How Our Family of 6 Eats Gluten Free
Why our family of 6 eats gluten free
We have a family of 6 that all eat gluten free. My husband was resistant to being tested, even though he fit all the symptoms for celiac disease. I have celiac (read about my journey to diagnosis here) and don’t have your typical symptoms, but he has all the typical symptoms. When he gets gluten he is running to the bathroom, for days! (In this post, I will not delve into what celiac is; I assume, if you are reading this you have a good understanding of the disease. If not please check out the resources at gluten.org) After having genetic testing done (because he ended up going gluten free before being tested), we learned he doesn’t have the celiac genes HLA-DQ2 and HLA-DQ8. He was given the diagnosis of non-celiac gluten intolerant. *Update: Last year we found out he has Crohn’s and because he went gluten free, removing his biggest trigger, he has saved his colon. Had he continued on the path he was on, it is very likely he would have lost his colon to the disease.
Before taking my daughters gluten free,
all of them had blood work done. It is important to have testing done before traveling down the gluten free road. Going gluten free before testing makes the tests inaccurate and genetic testing is expensive! It was shocking when my daughter with constant stomachaches came back negative as well as my youngest who wasn’t growing. I had read that sometimes the blood test isn’t accurate. The gold standard for testing is a biopsy. I had also been told by many people that doctors won’t do a biopsy if the blood test is negative. We also had the issue with their dad having obvious sensitivities to gluten and figured their chances of doing well with gluten weren’t very good! So, what else could I do? My doctor suggested taking the one that had stomachaches dairy free, but this really overwhelmed me. It was hard adjusting to all I had to do with being gluten free. I worried that if they really did have celiac that they would continue having health issues which could lead to irreversible problems including not growing.
Not growing was already an issue for my 2 1/2 year old who only weighed about 17 pounds!
Every test the doctor ran on her came back negative or normal. So, we took the plunge and took everybody gluten free. Amazingly my 2nd daughter quit having stomachaches, every day! My baby grew and went from the 3rd and 5th percentile for height and weight to the 25th percentile in just 6 months! The doctor was leery about me taking her gluten free and thought she would have more problems because of nutrition she would be losing. However, when he saw her improve he told me he didn’t care what I was doing and to keep on doing it because it was working! Never underestimate a mother’s intuition!
Our 3rd daughter calmed down and was so much easier to handle and was less disobedient.
My husband and I had been considering having her tested for ADD or ADHD but once she was gluten free, those issues disappeared, for the most part. We had to fix some behavioral issues that were created more from habit with everything that had gone on with the many medical issues in our home.
My oldest daughter experienced the biggest growth spurt she ever had.
I am convinced that had she not gone gluten free she would have been 5 feet or shorter. Two of my cousins that are 4’10” and 4’11”. My daughter made it to 5’2″ and I couldn’t be happier! I always wanted my girls to be taller than me! I am only 5’1/2″. Celiac stunts growth, but you can catch up if you go gluten free before you finish growing.
It’s so expensive!
Feeding a family of 6 is quite expensive, even if you aren’t gluten free. We have had to give up some things we would like to do and are unable to vacation as much as we would like. It really sucks, in that regard, but so worth it to have healthy happy kids! How could I get my health under control and risk theirs? I couldn’t and with the improvements we saw in everyone, we all had to be gluten free!
“Studies have shown that gluten-free foods, on average, cost 242% more than standard foods.” (Gluten Free Cooking School)
Part of the expense in eating gluten free is that you tend to eat fresher, healthier foods. It’s amazing that even the good for you foods that are naturally gluten free cost much more than empty calorie processed foods. (gluten free or non-gluten free)
Keeping the Cost Down
Buy less specialty foods
The wide spread gluten free, labeled foods is fairly new. Currently, we have been gluten free for more than 13 years, now! We don’t buy a lot of processed foods. There are favorites we have discovered and those that make life easier with cooking and baking. Several times I tried to make gf bread. I never liked how it turned out and found it frustrating! My friend has a gluten free company and makes wonderful mixes. She even has a wonderful mix for gf bread and it turns out great! However, there is just something about making bread that I hate! So, that is one expense we choose to make my life a little easier.
