Kayleigh here. When Jason first began to manifest symptoms
of being intolerant to gluten, he was in his last year of college. Luckily, we
were living in an on-campus apartment by then, but it was still quite the
learning curve to figure out how to eat gluten free with the same level of
thriftiness and ease of cooking that we needed. Since most college students
rely heavily on ramen and premade burgers/burritos/pizzas, it was…daunting to
say the least.
So, what can you do? First of all, read through our previous
post about saving money when shopping for gluten free groceries. Second, get
friendly with the staff at your dining halls. Ask what is already available and
gluten free, and ask what can be special ordered or set aside for you when you
need a quick meal. Maybe they’d be willing to cook you a cheeseburger without
the buns, or they can get you salad ingredients from a container that has not
been crossed with the crouton bowl. Do not be afraid to put yourself out there!
Instead of targeting the gluten free aisle in the grocery
store, start paying attention to which normal brands have switched their
ingredients over to gluten free ones. You can still get cereal for breakfast-
just buy Chex or Cocoa Pebbles! Pick up rice noodles from the Asian food section
and some chicken or beef bouillon from the soup section to make your own ramen.
Spend some time on the weekends to make your own burritos or personal pizzas,
then foil wrap and freeze them for quick lunches and dinners between classes.
Finally, if you are stuck in the dorms without access to a
kitchen, look into what cooking tools you are allowed to have. Most of the
time, you at least have a refrigerator and a community microwave, so you can
get some extra food from the dining hall to reheat later. But many things can
be made with just a microwave- baked potatoes, scrambled eggs, brownies, tuna
melts, just to name a few. If you can keep a coffee maker, then that can be
used for cooking noodles, oatmeal, or other instant meals that just need
boiling water. With a rice cooker, you can steam vegetables and chicken on top
of the cooking rice- you can even experiment with baking breads and cakes in
it! Finally, if you are allowed appliances like George Foreman Grills or
wafflemakers, then you have tons and tons of options available to you- pretty
much anything can be cooked on a stovetop can be made in these, as long as
everything is cut to the right size and in the right portions.
Jason here. As Kayleigh mentioned, I tend not to buy
specialty gluten free items unless I really have a particular craving or
something specific in mind that we have not yet figured out a good alternative
too. Instead, when I first became gluten intolerant I really focused on what I
already ate that was gluten free, or could very easily be made gluten free. I
was only gluten intolerant for my last year or so of college, but my go to
meals were the following.
1)
Fried Rice. This is really the number one food
that got me through that last year. I was lucky enough that my roommate had a nice
wok I could use to make large batches of it. You can easily make a whole weeks’
worth of dinners in under 30 minutes. In addition, I found fried rice easy to
customize. While my staple was rice, pepperoni, and assorted frozen veggies, I
also occasionally added things like fresh mushrooms, bacon once or twice, nuts,
and whatever else caught my eye that week.
If I was really pressed for time, I wouldn’t even fry the rice. Not
mention, fried rice is ridiculously cheap if your just buying bulk rice and frozen
veggies.
2)
Chili. Another food you can bulk make in one go
and enjoy for the rest of the week, or month if you make batches like I do.
Both Kayleigh and I have given our respective Chili recipes before. You can
check out Kayleigh’s here,
and mine here.
Even before I became intolerant I was making chili, so this was a natural fit.
It also tends to be pretty cheap.
3)
Nachos. This was another quick to make recipe
for me, although it doesn’t make left overs like my previous recommendations.
Just pull out a baking sheet, lay down a layer of nachos, shred some cheese,
and add whatever toppings you’re in the mood for. In college, I tended to make
“Pizza” nachos which had pepperoni, and I dipped in marinara sauce. Since
college, I’ve learned to really enjoy banana peppers, and Brussel sprouts, and
chopped peppers, and other assorted items.
4)
Anything in a waffle maker. So this one is sort
of cheating, as I didn’t discover these recipes until after graduating.
However, I feel these have to make the list. We already did a post on these
which you can check out here,
but let me just say Moffle Pizza’s have now mostly replaced nacho’s for me as a
staple food. I enjoy them more, they have less salt which I already get enough
of, and they are just as fast to make.
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