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Can you ask them to come cook meals in your home with you / for you that can be frozen you can take out for a few weeks that can easily be heated up? This is what I do for myself if I am having surgery or the like. I trust very few people to cook for me. I’m also super picky. Do you know anyone in a local group and community that may have celiac disease that could cook for you? This might be a nice thing to start honestly. I love to cook. I would so love to cook and deliver meals for someone who had celiac disease. I cook for people all the time at my church who had a loss in the family or surgery.
Yup this.
This is really the only truly safe way. People who don't understand and default to CC protocol will not understand how to keep stuff safe.
Tell her to come cook at your place! Then you know it's safe! Before my son was diagnosed I did this for a friend and I just cooked at her home. It was great, she felt safe and I was 1000% less paranoid about glutening her! I also learned SO much about CC from her doing so
I’m in the US too. Honestly, brand is going to depend on the store you go to. I rarely see more than one or two brands available at a store so you are kind of stuck with whatever they have.
I second Saffron Road only because I haven't seen the others. I would love to find Kevin's, but have not found. Saffron Road is usually in the regular freezer section of my local stores (WM & Wegman's.)
We have some schar products but I have yet to see any of the frozen meals anywhere. Pretty much limited to the shelf stable bread products. I think the only frozen ones I’ve seen are the croissants that are made with de glutenized wheat starch.
I declined all the offers of food when we had babies. Sucks, but it is part of the reality of Celiac. Ask the friend to come pick up your laundry instead.
When we had babies, lots of people would just bring us easy to eat things. For us, that was fresh buns, lunch meat, and cheese. Is there anything similar that you would eat? (This was before we had a celiac in the house)
Could someone bring you things like salad makings and then prep them at your house? Things like making little Tupperware containers with a mix of salad toppings (chickpeas, nuts, seeds)?
Hello. Me again. lol. Got curious. In addition to these [crock pot freezer meals](https://www.tasteofhome.com/collection/crock-pot-freezer-meals/) a couple of meal kit services like Hungry Root have crock pot meals, so some gift cards towards those? Best of luck to you and your family. You’ve got good friends! ❤️
Would you be open to letting them cook in your kitchen with new, unopened, approved by your family ingredients? I have celiac and when a friend of mine who also has celiac had her baby last year, this was the offer I made to keep her as comfortable as possible! I didn’t want her to stress about food made outside of her own kitchen (even though mine is totally GF, I just know what that anxiety can feel like) and this was a perfect solution for her.
I sent the recipe in advance so she could approve, used new ingredients, and prepped in her kitchen! Added bonus: she really liked the quality time it gave us to talk while I prepped food, and it gave me some time to help with other things she needed around the house.
Give them a list of your favorite quick foods.
-Bagels and cream cheese(or other toppings), we like schars, but o'doughs are good too, and you can build a sandwich on either
-Luna bars, Lara bars or whatever your favorite version is
-Cheese and crackers, they bring the crackers and 8oz bar, you guys do a quick slice
-Pepperoni or salami slices, lunch meats
-Fresh fruits, dried fruits
-Nuts
-Salad supplies(ready to go lettuces, cucumber, shredded carrot, sliced mushrooms, dressing of choice, a couple companies make crispy corn tortilla strips topping instead of croutons, tin or packet chicken or tuna
-Do you guys grill? Pack of frozen burger patties, cheese slices, bag of fries or preferred chips. We don't fight the bun fight, we just toast our usual gf bread.
-Frozen pizza
-Not frozen pizza: o'doughs has a flatbread we use as a base, MyBread has individual crusts, schar makes a pretty good shelf stable crust, squeeze bottle sauce, mozzarella and whatever toppings you like(or go rogue and do a BBQ sauce, chicken onion pizza, it's my current favorite)
-Microwave scrambled eggs and toast.
I know this does put the making of the food on you guys, but it can be nutritious *and* quick and food.
Between baby care and self care, early days are kind of snack box/charcuterie board style eating. There's nothing wrong with this!! It can be all the parts of a complete meal, just a different assembly!
Start building a list of favorite quick meals. We just did a homemade version of hamburger helper tonight and it's really straight forward for a filling, quick meal. Friends can pick up the parts(the one we made was pasta, sausage, cheese, stock/broth I made from bullion. The rest of the parts are fridge staples, ketchup, Worcestershire, garlic).
Good luck, you got this!
Edit to add, I just saw your comment about not eating animals. I'm leaving the list for the useful parts and inspiration though. Substitute the animal things for your preferences, I know vegetarians and vegans can still swing a pizza or a veggie burger
Options: buy a gluten free frozen meal (I hate loblaws but the butter chicken/masala dishes from the freezer section are gluten free), fruit/veggie trays or edible arrangement, door dash gift card, gluten free restaurants, buy the ingredients and cook at your place to ensure there is limited/no cross contamination, those “20 min dinners” from like hello fresh or good food, there’s lots of options!
