gluten free easily,readily available meals help!

Hi Guys,

Ive noticed over the past few months from looking at forums and researching literature that everyone who trys to cut down on gluten and whole grains seem to be having positive results. This leads me to believe that there must be a link between UC and celiac and the stem of the diseases come from some sort of bacteria defficiency or intolerence.

Basically i want to be more strict with cutting down gluten but my situation is probably the same as alot of you, work full time so time is limited and on a budget so going to the free from section in the supermarket isnt always an option as lets face it those prices are a rip off.

Can any one give me abit of advice with what to eat for lets say breakfast lunch dinner and snacks which is pretty much gluten free and doesnt take me all day to make/prepare. It doesnt have to be strictly SCD but im trying to head that way.

Many thanks

Majority of gluten free foods stress on chicken or fish and tofu. Practically speaking, we should avoid those foods as well. Chicken is loaded with antibiotics and steroids. Now they have genetically engineered fish and chickens to have more muscle mass. Just like engineered corn, we don't know how this crap is going to affect us. Tofu is chemically made and not at all good for even 'healthy' individual. Unless you find, organic farm fed chicken, don't go for it. There is no organic fish as such so seafood is out.

I became strictly vegetarian, no meat of any kind, no tofu/soy, no raw vegetables.

I am just 3 weeks old to gluten-free lifestyle but its wreaking my head. I am getting on track with it very slowly.

For breakfast, I made my muesli. I got gluten free oats and made my own muesli. Muesli with almond milk is my breakfast.
I make my own bread. I got Bob's Red Mill bread mix (but I did not like it) so I googled white bread and trying different breads (with rice flour and sorghum flour). Baking is not my expertise so learning on that front.
I got books on soups from the library and have been trying a ton of soups. This is flying high. Many bean soups or vegetable soups. I make a big batch and portion it in the freezer. Comes handy, plus you get a variety.
I am looking for gluten-free pasta. Its very expensive here in the US (~$6/lb). Just got a small pack of rice pasta, will be tried today evening. If I like it, I am going to buy in bulk (if I find it).
I am eating a lot of rice and quinoa. Being an Indian, I can make a ton of rice preparations, quick to make and tasty but rice is plain carbohydrate so I alternate the recipes with quinoa. Buy a small pack of red and white quinoa. Continue with the one you like. White quinoa can be substituted for rice but not the red one. If you are in the UK, look for a decent Indian take away that offers not-so-routine curry dishes to go with rice or quinoa. Whatever you like, try to make it at home.
I got some good quality chips to munch when I feel like and always have hummus and guacamole in the fridge to go with it.
Plus, fruits do not bother me. So I try to eat one each of Banana, apple and handful of resins and berries in addition to the nuts.

One thing for sure, this thing takes a lot of time in the beginning. So you can cook in bulk. This is what I used to do when I was working and still continue the practice.

One more thing, subscribe to some gluten-free foodie blogs. Some folks are super creative with their recipes.

Hope this helps.

When I first went gluten free I ate eggs w/onions, cheese, green pepper and corn chips for breakfast (my own home made migas), or gluten free oatmeal (Bob's Red Mill). Now I eat gluten free cornflakes or granola.

For lunch I usually have leftovers, or a yogurt and KIND bar, with fruit. Dinners are typically a protein and carb, like fish and potatoes, or lentils & rice, you know. I cook a lot of my own food so I haven't found this to be very challenging.

derby, There are some great bread recipes out there. I echo everyone that says consider not eating alot of gf packaged food. Its probably just as bad for you. They are so high in starches which feed dysbiosis.

I cant tolerate oats so I give the girls some for breakfast, or quinoa flakes with coconut milk, coconut sugar and some berries.

