Gluten-Free Cooking Hints & Tips

It can be difficult cooking and shopping for a friend, family member, or significant other who is on a gluten-free diet. Special gluten-free foods and ingredients can be expensive and cooking a separate meal for just one person can make meal planning a nightmare. Here are some of my tips to make things a little cheaper and easier. Once again, what you see below is a result of personal experience.

1. Don't Cook Separate Meals Unless Necessary - One of the biggest complaints I've heard is that it's difficult to cook a separate gluten-free meal for just one person at the dinner table. My answer to that is simply, "don't." So many meals are 90-100% gluten-free to begin with, that you shouldn't have to single the person out. Choose meals where the different courses or dishes can be served separately (i.e. no one-dish meals) and make smart choices such as choosing rice or potatoes instead of pasta. If you are making a pasta dish, prepare a gluten-free sauce and side dishes that everyone can eat and simply cook a portion of gluten-free pasta ahead of time for the gluten-free person.
2. Thickening Agents - Learn to thicken all of your sauces, soups, and gravies with corn/potato/tapioca starches or rice-based flours. Most people won't notice the difference and you'll find that they often thicken better than wheat flour anyway.
3. Learn to Read Labels - Learn how to read food labels for "hidden" sources of gluten (again, Bette Hagman's book will help with this). Make note of which brands are okay and which aren't. Simply make those brands a part of your normal shopping. Thanks to the new food labeling act, this particular issue will be no more very shortly.
4. Keep Pre-made food around - Keeping breads, cookies, and cooked pasta and rice in the refrigerator or freezer can be a timesaver when substituting for your gluten-free friend at meal times. If you have a loaf of gluten-freen bread on hand, for example, a slice of garlic bread or french toast is never far away.
5. Stay Away From Boxed Mixes and Seasonings - Boxed rice or pasta mixes and prepared seasoning packets often have flour as a thickening agent. Learn to use plain rice and gluten-free pasta and make the seasonings or sauces yourself. Making cheese sauce for macaroni doesn't take much longer than tearing open a package of the orange stuff and it tastes better too!
6. Squeeze Bottles are your Friend - Jelly, Peanut Butter, Mayonaise, etc. that comes packaged in jars can be your worst nightmare. Crumbs from wheat bread can end up traveling into the jar via the spreading knife. Most of these products are available in squeeze bottles now or you can buy squeeze bottles at a kitchen supply store and refill them from the jars. Just make sure the squeeze tip doesn't touch the wheat sandwich bread. If you feel this is too expensive or cumbersome, sometimes it's just easier to buy two of each jar and label one "GF" with a permanent marker.