Most people have had an encounter with some form of a gluten-free experience, whether it be food they have had, choices on the grocery store shelf, or perhaps read an article about eating gluten-free. Those who don’t have to worry about eating gluten-free most likely won’t pay a lot of attention to it, while those who suffer when eating gluten can’t seem to get enough information.
Eating gluten-free is getting easier, as society is now adapting and realizing that it’s a real crisis for many people who need to avoid eating gluten laden foods. As a result, we are now seeing grocery stores and restaurants adapting their selections to make sure people with sensitivity to gluten have more options.
And, let’s be honest. It’s hard enough to do gluten-free even in non-emergency situations. Most everything contains wheat, and you really need to do your homework to know what is safe to eat if you have an intolerance to gluten. So, in this article, we are going to provide information on some gluten-free, non-perishable items that are available. When prepping for an emergency kit, you can make sure you are still able to eat gluten-free during emergencies too, not just on a leisurely basis.
Related: How To Choose, Use & Store Protein Powder for Preppers
Also, when looking for cost-friendly foods in following a gluten-free lifestyle, the diet often includes foods that are naturally gluten-free, rather than a revamped recipe to exclude the culprit. The most common naturally gluten-free foods include fruits, veggies, meats/seafood (if they are not breaded), dairy, nuts, and beans or legumes. But, there’s more to consider.
Let’s Start with Grains
Unfortunately, grains are used for so many foods that are enjoyed by most people, such as breads, cereals, pastas, and more. However, the good news is that there are several grains which are naturally gluten-free, such as some of these more familiar options:
- Rice
- Corn (or maize)
- Potato
- Soy
- Beans
- Tapioca
- Quinoa
- Flax
- Chia
And some of others that are perhaps not as well-known and easy to find:
- Cassava
- Millet
- Sorghum
- Arrowroot
- Buckwheat Groats (or kasha)
- Amaranth
- Yucca
- Nut flours
Related: How to Make Acorn Flour
The options in the first list above should be easy to find in your local grocery store. However, the second list might require a trip to a health food store. Regardless of where you find it, be careful if you are selecting anything out of bulk bins, due to the possibility of cross-contact and transference from other bins. Some might even have trace elements of gluten through harvesting and processing. When in doubt, your best option would be to buy products that have been tested for traces of gluten and are noted to contain less than 20 ppm.
Eating and Cooking with Dairy
Even though the following is often kept at a minimum in most diets, in a gluten-free diet, these items are typically not a concern:
And, of course, beverages are not immune to gluten. So, know your drink! The following are often gluten-free.
- Almond Milk
- Fruit Juices
- Cider
- Sodas
- Rum
- Vodka
- Whiskey
- Wine
Even some beer is available in gluten-free form…just watch the labels!
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Speaking of labels…reading them is very important for foods that are not considered fresh. Most foods that are labeled as “gluten-free” can be trusted. However, anyone who suffers from consuming gluten should get accustomed to reading labels to be sure. Just because something is advertised as gluten-free or “wheat free” does not mean that it’s completely free of it. Some triggers of concern you might see in ingredients include:
- Barley
- Wheat
- Malt
- Rye
- Brewer’s Yeast
- Oats
Don’t worry though, reading labels will become easier each time you read one. And, after a while, you will just know what to avoid when going down the grocery isle.
But, what if you are trying to prepare an emergency preparedness kit, all while remaining gluten-free? Most of the foods mentioned above are fresh and will perish quickly. It makes it difficult then, right? Difficult, perhaps. But, not impossible.
Preparing a Gluten-Free Emergency Kit
When it comes to preparing for an emergency, preppers have an abundance of information and options at hand. But, what about those who have an intolerance to gluten? People who suffer when eating gluten-riddled foods are equally as vulnerable to an unexpected emergency, and shouldn’t have to suffer any more than others during the emergency.
Related: How to Make Delicious Biltong with 1 Year-Shelf Life
And, let’s be honest. It can be hard enough to do gluten-free even in non-emergency situations. Most everything contains it, especially non-perishable foods. Fortunately, there are a variety of foods specifically created for situations outside the typical kitchen and dining setting. For example, freeze-dried foods are great for camping or putting into an emergency kit. Bars and other snacks can also be a good thing to consider packing. Many of these items have a decent shelf life of at least one year, and up to 25 years for some items. And, this includes gluten-free options.
