Before our shopping extravaganza, we went and had lunch at Melt in Northside. It's kind of like a cool Panera with gluten-free and vegan options. Really good sandwiches though!
To begin our gluten-free life, we took a trip to Jungle Jim's to shop. Overwhelmed. That's the word I would use to describe the initial feelings I was having. We went straight to the "Gluten-Free" section, which was also the ORGANIC Gluten-Free section.... aka.. expensive!!! As we stared at the $7.00 bags of chips and the $15.00 bags of rice flour, we realized that buying the pre-packaged organic gf products wasn't going to be the most practical way to go. I almost broke down in tears a couple times, thinking "we can't even afford to do this!!". If your budget can accommodate organic foods, by all means, go for it! But our Self-Employed-Photographer's budget definitely doesn't allow for 7 dollar bags of potato chips.
After the initial shock, we worked on a game plan. We splurged on a $20.00 5lb box of all purpose flour, so we can convert some of our baking recipes into gluten free. Then we grabbed a couple boxes of GF penne pasta, and a loaf of GF bread (which is really tiny, by the way. Why can't gluten-free bread come in normal sizes?!). After picking out those base products, we left the specialty gluten-free section and went through the rest of the store. Choosing things like corn tortillas, salsa, peanut butter, lots of fresh vegetables and fruits, and some meat. Turns out Boar's Head lunch meats and cheeses are all 100% gluten-free! We were very happy to learn that.
We were probably in the store for HOURS. But, we were at Jungle Jim's. It is a good place to get lost in for hours. So many different foods to explore.
Anyway, finally we finished and headed home to "de-glutenize" our apartment. Rudy went through our fridge while I emptied most of the cabinets. And when I say emptied, I mean emptied! It's amazing how much stuff contains gluten. Here is the pile of stuff that we are giving/throwing away.
Yep. Our cabinets are much more empty than they were. A bit overwhelming to have to totally change the way you eat. But it will be ok!
For dinner last night, we just threw together a gluten-free pasta bake. Regular pasta sauce, GF penne, GF sausage, and some cheese. Oh and we made garlic toast with our little loaf of GF bread. Nothin' fancy. But it tasted totally normal!
That's all for now, friends. :)
Did you get some xanthan gum? Gluten Free baking usually needs it to help with the batters and doughs since the gluten isn't there. It can be a little pricey, I think Bob's Red Mill is $12 or so, but you only use a tiny bit. You probably have read about it but just wanted to let you know in case.
ReplyDeleteAlso, play around with brown rice flour and oat flour (you can make your own oat, which makes a HUGE cost cut - just buy oats, Bob's Red Mill has specific gluten free ones, and throw them into a food processor until its flour consistency). I have also heard lots about coconut flour - it's on my list to try
Hey Betsy! No I haven't bought any xanthan gum yet...but the all purpose flour that we bought has some in it. I plan on buying a separate bag of it soon, for recipes that don't require all of the other stuff that's in the all purpose flour. Thanks for the tip about making your own oat flour! I will keep that in mind. Saving money is always a good thing. :)
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