Discover essential tips for stocking your gluten-free kitchen. Find out what to include in your GF pantry for delicious and safe meals!
Essential Ingredients and Staples for a Delicious Gluten-Free Lifestyle
Starting a gluten-free journey can feel overwhelming, especially when it comes to figuring out what foods are safe to eat. Whether you’re completely revamping your pantry and refrigerator or gradually replacing gluten-containing items with alternatives, having a clear grocery list can significantly ease this transition. Knowing what you can eat not only simplifies your shopping experience but also boosts your confidence in making healthier choices.
One popular grocery store for gluten-free products is Aldi, which offers a variety of options that cater to those following this lifestyle. By focusing on what items to include in your grocery list, you can streamline your shopping trips and discover new foods that align with your dietary needs. Additionally, considering a grocery store or pantry list can further assist in planning meals and shopping efficiently, making it easier to navigate recipes that fit within a gluten-free framework.
Crafting a Deliciously Diverse Gluten-Free Haven: Must-Have Staples for Every Pantry!
Hey everybody, it’s Sarah from Gluten-Free 50. I am here today with a new video going over just the staples that you’re going to need in your pantry, in your refrigerator as you start this journey. We want to make this as simple and easy as possible. So, I wanted just to bring you basics, real basics that you can put in your pantry.
These might not be, you may not want to go through and initially just get rid of everything. You might want to just do small swaps. So, as something disappears, you’re going to bring something new in. Um, it depends on the level that you are really looking to attack this. Um, the first place that I’m going to take you is grains and.
Starches. Uh, brown rice, wild rice. If you do indulge in white rice, I usually do jasmine rice and or sticky rice, which is more um it’s more glutenous. It’s funny to say that. In their vocabulary, it means sugary. Um, but it’s sticky and it’s got a beautiful consistency to it. Uh, quinoa. Quinoa is something I actually had never eaten.
Before and um, I remember trying it for the first time and it’s got a real nutty flavor to it. It’s actually a seed. Uh, it’s not even a grain per se. Um, millet is another thing you can add to your grocery list. Buckwheat. Now, there’s actually no wheat in buckwheat. Buckwheat is a thing that comes out of mostly like Russia and China because it.
Survives the uh the cold environment, the harsh environment. It can grow very well. Uh but the great thing about buckwheat is it doesn’t spike your insulin levels. So I actually bake I make these fabulous buckwheat pancakes and they are so decadent. Um and I’ve moved into using more buckwheat in baking. So brownies, cakes. Um it’s a.
Great it’s got a really nice dense sort of nutty feel to it. It’s one of my favorites. Um, certified oats. Oats are kind of one of those things that are iffy iffy. It depends on the person. I do like oats, but I will only use them sparingly, and they have to be gluten-free. I usually use uh Bob’s Redm Mill. Again, you can get that just about.
Anywhere. Uh, corn, palenta, and grits. These are considered gluten-free. I choose not to eat a lot of corn because the majority of corn in America is modified, genetically modified. Um, if you can get an organic corn that has no GMOs in it, go for it. Try it. Um, but it may upset your stomach. It might not. It’s something that I try to avoid, even.
Though I love the crunch of it. Uh, proteins, of course. Eggs are fabulous. Um, if you can get them farm fresh from a farmers market or directly from the market, the better off you are. Um, they’re going to probably cost about the same at this point. Uh, turkey, uh, chicken, beef, fish. These are all basic sort of things that you could.
Have. Uh, tofu, tempeh. A lot of people don’t like tofu. And, um, it’s funny because I hadn’t tried it until I I went vegetarian for health reasons many, many years ago. Um, and what I found out is that I actually really liked tofu. And the thing that I like most about it is that it absorbs the flavor of whatever you put around it. So, it became.
Something that had tremendously high protein, but I could make it more um, Asian flavored or I could take it more Italian flavored or I could, you know, put it in a curry. Um, great thing to have. Canned beans and lentils, particularly chickpeas. I love chickpeas. They’re kind of they’re always in my cabinet. Canned tuna or.
