An informal poll of my friends with celiac disease yields the following answer to the question “what appliance is going to make your life better?”. That appliance is not a bread maker, it is a chest freezer.
Yes you can make your own loaves of bread, but honestly its a pain. It goes stale fast. The slices are goofy and it solves only one problem. You see, people without food issues can simply order takeout chinese or pizza when they have to work late. I cannot. I have to make my dinner virtually every single night or else I need to go out to one of the few restaurants that genuinely cater to me and eat there. I have been sick from cross contamination more times than I care to recall eating something that was supposed to be gluten free. Thanks but no thanks. Eventually I need to go somewhere and while working from home may be an option, working while trapped in a bathroom generally is not.
Which is where the chest freezer comes in. Gluten and dairy free frozen pizza exists. There are gluten and dairy free frozen entrees. There is always making and freezing your own meatballs in sauce, or chili, or beef stew, or lamb stew or pesto, and then microwaving them and serving them with pasta. When you have a chest freezer you have options. You cook in bulk and eat when you need to.
In addition you are likely to find that the best GF bakery to make your bread is not ten minutes from your house. You too may make pilgrimages where you want ten loaves at a time plus three pie crusts. You need a chest freezer for that stuff.
Yes they are a few hundred dollars, but it is an investment in your ongoing mental health. Yes, they take up space but they save you so much time.
So get a chest freezer. You will be glad that you did!
