Where do you buy your 'free from' products from?

[Laura032004]

I'm thinking here of egg/gluten/dairy allergy sufferers.

We mainly shop at Tesco, Sainsburys and Holland & Barrett. My MIL got some unusual products from Asda, but DS rejected them all (jam tarts & apple pies).

Are the chocolate cake bars the same from everywhere - the only difference between Asda/Sainsburys & Tesco seems to be price.

Is there anywhere good online, or does delivery costs rule that out?

[jenk1]

i buy mine from morissons and tesco, i would be interested in buying from a website in bulk if anyone knows of a free from website

[Chandra]

Sainsbury's has a very good range though have to say that from all of it DS can only have two products .

I'm slowly geting to the idea that I will need to eliminate any kind of processed food from DS diet! Today I made my first loaf of bread (very smug about it as I'm an abismal cook )

[mamaoftwo]

I've not found one place where I can get all the basic store cupboard things. I go to Sainsbury's for this and Asda for that and M&S for the other (bread mainly as so far it's the only place I have found soya free white bread - my DS can have wheat so no good for you though unfortunately).

I agree with chandra about Sainsbury's free from range. It seems to be okay if you just have one or two food groups to avoid, but not more than that. I cann't find anything at all which is dairy/egg and soya free.

I've never tried mail order or the internet. I've yet to find anywhere worth the expense or hassle.

Sorry not to be of much help. Good luck.

[Laura032004]

I would love to be close to a Waitrose (80 miles and on the border of the next county for our nearest one!) as apparently their labelling is really good. Not sure what they carry though. Actually, it wasn't Waitrose stores that was mentioned, it was the online shopping for Waitrose - was it Okaido or something like that???

I have to go to Sainsburys for porridge (although have now found a rice porridge in a big Tesco), Asda for rice crispy style things and then Tesco for pasta. Nightmare!

Somebody did recommend a good website a while ago, but I think it specialised in gluten and dairy free.

[mamaoftwo]

Waitrose online is Ocado (www.ocado.co.uk) I forgot to mention I do online shopping with them twice a momnth for big things likes nappies/washing powder/tins etc. Their website is very good and most things (altough not all) have complete ingredient and nutritional lists - whihc is so much easier than standing in the aisle reading the back of a packet!

Ocado doesn't deliver everywhere yet though - and if your nearest Waitrose is far you may not be able to get it just yet. the website will tell you though if you put in your post code.

Just remembered I've got some rice pasta in the cupboard I got in a large Boots - Peter Rabbit range I think, in the toddler meals section.

[Chandra]

Laura, just thought of something, hou tried to find vegan products? out of your list of allergies, the only thing they consume (but not always) is glutten. The "suitable for vegans" labels are everywhere, if you find them the only ting you have to check is if it contains glutten (avoid hydrolized vegetable oils or protein as they may hide a form of glutten)

Obviously, I'm not suggesting you vegan, you can always add meats, etc to suitable vegan products.

Hope that helps.

(I almost went into extasis this evening when I found a packet of suitable for vegans vegetable burgers with no soya in it. That's the dish children are going to have tomorrow in the nursery and I'm very happy that even if it's for this time, he is going to have the same as his peers )

[Chandra]

I really can't understand what is going on with this keyboard.... hope you can understand my message

[Frizbe]

Coop do a good range round here.

[Laura032004]

I've just bought a burger maker to make burgers for DS. Tesco do a gluten/dairy free burger in their organic frozen range, but they don't look particularly appetizing (although DS will gobble two down at light speed )

[Laura032004]

Sorry, also meant to say, I've never tried Co-op Frizbe. What sort of things do they have? I love their dried fruit and nut/seed range. I buy a packet of everything when at my sisters (they've got a biggish one) to add to ds's cereal.

Saying that, we've got quite a big one here, so I'll have to try a shop there.

[bobbybob]

Co-op dp a decent range of properly labelled vegan food - so it's easy to avoid eggs and dairy, and if you are a meat eater you can slap a couple of chops on the plate!

