Practicing gluten-free prepping is advisable for people with specific health issues. However, this can be difficult because quite many foods contain the ingredient, and it is now a very common ingredient in foods.
On a general note, gluten is not dangerous if you’re healthy & have no sensitivity to it. However, if you’re sensitive to it, you’ll have to do away with all foods containing it.
In this article, we’ll look at the right techniques for gluten-free prepping because simply cutting out gluten isn’t enough. It has to be replaced too.
Tips for Practicing Gluten-free Prepping
Gluten-free prepping is mostly about having plenty of gluten-free foods in your pantry. The other part would be how to identify these foods & store them properly.
Below are effective tips for practicing gluten-free prepping.
Know how to Identify These Foods
It is fairly easy to identify foods containing gluten these days. They are stuck up on nearly every container these days: gluten-free or not!
To find out the right foods for your pantry, you have to:
Check Containers for “Certified Gluten-free
As things are, there’s a 3rd party organization that verifies if a purportedly gluten-free food is free as advertised. The “Certified Gluten-free” sticker is, therefore, the certification of this independent body.
You probably think this is too easy, and yes, it is. It’s not every product labeled “certified gluten-free” that’s safe for allergic persons. Even if they are produced according to laid down standards, some of these foods can still result in health problems if eaten by a celiac patient.
There’s usually no problem stockpiling gluten-free foods if you’re not sensitive to celiac. The problem is when you’re sensitive.
Go Through the Ingredient List
For one reason for the other, not every gluten-free food has the “certified gluten-free” label. This doesn’t mean that they are not safe. Rather, it would be that it wasn’t subjected to the org. It’s your duty now to do some investigation; you’re a prepper after all.
The easiest way to find out if a food contains gluten is to check if it has rye, barley, or wheat among its ingredients. This is so because wheat contains gluten and is a major allergen, in fact.
If none of these ingredients is found in the product, you’re good to go. However, rye, barley & wheat have various derivatives found in packaged products. Malt, for example, is found in malted milk, maltose, malted barley flour, malt vinegar, malt extract & malt syrup.
Other foods, including seasonings, flavorings, miso, soy sauce, spreads, gravies, or canned soups, are also made with one or two derivatives of wheat, rye, or barley. If you’re unsure of a product, you should do further research or just contact the manufacturer.
Fruits & Veggies are Free from Gluten
Blueberry containers or baby carrot bags carrying the certified gluten-free label are a common sight in supermarkets. While you may appreciate this, it isn’t helpful because fruits are naturally gluten-free.
And while I strongly doubt that you have fresh fruits & veggies in your stockpile, they are still nutritious in their dry, dehydrated forms.
Final Lines on Practicing Gluten-free Prepping
Practicing gluten-free prepping does not have to be complicated. The most important thing is being able to identify these foods. Storage is done just how other foods are stored. You can take out these foods & replace them with fruits & veggies — which are more nutritious. Keep in mind that a celiac patient who eats gluten can experience terrible health conditions.