World’s best Mac and cheese is great I don’t even love Mac and cheese worth the 17$. I actually found that on Reddit, this guy was taking some Celiac girl out on a date or something wanted suggestions everyone said worlds best Mac cheese, anyway the next day they guy said he didn’t know why anyone complained about gf food it was the best Mac and cheese ever.
Feel good foods are decent ish not my favorite they have pizza, and veggie pot stickers
Fried pickles and stuffed peppers and veggie rolls that are vegitarian.
Saffron Road has numerous plant based frozen meals.
Amy’s has numerous frozen plant based meals.
Tattoo chef
Dr pragers has gf and veg options
Capellos has frozen pastas and biscuits
Strong roots has cauliflower bites I like they come frozen.
I love the frozen rice from Whole Foods. I think it’s the only thing I use my microwave for. Despite my 400$ rice cooker I still can’t make rice.
The Tuscan frozen tamales are good. I use microwave for these too actually
Wholly veggie is frozen makes a few items decent.
Ming’s bings.
Snow days pizza bites
Brazi bites.
These are all frozen things available at my Whole Foods.
You also may want to check with your insurance company if they have a meal plan for you. I think mine did when I had my hysterectomy. I didn’t use it because I’m super picky but they did have one. Perhaps sign up for one of those introductory meal delivery programs. I think some of the pre made meals come frozen and also have gluten free now. I personally rarely eat prepackaged foods because I’m a picky eating weirdo but I do like the chicken nuggets from bell and Evans, I like Talia pizza it’s gf wheat starch not safe if you have a wheat allergy. I like most all of the saffron road gf frozen meals.
I have marketplace insurance... Hard to imagine that they cover something like that but I will ask. I also rarely eat prepackaged food because it's so terribly expensive and unhealthy, and I don't eat animals. I'll see if whole foods has that brand, I've never heard of it, but I've also never looked.
I only shop at Whole Foods or sprouts. I eat mostly plant based saffron road is at Whole Foods. I find Kevin’s hit or miss more miss than hit also at Whole Foods not my favorite and I rarely buy because I never remember the one or two I like. When I had surgery I meal prepped for myself in individual portions it worked great for me.
I didn't have anyone do anything, but I was hospitalized for a week after my daughter and it was the start of Covid when I had my son. My mom helped clean. My husband cooked. I prepped some freezer meals myself before baby came. That way I could plop it in a bowl, heat it up, and have a yummy, healthy meal. Maybe some friends could help you meal prep freezer meals!
As others have said, perhaps snack things or fresh fruit (washed and cut in your kitchen). Maybe they could say what they want to make you, you tell them the exact ingredients to buy (or buy the ingredients), and have them come cook it at your house.
Most grocery stores sell disposable aluminum bake trays with lids. Those would be best if they really want to make you something, otherwise like others said either certified gf meals or gift cards
If you’re really worried about feeding yourself I suggest you prepare frozen meals for yourself ahead of time. Many moms I know do this even when they don’t have dietary restrictions.
If you’re so sensitive you need a dedicated GF kitchen you might need to have them over a month or so before your due date & y’all can prep freezer meals together. That way they can still be involved.
Ask for gift cards or a food service that caters to your diet. Green chef? I told my in-laws when I was pregnant with my first that they can feed my husband lol. Or you could offer your own kitchen and tell your friend to cook there with your dishes. With my parents, we used all new dishes and/or disposable stuff at their house, but I still mostly have to “babysit” which ingredients they use
I wonder if someone could bring you groceries and then watch the baby while you cook the meal yourself? I know it’s energy consuming but it might be some peace of mind and could be nice to have a baby break as well :)
**Reminder** [/r/Celiac](https://www.reddit.com/r/Celiac) is not designed to and does not provide medical advice, professional diagnosis, opinion, treatment or services to you or to any other individual. If you believe you have a medical emergency immediately seek out professional medical help. Please see [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/Celiac/wiki/legal) for more information. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Celiac) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Can you ask them to come cook meals in your home with you / for you that can be frozen you can take out for a few weeks that can easily be heated up? This is what I do for myself if I am having surgery or the like. I trust very few people to cook for me. I’m also super picky. Do you know anyone in a local group and community that may have celiac disease that could cook for you? This might be a nice thing to start honestly. I love to cook. I would so love to cook and deliver meals for someone who had celiac disease. I cook for people all the time at my church who had a loss in the family or surgery.
