When I was diagnosed with coeliac disease aged four, I had to rely on my mum and dad to make sure I was having the correct foods. This was back when there was little understanding of gluten-free diets and the supermarkets poorly stocked freefrom foods. This experience growing up has taught me the essential cupboard ingredients to get by just fine. The last thing you want is to find yourself hungry with no gluten free foods to grab, ingredients to make main meals, or snacks. Keeping certain items of food on hand is the best way to ensure that you never have to make a last-minute trip to the grocery store. On a gluten free diet, remember many essentials are already naturally without gluten. You can eat many foods including unprocessed meat, fish, fruit, vegetables, rice and potatoes. If you are new to gluten free eating it is important to get familiar with the allergen labelling on the back of products. I'm going to help you out in this blog highlighting the brands I like and trust from baking ingredients to pizzas!
Baking ingredients
1. Doves gluten free flour
Number one on the list for a reason: you cannot get by without good quality gluten free flour. I like the Doves farm self-raising and plain flour. I would however like to start trying out different flours including their bread flour. I'll keep you updated once I give that a try one day.
2. Dr.Oetker baking powder
It's good to have some gluten free baking powder in. You never know when you might need it. Gluten-free baking powder features in many of the recipes on my website. You tend to use it with plain flour for some cakes. The brand I always buy is Dr.Oetker.
Cooking ingredients
3. Gluten free gravy
A tasty way of making gluten-free gravy is to make it using the juices from the meat you cooked and stirring in a little gluten-free flour to thicken it. Another option is to simply buy a jar of gluten-free gravy granules but make sure to check the back. Not all gravy is gluten free!
4. Gluten free stock cubes
You will find many of my recipes require stock cubes to enhance and deepen flavours. These are particularly useful for risotto, bolognese and soups.
Food staples
5. Gluten free pasta
I have found most supermarket brands actually make decent pasta. I often have Morrison's or Sainsbury's pasta in my cupboard
6. Genius bread
I've mentioned it before but it's true - Genius make my favourite loaves of bread at the moment.
7. Schar pizza
Having tried a few pizza’s over time, I feel I have found a good one. My favourite brand is Schar. It’s actually a frozen pizza (so not quite a cupbaord food!) which can be located usually by the Freefrom area in some supermarkets.
Do you have any store cupboard favourites? I would love to find out your suggestions. Keeping these gluten free foods in stock is a great way to ensure that you always have options for meals at home. These essentials tend to have a long shelf-life, so they will be ready when you need them most.
