Everyone loves a bit of free stuff

So going gluten-free is a bit scary and in my first week I have to admit I've found it tough. I seem to have been to the supermarket about 4 times this week alone, which I wouldn't normally do, trying new products and planning what to feed myself and my non-Coeliac husband, not to mention spending a heck of a lot of money on groceries. 

But as it's my first week I wanted to be able to experiment and find out which products I like and which I don't so I will let myself off just this once! I know things are going to get easier as the weeks go by but at this stage I am still very much the nervous newbie when trying out new foods. I just don't want to make any mistakes and accidentally eat something containing a trace of gluten and make myself even more ill.

I must have also spent hours reading the back of food labels and trawling the internet for help and guidance.

But there is help out there. Lots of help. The internet especially can be so useful. I decided to sign up to Coeliac UK as a starting point (membership is free until April 2013) and a few days later they sent me an information pack which also contained a Food and Drink directory (you can also access the directory on their website). The directory lists thousands of food and drinks that are safe to eat for Coeliacs. It's handbag size and will certainly come in very handy when I next visit the supermarket. I have used it a few times already. If you are unsure about a product you can flip to the right page and find out if it's safe. Excellent!

I also signed up to Glutafin and I was utterly gobsmacked when I received this in the post on Thursday...

An amazing hamper of goodies, which included 2 loaves of bread, bag of pasta, boxes of crackers and bread mix, all gluten-free and completely free of charge! Thank you so much Glutafin! I love getting free stuff! Can't wait to try the brand. Be sure to check out future posts for product reviews.

And so my research continues but hopefully there are more companies that are offering free samples because after all, what's the point if we can't try before we buy - how will we ever know what products are out there, what products we can afford, and which brands are the best. Every little helps. Keep them coming!

Let's go gluten-free

At the weekend I attempted my first ever gluten free shop at Sainsbury’s in preparation for Monday (my first day gluten free). It did seem a little daunting at first walking in to the supermarket clutching my shopping list and not having a clue where to start. But as I had made a list of exactly everything that I needed to get me through the first few days (breakfast, packed lunches for work, and a couple of evening meals that me and my non-Coeliac husband could both eat) there was no way I was going to stray from the list. 

The first thing I can say is the shop took me about twice as long to do because I was reading every single label on every item I wanted to buy but I did expect this. Surprisingly I found pretty much everything I needed and it was nowhere near as stressful as I thought shopping might be. With a bit of practice I'm sure I'll be zooming around the supermarket once I know what I like and can eat.

The price of gluten-free bread, however, is a killer – I paid £2.90 for a half loaf of Genius bread, which, compared to a full size loaf of ‘normal’ bread which I could have got for roughly 80p (supermarket own brand) seems daylight robbery to someone who has no choice but to buy this type of bread. I am therefore going to attempt to make my own bread from scratch at the weekend to compare the taste and cost between the two. Any recipes would be muchly appreciated!

To view the full Genius range see their website for more info

I am now 4 days in to my gluten-free lifestyle and feeling optimistic. My husband made a beautiful gluten-free chilli with rice on the first night (it happens to be my favourite meal) and the only thing we needed to change from our original recipe in order to make it gluten free was use a gluten-free beef stock. We decided to use Knorr’s stock cubes as Oxo cubes are a definite no-no. Look out for a recipe in future blog posts.