In preparation of beginning our new sugar-free, gluten-free lifestyle, I needed to do three things:
1) Clean out the cupboards, fridge and freezer of all "contraband"
2) Come up with a lots of new meal & snack ideas and recipes
3) Go shopping
1) Clean out the cupboards, fridge and freezer of all "contraband"
2) Come up with a lots of new meal & snack ideas and recipes
3) Go shopping
I started with my preserves. Since I have a large garden, and an interest in self-sufficiency, I have done quite a lot of preserving. Of course, some of that preserving involved sugar. I pulled out all the jars of preserves containing sugar and set them out on the table. The two biggest groups were jars of pickled zucchini and bottled quince which I did 3 summers ago when I had a glut of both. To be honest, I'm glad to get rid of those; we've gotten sick of the pickle, and only one family member really likes the quince, and she seldom eats it any more (a few years ago, quince was one of only two fruits she could have, due to allergies). As to the others, I decided to put a few jars of tomato soup and some low-sugar cucumber pickle, plus some sauce, relish and chutney in an out-of-the-way cupboard to have on hand to serve guests or visiting sons from time to time. The rest I gave away, apart from a few jars which went in the compost. I still have lots of other jars of unsugared preserves in the cupboard, such as bottled diced tomatoes, which will come in handy.
Next was the pantry. This was a little bit scarier. When one lives on a tight budget, it's not so easy to discard food! Plus I was surprised at some of the products I found sugar in - beef stock for example, and peanut butter. Just for the record, the baby food isn't there because of sugar, but because it's no longer needed - leftovers from a wee one we look after who is past that stage. I laid these out on the table on Friday - a few things got used over the weekend, a few items (some crackers, one bag of sugar and some drinking chocolate etc) were put in the "guest cupboard," and the rest was packed up and given to local families.
The good thing about this is that I've gone from overloaded kitchen cupboards to plenty of space. :-) There's something nice about the occasional clear-out and fresh start too.
There are a couple of items that we will use up and not replace - eg sunflower oil - but since they contain no sugar or gluten, I'm ok with taking that one step at a time. Fats & oils used in cooking need to be stable at high temperatures, and better for the body. The three best choices are coconut oil, extra-virgin olive oil, and apparently red palm oil, though I've never tried or even seen the latter.
I cleaned out the fridge too - there were a few things to give away, but mostly just it was just clearing out the dregs. I haven't had time to tackle the freezers yet, apart from pulling a few things I knew were there when I dropped off food to others - bacon bones for making soup, and banana cake I made a while back. This photo of the fridge was taken after I'd done part one of my shopping - nothing but good things there now. Ok, maybe the bacon shouldn't be called "good" but it doesn't contain sugar (VERY hard to find!!). |
I also spent considerable time over Friday and Saturday putting together a collection of recipes of things we can eat for meals and snacks, to get us started. I referred mainly to three sources:
Trim Healthy Mama, a book by two sisters full of recipes which are sugar-free, with few containing gluten (easily modified). It's a complete diet plan in itself, which I'm not following completely at this stage, but it's a useful resource.
Wheat Belly by Dr William Davis, who describes in vivid detail how terrible modern wheat is for us (a recommended read!), and includes some recipes.
I Quit Sugar - a website full of recipes that are sugar free, all with gluten-free options.
As time goes by, I will work my way through my own recipe book collection, putting together ideas from those in one place. I have always found it very useful to have menu plans with recipes, and a computerised Master Grocery List which I use each fortnight to create my shopping list. More on that in other posts.
And then I went shopping to find the ingredients for the new recipes, and stock my pantry with healthy foods. Quite a few of them can't be found at the supermarket, or are better priced elsewhere. So I visited Toops (a catering supplier), Davis Trading (Asian and specialty foods market which has mostly excellent prices), Steve's Wholefood (our local mostly organic version of Bin Inn) as well as the Pak 'n Save supermarket. A few other items I may need to find online.
Ready, set, go!
Trim Healthy Mama, a book by two sisters full of recipes which are sugar-free, with few containing gluten (easily modified). It's a complete diet plan in itself, which I'm not following completely at this stage, but it's a useful resource.
Wheat Belly by Dr William Davis, who describes in vivid detail how terrible modern wheat is for us (a recommended read!), and includes some recipes.
I Quit Sugar - a website full of recipes that are sugar free, all with gluten-free options.
As time goes by, I will work my way through my own recipe book collection, putting together ideas from those in one place. I have always found it very useful to have menu plans with recipes, and a computerised Master Grocery List which I use each fortnight to create my shopping list. More on that in other posts.
And then I went shopping to find the ingredients for the new recipes, and stock my pantry with healthy foods. Quite a few of them can't be found at the supermarket, or are better priced elsewhere. So I visited Toops (a catering supplier), Davis Trading (Asian and specialty foods market which has mostly excellent prices), Steve's Wholefood (our local mostly organic version of Bin Inn) as well as the Pak 'n Save supermarket. A few other items I may need to find online.
Ready, set, go!