Hi everyone, today I am going to talk about what it is like to "say goodbye to food (containing gluten)."
There is a very straightforward answer, and it is this. Saying goodbye to non-gluten-free food was difficult. It was even more challenging to see my dad clear out all of our cupboards, pots, and pans. At nine years old, staring at an empty cupboard for a day did not feel good. It felt even worse, to see my dad walk through the door, with a single bag of groceries, that was supposed to sustain our family. That was all we had a single bag of groceries to work with. At the time, there were obviously not a lot of options, so whatever we had would have to suffice for the time being. I am going to say this much, the road was very long, covered with bumps, and roadblocks, but they were kind of necessary to get us to where we are today. We had to do research and try new things, even if it meant that we wound up eating ice cream for dinner.
But through it all, I have seen pretty much tried every different type of gluten-free food that there is: pasta that falls apart upon making contact with a fork, cardboard pizza, bread that could give someone a decent-sized bruise if thrown hard enough, and food that is just downright inedible. We came to learn quickly, that just because something is gluten-free does not mean that it will be good. So upon realizing that fact, as a family, we went on a mission to find good gluten-free food. There are some brands that we came across which did the job and more, these include but are not limited to:
Schar: They have cookies (great chocolate-dipped cookies, bread, rolls, pasta etc)
Barilla: Barilla does make gluten-free pasta, however, I would be careful because both GF and non-GF boxes are blue. However, there are some yellow barilla boxes, which are GF, but I would look at the labels regardless.
Bisquick: The GF Bisquick boxes are yellow and orange. The pancakes or waffles are delicious; I would just follow the recipe on the back of the packet.
Vans: Vans have microwavable pancakes and waffles. They also sell a variety of cereals as well, however, I would just be careful with the boxes, both GF and non - GF products come in white boxes. It is quite easy to mix up the two. So again look at the labels.
Udis: Udi’s have GF white bread (I would recommend heating it up), burger buns, and hamburger buns.
Glutino: Glutino makes a lot of great GF products. We buy cookies and sweets a lot, but they make other things as well.
Canyon: As far as I know canyon makes white bread and multigrain bread. I am not a big fan of their products though, but don’t take my word for it.
Annie's: Annie’s has really great mac and cheese, that is pretty much all we buy from them, however, they do make gummies, cheese crackers, etc as well. The boxes are multicolored, some are purple others are orange, so I would just read the labels and look at what the box says on the front.
Bob's Red Mill: We use Bob’s Red Mill a lot especially for home-cooked goods like cookies, cupcakes, etc. This includes but is not limited to oats, GF Flour, Rice flour, xanthan gum, almond flour, etc.
Katz: Katz makes awesome donut holes and donuts.
Bell and Evans: Oftentimes we get Bell and Evans chicken tenders or nuggets. However, both the GF and Non- GF boxes are black or blue, so again read the labels.
Synder: Synder does make GF pretzels, both the mini bags and the big party size bags.
Enjoy life: Enjoy Life makes a lot of different types of GF cookies, protein bars, sometimes cereal although I don’t see that as much at the store.
There are also products that are naturally gluten-free now:
Fruits and vegetables are gluten-free, so I am not going to list those.
Lays (potato chips, Cheetos) - Regardless, I would still read the package, don't take my word for it
Breyers Ice cream: Not ice cream which contains cookies
Chobani and yogurt: Yogurt, in general, is gluten-free, just as long as it does not have the cookie bits or chocolate bits that you put into it.
Chex: Most rice Chex are gluten-free, and oftentimes that is in large print on the front of the box
*Just to be clear I am not part of these companies, nor a promoter, I am simply listing some brands that have not failed me yet. If you use other brands that work for you and your family that is great!
Resources you can refer to: