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20th December 2016
12:10am GMT
It can be quite difficult trying to maintain a gluten free diet if you lead a busy lifestyle. Whether by choice or necessity, more and more people are cutting out gluten in the past few years, and really noticing the benefits.
However, it does make life a bit awkward when you're legging it around town from one meeting to another, in desperate need of some sustenance and all that is in the vicinity is a shop selling stodgy chicken fillet rolls. Obviously sandwiches are out of the question, unless delis happen to do gluten free bread but a lot of the time these are filled with additives and sugar, so best to avoid in general. Anyone on the gluten free diet will relate to that heartbreaking moment at meetings or events when food is provided but it only consists of trays and trays of gluten-filled sambos.
So, we've taken it upon ourselves to draw up a little list of the best lunch items and snack to get around town, when you're a bit stuck for time but have a hole in your stomach from hunger and need to fuel up.
Really nifty, and awesome for anyone trying to stick to a healthy diet - you can jam in as much as you want, and plenty of places like Lolly & Cooks, Cracked Nut, and KC Peaches have high protein options. The beauty of these is you can even pick them up in the morning, fling them in the fridge at work and eat them later whenever you've got some free time. Also if you're in dire straits, Subway do salads - just make sure you choose chicken or tuna and avoid any meats that could contain flour as an additive.
Everything a burrito could ever be, just without the big floury tortilla. These are seriously filling with thanks to the rice, and they're really satisfying. In my experience it's always worth shelling out the additional euro for guac. There's a burrito spot on the corner of every street In Dublin at this stage, so you're never too far from one. Bonus points have to go to Boojum for their spicy pork chorizo burrito.
While I'm not normally a person for pre-packaged salads as I think the lettuce always feels doused in chemicals, in desperate times you can always pop into a supermarket and purchase a salad. Dunnes, Super Valu, Spar, Centra, etc. all have these options, but Marks and Spencers is my personal favourite as theirs always feel really fresh. One thing to be careful of here though is grains like cous cous and bulgar wheat which have gluten in them, and can sometimes be mixed in with the leaves of a salad so read the packaging very carefully - quinoa's ok though!
Once again most convenience stores around town stock Oishii Sushi, where you can get 8 pieces of sushi for about €7, they have kitchens in Smithfield and their sushi is made fresh every morning before distribution. The Sakana, Yasai and Sushi Salad Bento are all gluten free in the Oishii Sushi range. Otherwise you might be lucky enough to have a good sushi place near enough to where you work - Sushi King on Baggot Street is very good, both of Yamamori's city centre locations do takeaway, and for anyone based in the IFSC or near Capel Street, Musashi is unreal. The only thing to watch out for here is soy sauce if you're a coeliac, but most places should have a gluten free version.
If you're super stuck these following snacks can be super handy too, and tide you over til you do get the chance to eat something bigger:
See? Eating gluten free isn't that difficult! But is there anything you think we left out? Let us know below in the comments and we'll add them to the article...
