Another rant - Where are the Schar grissinis?

It appears to be happening again. When my mum and I find something we like and can eat (Mum has coeliac and I have gluten and dairy intolerances) we can't seem to find it in the shops after a while. This time it seems to be Schar's grissini (gluten free breadsticks). We like this as a snack, esp with either jam or dairy-free choc spread. We have looked in all three local Sainsbury's stores, and two of them didn't have a shelf label for it, and the other was empty. I posted a comment on one of Schar's Facebook posts the other day, and they said they are available in selected stores and on their website. So, I have ordered some from their online shop, but it costs more. In the shops the packets are £2.50 each, whereas online they are £2.69 and you have to pay p&p. So, when we go to the main Sainsbury's again we shall have a look for them there, which is where we got them in the first place.

I bought a packet of their gluten and dairy free cream crackers instead the other day, to try them. We shall see.

Will let you know if we find them again.

An oaty tale

Since I found I can't eat gluten, I have tried to find another porridge to eat as well as millet. I thought I'd found it in gluten-free oats. The first bag I bought was Sainsbury's free from oats. They didn't bind with my rice dream and it was a v runny porridge. So, I decided to find another one. I found Nairn's gf wholegrain oats. Only, after a few breakfasts it proved to be too much wholegrain for me. They were 100% wholegrain. Too much because it had a bad effect on me that involved a small room. I had to give those up.

But I have found I can eat less than 100% wholegrain oats. I can eat gf wholegrain crackers which are 86% and can eat gf oatcakes that are a similar amount of wholegrain.

So, there you have it. I can't eat 100 wholegrain foods, esp oats, but can eat less than that.

Celebrating Free From style

It was my mum's birthday yesterday. Because we are both intolerant to various foods and she has coeliac, too, we can't eat normal cakes, but thankfully there are some yummy alternatives out there, which we have found. We bought Genius lemon cupcakes on Wednesday out shopping and ate them on the Thursday I think it was.

It was delicious. Light and fluffy like a sponge should be, and the lemon icing was gorgeous, too.

Yesterday we had the Free From choc muffin cake with Alpro (soya) custard. V filling and v nice as well. I am intolerant to soya and it did affect me the whole day by making me slightly stuffy. It was worth it though. Today we had the rest of the muffin cake with ice cream and frozen yoghurt. Mum had goat's milk ice cream and I had the frozen yoghurt.

All three foods come from Sainsbury's. The cakes are in the Free From bread section, and the frozen yoghurt in the special ice cream freezer section.

Might try the choc cupcakes next for my birthday in November.

Gluten-free bread

Since I have found I'm intolerant to gluten, I have tried a few gluten-free breads that are out there in the supermarkets. I have found there is one particular bread that is my favourite. But here is my overall opinion of the ones I have had:

In third place is Tescos Free From bread. These were large slices and tasted really dry to eat.

Tesco slices are the bigger ones. One and a half of these would make a sandwich, as I found that 2 was too much to eat, esp as they were dry.

In second place comes Genius. They too are large slices but don't taste that dry, but they often have large cracks and holes in them (I'm not the only one to have found this). This would be my choice of bread when I can't get the Sainsbury's one.

In first place is Sainsbury's Free From white bread. The size of the slices are just right, don't taste dry and hardly come with holes in. So it gets top prize from me. I have also tried their brown seeded loaf and that's OK too.

I have also tried Warburton's white rolls, and like them now and then for a change from a sandwich. So, what gluten-free breads have you tried? Which one is your favourite in taste and size and content?

A dairy and gluten free Easter

Like everyone else, I did have chocolate Easter eggs for Easter, I also had hot cross buns, but they were all dairy and gluten free versions.

My mum had a job getting the hot cross buns. Sainsbury's didn't have any when we went last week, so she had to go to Tescos, and only found them hidden and upside down. She bought one pack, and we had one each, slightly grilled, with sunflower spread on. Yummy. Here is what Mum bought:

 

 

I was OK with the hot cross buns, although the cinnamon taste did repeat on me.

For the eggs, we bought them from Holland and Barrett's because they were doing special offers. The first offer was to buy one get one half price, so we did. Then we found that on the back of the receipt was another offer to get another egg half price. So, Mum bought another one, and got the same offer on the receipt that time, so bought another egg a day or so later. We ended up with two eggs each, sharing the individual chocolates between us with the last two. Here are the eggs that we bought.

 



They are both Choices chocolate. The left one had choc caramel cups in and the right one had choc discs in. The first two eggs we ate were the one with the discs in. They are made mainly from rice flour and rice syrup, and I wondered afterwards if that was why I had to visit a certain small room a few times a day when I ate them. Am now thinking that I can't eat processed/refined rice, but can only eat wholegrain and brown varieties. We shall see.

Rice Dream special offer

I have decided that as well as posting about gluten and dairy free foods that I eat now, how I make it and what it looks like, I shall post about special offers I see as I am out and about. Here is the first one.

I don't know how long it will last for, but Sainsbury's are currently doing Rice Dream milk as buy 5 for 4. This is a saving of £1.39 as you get one free. As both my mum and I have this milk now, we bought the 5 today as part of our weekly shop.

We buy the one above because it has calcium in it, too. This is good for us as neither of us now eats dairy as we're both intolerant to dairy, esp me.

So, if you have this milk, pop along to your nearest Sainsbury's and stock up on it whilst the offer lasts. We will.

Gluten-free living

I don't know if you buy the Sainsbury's magazine, but in the recent issue there was a story of a woman who was diagnosed with colitis and had to give up eating foods with gluten in. She tells about her life with this and how she finally got her diet working. The article is called 'My Gluten-Free Life' by Victoria Young. Well, I read this and thought, let's write a letter to the magazine (something I do now and then). I won't put what I wrote here in case it does get published. Anyway, I received a personal letter from someone called Beatrice Moore. Here is her reply:

Dear Julie 

Thank you very much for taking the time to write in to us and letting us know your thoughts.

Fortunately, products and recipes seem to be getting better all the time. From the April issue we will be making all gluten-free recipes stand out with a 'GF' symbol, and we are checking these mentions against the Coeliac Society guidelines, so hopefully this will be more of a help to you as well. 

I hope you continue to enjoy the future issues of the magazine. 

Best wishes,

Bea

 

So, they are now making some of their recipes gluten-free and will mark it up as so. This is something that I have wanted for a while. I often read recipes in magazines, think that I love to make this one but can't because it has dairy or gluten in it. Hurrah. Well done, Sainsbury's.