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.

Foods being stopped

This post is a bit of a rant about foods that my mum and I have found that we both like and can eat, that then get discontinued. Why does this happen to us?

The first food that this happened to us was Sainsbury's Free From sausages. We liked those, but then found we couldn't buy them anymore. Thankfully, we have now found a good substitute in gluten-free sausages from Marks and Spencers.

The second food was ice cream. I really like ice cream and had found one I liked that agreed with me, as I am dairy intolerant. Then this was stopped and I found out that it was because that it had been made in a factory where other foods were made and could contaminate this. The manufacturers couldn't find another place to make it where it wouldn't come in contact with other foods. Thankfully, both Mum and I have found substitutes. Mum now eats St Helen's goat's milk ice cream and I eat coconut ice cream made by the Coconut Collabarative.

Now it seems that it could happen again to us. We have been eating Sainsbury's free from baguettes, which we enjoy instead of having a roll or sandwich. The last couple of weeks they have disappeared from the shelves. It could be that Dr Schar products are being put in their place. I do know that Dr Schar have just released a white baguette. We shall have to see what is in it to see if I can eat it or not, as I can't eat soya and apple fibre, which is in a couple of their bread stuff.

I shall let you know what I find. Has anyone else had this problem? Did it solve itself? Let me know.

My high-fibre reintroduction diet

So, it is the third week of reintroducing high-fibre foods I hadn't been eating back into my usual diet. How has it gone so far? Well, after I wrote here last, I had tinned pineapple rings that had been in the fridge a few days. I made the mistake of eating them instead of throwing them away. I had stomach pains and the runs after that. So, in future, I told my mum that if we have tinned fruit in the fridge, we have to eat it up as soon as. Other than that, all the foods I have been eating again, I have been fine with.

I have reintroduced Brussels and have been fine with them, although I did have a bit of gas last night. Will only have 5 not 6 next time. I have been fine with spring and pickled onions, just as long as I don't have too many in a short space of time. This week I have been eating gluten-free oatcakes again, with peanut butter. I haven't had any digestion issues, but the strange thing was, for the first two nights after eating them again, I woke up during the night with a bad headache. So, last night, I only had a scraping of peanut butter on it and I was fine. It might not be that, it could be thoughts, it could be too much sugary stuff I've eaten during the day.

Today I have started eating gluten-free wholegrain crackers. I had 3 and have been fine so far with them. Will have them again. I won't have those and the oatcakes in one day. That would be too much wholegrain food.

The other thing I have been trying is coconut milk. I bought one by Alpro.

The first morning I had it warm with Whole Earth organic cornflakes and I had no problems. It tastes really coconutty unlike the last one I tried. Maybe because it has coconut cream and milk in it. The second morning I had it cold with the cornflakes.

This time I wasn't OK. I had stomach pains after it. So, I will try it again tomorrow but warm, and see what happens, if anything. I have a hemp seed milk to try too. I want a milk I can have warm with porridge, which is my next high-fibre food to reintroduce.

Shall pop in again next week with how I have been getting on. See you then.

Foody goals for 2016

As well as business and writing goals for this new year, I have made a few goals about food. They are

1. Go completely gluten free from now on. Already started this. On New Year's Eve, once I had a bit more branston, which has gluten in, I chucked the rest away. There wasn't a lot left anyway. We did have a spare jar, but I gave that to my brother on Boxing Day. I will be checking all food labels now.

2. Try to go completely soya free. I have been avoiding anything made with soya flour, protein, bean etc, but eating things with soya lecithin in, which is the oil from soya. I keep feeling stuffy, which I know soya makes me, and am wondering if this is why. Soya lecithin is in a lot of foods, ranging from chocolate sauce to biscuits to crisps (who needs soya oil in crisps!). We shall see how that goes. I will be doing this from tomorrow as we have soya custard still to eat, and that will be eaten up in a while with a mince pie.