Salmon. I’m going to say you’re better off if you can get these fresher. Um Aldi’s does these great salmon steaks. They’re they’re reasonable really and I can get about two meals out of one of these salmon steaks. Um I like to do that at least once a week if I can because there’s a lot of other added benefits to eating.
Salmon. Uh fruits and vegetables. These are pretty much a free food, all fresh fruits, all fresh vegetables. If you can’t get them fresh, then choose to go with a frozen produce over canned. Uh canning usually doesn’t it takes away the nutritional value of whatever’s in the can. I get it if if you need.
Something that’s more longterm, but if you can get something fresh or frozen, choose that first. Healthy fats are going to be your olive oil, your avocado oil, your coconut oil, avocados as a whole, nut butters and seeds. Um, and and again, depending your nut butters are going to be like a sun butter, cashew butter, almond butter. Um, if you.
Need to go back to a peanut butter, which is totally fine, I would get an organic peanut butter. It’s going to have less sugar in it. it’s not going to be hydrogenated with the seed oils in it. That’s really the key. You are going to have to stir it. Um, if you like it to be a little sweeter or a little bit more salty, I just put uh sea salt on.
Top of it and I’ll add just a touch of honey and um it it just takes me exactly to where the um cheap peanut butter will take you. It’s great. Um, other things that you’re going to want to stock up in your pantry. These are great cooking and baking, almond flour, coconut flour, cassava flour, uh, buckwheat flour. There’s a lot of one:1 cooking flowers.
That are out there. I know that, um, King Arthur flour makes one that is a 1:1 ratio. Red Bob’s Mill makes a 1:1 ratio. There’s several out there and there’s a lot to choose from actually on Amazon. I’ll link some down below that I use. Arrowroot starch, tapioca starch. I use these starches to thicken um any kind of sauce. Um or I’ll just use.
Almond flour and or coconut flour. Coconut flour will do the job really nicely, too. Baking powder and baking soda. You definitely want to make sure that they are gluten-free. Traditionally, they are, but you know, in today’s day and age, it doesn’t hurt to read the label. That’s one of the things that you’re going to take on with.
This is reading labels. Um, coconut anemos. Um, they it’s a great alternative to soy sauce. Now, most soy sauce is traditionally manufactured with wheat and the wheat kind of keeps it consistent. Um, you are finding a lot more gluten-free soy products like soy sauce and um, Kikcommendas, a whole array of these things. I found them in.
My local grocery store. They were actually cheaper than they were online. I think Walmart is starting to carry them now. And also Amazon is another great opportunity to find them. Of course, Whole Foods will probably have their own version of this. Cans, jars, and condiments. Salsa. Again, try to go fresh where you can or try to create.
Your own salsa recipe. Uh it’s super easy to make and in the summer when the f fruits and vegetables are abundant, it um it kicks it up a notch. It takes it tastes really good. Uh tomato paste and sauce. I’ve gotten to the point now where if I’m making some sort of tomato sauce, I make it from scratch. It’s just as easy as buying a jar of whatever and.
Having to read the back of the ingredients. One thing that I do really stay away from is the ingredient that’s called zantham gum. It is one of these thickeners. It’s something that stabilizes the product. I find that I have a sensitivity to it. So many products have zantham gum in them now. So, it’s just easier just to make.
It from scratch. Bone broth, veggie broth, chicken broth if you’re not a vegetarian, dijon mustard, mayo that’s made with avocado oil and or olive oil. Also really good. Um, anything that’s fermented like pickles, sauerkraut, one of my favorite is kimchi. Kimchi is a Korean sauerkraut type thing. Is really spicy. It has garlic in it. I don’t.
Usually eat garlic as a whole, but you know, when I’m down, um, a little bit of kimchi on whatever I’m eating, it’ll just perk it right up. It’s so good. So good. Uh, smart gluten-free swaps. So, the first one I’m going to say is probably going to not be well received. And it says to swap your regular bread for another brand like Udies, Canyon.
