If you’re one of the millions going gluten free these days, you need to carefully evaluate every item in your pantry. Keeping the same old thing on hand will only lead to problems, and it may leave you hungry as well.
Not sure what to keep in your pantry now that you’re gluten free? Here are a few staples you won’t want to be left without.
Flour Options
Traditional flours are no longer a part of your diet, but flour will still be a staple of your diet.
Most gluten free recipes call for rice flours, but as you work through many gluten free cookbooks, you’ll find some other options too.
Quinoa flour is one good option as is oat flour and garbanzo bean flour. Flax seeds and flax meal round out this group fairly well.
Vinegar
Even on a gluten free diet, you’re still going to find that some recipes call for vinegar.
The key here is to look at ingredient labels. If it includes malt, it needs to stay on the store shelves. Instead, stick with distilled white vinegar or apple cider vinegar.
Oils
Almost all of the oils you standardly used are still available to you on a gluten free diet.
You’ll want to read labels carefully to make certain that there aren’t any flavor additives you might be allergic to.
You probably want to keep extra virgin olive oil, sunflower oil, and canola oil on hand at the minimum.
Spices
While spices themselves aren’t a problem, some manufacturers add wheat to the product to make sure it doesn’t clump together.
As with almost every other item you pull from the store shelves, you’ll need to check the label pretty carefully to avoid that.
Some manufacturers cater to the gluten-free market, though, so they’re usually safe to buy from.
Common Sauces
Many pantries include Worcestershire, soy sauce, and ketchup. These are just not an option with a gluten-free diet.
You’ll need to look for specialized versions of each of these sauces, because traditional preparations do include wheat.
Basic Baking Staples
Baking soda, baking powder, and vanilla often contain wheat as a stabilizer, so you’ll want to look at labels carefully. In most cases, you can find versions that are wheat and gluten-free in specialty stores.
If you bake quite a bit, you may also want to add xanthan or guar gum to your pantry for your baking needs, as these work as a binder which adds a smooth texture to most of the things you might bake.
Pasta
Many pantries have stores of pasta as a quick side dish, and fortunately, there are a number of good gluten free pastas available, though you may have to shop at a special market to get some that you like.
There are other good options, too. If you can find gluten-free couscous it will provide a quick and easy side. Rice is also always natural provided it’s not flavoured.
