The holidays are a time for family gatherings and festive foods, but it might be a struggle to cook for certain people with very specific dietary requirements. For instance, one of your friends or family members could have celiac disease, so you may have to prepare gluten-free dishes for them.
There are a surprising number of items that contain gluten. Fortunately, offering alternatives is quite doable, but you will want to keep this in mind when shopping for your next get-together.
1. Soy Sauce
Soy sauce does contain gluten. Fortunately, coconut aminos does not, so you can simply substitute this for any dish or offer it as an additional condiment.
2. Salad Dressings
A shocking number of salad dressings are indeed made with gluten. That said, there are many gluten-free alternatives.
Generally speaking, vinaigrettes are almost always gluten-free, but Primal Kitchen usually has products with specific ingredients to please everyone at the table, regardless of their dietary needs and preferences.
Generally, their products are on the higher end price-wise, but they are arguably well worth the expense.
When in doubt, check the label on each product to ensure that it is actually gluten-free—the words "gluten-free" should be right below the list of ingredients.
3. Soups
Soups are deliciously comforting and healthy, but many of them do contain gluten. Fortunately, there are plenty that do not. If you have someone who suffers from celiac disease coming over for dinner, you might want to opt for chicken and vegetable soup—a classic—or yellow split pea soup. Stovetop green chili chicken soup is a great option if you and your guests are craving a bit of spice.
There is a myriad of gluten-free soups at your fingertips.
4. Processed Lunch Meats
While prepackaged deli meats contain gluten, plain turkey, chicken, roast beef, and ham do not. It is probably best to read the ingredient labels for derivatives of wheat, barley, or rye to determine whether or not your pre-packaged deli meat contains gluten, but the safer bet is to opt for plain options instead.
5. Potato Chips
While most potato chips are naturally gluten-free, some are not: malt vinegar and wheat both contain gluten, and some flavors have these ingredients.
To be safe, you can look for a gluten-free label on any chips you purchase. There are also quite a few brands offering chips that are explicitly gluten-free, including Lay's, Ruffles, and Kettle Brand chips. As long as you steer clear of malt vinegar and sea salt flavor—or at least provide another option in addition to it— you can usually avoid gluten.
Shopping Tips
Before shopping for gluten-free products, you might want to write yourself a list of brands that sell this specific type of item. In addition, you can intentionally avoid foods with derivatives of wheat, rye, and barley on their ingredients list and stay on the lookout for any item stating explicitly that it is gluten-free.
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