Life Without Bread

Two weeks without bread - hardly a feat. For years I gave up on the staple altogether. In part because gluten-free bread was quite hard to find. When you did, it tasted AWFUL and frankly, I couldn't afford $5 a loaf when I moved out on my own over 20 years ago.

Today, the bread is greatly improved, and because of the insane market growth - you can find it everywhere, for little more than we paid in 1989. Over time it has crept back into my diet.

My two week bread break came as a result of a road trip through western Texas in our VW camper van. Dust and cowboy country. Some days we drove for hours without seeing anything but dirt hills and tumbleweeds. Our cooler was stocked with our regular road trip fare. I don't take gf bread, because it's fussy and usually dreadful without a toaster. You can read what we normally cart on the road HERE. 

While bread is a convenient base for any meal, these road trips remind me to look beyond the little beige squares as a starting point. Rice cakes, corn cakes, lettuce wraps all make fine replacements if a "sandwich" scenario is what you need. Otherwise check out the link above for simple ideas on how to bypass the sandwich mentality all together. Those sandwich bags are good for carting lot of other healthier, cheaper and convenient edibles!

Don't get me wrong. I couldn't be happier that we have excellent bread options to choose from these days. In fact I'd like to give a special shout out to a couple of excellent breads I've recently tried. Glutino Genius is surreal. You can certainly eat it straight from the bag (although it's delicate texture makes it prone to falling apart when you do). Udi's also makes a growing selection of satisfying breads. I think it's worth noting that what helps makes these breads mimic "regular" bread won't hurt you, but isn't that great for you either. I've grown accustomed to keeping my bread intake to a minimum. Mostly in the form of toast for breakfast when I'm in a rush. I still haven't packed a sandwich for lunch in over 30 years... actually, not since my Mum did what she could for me with gluten-free bread in the 1970's before we knew of ingredients like guar, xanthum or cellulose.

I'll save my calories for cookies :). For more on decent gluten-free breads click HERE.