Gluten Free Starter Kit

Posted by Mike in MiscAug 9th, 2009 | 2 responses

For those of you just switching to a gluten free diet, with the help of experienced readers, I figured we could assemble a list of essential things to try first or own to assist in switching to a gluten free diet.  This will help you get started.  I will start with my favorites.

Non-food products to own:

  • Triumph Dining Combo Pack:  Gluten Free Restaurant Guide, Grocery Guide, and Dining Cards.  This is my favorite resource when heading to the grocery store or out to eat.  They are all easy to use and an invaluable resource.
  • Books???  (I haven’t read many, so I’ll need some help here)

Food products:

  • Mary’s Gone Crackers:  Some great multi-seed crackers.  I eat them all the time, even tonight.  They can uaully be easily found in grocery stores.
  • Wild Thymes: I have tried a handful of their products and love them all.  Not only are they much better than any salad dressing or sauce you can buy in a store, they are gluten free!
  • Glutino Pretzels:  Honestly, these are the best pretzels I’ve ever had.  Even my non-GF friends confirm that.
  • Quinoa Ancient Harvest Gluten Free Pasta:  I’ve served this to non-GF people and they don’t know it… muhahaha!
  • Crunchmaster Crackers:  I first found these at a winery in Napa, then a non-GF friend told me about how good they were.  I have had some trouble finding them since, and they are not in my local SAMS or COSTCO.
  • Andrea’s Fine Foods Bread:  By far the best bread I’ve tried!  The cookies are great too… actually everything I’ve tried there is great!  They can ship nationwide.

Restaurants:

  • Godfather’s Pizza: I love Godfather’s gluten free pizza.  You will have no idea it is GF.  The best part, it is the same price as a regular pizza!
  • P.F. Changs:  If you are missing chinese food, because you can’t eat the soy sauce, then P.F. Chang’s is a much needed treat!  I love the food on the GF menu and the portion sizes.

Other:

  • Gluten Free Awareness Wristbands: We just passed 1,000 sold!  Show your support and wear your wristband proudly and people will ask you what it means.  It is your opportunity to spread awareness.  For me, it started as a daily reminder to eat gluten free, but can also serve as a conversation piece or alert for doctors.  I haven’t taken mine off in months(you should see the tan line!)
  • Gluten Free Bumper Stickers: Tell everyone on the road that you support eating gluten free.  Help spread the awareness everywhere you go!
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2 Responses to “Gluten Free Starter Kit”

  1. Kara says:
    August 9, 2009 at 10:42 am

    I love PF Changs.

    I bought Gluten Free Bible by Jay Lowell and it was a great starting point to figure everything out. There are so many useful websites it’s hard to begin and figure things out because there is SO much information when you first start reading.

  2. Matt says:
    August 9, 2009 at 11:03 am

    Best recipe book so far i found is”1001 gluten free recipes”

    as to other products the betty crocker mixes that just came out are great but the times for the baking seem to be a bit too long (the cakes seem to need about 10 mins less and the cookies 1-2 mins less)

    got count in the redbridge and woodchuck for the beer drinkers

    depending on location if there is a pizzeria uno around they should have a GF option, and it is GREAT, a bit different than its glutened brother but not bad by far

    for snack items going to naturally gluten free things is a huge help, nuts, fruit (says the college student that never eats any ), and candies. snickers, resses, skittles, starbursts, a lot of plain chocolates, etc.

    as to meals it ends up being pretty easy IMHO to cut it out, almost all the chexes are GF now, and there are some good GF options between gfmeals.com (pretty expensive though), your local grocery (vans waffles are great), and andreas (which i havent gotten to try yet but am ordering in a day or 2)

    hmmm wow, i could literally go on for 50 pages… maybe i will start to write a small book about this and put it up online as an electronic version for a few bucks or free (im a poor college student though and will be a poor artist so i might have to stick with the few bucks ;) )

    -matt

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