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Gluten-Free Emergency Kits

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff 1 Comment

Do you have a gluten-free emergency kit? Has the thought ever crossed your mind in the case of a disaster of some sort? Tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, or even summer storms can wreak havoc and leave destruction in their wake. If your power was out for longer than 12-24 hours, what would you do?

After 9-11, I really began to freak out about being prepared for an emergency. I live nowhere close to NYC, but what if some kind of a disaster were to strike close to our home and we were unable to get food for whatever reason? This was all before we had to eat gluten-free, too. Sure, keeping gallons of water, flashlights, batteries, and blankets is easy whether you are gluten-free or not. Keeping food around may not be as easy unless you plan ahead.

There are checklists available here to outline the most important items to have on hand. Included in the link above are basic lists and then suggested additions. A three-day supply is suggested for food and water. Make sure to take into account that water is per person. If you have pets, do not forget to plan ahead for them. Here are some basic gluten-free food items that can be included in an emergency kit:

  • Lara Bars, Pure Bars, Zing Bars or other fruit/nut bar
  • Canned meat – tuna and salmon are good choices
  • Canned beans – good source of protein/carbs
  • Nuts
  • Non-perishable, pasteurized milk (Horizon Organic makes individual boxes)
  • Vitamins
  • Gluten-free crackers
  • Gluten-free cereal
  • Peanut butter (other nut butter are good, too, but some need to be kept in the refrigerator)
  • Dried fruit

Gluten-free Emergency Kits sells pre-packaged emergency kits for 24 hours, 72 hours, or 30 days. The 72-hour kit feeds a family of 4 and has a shelf life of 5 years. A description from the site:

The kit is shipped in boxes, has a shelf life of four to five years if stored properly between 68 to 70 degrees. The products are packaged in Mylar bags with oxygen absorbers.

Mixes From The Heartland Inc. has developed a complete gluten-free emergency food kit that supplies the necessary ingredients to provide meals for a family of four to six people for seventy-two hours. The purchaser of the kit needs only to add water to have savory, gluten-free meals that can be consumed by the whole family.

In addition to food and water, make sure to set aside any medications that family members may need in case of an emergency. Extra glasses or contact lenses, extra batteries for hearing aids, and information on any medical devices, if used.

After you get the emergency kit figured out, be sure to make a plan. Making a plan includes things like subscribing to alert services, informing all family members how to contact one another, and including pre-paid calling cards or money in the kit.

The last bit of information is to be informed. What kinds of unexpected situations could require your family to put an emergency plan into action? Forms and publications on the plans and some of the links provided above can be downloaded or ordered here.

Gluten-Free Vacation Tips

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff 1 Comment

Schools here let out for summer last week and for many families, that means summer vacation is around the corner. If you’ve read much of my work before, you know I love traveling and eating out. Gone are the days when those activities came to an end when someone found out they could not eat gluten. Even though I love fabulous salads, don’t think I’m going around settling for salads when I’m dining out. We now eat better than we ever did in our gluten-eating days and that includes when we dine out. Like anyone, in a pinch, I’ll order a boring salad (or maybe even a fancy gourmet one), but those times are exceptions for me – not the rule.

It always kind of saddens me to read listserv posts from people who are super anxious about having to travel for work or play. Oftentimes, people are looking for information on where to buy gluten-free foods in the areas they are traveling to. Though that is good information to have – so is info about where the best options for gluten-free dining are. Far more people are now asking where others have had success eating out than those who just ask about buying gluten-free food. And that is excellent progress from four years ago, in my opinion.

Below are my personal gluten-free travel tips. Many people have told me they work for them too so I thought I’d list them here for those who might be taking their first gluten-free summer vacation soon. First off, know you can do it successfully if you set your mind to it. That would be true about almost anything, of course.