Most specialty foods are processed and contain a lot of sugar and fat. They really aren’t that healthy. You will gain weight if you make these staples in your diet. So, going easy on them not only helps your pocket book, but also your waistline.
Buy at the Asian or Latin Markets
You can find gf flours for less at the Asian and Latin markets! Great places to get what you need and save money! I shop quite a bit at the Asian market in our area and I am always amazed by how much I get for so little! There are so many gluten free noodles and the cost is quite low! Bean thread noodles are a great substitute for angel hair pasta! The noodles we use in Somen Salad are also good for spaghetti!
Buy in bulk
Costco often carries gluten free foods. It is the only place I know of where you can get a large loaf of Udi’s bread (large by gf standards, normal by most other standards) and it is the same price as at the small loaf at the grocery or health food store.
Do NOT try to save money by shopping bins! Most places that have gf flour in bins place gf bins next to non-gf bins. Have you ever watched what goes on around these bins? People aren’t careful and don’t understand cross contact. If a scoop is missing they will take it from somewhere else without thinking.
However, those are the least of your problems! A puff of flour takes 3 hours to completely settle. The flour in that area is constantly being stirred up by people walking, moving, lifting etc. in that area. Those gf bins are filled with cross contamination!
Most places that have bins will let you order the bags of flour from them. Often a big 25 pound bag of gf flour will save you money in the long run.
This post contains affiliate links. I earn a small commission for the referral, but your price remains the same.
Make your own mixes
I didn’t cook much before we went gluten free and so coming up with my own concoctions wasn’t going to happen. My cousin went gf (and was diagnosed) before me and his mom told me to check out Bette Hagman
I don’t recommend a really large container for the pancake mix, especially if only one or two people will be using it or if you don’t use it very often. If not used very often, it lasts better being stored in the refrigerator, otherwise the powdered buttermilk clumps. We use it frequently for waffles.
Keeping the soup mix made makes it easier to throw together a casserole. Sometimes, I was really frustrated that I had to make a soup rather than pour it from a can like I was used to. However, I always have people tell me that my food taste better than what they make. I’ve tried other things, but I really like how this mix tastes! It’s time to upgrade my soup container to the set pictured above! (If you look closely, there’s a little crack in the container it was in, when I uploaded the soup mix recipe.)
It’s also in this kind of container that I keep my all Featherlight flour. I love it for baking. I also have a small container of cornstarch (because I don’t like having to get out the large container of cornstarch all the time).
In my 5 gallon containers I have rice flour, tapioca starch, potato starch and corn starch. Then I have extra ones in my storage room of rice flour because we use that the most.
Grind it
The cost of rice flour kept rising! When it kept fluctuating from $60-$80 for a 40lb bag of rice flour I decided that it was time to grind our own!
It is important to use a grinder that has never ground gluten grains! You can’t fully clean all the places gluten can go, get stuck and cross contaminate gf runs through the grinder. I have really loved my Nutrimill! We have been using it for 3 or 4 years, now! Remember, anything you can grind can be made into a flour! However, be careful of grains, seeds, and nuts that have oils that can gum up and potentially damage your grinder! For things that have oils like flaxseed it is recommended to grind it in a coffee grinder. Honestly, I haven’t done much more than rice and popcorn kernels. (Popcorn ground into flour makes a good cornbread!) Costco carries ground flaxseed and so I get it there. (I mix it into our flour mixture)
Make it!
In many ways this was one of the hardest for me! I hated to cook and wasn’t thrilled about making everything from scratch. I also felt that if I had to go to all that work, it was going to taste good! On Pinterest , I have a lot of gluten free boards. I need to go through the recipes and put my notes in about recipes we like or didn’t like. It was really, really hard that first year, but through perseverance it got easier.
That doesn’t mean I don’t have hard days, when I just wish we could have a pizza ordered in (that didn’t cost an arm and a leg) or be able to try out the newest places to eat without worrying.
Click here for more budget tips.
Taking our family gluten free has totally been worth it! We are healthier because of it! I have no doubts that going gluten free has helped my children to delay and hopefully avoid other health issues that they may be susceptible to.