3. I will also be starting a low fibre diet again from tomorrow. Saw the dietician on Thursday. Told him that I was v happy going with low fibre again as it did help me. So I will be doing it for a couple of weeks, then reintroducing one high fibre food a week after that. He is going to email me sheets to complete when I do that.  I can't wait to start this one as it really helped calmed my digestion down.

So, those are the food goals I aim to do this year. I shall post here now and then to let you know how I am faring with them.

I can say, that since I gave up eating gluten and wheat, my weight has gone down and stayed down.

A food intolerance pub review

Last Saturday week (14th) I was due to go to a workshop at a pub called The Theodore Bullfrog in Charing Cross. I have been there before, but not when I have had so many food intolerances, and when I have eaten gluten and wheat before. When I ordered the food, I was told by the workshop organiser that I would have to phone the pub myself to check out about food intolerances as that was what others in the same situation had done. So I did. I wanted chicken wings and fries. I was told that there wasn't a guarantee that the chips would come in contact with flour because they use their fryer for other foods, and the chicken wings had flour in, too. I said, fine, OK, I shall take my own lunch then. I didn't go in the end because I had had a bad night and was too tired to travel and concentrate.

So, I shall now give my marks out of 5 for travel accessibility and for catering for food intolerances.

Travel = 2. I could have got a bus to Catford then a train to Charing Cross.
Catering for food intolerances = 0. There wasn't anything else on the menu that I could eat, so I had to take my own lunch if I had. But I shall give them 2 for telling me over the phone what allergens there were in the foods. Something that all food eateries have to do now.

There you have it. One pub I won't be eating in again, and if I do, it will be my own food that I know I can eat without fuss and harm.

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.

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?

My local Chinese

A couple of weeks ago, before my mum had her major eye surgery, we went for a meal out our local Chinese 'The Eastern Queen' at Catford, SE London. We've been there a few times before

The walls are nicely decorated in Chinese pictures and symbols.

Every time we go there now, not often, the staff seem to change, but they are nice and friendly towards you. Even holding the door open for you when you leave.

My mum had her usual meal of chicken with ginger and spring onions, and I had chicken with seasonal veg with boiled rice (small bowl between us).

Mine is on the left, Mum's on the right. Be careful you don't eat a piece of ginger by mistake as it's hot!

Both our meals were really nice and dairy and gluten free. We declined the prawn crackers because they do have a form of dairy in. We don't have a dessert because the meal is enough for both of us. But we do take away the mint cream choc that we get given with the bill. It is only a small amount of dairy and doesn't affect me. I used to have the crackers before a meal, then have a pudding afterwards that might have had wheat (flour) on, and did have problems when I got home. Now I don't have any of that and I am fine.

So here is my score for it: service = 8/10; locality = 9/10 (get a bus there and back); food for intolerances = 8/10.

We might go there again but not sure as Mum said she wasn't sure if she would. We shall see. If we do, I shall have something different to try.

Going away for weekend with food intolerances

I have been away over the years but I have to say, one of the best places I've been to for eating with food intolerances is Dunford House, Nr Midhurst in W Sussex. I was there last weekend for a writing retreat, and they are so helpful and accommodating with coping with my food intolerances.  Here is what I eat for the main meals over the weekend.

On the Friday evening we had chicken breast with new potatoes and veggies. Here is what it looked like:

For breakfast, I had gluten free toast each day.

For Saturday lunch I had gluten free pasta with veggies (tomato and red onion), which was yummy.  Here it is:

 

For dinner we had roast butternut squash risotto (free from dinner). I'd not had risotto rice before but I really liked it because it was crunchy. It was filling so I didn't eat all of it.

 

For dessert I had fresh strawberries. Other days I had fruit salad but didn't eat all of that because most of it was apple which I can't eat. Sunday dessert I was given strawberries, banana and an orange. I gave the orange away but eat the rest.

Sunday lunch I had Moroccan veggie tagine. I didn't take a photo of this one. I couldn't eat all of it because it was too spicy for me. I had to have water with it, then was given some bread which helped. For dinner we had beef bourgnon (prob spelt wrongly) and mashed potato with veggies. All dairy and gluten free, of course.