Ranch Bake House, or Base Culture. Listen, in five years, I have yet to find a very good bread alternative. I’ve wasted so much money and so much time. And the thing about it is that you are going from one regular gluten processed item to just an unglutened processed item. Um, it’s still processed and it costs a fortune.
Now, if you really are a bread fanatic, I would strongly recommend that you get a bread maker. Go old-fashioned. Try to make bread at home. There’s a lot of mixes that you can get. I know Bob’s Redm Mill makes a couple of mixes. You can just stick it in the bread machine. It’ll make the house smell amazing. If you are die hard, I am one of these.
People. I just went cold turkey. I stopped eating bread because it was so disappointing not finding anything that I really like. There was no great substitute for sandwiches. And now I’m at the point where I just choose, even if we go out for a burger, I just take the bun off of it. I’d rather overdose on the fries. um and just not eat the.
Bun. It’s just not worth even if it’s considered a gluten-free bun. I will bypass on that completely. A lot of restaurants will try to upcharge you on that, too. So, it’s just easier just to get it regular and just ask for more lettuce. Do a lettuce wrap. Forget the bun. Um wheat pasta. Pasta is another one of those sticky subjects because I.
Have yet to find any pasta that really comes in a good second close with the exception of chickpea pasta. Chickpea pasta will hold together a little bit better. The key to it is to make it al dente. You don’t want to overcook that pasta because it will fall apart very quickly. Again, that gluten is what holds everything together. Um, anything.
That doesn’t have that gluten in it, it’s not it’s going to fall apart very quickly. Crackers, Simple Mills, Mary’s Gone Crackers. Um, believe it or not, Target has a really good almond rice cracker. I will sometimes just go for traditional rice crackers. They’re round and super crunchy. My mother used to eat them, too, because my mother had a lot.
Of problems with allergies. Um, and you they’re fairly inexpensive as well. If you can find them, pick up two or three and then just stick them in the pantry if you can. Soy sauce, like I said before, usually has like a wheat inside of it. check the back of the label to be sure, but you can go for gluten-free versions where you can find, like I.
Said, uh, Kikcomman’s doing a great job providing some gluten-free soy sauces and even some there’s one that I really love that is a sweet soy sauce and they say it’s for rice particularly. Um, but I use that on everything. It’s just so it’s it’s it’s got a lightness to it and it doesn’t upset my system. Um, cereal for me falls in the line with uh pasta.
And bread. I just don’t eat cereal as a whole. I’ve never been a cereal eater. Um, but just read the labels. You You again, you have to be sure that it is truly gluten-free. Um, or just go to a gluten-free granola. I know that Aldi sells at least two or three gluten-free granas, which are great as a breakfast food anytime really. Um, you can even.
Doll them up and put it over ice cream or use it as part of like a berry compost if you’re making something like that or a crumble. Those are really good. Flour tortillas. Um, you can use casifa tortillas. Um, or you can find almond tortillas. We are starting to see some gluten-free tortillas. Again, read the label because there is that sneaky.
Zantham gum that they sort of show in there. Um, I have found some great recipes on Pinterest. I am not going to lie. There are some fantastic recipes for coconut tortillas, coconut flour tortillas. um that’ll have a very similar consistency to them. Um the last thing that they’re recommending is beer. I find that funny. Beer is not.
Gluten-free. Um beer, barley, any of that stuff, stay away from it. Really, just stay away from it. Even if it says that it’s gluten-ree, stay away from it. If you need to have an alcohol fix, and I do really strongly recommend, again, I’m not a doctor. I’m not a physician, but I’ve just lived this life long enough to know. Um, the first month that.
You’re doing this, give yourself a break from alcohol because your your liver is the thing that processes alcohol. But if you if you’re going somewhere and you have to have it, choose a really nice red wine if you can or get a seltzer with a little bit of vodka in it. Um, you don’t need to have a whole lot of alcohol to make you feel like you’re.
