Celiac disease impacts roughly 1% of people in the United States.
For those with this autoimmune condition, consuming even minuscule traces of gluten — the protein present in wheat, barley and rye — can harm the small intestine.
My partner Aaron has celiac disease, so our home is entirely gluten-free.
The more than 200 symptoms linked to celiac disease can make it hard to identify, according to the Celiac Disease Foundation. Typical signs include vomiting, diarrhea and other gastrointestinal issues; seizures and migraines; persistent tiredness; muscle aches; skin eruptions; and oral problems like canker sores, enamel irregularities and cavities.
Ongoing exposure to gluten increases a person’s risk of developing certain cancers and acquiring other autoimmune conditions such as Type 1 diabetes, epilepsy, infertility, multiple sclerosis and anemia.
So it’s essential for people with celiac to avoid ingesting gluten directly or through cross-contact (using cookware, plates or utensils that have touched gluten, sometimes even if they’ve been washed).
Because Aaron has celiac and we maintain a gluten-free household, we only eat out at establishments that truly offer gluten-free choices.
Several gluten-free apps have simplified our lives in that respect. And since we’re careful with money, we stick to the free options whenever possible.
Here are a few of our top picks.
Best Gluten-Free App for Eating Out
Going out to eat can be risky for those with celiac, but everyone deserves a break from cooking, so Aaron and I try to locate restaurants that cater to gluten-free needs.
Here in Nashville, we’ve found a few local spots that are careful about gluten, such as The Red Bicycle. Some national chains also make an effort, like Red Robin and Chipotle (just be sure to ask staff to swap out ingredient bins and spoons and to put on fresh gloves).
How can you tell if a restaurant genuinely supports gluten-free diners? And how can you confirm they follow safe practices?
Our go-to app for dining out isFind Me Gluten Free, and it’s popular with others. It has 4.5 stars on Google Play and 4.8 stars in the App Store.
Find Me Gluten Free is excellent for locating eateries in your vicinity or when visiting new places. The app lets you search by your current location, a specific address or by category and displays price levels (handy for those watching their budget). You can also read reviews to judge how celiac-aware a restaurant truly is.
This matters a lot for people with celiac. Many restaurants advertise gluten-free options but lack protocols to minimize cross-contact and haven’t trained staff on gluten-free handling.
By reading feedback from other people with celiac, you can gauge your risk of cross-contamination.
Similar choices include AllergyEats and Dine Gluten Free.
Best Gluten-Free App for Cooking at Home
Because Aaron has experienced cross-contact on several occasions while dining out, we usually eat at home most evenings. I’ve been labeled frugal in past relationships for preferring home meals, so I appreciate the shift.
We get many of our recipe ideas from the gluten-free cookbooks on our shelves or through simple web searches.
But sometimes Aaron and I will grab the iPad and open our favorite gluten-free recipe app, Cookpad (4.4 stars on Google Play and 3.9 stars on the App Store).
Cookpad is a recipe-sharing platform that lets you filter by dietary restrictions, and it also has a community side. Well-intentioned but sometimes overbearing relatives who wanted to learn how to accommodate Aaron’s celiac diagnosis have joined, and we can swap recipes we’ve actually tried.
The app also includes a food journal, so Aaron and I can track our favorite dishes without dog-earing cookbooks or bookmarking recipe pages on my work computer upstairs.
Best Gluten-Free Apps for Grocery Shopping
Fortunately, Aaron usually does most of our grocery shopping, but when he’s away or tied up with a project, I’ve had to tackle the store solo to gather that week’s ingredients.
Ingredient labels at Kroger (especially Kroger-brand products), where we shop most weeks, have improved at calling out when foods contain gluten or other “allergen” ingredients like peanuts, milk and soy.
Still, some items are less obvious, and I often find myself guessing whether something contains gluten because gluten itself isn’t usually listed. Instead, you need to look for terms like “wheat” or “barley.”
The number of times I’ve forgotten whether oats contain gluten is embarrassingly high, but now I simply use The Gluten Free Scanner (3.4 stars on Google Play and 4.7 stars on the App Store).
This app is really simple to use, although I’ve had trouble at one Kroger near my home where the signal is always poor. The app uses your phone’s camera to scan a barcode and quickly shows whether the product is gluten-free.
I’ve had good results with most items I’ve scanned, though the database isn’t exhaustive. The paid tier probably contains more entries and costs $3.99 in the App Store.
One note: Reviewers on Google Play have mentioned the app appears incompatible with the Samsung Note 8.
An alternative is Gluten Free Food Finder (Android only).
Receiving a celiac diagnosis can feel overwhelming: it requires a complete dietary overhaul and adapting to new routines when eating out and shopping for food. These apps make the gluten-free way of life a bit easier to manage and help you keep your health front and center every day.
