"The Basics"
Some hints on stocking your kitchen with the basic ingredients and utensils.
When assigned with a new task that could greatly help your child (or children) many parents can go a little overboard. Especially when it comes to buying the GF CF items you need to have a fully loaded kitchen. This document attempts to outline some of the basics and where to start in preparation of a GFCF kitchen, the basic ingredients, commonly used utensils and gadgets.
Some suggestions for the start are:
- Start the diet slow, buy minimal amounts of the basics (see below for Basics list)
- Try to duplicate what your child eats before the diet came around. Study them and find recipes that will help you replace these favorite foods.
- There are no "brownie points" for variety when starting the diet. The goal is to be 100% gluten/casein free as soon as possible. Shoot for variety once you have your child eating. Most kids expand their diet after 3 mos but may take more time.
- Buy foods in bulk ONLY WHEN you see if your child likes them, eats them and does not have a negative reaction!!! I have wasted a lot of dollars buying large quantities to test them out on my son only to be met with “no go” and no eating. It is a good idea to obtain small amounts for testing early on and where ever possible, ask vendors for “sample sizes”.
Read info about GFCF ingredients and substitutions.
Buying Prepared foods:
At www.gfcfdiet.com there is a list of fast food and ready packaged foods and vendors ready to save you time. You have to experiment here on what your child likes and dislikes. Again, buy in small quantities to start!
Cooking Equipment – What to Buy and Where to SAVE YOUR MONEY!
Before you go crazy at Sam’s Club, Macy’s Home Store, Best Buy or Wal-Mart on cooking equipment and supplies – step away from the credit card! Here are the basics I have bought and use a lot:
1) Muffin pans
2) Kitchen Aid mixer (This is an expensive item but I have to stress it well worth it! I cannot believe I went 2 years without one on this diet!)
3) Bread pans (I Do NOT recommend buying a bread maker! All the recipes in this document are made without yeast in regular pans without a bread maker!)
4) Good measuring cups & spoons
5) Good cookie sheets
6) If you have a nugget and fries fan: get a deep fryer
7) And if you can afford it – a small food processor is great for chopping up veggies and other items used in the recipes. It is recommended you buy one that can be easily cleaned in the dishwasher.
THAT IS IT! All other cooking gadgets are cool but they are just gadgets. I went out and bought everything and ended up putting most of it away or giving it away. Save your money!
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