I remember having this last year and enjoyed it again. All food provided I believe is locally sourced, so we eat in season.

As well as all these meals, there was cake and crisps. I managed to eat some cakes because the organiser kindly baked a dairy and gluten free one for me. So, a lot was eaten and I put on 2 and a half pounds in weight. Most of that has gone now. Roll on next year.



How to get money off from Dietary Specials

Several weeks ago I applied to get money off vouchers from Dietary Special foods. In the last couple of weeks I have received two vouchers for £4 off. Hurrah. I eat their gluten-free breadsticks and rice cakes, so I will be buying more of those with the vouchers. Here is how you can get these vouchers. You have to register with them on their website http://www.dsglutenfree.com/. They will email you confirmation of registration, then you have to wait weeks for the guide and vouchers to come through.

So, if you eat any of their foods, it is well worth it to register and get money off. You can save a bit of cash, esp as I know that a lot of free from foods are expensive.

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.

Eating out gluten-free

On Thursday I went to the London SCBWI Brunch at the Fleet Street Bakery (behind Holborn station). I've been there before, and last time I did I had a spicy soup. This time they had something different. It wasn't marked up on the board as gluten free but they had to check with the kitchen staff. It should have been up on the board, due to the new regulations that came about in December where all eating places should have marked on their menus if foods are gluten free. Anyway, this is what I had to eat for lunch, which was kindly paid for by Miriam Craig the organiser, due to me forgetting to take any money with me (first time I've done that):

It was quinoa with beansprouts and radishes. It came with sweetcorn and lots of green leaves, neither of which I ate because I can't. I've not eaten quinoa (pronounced keenwa) grains before, only as flakes for breakfast in a porridge. I really liked it, and it didn't disagree with me, which was a bonus.

Not sure what they will have next I go in May, but I will make sure they have marked on their board if it is gluten free or not.

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.

Cornflakes a no-no

Well, after a month off from last trying gluten-free cornflakes, I ate them for breakfast this morning with hot rice milk. The result - niggling stomach pains and visiting the small room. So, now I know that I can no longer eat corn/maize. Seems my stomach doesn't like most grains these days. I shall stick to what I know I can eat from now on. That means for breakfast, I will be eating Free From toast when I go out that day, millet porridge with ham or cocoa rice pops when I am not going out that day. One of these days I shall take a photo of what my porridge and that looks like so you can see it.

So, I am now intolerant to: dairy, soya, wheat, gluten and corn/maize. Plus a host of other foods that are too many to name here eg dark green veg.

A gluten no-go

I said to myself that I was going to try gluten products again after all the Xmas food had gone. That was a few weeks ago but I didn't get round to it until this last week. I had 3 ryvitas for lunch like I used to do to see what happened. I was OK all that afternoon, so thought I was fine. Then I had dinner. Shortly after that I got stomach pains, which got worse and worse. So, I wasn't fine with rye after all. That meant if I wasn't OK with rye, then I wouldn't be with oats. The following morning, I checked the dates on the oatcakes I had left. It was due to expire 5 days later so I emptied the contents into the bin and recycled the boxes. The remaining pack of ryvitas expires in July so I have kept that to give to my brother when I see him next. I had 6 cartons of Oat milk. I threw all those down the sink and recycled the Tetrapaks. I know it is a lot of food waste, and I normally hate throwing food away, but as it was nearly expired and I couldn't eat it anymore, I had to.

So, from now on, it is going to be gluten-free all the way from me. I shall finding out what I can eat when I go out for meals during the year and posting on here about them.