The need for gluten-free products is in high demand, due to the substantial number of people choosing to eat without gluten. Freeze dried kits, bars, dehydrated and freeze-dried fruits, and even some canned foods are great choices for a gluten-free emergency preparedness kit.
The need to eat gluten-free can certainly be intimidating to someone just finding out they have a sensitivity to it. However, even if you can’t eat all natural all the time, grocery stores and restaurants are becoming more and more accommodating to those who are seeking a gluten-free life.
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Just for a bit of levity; how about creating a fat free, sugar free emergency kit? Or a vegan kit? LOL
While soy bean may be gluten free it also is a GMO which I avoid. 94% of soy beans are GMO..
I think Whiskey is made from Wheat
Sorry if I’m wrong
I am severely gluten free & was told that a few years ago
Whiskey is made from corn and sugar
Thank-You ! Good to Know
Not just corn, Various grains are used Barley, Rye and Wheat.
Whiskey is made from grain. Any grain. What’s cheapest to use is used to make cheap whiskey. niio
Some people think gluten problems are an imaginary thing. For my issues I only wish that was true. If for some reason you do have an issue with some sort of food that others don’t have problems with and it comes evident that it seems to be in everything. In an emergency it’s almost impossible to find something to eat. So I suggest if you have such issues as I do, keep a good Supply of the things you can eat. Going for days without eating, or getting sick because of what you have eaton, can make a bad situation much much worse.
And I can assure you if it’s your wife, daughter, or son, it will be very difficult to find any humor in it.
My 2 cents
Thank-you. VERY True ! I’ve had it for about 5 years now & Prepping as much as possible for 7 yrs. Also have thyroid & bone cancer for 5 yrs, so soo little am able to eat. So have prepped all Organic etc & a bit not organic for family, friends or bartering. Just for some niceties that were not organic but they might appreciate. We Should be healthy 🙂
Ps. It is just about Everything. I have found though, that IF you can get it & afford it. Get Organic non-gmo & you can have just about anything ! Just Very rarely honey for me because of the cancer :/ Organic Stevia is pretty nice in most things but Not too much in a day.
It Honestly, as far as I CAN Tell, IS the Pesticides Pesticides Pesticides in Everything !
If you grow canna lilies, you have one of the best sourses of starch available. One ranch in Brazil raises over 16,000 acres of canna for the starch alone. Cornflour (finly ground grits) should last indefinitely. Bugs let mine alone for 4 years (a partial bag got lost in the deep back of a shelf) probably because of lye used in its production. Using 1/3 starch creates enough elastisty for most breads. If making noodles, use non-gluten flour and starch, make dough and have the water boiling. Drop noodles in water.
And, need some prayers, if you could. Nasty case of the flu! Zinc is a big help, but my stockpile of fruit juice is suffering. 🙂 Niio, all.
Tell me more about , How to use canna lilies as a food or starch source, Thank you, John.
Sorry I missed this! Canna is called achira and Queensland starch. American Indians who raised it peeled the root and sliced it thin, drying it, then crushed it into powder. Asians grind it fine, then soak it in water to remove the fibers, then make noodles and dry it.
Leaves are eatable, but fibrous. Older leaves are good to wrap food in, like at a luau. Shoots are cooked and eaten like asparagus. Seeds are ground into flour and used to make tortillas. niio
Those of us who suffer with gluten can find a go-to to compensate for the occasional-to-light use of gluten products. It is a product we are all familiar with, but nobody wants to talk about it. It is the (India) Indian spice Curcumin (Turmeric). It will take a week or two, taken daily to build up a resistance to the inflammation, but it definitely is a life changer. A side note, Puritan’s Pride brand, found online is the most economical good quality out there. Might be some others out there, but I have not found them. It is about 1/4 the price of Sam’s.
Thank-you ! I will check that one out. I have Curcumin every day for the cancer. I didn’t realize that it was helping with the gluten intolerance too. It hasn’t gotten rid of the tumours on me but it Definitely Helps!
