A Beginner Gluten-Free Shopping List

A Guide to Simplify Getting Groceries and the Meal-Planning Process

Sep 28, 2009

Newly diagnosed with Celiac Disease or Gluten Intolerance? Here is a guide to one of the most daunting tasks for beginners: re-stocking a kitchen to go gluten-free.

A diagnosis of food allergy or food intolerance can be overwhelming. Many people feel like they are limited in every direction. One of the most important parts of successfully switching to a gluten-free diet is to remember just how many options there really are!

After the kitchen has been cleaned out to make room for gluten-free food, it's time to get started on refilling it with healthy, easy-to-use options to make the transition seamless.

Making the Shopping List - Stocking up on the Basics

Begin with an inventory of all of the staple items in the kitchen that will need to be replaced. These are basic ingredients used in everyday cooking. Most of the time, there are gluten-free replacements for almost everything, but here's a quick list of the basics:

Most of these items will be familiar, and require little additional information. There are a few additional items that should be added to the "basics" category in a gluten-free kitchen:

These items will be essential for gluten-free baking, and will make it possible to continue using the family's favorite recipes.

Making the Shopping List - One Week at a Time

Until there are familiar and trusted brands and a gluten-free diet is effortless, meal-planning should be done one week at a time. This will allow time for transition, experimentation and save money. Trial and error can be expensive over time.

Use each week's shopping trip to experiment a little and explore the gluten-free food options available. Most gluten-free dieters create great meals from scratch. However, this takes a lot of time and energy that many people don’t have. For this reason, many gluten-free foods are "convenience items" such as frozen meals and snack foods.

Frozen Pizzas are a great example. There are so many options available, it may be a good idea to try a new brand each week. Amy’s Organic makes a rice crust pizza that is a little crumblier and sweeter tasting, Glutino’s brown rice crust pizzas are thin and crunchy, while Ian’s French bread pizzas are soft and doughy with a crunchy outer edge. Whole Foods has a “gluten free pantry” section in the freezer section of every store (not in the bakery) including pre-made pizza crusts. These crusts are super chewy and hearty, but take a little longer to prepare.

Focus on Fresh Fruits, Vegetables and Meats

While making shopping lists, try not to focus on limitations, instead, focus on the things everyone enjoys that are naturally gluten-free. Fresh fruits, vegetables and meats are healthy, less expensive, and readily available at the local grocery (which saves money as well). Plain rice or potatoes can be jazzed up with broth, nuts, vegetables, as well as spices.

After the list has been completed, make a short list of those “bread-like” items the family can not live without. Perhaps eggs aren’t feasible for breakfast every morning, and cold cereal is a must. Add gluten-free Rice or Corn Chex cereal to the list and a few bananas or blueberries to add zip to the fairly bland flavor. Perhaps sandwiches or wraps are the only lunch food the kids will accept in school lunches. Corn tortillas are an easy way to add wraps without changing known textures and flavors.

This strategy will give the whole family something familiar to start with, before experimenting with the various breads and alternative foods available out there. Because many gluten-free foods have slightly different textures and flavors from the standard wheat bread options, this process will take some trial and error. It's a good idea to limit the upheaval on day-to-day meals while this is taking place.

Gluten-free Specialty Items Cost More, so do the Stores They’re Found in

There are a few ways to save on gluten-free groceries, but the single most effective strategy is to get as much as possible at the regular grocery store.

When a gluten-free shopper is just starting out, it is wise to allot about twice the time it would normally take to grocery shop for the first few trips. The process of cleaning out the kitchen, learning the hidden ingredients that indicate gluten, and reading the fine print on nutrition labels was the practice round for the trip to the grocery store.

Take a Printout of the Hidden Ingredient List and a Notepad on this Shopping Trip

Check favorite brands of foods, and if they contain gluten-words, check all of the other brands around them. For example, if a family likes Uncle Ben’s rice mix, but it contains gluten, they might like the Lundberg Risotto mix on the shelf beside it, and several of their varieties are gluten-free. Write down “Lundberg Risotto” in the notebook to speed up the process on subsequent trips to the grocery store. Similarly, frozen vegetables with butter sauce can be replaced with the steam-only veggies one shelf down.

Re-Read Every Single Ingredients List Before Putting an Item in the Cart

It may seem silly to read ingredients on canned chicken broth, it’s just chicken and water, right? Nope. Most of the time there’s wheat in there. Don’t take any ingredients lists for granted. None of them. Even if it’s on a “healthy” brand of food, or says “all natural” on the label. Remember, wheat, rye, oats, etc are whole grains and are considered “healthy” and “all natural” for most people!

The copyright of the article A Beginner Gluten-Free Shopping List in Food Allergies is owned by Alicia King. Permission to republish A Beginner Gluten-Free Shopping List in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.