  1. Google the city/area you’re going to with ‘gluten-free dining’ to find restaurants with gluten-free menus, shopping info, and other helpful information.
  2. Search online for the local gluten-free or celiac support groups in the area. Such groups often maintain a gluten-free restaurant (and shopping) guide right on the websites. For instance, the Alamo Celiac group even posts helpful restaurant reviews on their site.
  3. Look for gluten-free blogs in the area you’re going to. Some might offer nothing but recipes and won’t be helpful in terms of gluten-free dining options. Others might offer extensive restaurant reviews, noting the signature dishes of the places reviewed.
  4. Look for accommodations that offer a complete kitchen if possible. You can save a lot of money by eating at least breakfast in the room. Plus, most places are not going to offer you gluten-free pancakes or toast and it gets old eating meat and eggs every morning.
  5. If your budget allows, order the Restaurant Guide and dining cards. For international travel, I love Let’s Eat Out with Celiac/Food Allergies. When traveling to places where your language is not the native tongue, you really need some type of translation dining card. Even if you have to make your own – don’t leave home without something to help explain your dining needs.

Obvious tips include packing at least some shelf-stable food for any trip. Having plenty to eat on airline flights is key for me. Don’t overdo the food packing for the actual vacation though. We went to London and Paris with a backpack full of food. It was 3/4 full when we returned home and my husband ate as much of the snacks I’d packed as I did. In NYC where gluten-free options abound, we took much less of our own food. Generally, forums on Trip Advisor can offer help with information on destinations. I like to look for gluten-free restaurant options that support groups suggest and compare them to Trip Advisor ratings. It doesn’t really matter to us if “XYZ cafe” has a gluten-free menu if the locals think it’s by far the worst place to dine in the area.

Last but not least, if you want to sit back, relax and let someone else do all the research for your trip, consider taking a gluten-free adventure with Bob & Ruth’s Travel Club. They do all the work – guests just show up and enjoy the incredible gluten-free offerings – and scenery and culture as well!

Naturally Gluten-Free Fresh Strawberries

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff 5 Comments

We live near a strawberry farm. Well, it’s actually about ten miles from us, but in this area that’s considered close by. Sometimes we get lucky and find pretty decent-tasting strawberries at Whole Foods and find them less often at Publix. However, nothing compares to fresh strawberries that you pick right off the vine. The sweet juicy flavor of fresh strawberries is one of my favorite things about summer. Though it’s not technically summer yet and the weather here can’t make up its mind, we’ve had average temps several days here already. What better time to put fresh strawberries to use?

Whole Foods actually has a great online article about how to use strawberries. Many of the recipes listed are gluten-free or can be easily modified to be so. We loved strawberry shortcake and in our gluten-eating days, used Sara Lee’s pound cake to make it. These days, we either bake a pound cake with a mix (123 gluten-free or Sylvan Border Farm) or use the ready-made sponge cake from Shabtai-Gourmet.

Even though we avoid using the oven during the summer – as much as we can – making fresh strawberry bread has become a ritual since our house went gluten-free. Before we knew there was a strawberry farm near us, we used frozen strawberries to make the bread. Now, only freshly picked will do. You can make full or mini loaves and freeze the loaves for up to six months. Here is the recipe I use from Recipe Zaar. For the flour, we now use Jules gluten-free, but Pamela’s baking mix or Gluten-Free Pantry’s all-purpose flour works well too. Add some xanthan gum if the flour blends you use do not contain it. To remove some of the fat and still make a moist loaf, use some unsweetened applesauce for some of the oil. Just don’t use all applesauce if you want it to be really moist.

Another way to enjoy strawberries it to use them over vanilla ice cream or in my case, frozen yogurt. Adding chocolate sauce and whipped cream makes the perfect summer sundae. Soak cut-up strawberries in a little orange juice for several hours or overnight. We do this for both sundaes and strawberry shortcakes. There are countless ways to enjoy this amazing summer fruit. And besides tasting delicious, strawberries are quite healthy as well. They have more fiber than you might think, contain no cholesterol, and are loaded with Vitamin C. Check out the full nutritional data here. How do you enjoy strawberries during the summer?

Watch Out for Barley Flour

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff 2 Comments

When Frito-Lay put out the press release about their updated gluten-free and non-gluten ingredient product list, several previously listed items were missing. The reason is that the items now contain barley flour. Yes, barley flour is now in some snack items. So far, it seems that food companies are listing barley in the ingredients, which is helpful. Barley is not considered a major allergen in the U.S. – by the FDA anyway. Therefore, it does not have to be called out on food labels. In the case of barley flour, companies know that just listing the word “flour” results in them getting flooded with calls from people asking exactly what kind of flour is in the item.