If I miss a day every now & then , they Will grow a little the very next day! Haven’t found a cure yet! But the Curcumin with a few other things in my daily vitamin medicine drink, definitely helps with the pain too.
Just putting it out there for others who may need
FYI, latest research has found a correlation between two fungi and cancer in our bodies. They are still unsure which is the chicken and which is the egg.
But both thrive on low pH, meaning your acids, like about every grain, ALL sugars. Easiest way to combat the low pH is with alkaline water, (distilled/purified is too sweet,) and half a lemon in the morning squeezed into a half glass or more of water. Lemon starts out as a acid (low pH,) but changes to an alkaline (high pH). Taking magnesium and some of the other minerals will not only strengthen your body electrics, but balances you pH to a higher number.
Far out. Thank-you Very Much for your info
I knew some of that but not all.
I thought my filtered rain water was ok
& I have a pretty expensive for me anyway,
Magnesium Spray I put on the bone tumours when they get too sore.
I didn’t realize that it was helping with the pH as well.
With all the research I have done on these things..
There is always so many little things, that are big things to know.
Thank-You So Much for your obvious kindness & knowledge ! <3
Thank you for sharing your insights, Sher! You have a strong spirit. We need good role models!
You are Very Sweet Lucy !!
You make my eyes well up. :’)
Asian stores have rice noodles for very in-expensive prices packaged in various serving sizes. Packaged spices of Asian persuasion also available and tasty. Glass noodles are made from Mung Beans. Rice crackers of all sorts available there too. Asian stores have MANY foods for gluten intolerant folks!
I have an autoimmune disease with an extreme intolerance to gluten & dairy, (I consider myself the poster child of a gluten nightmare), I have been researching gluten and related information for the past 25 years before most people had an inclination of what gluten really is, ALL grains contain gluten, there is no such thing as a gluten free grain, the percentage count of prolamines contained in proteins of grains are the deciding factor of the sensitivity of an individual who has a gluten type sensitivity, Each grain has it’s own Prolamine/gluten name, eg. Wheat: having the highest count of prolamines at 69% prolamine protein count are called Gliadins, Rice: being the lowest on the list of Prolamines are called Orezenins with a 5% protein prolamine count. I am not here to be a nutritionist to anyone, this just works best for me and hopefully pass along some knowledge for individuals who have similar problems as I do, 25 years ago you couldn’t find the word gluten on any website to save your life with the internet still being in its infant stages and now the internet is full of information unlike the library 25 years ago when it was all in books or some kind of paper text format and most of that was old ways of thinking before technology found definitive proof of nutritional information. I am in a slow process of finding substitutes for ingredients in certain recipes I cannot consume in the event of SHTF, being caught off guard after SHTF is not where you want to be trying to figure out what you can and cannot add to your recipes for survival, right now most of you go to your local grocer and buy what you need to consume and avoid what you cannot, in a SHTF situation all of that will come to a halt, if you have an extreme or any condition that keeps you from eating certain foods, trial and error will not work for you after the Apocalypse. The information is out there and be careful where you acquire the information because there is still a lot of old thinking nutritional practice out there that will misinform you as this happened with me and if you are still having problems in controlling your diet of consumable products you are going to the wrong websites and or have the wrong nutritionist, the info is out there, the best advice I can give is if anyone tells you that ANY grain does not contain Prolamines/gluten they are dead wrong and your body is being poisoned, and more importantly so is your brain which does not do well with Prolamines, this is your body and the body you need after SHTF because this is where you are going to need it the most, find the substitutes that you need for your specific diet and stick to it, trust me on this after 27 years (2 of those years I thought it was all in my head before research) it’s been one trial and error after another, but after finding the right diet the difference between how I felt before and after was night and day so respect your food intake and substitute bad for good and you should make it through SHTF. One last thing, Also know food can be cross contaminated very easily with other foods without knowing or ever thinking about it including manufacture cross contamination which happens more times than not, One very good example is Distilled Vinegar which is distilled with grains, use Apple Cider Vinegar (with mother) as a substitute instead which is better for you anyways.