Participating in something if you if you’re really worried that you’re not going to have anything to drink when you’re at the party. Um, and I go on and off it. You know, usually the summer I prefer to put a little bit of red wine in um, seltzer and just have a spritzer. It’s enough to feel like I’m drinking something and it’s not just siltter. It.
Gets me through. Uh, quick list, quick ingredient list, things that you need to avoid. These are the labels, things on the labels that you’re going to want to look for. wheat, barley, rye, malt, malt extract, malt flavoring, brewer’s yeast, modified corn starch. Again, think GMO. Um, hydrayed wheat protein.
Really, anything that’s hydrayed I try and stay away from because that means that they’re overprocessing whatever it is, so it doesn’t look like the original item. Um, natural flavors can also have some gluten in them. Read your labels. Read your labels. Now, just like a traditional diet, when they tell you to go grocery shopping and you want to shop.
The perimeter of the store, that’s pretty much how this rules, too. Um, I am pretty much strictly an Aldi girl. I love going to Aldi because it’s it’s so easy to get in, so easy to get out. Um, I have three different Aldi’s and they all put their gluten-free stuff in a different area. So, I just have to sort of mentally remember where I’m shopping.
That day. Um, and ask if you don’t see something in the grocery store, ask if they carry it. Uh, I have actually one of my favorite favorite cheats is a brand called Kevin. And um if I’m just jonesing for junk food or or I want to feel like I can just pick something up quick and I don’t have to cook a lot for it. Um at the end of a busy day, nobody.
Really wants to take that on. Um I usually keep one of these in my freezers just for that day that I I know that I’m going to flop and I’m not going to want to make anything. But there’s a brand called Kevin’s and he makes pre-made dinners. Um my favorite is the barbecue chicken, the Korean barbecue chicken. Um, but he also does like a Thai basil.
Chicken. You can also get just the sauce aspect of this. So, um, I I buy them off of Amazon in like packs of three. So, I get three different flavors. You can get teriyak. You, like I said, the Korean barbecue, Thai basil. Um, and I’ll make curries out of them. I have made soups out of them. I have used them with tofu. I’ve used them with chicken. I have used.
Them with beef. Um, I’ve even used it as a a sauce on top of a salmon. Um, they make your life as a gluten-free person just a tad bit easier. You you don’t feel like you’re really sacrificing a lot in flavor. And we will address this as this series goes by because I know that it seems like you’re giving up a lot and you’re not getting a lot in.
Return. But in the last 5 years, I have really relearned to cook and readjusted my pallets so that things that I would have thought were amazing foods in the past just absolutely have no thrill to me now. I’d rather I know exactly what I like to eat and I know how to to go get it. Um, one last tip. If you are looking for another gluten-free, if you’re out.
In the wild, try barbecue places because a lot of these original barbecue places will dry rub the meat, which does not usually have gluten in it. Um, and then you can control the sauce. The last one I I just went out to lunch with my brother and we found this great barbecue place. So, we got a little of everything. Um, it was a smorgish board.
The only thing that had gluten in it in the whole restaurant was the cornbread and the the mac and cheese, which of course we didn’t get any of that. Um, but anyway, I hope this list has helped you. This is a step-by-step process. This is a mealby meal process. Um, I am hoping to inspire you and and give you the encouragement to know that you can.
Really do this and it isn’t as difficult as people make it seem like it. Um, I am here to help you in any way, shape, or form that I can. If you have questions about gluten-free, please put them in the comments below. I will be linking a free list so that you can get this information. I’m one of these people. I like to print things down and take it to.
The grocery store with me. It just makes it easier for me to remember what I’m what I’m really looking for and what to avoid. Some of these supermarkets, it can get really overwhelming. Um, again, I look forward to chatting with you soon. Thank you so much for spending a part of your day with me. I wish you much success and even better health.
Have a great night.