It’s also been nice to not have to worry about cross contact and cross contamination in our home. I don’t have to worry about getting sick when my husband or kids kiss me or touch me. Nor do I have to wonder or ask if they have brushed their teeth, washed their face and hands before coming in contact with me. I don’t have to worry about them double dipping after making a sandwich on regular bread or gluten crumbs anywhere in the kitchen.
So, besides health being a great benefit, so is the peace of mind for our family.
So, my third gluten free daughter is attending her first year of college. Of course, she is going to a different school than her sisters went to and so, it is like starting over! In fact, the school she has chosen is the most difficult we have ever experienced with gluten free.
My daughter went to an institute (religion) class and felt that she needed to learn to love her roommate and the right thing to do was to stay and work it out with her. She prayed about this and received a blessing from her dad and it all seemed right for her to work it out. We called the landlord on Monday and told him she wanted to stay, but he told us it was not an option.
Anyone with celiac has it really bad! Severity of symptoms is not an indication of how bad you have celiac! People with relatively few, mild or no symptoms to speak of may have worse intestinal damage than someone with severe symptoms! Unfortunately, the only way to know just how bad it is, is with a biopsy of the small intestine.
Similar to the above but their friend doesn’t have it that bad or is cured!
Sometimes it is frustrating that the gluten free “fad” diet is so popular and yet so many people still don’t understand why many people need to be on the diet and that the diet means: no wheat (of any kind including spelt, kamut and triticale), no rye, no barley and no oats. (Many on the gluten free diet choose to eat certified gf oats but others avoid all oats as well.) Anything with malt typically contains barley. This would be a hidden gluten because it isn’t obvious. Most malt in the United States is made from barley. Another frustration is that because barley isn’t a top ten allergen, manufacturers don’t have to list it in their ingredient list.
have the wrong idea about it, but it is right there on their website) : 
It’s not the only think I want to talk about and you don’t have to bring it up every time we get together!
Yes! One bite will hurt me! No! I can’t just eat everything but the crust. One crumb is enough to cause a reaction! The unseen gluten protein that may be in your kitchen may also hurt me! I know that you don’t understand cross contact and I know that it can be as bad as actually eating gluten.
Not everything gluten free tastes good! Some things your dog wouldn’t even eat. It’s not that we don’t appreciate your efforts, but I’ve had some really nasty tasting gf foods. Communication with your gluten free friends and family goes a long way! It can help avoid an uncomfortable situation for everyone involved.
It bares repeating: Yes! One bite will hurt me! No! I can’t just eat everything but the crust! No! I can’t just take the bread off! No! I can’t just take the croutons off! No! I am not overreacting or being unreasonable! No! I am not trying to be nor do I want to be high maintenance!
Being 100% compliant is hard! Being 100% compliant is the only way to heal and feel better, there is no cheating.
There’s nothing worse than someone who should know better but chooses to make other choices! When you eat gluten and then complain about that headache, are ornery, sick to your stomach or whatever other symptoms that just makes you feel off; it’s frustrating to hear you complain when you chose to eat something you shouldn’t have! Find your will power! You can do it! You are hurting yourself!
You will need 6 Lemons.
Because the fruit is so sweet I wouldn’t do more than 3/4 cup of sugar when adding more fruit to the lemonade. Let the berries with the sugar sit in the fridge for 30 minutes. This helps to soften them and draw out their juices. Put the berries into the juice with the sugar and then add the water and stir well.
I first noticed this when I was a young mother trying to navigate doors, strollers, diaper bag and toddlers. The first time I noticed it, I was trying to take my double stroller through the handicap (the only electric) door at the mall.
Are we all just lazy at heart?
Because of my experiences with celiac and gluten free I realized that drugs/medication isn’t the only way to handle illness and other health issues. Don’t get me wrong I love western medicine; I just wish alternative and western ideas would work better together! I think we would all be healthier if there was a mesh between the two to figure out what works best for individuals. This has led to the door of reading different books. It has led to being open to how we are affected by energy and thoughts. It has led to 
When I walked through the “mom” door I knew the kind of mom I wanted to be. My door was about being fully responsible for my child and staying home with her. My door was about putting aside what I wanted and focusing on my child. I wanted my children to have my values and ideals. I felt that sending them away to be watched by someone else would bring a different influence and experience that I didn’t want my child to have. In talking about costs, I would solely be working just to pay for someone to take care of my child. Being a mom is the only job I ever really wanted to have. I have walked through doors of saying goodbye to people who weren’t positive in my life so I could be positive in my families lives and the mom I want to be.