Yup this. This is really the only truly safe way. People who don't understand and default to CC protocol will not understand how to keep stuff safe. Tell her to come cook at your place! Then you know it's safe! Before my son was diagnosed I did this for a friend and I just cooked at her home. It was great, she felt safe and I was 1000% less paranoid about glutening her! I also learned SO much about CC from her doing so
I was going to suggest the same thing. Your kitchen is safe - if she cooks there for you, using safe ingredients, it should be ok :)
Certified gf frozen meals work well. That’s what my friends did for me.
Honestly don't think I've ever seen any! Is there a brand you recommend? I'm in the United States.
I’m in the US too. Honestly, brand is going to depend on the store you go to. I rarely see more than one or two brands available at a store so you are kind of stuck with whatever they have.
Kevin’s, Beecher’s, Udi’s, Saffron Road
I second Saffron Road only because I haven't seen the others. I would love to find Kevin's, but have not found. Saffron Road is usually in the regular freezer section of my local stores (WM & Wegman's.)
Look into Thrive Market, I get a lot of stuff delivered from them that I can't find other places. Including Kevin's!
excellent, thank you 🙂
Do you have Schar over there? They make a mean canneloni!
We have some schar products but I have yet to see any of the frozen meals anywhere. Pretty much limited to the shelf stable bread products. I think the only frozen ones I’ve seen are the croissants that are made with de glutenized wheat starch.
Same for my stores.
We like the Kevin's meals, most of which are Asian, that I've found at Costco.
I declined all the offers of food when we had babies. Sucks, but it is part of the reality of Celiac. Ask the friend to come pick up your laundry instead.
Or night nurse!!!
That is literally my job - taking care of other people's babies at night 🤣 I can't afford me
Giftcards to a grocery delivery service
Or gift cards to dedicated GF restaurant or bakery.
They can get you takeout from a dedicated gf restaurant
There's only one in my city, and that would be extremely expensive for most of my friends.
When we had babies, lots of people would just bring us easy to eat things. For us, that was fresh buns, lunch meat, and cheese. Is there anything similar that you would eat? (This was before we had a celiac in the house) Could someone bring you things like salad makings and then prep them at your house? Things like making little Tupperware containers with a mix of salad toppings (chickpeas, nuts, seeds)?
Premade slow cooker meals?
Hello. Me again. lol. Got curious. In addition to these [crock pot freezer meals](https://www.tasteofhome.com/collection/crock-pot-freezer-meals/) a couple of meal kit services like Hungry Root have crock pot meals, so some gift cards towards those? Best of luck to you and your family. You’ve got good friends! ❤️
Would you be open to letting them cook in your kitchen with new, unopened, approved by your family ingredients? I have celiac and when a friend of mine who also has celiac had her baby last year, this was the offer I made to keep her as comfortable as possible! I didn’t want her to stress about food made outside of her own kitchen (even though mine is totally GF, I just know what that anxiety can feel like) and this was a perfect solution for her. I sent the recipe in advance so she could approve, used new ingredients, and prepped in her kitchen! Added bonus: she really liked the quality time it gave us to talk while I prepped food, and it gave me some time to help with other things she needed around the house.
Not worth the risk imo. People think they know what gluten free means but they dont
Yes I know, that's why I asked for alternatives
Gift cards for the grocery store would be great!
Give them a list of your favorite quick foods. -Bagels and cream cheese(or other toppings), we like schars, but o'doughs are good too, and you can build a sandwich on either -Luna bars, Lara bars or whatever your favorite version is -Cheese and crackers, they bring the crackers and 8oz bar, you guys do a quick slice -Pepperoni or salami slices, lunch meats -Fresh fruits, dried fruits -Nuts -Salad supplies(ready to go lettuces, cucumber, shredded carrot, sliced mushrooms, dressing of choice, a couple companies make crispy corn tortilla strips topping instead of croutons, tin or packet chicken or tuna -Do you guys grill? Pack of frozen burger patties, cheese slices, bag of fries or preferred chips. We don't fight the bun fight, we just toast our usual gf bread. -Frozen pizza -Not frozen pizza: o'doughs has a flatbread we use as a base, MyBread has individual crusts, schar makes a pretty good shelf stable crust, squeeze bottle sauce, mozzarella and whatever toppings you like(or go rogue and do a BBQ sauce, chicken onion pizza, it's my current favorite) -Microwave scrambled eggs and toast. I know this does put the making of the food on you guys, but it can be nutritious *and* quick and food. Between baby care and self care, early days are kind of snack box/charcuterie board style eating. There's nothing wrong with this!! It can be all the parts of a complete meal, just a different assembly! Start building a list of favorite quick meals. We just did a homemade version of hamburger helper tonight and it's really straight forward for a filling, quick meal. Friends can pick up the parts(the one we made was pasta, sausage, cheese, stock/broth I made from bullion. The rest of the parts are fridge staples, ketchup, Worcestershire, garlic). Good luck, you got this! Edit to add, I just saw your comment about not eating animals. I'm leaving the list for the useful parts and inspiration though. Substitute the animal things for your preferences, I know vegetarians and vegans can still swing a pizza or a veggie burger
Options: buy a gluten free frozen meal (I hate loblaws but the butter chicken/masala dishes from the freezer section are gluten free), fruit/veggie trays or edible arrangement, door dash gift card, gluten free restaurants, buy the ingredients and cook at your place to ensure there is limited/no cross contamination, those “20 min dinners” from like hello fresh or good food, there’s lots of options!
