Don't Accept Gluten-Free Food that is Just Okay

Is delicious and affordable gluten-free food possible?
The Super Sensitive Celiac is here to show you how
you can enjoy your favorite foods every single day!

If you listen to all the articles on the internet that talk about the cost of gluten-free food these days, you may wonder if delicious and affordable gluten-free cooking and baking is even possible.

From the way the media paints gluten-free eating, you'd think that there are no other alternatives than to stock up your pantry with a ton of ready-made, expensive gluten-free products.

The media loves to exaggerate how many gluten-free foods are available at your local grocery store and just assume that celiacs are loading up their grocery carts with mountains of highly refined, tasteless, processed foods.

When hubby and I were in Walmart a few weeks ago, the one we used to shop at when we first moved to Texas, I noticed that their entire gluten-free food aisle is now missing.

It didn't shrink.

It's flat out GONE!

Where are all of these wonderful, life-saving gluten-free groceries the media keeps telling me about?

The ones that are supposed to cost me my entire paycheck?

And where are all of these can't-go-without gluten-free products that the FDA labeling law was supposed to protect and encourage?

There is a tiny section at a local Neighborhood Walmart and a few things available at Kroger, Albertson's, and our local Super Walmart, but that's about it.

Getting gluten-free products in our area is extremely difficult.

And certified products are even harder.

However, gluten-free meals do not have to be as expensive as the news articles claim. Nor do you have to settle for gluten-free foods that are just "good for gluten free."

Spending money on what's in the tiny gluten-free section of the store, if you can even find one, isn't necessary to eat well.

In fact, you'll heal faster and feel better if you don't.

Most of those fancy products don't taste as good as what you can make at home yourself. More often than not, the cookies taste like sand and the crackers are hard and broken in bits.

It didn't take me very long to learn that lesson.

Although forum members at Delphi's Celiac Support Group used to tell newbies to just keep trying different gluten-free products until you discover what you like, all that advice ever got us was an empty pocket book and an overflowing trash can.

This was over 10 years ago, back when you could bounce the most popular gluten-free bread off the floor and didn't dare eat any for fear you'd choke.

While gluten-free food has come a long way since then, and we do pick up a few of our favorite products, you still don't have to accept gluten-free food that is just okay.

Don't Accept Gluten-Free Foods that are Just Okay

As far as I know, there is still no flavoring that can imitate wheat, so gluten-free baked goods are not going to taste exactly like what you ate before.

Texture will be different, too.

For example, donuts won't be light and fluffy, but cake donuts come pretty close to the real thing because cake donuts are designed to be dense and a bit crumbly.

Crackers will also be a bit crumbly or hard. At least, most store purchased products are. Homemade almond flour crackers are nice and crisp, the best I've tried. And we are quickly becoming fans of Lance gluten-free crackers.

Flour tortillas will be chewy and grainy, due to the added fiber, but Mission Foods does put out an acceptable gluten-free white-rice flour tortilla that is certified to contain up to 10 ppm. They cost about 5.99 for a pack of 8 tortillas.

[They are now about 5.69 for a pack of 6.]

I reacted to them the first time I tried them, but I think that was due to the xanthan gum.

Bob's Red Mill is now using xanthan gum that is grown on corn, so I tried these again, and so far, I've been doing okay.

Last I heard, the tortillas were only available in the western part of the U.S., but they have been popping up here in Texas. Unfortunately, our local Walmart doesn't carry them, but the Neighborhood Walmart further away does. We can also get them at Kroger or Albertson's.

If you can accept the fact that you can't replace the wheat flavor, stop chasing after gluten-free products that are just like their counterpart, rise up to the challenge of gluten-free baking, and just make the best of it -- things will go a lot smoother.

Not easier, just smoother.

The easiness of the path of super sensitivity depends on your individual sensitivity to gluten. The more sensitive to gluten residue you are, and the larger your environmental gluten load, the rougher the path will be.

And that's fine.

Life isn't suppose to be pleasant and pain-free all the time. If you run around trying to eliminate all of the opposition that you face every day, you're just going to make yourself miserable and miss out on what's presently going on.

However, what you don't have to do is accept gluten-free food that is just okay. You don't have to eat what you don't like just because it's cheap and gluten free.

I see too many people doing that these days.

When I asked them why they are eating things that don't really taste good, they say:

“Well, it's better than nothing,”

OR

“It's the best we've got.”

No it's not.

YOU are the best you've got.

Eating well requires a little extra time in the kitchen and a bit of education as to how to make the necessary changes required to make gluten-free flour behave like gluten does, but what you make yourself will be a lot better than most of the gluten-free products out there, anyway.

Once you learn how to make your own gluten-free flour mix and understand where to get the best price for your gluten-free supplies, you'll never be tempted to buy another expensive gluten-free flour mix ever again.

You won't feel bad about what other people are eating because you can whip up something that's much better at home. A lot of your cravings for real food will disappear because gluten-free food is real food.

What You Can Eat if You're Gluten Free

We eat French Bread instead of loaf bread
because I can do that well.

Whether you're a gluten-free beginner or you have been traveling this path for several years now, there is always something delicious and affordable to eat when you take the time to make it yourself.

It might not be exactly the same as you ate before, but it will be something you can find pleasure in serving to family and friends.

For example, we eat homemade french bread that's slightly larger than a baguette instead of a normal-looking loaf of sandwich bread because it's as close to real french bread as I've been able to make it – and my loaf bread still sucks.

We eat soft and fluffy gluten-free hamburger rolls for sandwiches, as well as burgers, and I also cut them in half for toast. A smaller version makes great Egg-McMuffins.

If we don't eat them fast enough? French toast pops up on the menu for breakfast.

We also have gluten-free waffles and nice-and-fluffy homemade pancakes when I have the time to make them.

We have chocolate chip cookies flavored with butterscotch pudding mix that are better than the chocolate chip cookies they replace, and I can make a gluten-free chocolate cake that's so rich and moist that our non gluten-free friends can't tell the difference between the gluten-free version and the real thing.

We eat lots of rice flavored with a sweet Thai chili sauce, simple-but-filling baked potatoes, hearty salads, and ice cream topped with fresh berries in season.

We eat Mexican and Oriental cuisine quite often, as well.

We almost always skip the expensive gluten-free products at our local grocery store and opt for a flat-iron steak from Kroger seared in a cast-iron skillet or tossed onto the grill, with a side of Bush's baked beans, instead.

We use oriental noodles, which are made from sweet potato starch or rice flour, and lots and lots of produce.

WHAT you eat might change, as it did for us, but cooking and serving gluten-free food doesn't have to be just okay.

I realized that over the holidays a few years ago when I stopped and looked at what I was doing, and took the time to ask myself why I only made sugar-cookie cut-outs or spicy gingerbread cookies for Christmas.

Why wasn't I making and eating our favorite gluten-free foods and recipes every day? Why was I keeping my best recipes hidden until the holidays?

That's when my gluten-free cooking and baking really began to evolve into something that we could enjoy all of the time, and not just for special occasions.

There was no good reason to not cook and bake what I knew how to cook and bake year round. Holiday, or not.

So, if you're looking for a way to make your gluten-free meals yummy, as well as inexpensive, bookmark this blog, so you can remember how to get back here, or sign up for our email updates.

You'll get notified each time a new post is up.

That way you can stop chasing after gluten-free products that fall short of your expectations and learn how to make delicious and affordable gluten-free food for yourself.