Cut them in half and then in half again like so. Then, they are ready to put on a baking sheet or stone. (I love cooking with stoneware! If you have cooked gluten on them make sure you either replace them or cover them with tin foil when cooking anything that is gf. Stoneware holds onto the gluten because it is porous.)
to make our Au Jus and some salt and pepper to taste. After the Better Than Boullion has been mixed in (dissolved) I turn the temperature down to low.
I like the roast beef from Costco, the Kirkland brand, found in the meat and cheese (Deli) section of the store. (Deli sliced lunchmeat- pre-packaged)
I throw the lunch meat into the broth. This way the meat is warmed up and they share flavors. I put 3 slices per sandwich.
Toast the bread on broil until just golden brown. This should only take a few minutes 2-3, keep an eye on them. (I have started dinner on fire on broil, before! Huge bummer especially when gf bread costs so much!) The toasted bread is perfect for soaking up the au jus and not falling apart, too much.
I remove the “tops” from the baking sheet. I load up the “bottoms” with the meat, using tongs to do so. Then I put cheese slices on top of the meat. We used Monterrey Jack this time, but you could do Swiss, or Mozzarella. Broil until cheese is melted and then remove from oven. Load your veggies on top of the cheese. Tongs work great to place the veggies. Then place the top of your bread on to the sandwich!
With a ladle we fill bowls for dipping with the Au Jus. Dip, soak, enjoy!
None of your pans that you formally cooked gluten in have scratches or nicks. (Or even better, you have replaced all your non-stick cookware and stoneware. Theses items are porous and can hold onto the gluten in those pores.) You have a new and separate colander for gf and non-gluten free noodles. (Those little holes in the colander can hold onto the protein.) 
without gluten, unfortunately Costco has discontinued carrying that brand and we are searching for where to find our gf dog food. I haven’t had time to look around much so . . . soon!
In fact, all of my neighbors do this! Even if the weather is bad, many of our neighbors will pass out candy from their garages.
The big slime cube is designed so someone can be inside and move it. The eyes are a black see through material. We try to stay away from the really gory and scary. (Not my favorite part of Halloween.)
My wonderful sister-in-law did a great job cutting it up to serve! Some of the people helping us were afraid to cut the beautiful cake and it was a little overwhelming to figure out how to divvy it out. However, Alisha also provided us with a cake cutting diagram, which helped.
Family Members Who Should Be Tested
I have always had bad teeth. My teeth were soft and the enamel was ill formed. It was chalked up to bad prenatal advice my mom had received. My mom was told that it was bad for the baby if you drank milk while pregnant. This was always the reason I was told I had bad teeth. By the time I was 3 years old, I had to have all of my baby teeth filled. The dentist started me on fluoride treatments and I took fluoride pills for years! Still, my bad enamel was a problem.
My daughter who has similar dental defects to mine (and does not eat lemons) had delayed teeth. (I couldn’t find any toothy pictures.) She didn’t get her first two teeth until a week after her first birthday and then they came in 2 at a time. Her teeth are pitted and discolored. Her teeth had an odd, almost transparent look when they were coming in.
My teeth have gotten worse during this time and this is probably why! There is a discoloration line between the top of my top teeth and the bottom of my top teeth. The top part is quite dark. (This picture was 3 years ago.) I also had some issues with dry mouth. I woke up one morning with a very dry mouth and my cheek, that was against the pillow, was stuck to my teeth. On that side the teeth have become deeply pitted.
I put my toothpaste on my toothbrush, drop 1 drop orange and 1 drop bergamot and brush my teeth. I have seen improvement in my tooth color and the sensitivity of my teeth. I haven’t had a cavity since beginning to do this 1 1/2 years ago. It is remarkable, to say the very least!
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