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Becky Parker
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Joined: May 23 2005
Location: Michigan
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| Posted: July 26 2008 at 8:23am | IP Logged
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At the risk of driving everyone crazy with all my questions  I just have one more! (For now  ) Where do you buy the gluten free products for your family? We don't have a Whole Foods here, or a Costco. We do have Sam's, Krogers and Meijers. I've noticed a small section in Meijers where they have GF foods, but it is quite small. Do you mail order? (the very thought of which sounds SO expensive)! I know I would need to prepare all our food here at home, which we mostly do anyway, but I'm talking about things like pasta, pizza, pretzels, and the occasional treat.
Thanks for your patience with me. DS will have a blood test to determine CD on Monday and I am just trying to prepare for what I think the outcome might be.
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Becky
Wife to Wes, Mom to 6 wonderful kids on Earth and 4 in Heaven!
Academy Of The Good Shepherd
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Milehimama
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| Posted: July 26 2008 at 9:41am | IP Logged
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The special diets ARE expensive! I've found that instead of substitutes, it's better to just change what we eat. (We aren't gluten free, but are on another restrictive diet). My grandmother has been gluten free for her life - long before gluten free flours, etc. were popular. She lives in AZ and eats a lot of Mexican food (corn tortillas, beans, etc.)
Can you start exploring ethnic foods- Japanese desserts (mochi balls, red bean paste, rice pudding?) for example?
Sorry I'm not more help! (I do order some things online, and often it's cheaper than health food stores. For example, Oat Bran at LuckyVitamin.com is $1.61/lb.; it is $1.99 a pound at the health food store. I order my supplements for ds, so I'd be paying shipping anyway.)
You might also try MamboSprouts - they collect and email health food coupons.
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LeeAnn
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| Posted: July 26 2008 at 12:02pm | IP Logged
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Becky,
It's kind of a hassle to get all the things I need, but I make it work by stocking up in rotation, since none of these stores are anywhere near each other.
Trader Joe's is a good source of processed, packaged gf foods, such as cereals, frozen or canned items.
I get all my flours at Fred Meyer's (sort of a mini-Walmart regional chain) which has a pretty large gluten-free aisle and freezer section.
If I'm in town, I'll go to the closest natural foods store, Sno-Isle Co-op in Everett, which has a good selection of gf pastas and a few gf flours and packaged goods.
My three local big-name groceries (Albertson's, Safeway, Haggen's) each have some gluten-free foods in them. Plus you can just buy naturally gluten-free foods like vegetables, fruit, meat, chicken, most dairy and so on.
Even my closest convenience store, Jay's Market, has some gluten free foods such as Stagg's original bean chili and Hormel pepperoni.
It's all a matter of being able to see what is gluten-free even if it's not sold in the gluten-free section of the fancy organic supermarket. :) In my opinion, Whole Foods has a mediocre selection of gluten-free foods, not any better than my local grocery store. And the closest WF is in Bellevue, about 40-60 minutes away so I don't make special trips there unless we happen to be going to the celiac doctor across the street!
Asian markets do have things like rice flours, true buckwheat noodles and so on but they are not likely to be labeled gluten-free. You would have to either call the manufacturer or test them out to see if cross-contamination is a problem (wheat flour in the air or on work surfaces and machinery getting into gluten-free products).
Mexican foods are a great blessing. The regular Mission taco shells are labeled gluten-free.
Amazon.com sells Tinkyada pasta by the box and some Bob's Red Mill products too. Bob's Red Mill has a delivery service too. Our favorite gf pretzels are the Ener-G brand. Not cheap, about $3 for a small bag, so I save those for after-Mass treats (redirecting from the gluteny donuts at church) sometimes mixed with plain M&M's or choc. chips and raisins to make my own snack mix. (Kirkland/Costco trail mix is supposed to be wheat free but it's made on shared-product equipment and always gives me a reaction.)
When I want to make a birthday cake or whatnot I usually buy a Pamela's mix (from Fred Meyer or the co-op)--I'm not much of a baker! Generally, we just eat a lot less baked goods: muffins, bagels, breadrolls, cinnamon buns, etc. Considering how much I liked these foods before, it's surprising to me how little I miss them now. My 10-year-old has more of a problem with temptation than I do! But she has also learned to be satisfied with fruit or leftovers for breakfast (she has never liked cereals much but she loved toast and other breads).
I hope the blood test goes well--they are tricky things (apparently) dependant on WHAT they are testing for and HOW the test is done. I had one gluten-intolerant child test positive (my 10 year old) and another test negative (my then-one-year-old, now 2).
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my four children are 17, 15, 11 & 8 - all now attend public school - we read many 4Real recommended books at home
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4Real Forums : Our Lady of Good Remedy and Care
Topic: Gluten free - one more question
