Rices, noodles, cereals: when you visit the grocery store or health food store, be sure to check out the “natural” aisle, where they will have gluten-free cookies, crackers, and lots more. This, however, is an expensive way to go! I have turned to home-made cooking and baking as a way to make this lifestyle more financially feasible.
Still some ready-made products will make your life a whole lot easier. I recommend:
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Ready-made Corn (or Brown Rice) Pasta: spaghetti pasta, lasagne pasta, and macaroni – or whatever shapes your family is used to.
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Store bought cereal:
We love Nature’s Path Honey’d Corn Flakes. Beware the ingredient in many ‘regular’ cereals: barley malt (Rice Crispies for example)
- Corn Tortillas: Real corn tortillas consist of corn flour (maise or cornmeal) oil and water. They make quick roll-ups, lunches and taco’s. They have an odd taste that we’re not a big fan of. So we’ve switched to store-bought g-free rice flour tortillas which are softer and less ‘corn’ tasting. These are really close to the regular wheat tortilla and will make a good transition product if your family is used to tortillas.
- Tortilla Chips: less healthy, but a ‘normal’ snack food, tortilla chips work nicely and can help the celiac kid especially, feel more normal. Try with Hot Broccoli Dip or salsa & sour cream.
- Rice Crisps & Crackers: These can be found for a reasonable price in Asian markets, or the Asian aisle in your grocery store. Quaker Rice Chips are also gluten free (most of
them – as always check the label) and are in most grocery stores. In the Asian aisle, these rice crisps are under $2 per box, 2 aisles over with the salty snacks, they are $4 each!! So far, the no-name brands all contain a risk of cross-contamination.
