With food allergies and specialized diets becoming quite common, food banks are now more than ever looking for donations to meet a variety of needs. For example, the CDC recently reported an 18% rise in the number of children and young adults affected by food allergies, thus illustrating the need for food banks to receive donations that accommodate the needs of those with specialized diets. As someone living with a gluten allergy I hope to reiterate the importance and positive impact that donating gluten-free and healthful foods can make for serving those in need.
What is gluten and how does it apply to non-perishable foods? Gluten is a protein naturally found in wheat, rye, barley, and often times oats due to cross-contamination. More concerning though is that gluten is added as a stabilizing, thickening, or filler agent to many foods; such as condiments, frozen foods, boxed foods, canned goods, spices, and even medications. So grabbing any old leftover canned item will almost certainly not be helpful to someone who follows a gluten-free diet! So where can you find gluten-free foods to donate? The good news is there are an abundance of options available, here are some great ideas…
Canned goods: Some healthy gluten-free items are canned meat (salmon, tuna, chicken); canned vegetables (corn, spinach, beets, tomato, artichoke); and canned beans and legumes (pinto beans, kidney beans, black beans, chickpeas). Canned goods are often less expensive, and are naturally non-perishable.
Boxed Foods: Healthy gluten-free alternatives are quinoa, brown rice, corn tortillas, and gluten-free cereal and granola. Having gluten-free alternatives when it comes to grains is important since a gluten-free diet does not contain regular pasta, bread, tortillas, cereal, and most other processed foods.
Bulk food items: Some examples would be dried fruit (prunes, raisins, apple slices); unseasoned nuts (almonds, walnuts, pecans); and seeds (pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, popcorn). Buying in bulk helps lower the cost and many of these non-perishable foods are high in antioxidants.
Many of the above items can be found at your local grocery store or health food store, a few of my favorites are Henry’s and Whole Foods Markets. Everyone deserves to eat healthy and nutritious foods, so next time you donate to a charity or local food bank keep in mind those with food allergies who follow a specialized diet and donate some gluten-free items! Happy and Healthy Eating!
Guest blog post by Ashley Deppe. Ashley has a background in nutrition and has worked as a health coach, assisting individuals with making healthy lifestyle changes. Ashley follows a gluten-free diet herself.
Tags: Add new tag, canned food, gluten free, healthy foods, non-perishables, nutritious foods
I love what you guys are doing. Very noble and will benefit us all!
To Your Health!
James Reno
Raw-Food-Repair.com
me and my sister are both allergic to Gluten and we were always on a gluten-free diet ever since we were teenagers. ~
I wonder where you would be able to find a gluten free item like that, considering that nearly every single item that I’ve managed to find has a small amount of gluten in it. Not that I need it, but I do like the idea of select diets.
Great material - Many thanks for posting that information, I think that it largely answers my question.