About 10 years ago I had a, young new to practicing, doctor diagnose me with celiac disease. No one I knew had ever heard of it at the time. I was also diagnosed with fibromyalgia. I was told the two often go hand in hand. I wasn’t surprised to be diagnosed with another allergy. As it is, I have a few.
My issue is I hate to cook, prepare food, shop for food, all of it. But I love to eat. I am all about the quick, ready to eat type of lifestyle. Most of the cooking is done by my husband. Before we were together I had friends that loved to cook over all the time…….So I wouldn’t have to.
Growing up my parents divorced when I was 5. My brother and sister are more than 15 years older than I am. Neither of them were still home. I lived with my father. He has many skills but cooking is not one of them. We lived on iced animal cookies, microwaved hot dogs, frozen pot pies, and canned ravioli. We did not eat out, I’m not sure why. It was a treat to go to my moms. We would sometimes eat out. But mostly it was because she cooked.
After the diagnosis I had to learn what I could eat. This meant reading labels and avoiding everything!! At least at first. No more snacking when you go to visit someone, or when co-workers bring in goodies. No more free samples at Sam’s Club. Going to dinner at a friends house became a huge pain. I even hated going to restaurants, because at that time most people had never heard of celiac. They did not understand, and staff rarely understood what gluten was or if the dishes contained any form of gluten.
I still hate to cook, but in order to eat without issue I have to or teach my husband how to accommodate my allergy.
In the early days I tried a lot of different products. I absolutely hated most of the items that were altered to be gluten free. The most prevalent GF brand at that time was Udi’s. I felt their products gave an after taste of sucking on sweaty gym socks. So I gave up trying any breads, pastas, cereals, baked goods, etc. Throughout this section I will list products I like and use. I am a very picky eater. I am not a huge fan of vegetables, I like fruits, but not all. I LOVE sea food, but stick to the basic meats chicken, beef. I’m not even a big fan of pork, I’ll eat a chop or some bacon. But ham, NO WAY. I don’t like the texture.
Of course cutting out gluten, limits my very narrow field of options even less. My husband was diagnosed with gout about 8 years ago and recently was told to watch his sugar because he was pre-diabetic. Searching the internet for recipes is a daunting task with all our restrictions. The on going joke in our house is we eat grass and bark.
In NY, were we lived, we had a Wegman’s grocery store. We loved them. Their store brand was clearly labeled and they had a ton of options.
In SC we struggle because each grocery store has different options, some I like, some I don’t. Some have lots of products, some only a few. The products are not all the same even at the same chain of stores. We miss the simplicity and freshness Wegman’s stores offered. Public’s is said to be the equivalent but I just don’t see it. Lowe’s grocery store is a good alternative, but even there I only find a few options and I feel they are pricey. We end up going to a different grocery store every week just to find the options that appeal to me.
