The best Gluten Free food so I don't waste my holiday and my money!

[twentypence]

Coming to UK in a couple of weeks.

Mum wants to know what to buy me:

So the best Gluten Free (available in supermarket or chain shop please)

Bread (ready cooked)
Bread mix
Biscuits chocolate
Biscuits (plain)
cracker type biscuit
Breakfast cereal (corn flake type thing)
Snack bar (like a muesli bar, but obviously not muesli)
Sausage (am thinking Aldi bratwurst would be good)

Please help me, or mum will just buy the cheapest and I will spend 4 weeks eating dust.

Hi tewntypence,
I'm hoping someone tells you all this as I've just found out my dd who is 4 has a gluten allergy and I'm trying to get used to it. The bread I've tried so far is not good so I'm thinking of making my own. But the sausages from sainsburys seem to be ok, they are the 'taste the diffence range' and have no wheat in them as far as I can see. Also have just realised discovery corn chips are ok for a snack. Also found some nice jam tarts in Waitrose.

have a rummage around the tesco.com site.
put in keywords 'free from'.

the goodness direct website also has nice gluten free products.

the tesco free from range is good according to my mum, will find out which are the best

she likes the pitta pockets

Where are you twentypence and which part of the country will you be staying? If you are near a Waitrose they probably have the biggest free from selection.

Bread - Dietary specials wholegrain (but like all the others probably only for toast)-in most supermarkets.
Chocolate biscuits - Glutano break bar - usually Asda and Waitrose. Mrs Crimbles half coated macaroon type biscuits. Tesco and Waitrose.
Biscuits - tesco, sainsburys and Morrisons own brands are OK. Trufree custard creams and bourbons nice but pricey - most supermarkets.
Crackers - IMO by far the best are Trufree Spicy crackers yum! - Tesco
Breaksfast Cereal - Doves farm or whole earth cornflakes - most supermarkets and in the normal cereal aisles rather than free from aisles.
Snack Bar - Eat natural - most supermarkets.
Sausage - Dunno but Aldi labelling is fab. They are brilliant for everyday items and labelling is very reliable. They do GF chocolate snowball type thingys.
Best bread rolls - Antoinette Saville pack of 4. Some Waitrose branches and some Aldis (but only Aldi in North of England methinks).
Baguettes - Livwell - Waitrose. Really big and great split and topped with standard pizza toppings - put in oven until browning - voila - french bread pizza. As far as I know the Sainsbury and Tesco own brand baguettes are also made by Livwell.
Pasta - by far the best is Trufree penne - Waitrose.
Pitta bread - think they are all made by the same company so all good Livwell, Tesco, Sainsbury and Morrisons.
Hope this helps

Round here sainsbury's do a better range

Tesco organic frozen pork sausages are gf

we've given up on ready-made bread. we have a £30 cookworks breadmaker from argos and make bread to the recipe on the back of Dove's farm gf flour. It takes less than 5 minutes to tip the ingredients in and press the button. Flour at tesco and sainsburys here

Doves farm conflakes are DELICIOUS but not v widely available, whole earth are everywhere and gf

personally I'd suggest she buys some xanthum gum (in Tescos and maybe other supermarkets) and some gluten free flour and bakes you some cakes or biscuits. They will be better than anything you can buy in a supermarket and will be cheaper for her . Supermarket cakes are pretty dry. Sainsburys biscuits are OK - they do stem ginger, sultana and chocolate coated ginger. Think there are also coconut. I find Tescos biscuits drier and less good.

If you can have oats get her to make porridge for breakfast, or rice krispies are supposed to be OK.

Sainsburys also do some gluten free frozen food e.g.fish fingers. They're OK. saw pizza bases recently but haven't tried them.

Oats have gluten in, tatt

Oats contain protein similar to gluten but not exactly the same and some people who avoid gluten have them.

This has more information
www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/314/7075/15 9

The problem is the risk of contamination with other products containing gluten - so people are often advised to avoid them anyway.

Sainsburys and Tescos both stock the Dietary specials bread and also both do their own brand. All are ok toasted but not much cop for sandwiches. Both also do own brand part-baked baguettes which are better for sandwiches. Sainsburys also do their own bread mix and stock Doves gluten free flour.

Tru-free biscuit range is good - custard creams, chocolate digestives and bourbons. All stocked in Tescos, Morrisons and Sainsburys. I haven't seen a digestive/rich tea type biscuit in any of the supermarkets, but DD1 doesn't really like them so I haven't looked out for them.

tescos do great cheese crackers, Sainsburys and Tescos stock Tru-free herby crackers which are yummy.

DD1 is allowed rice krispies by her dietician, but I know not everyone is (but only kellogs). Otherwise the Kallo honey-coated rice puffs are good or the cornflakes mentioned by others.

Sainsburys, Tescos and Morrisons all do own-brand cereal bars in various flavours, blueberry, apricot etc. Not a fan myself, but they don't look much different to the non-gluten free ones and DD1 loves them.

Sainsburys TTD sausages are not gluten free, but they do their own brand ones free from ones in the freezer section. Otherwise, Sainsburys stock Helen Brownings quick cook organic sausages which are gluten-free and both they and Morrisons stock The Black Farmer sausages which are fantastic.

DON'T try the Tescos pizza bases - like cardboard, but the Sainsburys ones are good if you like thin crust! If not, in their free from freezer section, they'll have the dietary specials pizzas, which are v. nice.

I find Sainsburys labelling is great (haven't got a local Aldi) but it does depend on the size of your local branch - both my local ones have good ranges but a small one near my mum's didn't have anything free-from.

Walkers crisps are good for labelling - all say 'suitable for coeliacs' if they are...salt and vinegar flavour aren't!

Oh and just in case...smarties have gluten in them, but you can eat as many cadbury's buttons as you like .

Hope this helps. Have a good holiday

Thank you all. I will be in the North.

My mum's cooking is not the best - but she could shop for England. I can't have Oats - and porridge for breakfast in summer would be a bit full on anyroad. I have those cornflakes here so at least I'll recognise something.

Most of my lazy meals (and packed lunches)have denigrated into a carrot, an apple, some nuts, slices of cheese, a yoghurt and some corn chips, because I forget to make/buy bread.

Sainsbury's free from biscuits with jammy bits are delicious (even for gluten eaters) .. but not plain or chocolate

Lloyd grossman pasta sauces are all of very high standard and gluten free in the main

no such thing as a good gluten free bread IME

A bakery here make lovely gluten free bread (in fact they only make gluten free which is perhaps the secret) which keeps for 2 days in the breadbin and is lovely and soft and satisfies bread cravings. I keep telling people to go as I do not want her to go bust.

She puts heaps of egg, milk and Xanthan gum in to acheive this texture though, and so you can only be coeliac - other allergies deffo not catered for.