According to the Barley Foods website, barley flour contains over three times as much fiber as wheat flour. This gives the large food companies good reason to consider adding it to products, to make the products “healthier” for people who can eat gluten. Then the product labels will list a higher amount of fiber, possibly making gluten consumers reach for one bag of chips (or other items) over another that is barely free. Oh, and according to this report (or partial report), barley is heart-healthy too. Barley even made it into the May issue of Good Housekeeping in the healthy grains blurb. Interestingly, the few gluten-free grains that were listed were not called out as being gluten-free.

Most of us are aware of the powerful lobby of the National Wheat Association. However, the National Barley Foods Council is a group to be reckoned with. The powers that be in the group fought congress tooth and nail when Dr. Alessio Fasano tried to convince them to change the labeling law to include all forms of gluten. And the barley industry won. When food companies slowly started using corn malt instead of barley malt, the companies that grow barley started thinking of ways to get their product into other foods. And they have been successful in getting it added to some unsuspecting products, including Lays “Barbecue” and “Flamin’ Hot” potato chips. Even the Baked Lays “Barbecue” chips now contain barley flour.

Several times in the past, I’ve been contacted by people looking for help during visits to the U.S. These people were mostly from various parts of Europe. Each person asked various things, but all of them asked if it was actually true that in the U.S., products did not have to call out gluten – as in having to state “contains gluten” on packages of anything that does. I remember being embarrassed when I was diagnosed with celiac, that the U.S. was so far behind other countries on the issue. Each time I got notes from people outside the country, indicating they were in disbelief over the labeling situation here, I was a little embarrassed for our country – again.

There is nothing wrong with an industry trying to make sure their product is used as much and as often as possible, of course. But we have to make sure and stay on top of the food companies and let them know that they have got to list barley as an ingredient, regardless of what the law requires. Frito-Lay is a company willing to do that for us, and for that, we should be grateful. Think of all the odd places you see wheat in products today. Now think about the barley industry convincing companies to replace wheat with barley. This could turn into a total nightmare for our community. If there was ever a time for a formal labeling law regarding the term gluten-free in the U.S., it was yesterday.

Gluten-Free Tips for Earth Day

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff Leave a Comment

Today is Earth Day and though we try and be “green” whenever possible, it’s nice to make an extra effort to be earth friendly on Earth Day. Not making unnecessary trips in the car is a good idea all the time and something I’ve strived to get better about for a while now. To make sure I get all my errands done in one fell swoop, I make a list of if I’m going to more than three places on one trip. If I don’t, I might end up whipping past the post office without dropping off my outgoing mail.

Excerpt from the Earth Day website:

Earth Day 2010 can be a turning point to advance climate policy, energy efficiency, renewable energy and green jobs. Earth Day Network is galvanizing millions who make personal commitments to sustainability. Earth Day 2010 is a pivotal opportunity for individuals, corporations and governments to join together and create a global green economy. Join the more than one billion people in 190 countries that are taking action for Earth Day.

When it comes to “green” living, eating locally produced foods is a really good way to be kind to the environment. Local farmer’s markets are popping up in many places these days. To find one in your area, check the Local Harvest website. All fresh fruits and veggies are naturally gluten-free. Clearly, buying tomatoes grown 20 miles from your house is better than buying some flown in from another country. And the locally grown tomatoes should taste better too!

There are ways to cook that are more environmentally friendly as well. Using a crock pot to make dinner instead of the oven will save both energy and money. This is a great way to cook during the hot and humid days many of us are already experiencing or will be experiencing soon. You can even have sandwiches, chips, and salad for a “no cooking required” meal. Udi’s bread is edible with heating or toasting – just open the bag and enjoy great-tasting gluten-free bread!

People on a gluten-free diet tend to have a lot of food in the freezer. The items usually include muffins, bread, pizza crusts, and other various bread items. To keep from going through as many plastic food storage bags as I used to, I wrap items in wax paper and then place them inside the bags. This wrapping and storage method allows the bags to be reused again and again. I much prefer this to have to wash the bags. In our area, the washed bags never seem to get dry – especially in the warm months.

We switched to non-toxic cleaners several years ago. At one time, Seventh Generation products were widely reported online to be gluten-free, but the company does not state that anything in their line is gluten-free. According to their website, the products are made with ingredients that do not contain gluten and also some that might. Everyone should use products that make them comfortable, of course. We absolutely love Seventh Generation products!