A gluten free Xmas

I know it's a little late in coming, but my mum and I had a gluten free Xmas. Here are just a few of the food goodies we ate:

We didn't eat all the crisps and potato sticks ourselves. Some of them were put out on Boxing Day when my brother et al came over. We did eat the Turkish Delight though. The peppermint creams were really nice. Will have those again next time. The box on the right at the front is Love More Free From Shortbreads. They were gorgeous and did taste of shortbread. Behind them in the middle are Kallo dark choc rice cakes. They are also v nice and not just at Xmas (lol). At the back are Love More Free From Xmas cake slices with icing on. They were lovely, too. Had a subtle and not too rich taste to them. Nice with soya custard. Under those, and you can't see, were Love More Free From mince pies. They were quite sweet and the juice from the mince was coming through the bottom of the pies. Also nice with custard. I have to say that even though I ate all of that, I didn't have any stomach problems like I have had done in the past.

The Kallo dark choc rice cakes you can get in anyway major supermarket. The Love More Free From foods came from Holland and Barretts. We will buy the cake slices again. The crisps were from Sainsbury's and the potato sticks from Lidl's.

So there you have some of what I ate gluten free at Xmas.

From now on, this blog will be focussing on either gluten and dairy free eating at home and out, and recycling issues. The next post will be about recycling Xmas.

Gluten-free - the fourth week

Well, this is the fourth week so far, and I can easily say it has been the best one. I haven't had any problems with breakfasts this week, that I can remember. I have been fine with eating millet porridge and jam. Yesterday I had cocoa rice, but not as many as the last time and I was fine with those, too. I have decided to try gluten food again until after the 25th, which is my birthday. So I can have a relaxed time. I will be going out on Tuesday, and have already chosen what I will be eating. Something gluten free, of course. I will post the photos of it later next week.

I won't be posting about how the diet is going the next couple of weeks, but what I might do is to take photos of the things I do eat, eg breadsticks and choc spread, and post them on here, so others who might need to go gluten free, can see what there is to choose from out there in the shops.

So, happy gluten-free eating to you all. Be back next week with some pictures.

3rd week of being gluten-free

This is my third week of being gluten-free. Here is how I have gone this week:

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, I had toast for breakfast as I went out to places on all three days. I was fine.

Thursday: I had millet porridge with rice milk and jam. I was fine, too. I sat quietly for half an hour reading afterwards.

Friday: I had cornflakes with rice milk. Thought I was fine to start with, but after a while I started to get niggly inside, then it turned into a stomach ache.

Saturday: I had cocoa rice with rice milk. I was fine with that, which surprised me because I had the same amount I had the first time when I wasn't all right.

Today: I had millet porridge with rice milk and jam. I think because I worked myself into a hurry to eat it up, do things so I can get on with completing a form, that I ended up with stomach pains.

So, here is my summary of what I am going to do. I am sticking to toast whenever I am going out, as that seems to be OK with me. I am not going to have cornflakes for another month, then try them again to see what happens. I have a feeling they will not agree with me then, so will have to forget about eating them. I will continue having the cocoa rice as I like those (my mum doesn't), and might not have so many next time. I need to sit quietly after eating breakfast before I get up to do anything, and I have to not get myself worked up afterwards. I have a sensitive stomach, esp in the morning.

In the meantime, I realise that I rather like the taste of rice milk. It has a nice sweet taste to it, which oat milk doesn't. Gives the porridge a different taste; an interesting and less bland one.

So that is how I am getting on. If you are on a gluten-free diet for health reasons, like me, let me know how you are getting on.

Week 2 of being gluten-free

The second week of being gluten free is now at an end. All was going well until this morning. I had been having millet flakes with hot rice milk and some jam for breakfast on mornings when I wasn't going out and have been fine. Yesterday I had cornflakes with hot milk and I had a couple of slight twinges but nothing drastic that would warrant me dashing to a certain somewhere. Until this morning. Knowing I wasn't going out, I had already been over the road to get the paper, I had millet porridge with rice milk and jam. Half an hour later I got stomach pains and had to dash to that certain room. Now I don't know what to think. Is rice now bothering me too? I shall try it again later in the week, again when I am not going out at all that day. I shall also try cornflakes again later in the week, but not have so many and see what happens. So, I am now extending my gluten-free diet for another two weeks to see what happens next time. I seem to be fine with gluten-free oatcakes, breadsticks and bread and rolls.

I will be back next week reporting on how things are going.