Hi evereyone i am new on here, So i hope someone out there can help me. My son has just found out that he has celiacs disease, we know absoloutely nothing about this disease so i am trying to search through it all with what he can an cant have. He lives with his girlfriend and his new baby daughter and they are finding it hard to shop and find the right things. As it is his 18th birthday soon alothough not probably his thought of a great gift ,i thought i would find out if there is anyone that knows of a scanner of some sort that you can buy so he can take it to the shop and scan the labels to see what is gluten free, or i have heard that you can buy a handheld pc and buy a download for it to help with this problem, although i am not sure which pc or downlad is any good or wat the download actually helps you with.. so please if anyone can understand what i am going on about or knows of these items i would love some help... thankyou..

You can purchase gluten free food software, but when I bought it many of the brands that I use were not even on it. In my opinion it was a big waste of money. I think the best way to shop is to buy products from companies that will not hide gluten in other ingredients such as spices, flavorings, and natural flavorings. When you look in the ingredient list from one of those companies if there is gluten in the product they will disclose it. For example, Nestle Butterscotch chips ingredient disclosure looks like this: natural flavors (barley). There are many companies like this including Kraft, General Mills, and Nestle. I will post a link to a more complete list. Other companies have gluten free lists online such as Ore-Ida/Heinz, Newman's Own, and Frito-Lay. What I do is if the company does not list their gluten, I go to their website and look under the FAQ or ingredient section and if I find nothing there, then I call them. It gets easier once you figure out the brands to buy.

I recommend that you call all of the major companies, because this list may not be perfect.

http://www.glutenfreeindy.com/foodlists/in...donothidegluten

What a nice mom you are! What you could do is gather the lists and put them in a binder for him. Get him a copy of Living Gluten Free for Dummies- it's a great, easy to follow book. All the big grocery store chains usually have lists of gluten-free foods they stock.
If you are a baker you could do some experimenting with gluten-free products and bake him a gluten-free birthday cake! The possibilities are endless

Start with this list of unsafe ingredients. I'm sure others will post other lists for you. Good luck

http://www.celiac.com/st_prod.html?p_prodi...-02107601791.3f

I agree that there is no need to buy programs to help. I would also suggest Living gluten free for dummies. I have two copies. One I keep at home and the other pretty much stays with me. I would also pick up a gluten free cook book for him as well. It will cut down on cost some if he stays away from the processed stuff and learns to cook for himself. Make larger portions when you cook and the refrigerate or freeze them in single servings that that he doesn't have to cook every night. Things are hard at first but it gets easier with time.

Also, if you send a private message to a member called NoGluGirl, she has a list of brands and products that's pretty current.

My husband has celiac disease and I find myself reading a ton of labels. It can be tiring but he likes to try new things. It is nice that a lot of companies are noting on the bottom of the ingredientes "contains- gluten or wheat". This way I don't have to read through the whole label.

I do a lot of baking for my husband as whenever I make cookies or cakes, he wants some too. I've found that working with corn starch and potato starch as a substitute for flour works pretty well. I usually use 2/3 corn starch and 1/3 potato starch. But usually have to add xanthium gum (not sure on spelling) it helps hold the products together better. You can get it at speciality or organic stores.

There are also some great cookbooks. I'll have to write down the one from home that I use all the time. Sometimes I even prefer his baked goods to mine (his cakes are very dense).