There are a lot of reasons you might be avoiding bread. Perhaps you need low carb options, or you’re managing a selective/picky eater. No matter why you’re here, today I’ll be sharing some non-bready meal ideas. You can use these for breakfast, lunch, and dinner as well.
Let’s Define Bread and Bready
By definition, bread is a food made of flour, water, and yeast (or another leavening agent), that’s mixed together and baked. There’s a HUGE range of types of bread both in wheat-based and gluten free baking.
Some breads are soft, light, and fluffy. There’s a little spring as well. This type of texture is commonly seen in sandwich bread.
Other types of bread can have a hard exterior. So hard that you can knock on them and hear a decent sound. These breads tend to be hard to bite into, and more chewy.
There’s also sourdough bread that comes in both varieties mentioned above.
Most people avoiding bread are avoiding the sandwich bread style.
Why Are You Avoiding Bread?
This is actually an important question to answer, as it will steer you in the right direction of which other options to choose from.
Are you avoiding the texture of bread? If so, muffins and pancakes wouldn’t be good alternatives. Is it the taste of bread? If that’s not your jam, then some flat breads and pitas are off the menu.
Think about bread and what it is that you don’t like so you’ll know what to avoid later when I talk about alternatives. If this is for a child who can’t communicate well, assume it’s the texture, and maybe the taste.
Do You Really Need Bread to Survive?
No, you don’t need to eat bread to survive. However, growing children, growing teens, and athletes need to consume enough carbohydrates each day (in balance with protein and fat) to make sure they feel their best.
There are other gluten free carbohydrates to choose from that aren’t bready including potatoes and rice. You can read more about the topic here.
Non-Bready, Gluten Free, Allergy Friendly Carbohydrates
So, since you’re taking out bread, you might be wondering what a good alternative would be. Here are some options:
- Tortilla
- Pop Corn/Popped Sorghum
- Potato Chips
- Lotus Chips
- Rice Cakes
- Sweet Potato Chips
- Veggie Chips
- Rice
- Quinoa
Any of these makes for a great bread replacement. Depending on what it’s paired with, you can create mixed foods, or serve components standalone.
Non-Bready, Gluten Free Meal Ideas
Let’s face it, some people hate eating sandwiches. If that’s something you have to cater to, here are several non-bready meal ideas for you to choose from:
- Chili (meat-Based or Vegan)
- Nachos
- Burger/Chickpea Patties
- Chicken Nuggets
- Lettuce Wraps (Meat Based or Vegan)
- Soup
- Salad
- Ragu + Chips
- Kebabs
- Wraps
- Fried Rice
- Bean Dips
- Charcuterie Boards/Boxes (use crackers in place of bread)
The beauty of a list like this is its potential for variation. Let’s look at ragu as an example. There are so many ingredient combinations you could enlist to make a ragu. We’re talking hundreds of variations here. That means if you were rotating though this list and implemented 5 different variations on ragu, you’ve expanded the list.
Now, apply that to just about everything on the list above. I can think of 10 soups and at least 5 ways to make chicken nuggets right now with what’s in the fridge. Fried rice can be made in soooooo many different ways as well.
I think you see my point. Sometimes we need a jumping off point, but I can tell you this, if you’re managing a selective/picky eater who doesn’t want bread, it’s not a problem. I’m sure there’s something else on the list that will appeal to them.
Finally, keep in mind that many of the items on the list above are lunch box friendly for both kids and adults.
