From Kelli:
Last week, celebrated my one year anniversary of being gluten free. In the beginning, I looked at it as a life sentence of sorts. It seemed like I couldn’t find any decent tasting gluten free food and I thought that I would be confined to eating food that would only taste like dried cardboard. After a bit of internet research (Pinterest has been great) and a few experiments, I have come to the conclusion that I can eat tasty food again! I have had my ups (finding new decent tasting food) and my lows (unintentionally being glutened) but overall, I can say that I have learned a lot over the past year.
Some of the best things have been finding new foods that I thought I couldn’t eat anymore such as bagels, cookies, and my most favorite Dorothy Lynch salad dressing. Another thing that has been nice is that Celiac Disease and gluten avoidance is becoming more and more accepted in stores and restaraunts.
Just last summer, they maybe only had a 3 foot shelf with gluten free foods. I bought a few things and was thoroughly and utterly disappointed. So when I needed to make a run to Decorah last week to pick up a few things, you can imagine my wonderful excitement when I discovered that Walmart now has its own brand of gluten free products! I was absolutely amazed when I looked at the prices. Normally, a box of gluten free hamburger helper type thing is around $4.00 for the brand that I like. The Walmart kind is only $2.50. I know that some of you out there who have purchased hamburger helper before probably had to pick your jaw up off of the ground because normal hamburger helper can usually be purchased for about $1.00 give or take a bit. I was extremely happy!
I haven’t tried any of the hamburger helper type stuff that I purchased yet, but I sure can tell you that the vanilla sandwich cookies are amazing. Wondering why I didn’t include a picture of them? I ate them all….I hope everything is as good as those darned cookies were!
Kelli, check out the A Year of Slow Cooking blog if you haven’t already. Stephanie O’Dea’s daughter was diagnosed with Celiac disease just before her 2nd birthday and the whole family went gluten free in solidarity. All her slow cooker recipes are either gluten free or can be made so.
Thanks Kelli–I will look for the Great Value products…….I am always afraid to try these things because a lot of it is just pain awful….I have been gluten free for a year too….it has been an adventure for sure…the worst getting gluten in some food when I am out and about..
Kelli, have you checked your WalMart for Udi’s breads. They have them at the Waterloo WalMart. They also have Glutino English muffins. I had been buying them at HyVee for $7.99 and WalMart carries them for $4.99 ! Udi’s breads are also cheaper there. I have had celiac disease since 1995. I understand your frustration starting out but it will get much easier. Have you tried any of the Aldi gf products. Hang in there!!!
Thanks for sharing! I’ve been hoping that Target and Walmart would come out with their own GF brands – I stocked up when Aldi had the limited time GF mixes a little while back. I’m going to check out our Cedar Rapids Walmart today :)