I was diagnosed with coeliac disease at the start of 2012, which meant this Christmas just gone was my first on a gluten free diet.
Was I nervous?
Yes!
Luckily before I’d even started buying anything, blog posts started popping up online on a few coeliac sites which was amazing. It seemed, as always, that coeliacs from all corners of the world were looking out for each other, even more so at this festive time of year, so that we could all enjoy a Christmas dinner free from gluten.
My first gluten free Christmas could not have been more of a success, and it’s two days later and I’m STILL full!
The majority of a Christmas dinner is naturally gluten free anyway, vegetables, potatoes, meat, these are all safe. You just need to be careful with the preparation, make sure you use the correct gluten free gravy granules, check the labelling on your stuffing.
These were two elements of my gluten free Christmas I wasn’t sure about, and two items I have blogged about recently:
Which Bisto is best for coeliacs? (and other gravies)
My Christmas day purchases were as follows:
For the gravy we used the water from the potatoes and vegetables, and the Bisto Best gravy granules. The chicken variety as we went with chicken for lunch instead of the traditional turkey.
The stuffing was from the chilled section of M&S, pork, sage and onion. There were three or four varieties of stuffing available, and all of them were safe for coeliacs as they were made using gluten free crumb. I have to admit, I was more than impressed with how much M&S offer for a gluten free diet and I will be shopping here a lot more in the future now I’m aware of this fact.
Next up? Pigs in blankets. For the sausages it was the Black Farmer’s Daughter Chipolatas which I purchased at Sainsbury’s. These sausages were really tasty, and it was good to see while browsing that there are a few other varieties available. The bacon was just streaky un-smoked, available at most major supermarket chains.
Mince pies were the Marks & Spencer gluten free ones. These are really nice and flavoursome but I did find that they crumbled very easily so eat with caution! I stocked up with two packets, yum!
I didn’t buy it as it would only have been me eating it, and by this point I had bought enough food to feed most of the coeliacs in the country, but I did notice that Marks & Spencer sell a gluten free Christmas cake. I will give this a go in 2013 but if anyone has tried it I would love to know how you got on.
I bought my gluten free Christmas pudding from Sainsbury’s and this was much better than I thought it was going to be, even my brother ate some and said he couldn’t tell the difference between the gluten free version and the regular one. Win win!
Photographic proof on my Facebook page!
Snacks were plentiful, ranging from Kettle Crisps, Sainsbury’s classic dip selection, DS Gluten Free breadsticks, Mrs Crimbles cheese crackers, a selection of cheeses, pates from Waitrose and cold cuts of meat such as chicken, turkey and ham.
I even bought some gluten free bread to make my own bread sauce (following this recipe from Genius), which was delicious, I’m pretty sure I’d had more than a few tastings of this before it even made it to the dining room table!
What else… what else…
Chutney! First time ever eating this, but wow, Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Caramelised Onion Chutney, divine!
Boxing Day pudding was Tideford Butterscotch Rice Puddings, definitely worth a purchase, it’s really warming and filling.
I hope all you coeliacs out there had a fun, food filled, gluten free Christmas! Here’s to all the ones to come!
LMG x
I’m so pleased your first Christmas was a success (I only just found your blog, so a bit belated, I grant you). I have an advantage in having been diagnosed at 18 months old…
But I have to take issue with the M&S mince pies — they’re far too nutty for my taste and I would suggest the Sainsbury’s ones!
Hi and welcome! Wow, from 18 months?!
To be honest I was hoping to get Sainsbury’s ones, but I left it really late and they didn’t have any when I went to get some, M&S were the only ones available, but I think homemade ones are the best!
Oh definitely, homemade almost always wins! I was very luck that in the early 80s I had one of the few doctors whose first reaction isn’t “IBS”… I had a biopsy at 18 months old and the day afterwards, Mum put me on a GF diet and I was better by the time the result came in!
How good is that!