I make a couple muffin tins of mini quiches with eggs (bacon and chives is a fav, tomato basil, jalapeno and cilantro... then I freeze the quiches and pop one out in the am. I like eggs baked in avocados. I also do LOTS of green smoothies (very very low sugar/fruit) and bake with nut flours as we tolerate them very well so I make scones, pancakes, low sugar banana bread and muffins

Lunch - I do lots of salads but I know that many have problems with fiber. Our family is moving away from a meat based diet so we do alot of properly soaked and cooked beans now.. We also wrap preservative free lunchmeat around home made hummus and eat roll ups. I keep pancakes in the freezer so sometimes I make them a pb and j pancake sandwich. Konnuyaku noodles and a stirfry is another hit.

http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/roasted-chicken-and-carrots-with-olives-and-lemons-recipe-00000000023176/index.html

We do this with another side, sometimes backeyed peas...http://www.howsweeteats.com/2011/06/green-bean-bacon-bundles/

http://www.steamykitchen.com/363-pan-seared-steak-rolls.html

http://urbanposer.blogspot.com/2012/01/apple-butternut-squash-bacon-breakfast.html

http://nomnompaleo.com/post/7486821187/my-sisters-phenomenal-grilled-green-chicken

I also do mini meatloaf in muffin tins and will make mashed potatoes and freeze them also in the muffin tins then pop them out of the tin and store in the freezer in a ziplock.

I was thinking of starting a what's for dinner thread here to see if we could get inspiration from each other on what to eat.

Post Edited (PathogenKiller) : 2/8/2013 11:31:18 AM (GMT-7)

derby county, my one piece of advice to you re: gluten free bread is to avoid it for the first few weeks. There is a big difference in texture and taste, and I'd expect you to hate it. But if you wait a while and then try it, you will be happy to have bread and not so horrified at the difference.

Thanks for the messages guys ill give them a try..

Imjustagirl215: ha ha you caught me out im actually from Derby just put Nottingham because i didnt think anyone would of heard of Derby . cheers for the info yeah i have heard soundbites is good i think i know where it is, across from the new bus station? yeah same with me about notts i dont really know it well for food shopping just clothes shopping lol. Thanks for the advice with the pizza, and i never new that about corn flakes that comes in handy as i dont really have time to prepare meals in a morning.

Thanks again

Chicken is not "loaded with steroids". They simply have a different breed, called broilers, for meat than those used for eggs. Broilers are a very heavy bodied, fast growing type that really has a hard time living more than a few months, due to their inherent propensity to put on so much weight, but this is due to breeding not steroids. If you want better meat, get free range organic meat. Most of the crap that goes into conventional chicken is just in the feed; cheap conventionally grown grain from the US or China (most likely) that is roundup ready, genetically engineered, and, well, grain. Eating any animal that has been fed just grain is not really natural or healthy realistically. Even plain organic chicken will often follow this path, but the food they eat will at least be organic (grain). If you want to improve beyond organic you need to seek out free range also, which has different meanings to different farmers... its all about the legal definition of the term.

I also dont think chicken is loaded with antibiotics. Beef yes, chicken no. Cattle are fed corn and other grains (instead of grass and other roughage) in feed lots which makes them sick; thats not what their digestive systems are designed to eat. Not in that quantity anyway. So they are given antibiotics (and hormones).

Most farmed fish will be suspect also, just buy sustainably (or maybe I should say "sustainably") caught wild fish, of the types that are known to have the lowest levels of pollutants. Thanks to the human race's inability to control population (all of you with 3+ kids, thanks), and all of the modern conveniences we enjoy and the industries we employ, all fish will be polluted to some extent, but it can be pretty minimal.

As long as humanity refuses to check its growth all of this will only get worse.

Post Edited (freddyj) : 2/11/2013 10:50:01 AM (GMT-7)

Tournevice-

Are you saying you can do barley, etc, but just not wheat? Im dreading never having another plae ale if this gluten thin turns out to be true for me.

I've been gluten free for a while now and haven't tried to determine whether it's just wheat. I've been thinking about doing a barley challenge just so I can get back to beer! On the other hand, I've had some pretty good GF beers recently.

Freddy I am not sure at all. Mainly I met a few celiacs in my life and they were very symptomatic. As soon as they had gluten they would be sick, it was action reaction!

I am not like this. I enter into this gasssssssssy category. I notice if I eat breadcrumbs for example once a week its fine. If I eat a bit a wheat everyday for like 3-4 days I have a lot of cramps on my left side and sometimes blood. And if I top it with cheese forget it!!!

But I love your definition!