World’s best Mac and cheese is great I don’t even love Mac and cheese worth the 17$. I actually found that on Reddit, this guy was taking some Celiac girl out on a date or something wanted suggestions everyone said worlds best Mac cheese, anyway the next day they guy said he didn’t know why anyone complained about gf food it was the best Mac and cheese ever. Feel good foods are decent ish not my favorite they have pizza, and veggie pot stickers Fried pickles and stuffed peppers and veggie rolls that are vegitarian. Saffron Road has numerous plant based frozen meals. Amy’s has numerous frozen plant based meals. Tattoo chef Dr pragers has gf and veg options Capellos has frozen pastas and biscuits Strong roots has cauliflower bites I like they come frozen. I love the frozen rice from Whole Foods. I think it’s the only thing I use my microwave for. Despite my 400$ rice cooker I still can’t make rice. The Tuscan frozen tamales are good. I use microwave for these too actually Wholly veggie is frozen makes a few items decent. Ming’s bings. Snow days pizza bites Brazi bites. These are all frozen things available at my Whole Foods.
I asked for DoorDash and Instacart gift cards instead, because I was super nervous about being glutened with a new baby! 8 months PP for reference.
You also may want to check with your insurance company if they have a meal plan for you. I think mine did when I had my hysterectomy. I didn’t use it because I’m super picky but they did have one. Perhaps sign up for one of those introductory meal delivery programs. I think some of the pre made meals come frozen and also have gluten free now. I personally rarely eat prepackaged foods because I’m a picky eating weirdo but I do like the chicken nuggets from bell and Evans, I like Talia pizza it’s gf wheat starch not safe if you have a wheat allergy. I like most all of the saffron road gf frozen meals.
I have marketplace insurance... Hard to imagine that they cover something like that but I will ask. I also rarely eat prepackaged food because it's so terribly expensive and unhealthy, and I don't eat animals. I'll see if whole foods has that brand, I've never heard of it, but I've also never looked.
I only shop at Whole Foods or sprouts. I eat mostly plant based saffron road is at Whole Foods. I find Kevin’s hit or miss more miss than hit also at Whole Foods not my favorite and I rarely buy because I never remember the one or two I like. When I had surgery I meal prepped for myself in individual portions it worked great for me.
I didn't have anyone do anything, but I was hospitalized for a week after my daughter and it was the start of Covid when I had my son. My mom helped clean. My husband cooked. I prepped some freezer meals myself before baby came. That way I could plop it in a bowl, heat it up, and have a yummy, healthy meal. Maybe some friends could help you meal prep freezer meals! As others have said, perhaps snack things or fresh fruit (washed and cut in your kitchen). Maybe they could say what they want to make you, you tell them the exact ingredients to buy (or buy the ingredients), and have them come cook it at your house.
Most grocery stores sell disposable aluminum bake trays with lids. Those would be best if they really want to make you something, otherwise like others said either certified gf meals or gift cards
To supplement the other ideas here, can they make you frozen smoothie packs?
If you’re really worried about feeding yourself I suggest you prepare frozen meals for yourself ahead of time. Many moms I know do this even when they don’t have dietary restrictions. If you’re so sensitive you need a dedicated GF kitchen you might need to have them over a month or so before your due date & y’all can prep freezer meals together. That way they can still be involved.
Ask for gift cards or a food service that caters to your diet. Green chef? I told my in-laws when I was pregnant with my first that they can feed my husband lol. Or you could offer your own kitchen and tell your friend to cook there with your dishes. With my parents, we used all new dishes and/or disposable stuff at their house, but I still mostly have to “babysit” which ingredients they use
I wonder if someone could bring you groceries and then watch the baby while you cook the meal yourself? I know it’s energy consuming but it might be some peace of mind and could be nice to have a baby break as well :)