[mamaoftwo]

How is the Co-Op vegan range on soya? I don't know where my nearest Co-op is buy will track one down if it's worth it!!

Second the burger maker idea (Lakeland plastics). Was a real discovery for me. I make burgers out of almost anything now (well meat and veg combinations stuck together with olive oil) but it is so much nicer for them than just sticking the seperate ingredients on the plate.

[bobbybob]

I call a lot of my meals "deconstructed"

Deconstructed lasagne - mince in tom sauce and pasta, cheese slice for ds.

Would imagine the vegan stuff is riddled with soya - these vegans need their protein. Would need to watch for nuts as well.

[Chandra]

Yes, that's true so when you see a vegan packet and want to know if it's free from soya check that no Hidrolized vegetable protein, lecithin, okara, textureed vegetable protein, tempeh, tofu and Yuba (plus all those other things that include the words soy or soya in it). Not easy, is it?

What I can't begin to understand is the strenght of the convictions of these people to get into such a difficult to follow exclusion diets on free choice. I wonder if I could ever be so careful about food if DS was not that allergic.

[bobbybob]

My brother is vegan, and while he was here (but very easy to feed) and did wonder how on earth he could do it when he didn't have to. Including paying more to have the leather steering wheel of his new car changed to a vinyl one. When I spend my life doing things like trying to find a non slip, but not rubberised bathmat.

At least we understand what the other is going through, even if I can't understand why!

[mamaoftwo]

I agree. Whilst I admire those who are vegan because of the animal reason (we are a BIG animal loving family), I know I couldn't do it unless it was for medical reasons. It is a complete pain in the neck. I am just thankful I only have one special diet to cater for. The rest of my family can cope with anything - unlike lots of others on here. However, the rest of us usually eat the same as DS2 or hide the excluded foods.

Deconstructed food bobbybob - LOL :O

DS1 said somethng that really got me the other day. He asked if DS2 was allowed to have bottled water or will it make him poorly?! I just love the way he looks out for him!

[tatt]

we don't have to avoid gluten but for milk and nut free find Sainsburys is best. Its quite a trip for us but whenever we're near a sainsburys we stock up. Their dairy free chocolate is good We also plan some shopping trips around which towns have Sainsburys. Its a sad life! We also have a good local health food store but its more expensive.

I'm trying gluten free for a time and finding it pretty hard to find anything I'd like to eat. Bisto Best roast onion flavour gravy is a gluten free gravy but I don't think much of it. my attempts at gluten free baking haven't been too good - I'll eat them but my fussy family won't.

Its not the allergies I find hard now but their food fads!

Even if you don't order from the specialist websites if you know what is available you may find the local health store will order it in for you from their usual suppliers. You may be able to avoid the postage cost.

Our nearest supermarket is the Co-op and its useless for nut allergies except for nut and dairy free own brand jaffa cakes Even their prepared salads usually have nut warnings.

[auntymandy]

Asda has a reasonable free from range and I think if you ask they give you a list of what is available

[Laura032004]

Bisto Best roast onion flavour gravy - didn't know that was gluten free tatt! Will be buying some today (presume it must be dairy free? probably not knowing my luck!)

[tatt]

it has lactic acid in (towards end of ingredient list) but if that is dairy it's not in a large enough amount to bother my sensitive one. Also has soya. Its the only gravy I've found that is gluten free, which is why I thought it was worth a mention

[zippitippitoes]

I don't know whether anyone would find this website helpful, they do list some of their products by special diet/free from according to labelling

Goodness Direct

[bobbybob]

The lactic acid in bisto is from vegetable not dairy source. My brother is vegan and check all these things out.

[zippitippitoes]

If you are not a vegan but avoiding dairy then the vegan society is a helpful source of info (obviously it's a help for vegans too!)

[Chandra]

ASDA's free-from list of products (in case you haven't seen it already). It works wonderfully if you only have a single allergy/intolerance

[tatt]

thanks, bobbybob, that explains the lack of reaction We'd been advised that lactic acid is rarely a problem although lactic acid starter culture can be (?) so we decided to risk it and see.