bread, cakes and biscuits (cookies) your starch/carbohydrate intake will be too low. Eat plenty of potatoes and rice to make up for this.
Bear in mind that these are emergency menus and are a little narrow in outlook for a long-term gluten-free diet. However, with this information you should be able to get started immediately rather than continue with an ordinary diet until you have reorganized your eating regime in a broader way. No matter how tempting, do not eat ordinary bread, cakes, biscuits, crispbreads etc.
Here is a shopping list/store cupboard check for emergency menus:
• Almonds and walnuts (English walnuts), (plain)
• Bacon
• Black peppercorns
• Brown rice (plain)
• Butter or margarine
• Cooking oil (sunflower or olive)
• Gluten free cornflakes or rice cereal from Free-from section at supermarket
• Dried fruit, plain, without wheat fructose-sucrose
• Eggs, fresh (not egg replacer)
• Fresh fruit
• Fresh meat or fish (plain)
• Fresh vegetables
• Milk, plain, fresh or dried
• Pure fruit juice
• Salmon, tuna (tunny), sardines – all canned in oil or water (not sauce)
• Sea salt
• Sesame and sunflower seeds (plain)
• Sugar
• Tea or coffee (plain)
• Tomato purée (paste)
emergency menus for children
Use the emergency menus for adults, but omit the alcohol and add extra snacks such as:
• Fresh orange segments sprinkled with a little sugar;
• Home-made fish cakes (see here)
• Home-made chips – serve hot with a poached egg on top and grilled tomatoes instead of tomato sauce (see here)
• Savoury rice – fry a small chopped onion in a little oil. Add chopped cooked vegetables and 1 cup (1 1/4 cups) of cold cooked rice. Heat through while turning over with a wooden spoon. Season and serve
• Milk shakes – blend 2 cups of milk with any piece of stoned, peeled fruit. Add sugar to taste and blend (you will need a blender/liquidizer for this)
chapter five staple gluten-free substitutes
basic starchy foods (gluten-free)
As many starchy foods are forbidden on a gluten-free diet, such as ordinary bread, cakes, biscuits, buns, crispbreads, pastas and pizza, etc., other starchy ingredients must take their place in order to maintain a nutritional balance. Rice, potatoes and bananas are all easily available, high in starch and, mercifully, gluten-free. Other such ingredients are tapioca, sago, millet, buckwheat (saracen corn) and kasha, the toasted form of buckwheat. (This commodity is gluten-free in spite of its name, and is a member of the same botanical family as rhubarb.)
potatoes
Potatoes can be cooked in a huge variety of ways and there are always several types on sale all year round, which makes a gluten-free diet more interesting.
Boiled If the potatoes are new, cook them in their skins in boiling, salted water for 20 to 25 minutes, depending on size, until tender. Old potatoes should be peeled and cut into evenly sized pieces first, then cooked for up to 30 minutes, depending on variety.
Mashed Boil old, floury varieties such as King Edwards and Cara until tender, then drain. Mash them in the saucepan with a knob of butter, a little milk and a pinch or two of freshly grated nutmeg, salt and freshly ground black pepper. They can be kept warm for a while in the oven.
Baked (Jacket Potatoes) Scrub old potatoes really well, cutting out any eyes or blemishes. Prick all over with a fork and bake for an hour in an oven preheated to 425°F/220°C/gas mark 7 or for 2 hours at 350°F/180°C/gas mark 4. Cut open and insert a knob of butter to serve. Leftover baked potatoes can be sliced, including skin, and fried in a little sunflower or olive oil the following day.
Roast Potatoes Peel old potatoes and cut into even-sized chunks. Place in a roasting tin and sprinkle with 1 tsp sunflower or olive oil for each medium-sized potato. Turn over by hand to coat the potato chunks with the oil, then roast at the top of the oven for about 3/4 hour on a high heat or 1 hour on a medium heat until crisp, golden and tender.
Chips (French Fries) Many brands of oven chips are not gluten-free, so it is safer to make your own (see here).
Potato Spaghetti A useful, quick way to cook potatoes, especially for breakfast as they only take 10 minutes (see here).
Potato Patties Peel old potatoes, then boil and mash them. Season to taste. Form into small balls, then flatten and shallow fry in a little hot olive oil or sunflower oil until crisp and golden. Drain on kitchen paper and serve.
Potato flour (farina), available from health stores, is useful for coating foods before frying and for thickening gravies, stews, casseroles and sauces.
rice
Rice is widely available and there are many varieties. Serve basmati rice with curries and use other varieties for puddings and savoury dishes. Boil in plenty of water. The cooking time depends on the hardness of the grains, and varies from 10 to 15 minutes for basmati to 45 minutes for brown rice. When the rice is tender, drain through a colander and serve. Keep it hot, if necessary, by placing the colander over a pan of simmering water, covering with a saucepan lid or plate and just leaving until required. To reheat rice, put it into a metal sieve over a pan of water and bring to the boil. Steam for a few minutes, until hot.
Ground and flaked rice are good additions to the kitchen cupboard for a gluten-free diet. Rice flour is more finely ground than ground rice. Flaked rice is used for puddings.
buckwheat (saracen corn)
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