever

Wishbone

Yoplait

Zatarain’s

Gluten free specialty items that I love are:

Cybros rice rolls

Foods by George products

Wellshire Farms-chicken bites(fully breaded)

Envirokidz cereals

Amy's mac and cheese & lasagna

Tinkyada pasta-best pasta around

Midel-cookies

Glutano-lemon wafers

I also love Lays Staxx chips which all of them are gluten free and I like Utz and Frito Lay...both brands have quite a few gluten free products

I hope this helps you out a bit. You can find out tons more on this site. It is just filled with great people and info. Good luck with everything and let me know if I can help you at all

[digerati]

Whoops... Didn't see the "coping with" section! Sorry!

I've noticed that some grocery stores in our area are now carrying some foods that are marked gluten-free. I'm hopeful that this means that the selection will continue to grow as manufacturers and store realize that there's a demand for it.

BTW, I recently tried the Cause You're Special brand yellow cake mix, and I have to say, it's better than any other cake mix I've ever had, even those containing gluten!

[KaitiUSA]

Yes, it is continuing to grow tremendously. Gluten free food is suddenly taking off with all this publicity and it is great.

I know that walmart is going to be sticking shelves with gluten free items this month. Even regular grocery stores are carrying more and more gluten free items.

Don't get discouraged when you find some bad tasting specialty items though. There are alot of good ones out there too.

BTW, welcome to the board

[digerati]

Thanks so much!

*prepares shopping list*

[jenvan]

Some good easy to prepare foods are:

Thai Kitchen--lots of gluten-free thai type dishes...really good. You just add the meat you want, noodles, sauce etc are included. Open Original Shared Link

Amy's makes quite a few frozen dinners and a cheese pizza that are gluten-free. Amy's also makes quite a few gluten-free canned soups that are good too. You can see their products and get their gluten-free list here. Open Original Shared Link

If you have a Trader Joe's by you-they have several gluten-free frozen stirfries and dinners. Just ck the gluten-free list on the website--east or west coast. They also have chicken sausage that is awesome!

Gluten free pantry makes some good skillet meals. Just add meat or beans. We really like the stroganoff meal. Open Original Shared Link free.com/glu/showprod.cfm...jectGroup_ID=74

Have you tried Tinkyada's gluten-free pasta yet? It is great and you can make a ton of quick meals with it.

Dinty Moore beef and chicken stew are gluten-free--just throw them in a pot to heat up.

Other quick meal ideas--tacos and taco salads are made gluten-free easy, rice and beans, lasagna, pasta dishes, stirfries, hamburger/fries (love Alexia fries-gluten-free!), rice/quinoa pilafs (there are a lot of quick/precooked rices out now), chips/salsa, we eat "breakfast for dinner" sometimes--gluten-free pancakes (Pamela's mix is our favorite) w/ meat/veggie omelettes, frozen veggies are usually gluten-free and easy to prepare as a side, baked beans--(most of Bush's are gluten-free), sandwiches with gluten-free bread and miracle whip etc, Delmix has some gluten-free taquitos as well as costco beef taquitos, Dinty Moore microwave meals, Hormel Tamales, Lundberg Rice Sensations, Perdue Short Cuts, Sam's Club beef Taquitos...

Hope some of these help--this is what I came up with at the moment

[Jnkmnky]

Do you live near a WholeFoods, Henry's, Jimbo's, Boney's or other "health food store"? That would help a lot. Other than those as options, you can order on line and find many foods at your *regular shopping mart that are gluten free.

Online recommendations:

Kinnikinnick.com

great sandwich breads, donuts, pizza crusts, bagels (I'm not crazy about their hotdog and hamburger buns) Great shipping. Flat $10. shipping fee, points program as well.

Chebe.com

Packaged flours that are as complicated as Bisquick to prepare. A little oil, 2 eggs and milk *or rice milk or water, etc* Chebe is great for buns with soups, stews, wrapped around a hotdog for a corndog and more. I recently took the suggestion to add a little baking powder and they were even fluffier. We add chopped pepperoni and mozzerella cheese, and garlic salt to make "pizza stick". It's our friday night standard. My kids actually make it, it's so easy.

From "regular stores"

Old el Paso Taco sauce, shells, salsa.

Classico sauces-- all of them! --including the Creamy Alfredo

Post Fruity and Cocoa Pebbles

Corn burritos--make bacon, egg and cheese burritos * Turkey and cheese tostados, add lettuce, tomatoes etc

Nachos

Chili (homemade) just beans, meat, veggies, some gluten-free spices

Beef stew (if you don't consider yourself a cook, this is so easy!) Brown meat in a large pot, add gluten free broth from health food store, onions, carrots, celery, salt pepper, water, simmer all day long on LOW...add potatoes an hour before you eat. I leave it simmering for 5 hours and don't even stir it. Just keep it covered so the water doesn't all evaporate!

OutBack Steakhouse has a GLUTEN FREE MENU! They're really good about the gluten free needs of Celiacs. You can get a gluten free menu on line or just go out to eat and ask to see their gluten free menu. I don't know where you live, but I've traveled across the country eating at every Outback from California to Maryland. All had gluten free menus.

Just about everyone will tell you that Tinkyada pastas are the best. Found in healthfood stores.

Good luck.

[Jnkmnky]

Oh, and Kraft velveeta cheese is gluten free. Mixed into some Tinkyada pasta for Mac and cheese. Super easy (kinda gross if you ask me)

Baked beans *Bush's for sure*

Oscar Mayer hotdogs

Oscar Mayer bologna

Hormel Salami

When ordering cold cuts at a deli---check ingredients, some contain gluten, and ask the deli clerk to wipe down the slicer prior to cutting your order. You can get sick from small amounts of gluten from a previous order.

Ok, I think I'm done.

[digerati]

You guys rock. Looks like I'm going shopping!