Gluten-Free Pantry Staples (With Shopping List)

Having been dairy and gluten free for about eight years now, I can tell you that there are SO many perks to trying an elimination. (learn my best tips on dairy-free here!)

I initially tried a gluten-free diet to deal with excessive bloating and some minor abdominal stabbing pain.

After two weeks of removing gluten, I noticed:

• Zero pain
• Less bloating
• A bit more energy
• Reduction in random red bumps

If you're feeling super overwhelmed trying to reduce or eliminate gluten because you're experiencing any of the above, learn more about beginner tips for a gluten-free diet.

Gluten Intolerant Versus Celiac

I feel like “gluten-free” has become a catch term that so many are using but don’t fully understand.

To start off, learn more about what gluten is and what foods contain it.

Gluten-intolerant means that you have some sort of reaction to gluten and should avoid it. If you have celiac disease, your gluten-allergy symptoms are much more severe and can range from vomiting or blood in your stools to full allergic reactions that necessitate a hospital visit.

Celiacs need to not only avoid gluten but foods that have even come in contact with gluten (think of using the same cutting board for regular bread and gluten-free bread, or nuts processed in a facility that makes candied nuts with gluten).

For celiacs especially, you’ll learn that gluten is hidden in some weird freaking places (why is their wheat in soya sauce?!) so for any packages spice or sauce, you’ll need to learn to read ingredients.

Learn more about the differences between gluten intolerance and celiac disease and learn how to make gluten-free meal prep easier.

Gluten-Free The “Right” Way

Whatever your reason for starting a gluten-free diet, welcome!

Though it’s challenging at first, once you get into the swing of things it’s really not so bad and you can still enjoy your favorite foods (with a gluten-free twist of course). Items like chicken alfredo pasta and cinnamon sugar donuts aren't off limits.

One thing to mention though is that if your goals are to improve your overall health, you need to remember that a gluten-free brownie is still a brownie.

Meaning, as much as possible opt for real, whole, unprocessed foods. Binging on gluten-free cookies just because they have a GF label is still a cookie binge 😉

Gluten-Free Pantry Essentials

Below are pantry staples for a dairy-free and gluten-free diet that I try to have on hand at all times. As mentioned above, there are a lot of options out there now.

These pantry staples are geared more towards people who are gluten-intolerant though. So, if you have celiac disease, you may need to double-check some of them or look up a good source to confirm processing plants and whatnot. Likewise, learn more about types of gluten-free flours, the best gluten-free grains and how to eat gluten-free on a budget.

You can use these pantry items to stock up and get back to enjoying all of your favorites with a few tweaks.

Staple Gluten-Free Brands

There are a few great ones out there but the two I use the most are Bobs Red Mills & Enjoy Life

Bob's red mills carry a variety of healthy pantry staples in general and have a great gluten-free line. They’ve been around forever and are a quality brand that I trust.

Enjoy life specializes in sweet, yummy items as well as healthy snacks for kiddos. This brand actually focuses on being free from: dairy, soy, gluten, wheat, GMO, and nuts. So if you have multiple allergies, you’re covered! They’re worth stocking up on

Staples For Gluten-Free Baking

Below are the best ingredients to stock up on for gluten-free baking. With these ingredients, you can easily make favorites like chocolate almond flour cookies, a mug brownie, or dairy-free gluten-free pancakes.

• Almond flour
• Coconut flour
• 1:1 baking powder
• Chocolate chips
• Dried fruit
• Shredded coconut
• Flaxmeal
• Chia seeds
• Hemp Hearts
• Oats (make sure they're certified gluten free!)
• Nut butters
• Rice flour
• Arrowroot
• Beans
• Quinoa Noodles
• Chickpea noodles
• Basmati Rice
• Rice puffs
• Soy sauce (most soy sauces contain gluten. Get a certified gluten-free one or use coconut aminos).
• Almond crackers
• Marys thin crackers

Resources: Learn more about coconut flour vs almond flour regarding a gluten-free diet as well as the difference between ground almonds and almond flour. Here are my favorite gluten-free almond flour recipes as well to use up some of your stock! And of course, get the answer to "is buckwheat gluten-free.

Collagen Powder For Protein

A natural add in to smoothies, baked goods, and oatmeal is collagen powder!

All the protein without the bloat.

I use collagen powder for amping up protein and boosting gut health.

Learn about the difference between collagen and bone broth as how to increase protein intake.

Honestly, as a busy mom collagen powder just makes it easy to eat more protein and not feel like I’m living off chicken and eggs. Couple that with the fact that it's naturally gluten-free and it's a go-to protein source for reaping the benefits of a high protein diet.

I grab my collagen from Perfect Supplements because they source their collagen from pasture-raised (grass-fed) cows. So, I trust it.

Grab some collagen powder and use code mamabear10 to save some money.

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Gluten-Free Bread & Wraps

Finding bread and wraps is one of the hardest parts of a gluten-free diet.

Though there is now some wonderful gluten-free bread on the market, wraps are another story.

The best gluten-free bread I’ve found is from Costco (it’s one of our Costco shopping staples now). It’s one of the rare breeds that isn’t frozen and actually tastes like the bread you remember.

There are a few other brands like Little Northern Bakehouse but the Costco one is the best.

As for gluten-free wraps, I’m still struggling with this. Tortilla factory makes okay wraps but they tend to fall apart.

There is the option to use a coconut wrap but it does have a flavor.

My advice is to actually check out your local health food store as sometimes you find a gem.

Pre-Packaged Pantry Staples

These are just a few gluten-free staples that you'll want to have on hand for busy days when you're not baking from scratch.

• Gluten-free pancake mix
• Cereal
• Granola

Gluten-Free Shopping List

Stocking up your gluten-free pantry takes time (and a bit of playing around with what you like and don’t like!).

This essentials shopping list is based on the basics. The easy gluten-free baking ingredients to make most things as well as a few of the healthy snack items you’ll want on hand.

If you’re following a gluten-free diet you’ll be doing a bit more label reading. So, use this grocery list (click the image to download) as a guideline to get you started and stocked up.