Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Gluten Free in College

It is official I have sent my gluten free child off to navigate meals on her own as a college student! I thought my readers might like to know some of the foods and appliances she took with her to help her maintain a healthy gluten free diet while on campus.
Appliances:
1. Quesadilla maker
2. Toaster
3. Large dorm refrigerator/freezer
4. Mini smoothie maker
5. Microwave

Foods:
1. Corn tortillas
2. Cheese
3. Large jar peanut butter
4. Yogurts
5. Fruit
6. Peanuts
7. Glutino Bagels (purchased at Whole Foods)
8. GlutenFreeda Burritos ( breakfast, chicken and cheese, vegetarian bean and cheese)
ordered from The Gluten Free Mall.
9. GlutenFreeda Instant Oatmeal (ordered from The Gluten Free Mall)
10. Bell and Evans Breaded Gluten-Free Chicken Nuggets (ordered from the Gluten Free Mall)
11. Bell and Evans Boneless Skinless Gluten-Free Grilled Chicken Breast (ordered from The Gluten Free Mall)
12. Glutino Frozen Cheese Pizza (purchased from Harris Teeter)
13. Pamelas Simplebites chocolate chips mini cookies (ordered from Amazon)
14. Quinoa Gluten Free Pasta(ordered from Amazon, also available at Harris Teeter, Kroger and Whole Foods)and gluten free pasta sauce
15. Lunberg Gluten-Free Risotto (ordered from Amazon, also available at some grocery stores)
16. Tomato Soup from Pacific Natural Foods(purchased from Kroger)
17. Gluten Free Pancake mix
18. Gluten Free Bars: Envirokidz Crispy Rice Bar (from Whole Foods) South Beach Living High Protein Cereal Bars Cinnamon Raisin (from Amazon)
19. Gluten Free Cereal
20. Gluten Free Bread and Buns-Dr Schar brand (ordered from The Gluten-Free Mall)

I also sent along a gluten free multi-vitamins and Advil!

Note: Amazon grocery is a great way to save some food dollars if you can use a large volume of a product or buy something that has a long shelf life. The Gluten-Free Mall carries many high quality products I had sampled and wanted to purchase but were unavailable locally. The Gluten Free Mall will ship frozen items as well as dry goods.

5 comments:

jan said...

And how is your daughter making out at school? Is she finding food to eat in the dining hall? or does she eat many meals in her room?

Debbie Jongkind,RD,LDN said...

Thanks for asking. She is navigating her way. She opted not to get a meal plan so is eating on her own; this includes some cooking and eating out. She will go to the dining hall now and then to be social but generally sticks with a salad and fruit.

jan said...

Do you worry that she is missing the social aspect of dining with her classmates on a regular basis? Does it bother her? My GF/DF daughter also started college this fall. We've found her choices in the dining hall to be extremely limited, despite the fact that the school has a Gluten Free Zone for bread products, alternate milk drinks, etc. We've thought about asking for permission to take her off the meal plan, but I worry about the isolation that would cause.

Debbie Jongkind,RD,LDN said...

The meal plan at UNC is optional and many kids compliment their meal plan with eating out and cooking in, so I do not feel like she is missing out. I do feel like we would be spending extra money on a meal plan that she would not use. She does have access to go to the dining halls and purchase per meal. Although this is a higher cost per meal in the long run it works both socially and economically for her. How nice your daughter's school has a GF zone for bread products! Depending on the college and dining options perhaps she could opt for a reduced meal plan??

jan said...

Thanks for the suggestion. That may be a possibility. Either way I think we will end up supplementing her meals more than we expected to.