Whole Foods/houston, Tx

[Live2BWell]

So tomorrow will be my first Gluten-Free Shopping experience. I am going to be out and about on the side of town where whole foods is. On the side of town I live, there is no Whole Foods, but I can buy the naturally gluten-free stuff at the Kroger or HEB

Any gluten-free must-haves I should know about for my shopping trip?

[home-based-mom]

So tomorrow will be my first Gluten-Free Shopping experience. I am going to be out and about on the side of town where whole foods is. On the side of town I live, there is no Whole Foods, but I can buy the naturally gluten-free stuff at the Kroger or HEB

Any gluten-free must-haves I should know about for my shopping trip?

The only really really must have for me is something I can keep in my purse in case I get caught unable to get home for meal time. So I have some Glutino Cranberry Breakfast Bars and some Lara Bars. With your other list of no-no foods, the Glutino Bars probably wouldn't work, but there are a lot of Lara Bars and maybe one of them might work for you.

If you need sandwiches for work you might look at gluten-free breads, but there are so many kinds and so many opinions about each one that it's kind of hard to categorize any of them as "must have."

Most of the rest of what I eat comes from Ralph's (Kroger) or Trader Joe's.

[FoxersArtist]

If you have a sweet tooth and don't mind preparing things from mixes, you have GOT to pick up a package of Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Brownie Mix while you are there. The Bob's red Mill gluten free chocolate chip cookie mix is yummy too! Mmmm. I can't believe there was life before that stuff. If you need a meal on the fly, whole foods sells, in the frozen section, Ian's Fish sticks and those are tasty. Anyone is brave to like to chicken nuggets but to each his own I suppose. Also, pick up some Tinkyada pasta - spaghetti, macaroni, and those little spirals work wonderfully in stroganauff. Cereal - Natures Path Honey'D Corn Flakes. As snack food items - Robbert's American Gormet Smart Puffs & Tings are really tasty and don't have any wheat ingredients in them. They taste like cheetoes only fresher and with out all the garbage. They also sell a puffed rice snack called Cocoa Booty which is one of my favorites. Ener-g Foods sells a tasty gluten free pretzel as well if you are into those. Hope that helps!

-Anna

So tomorrow will be my first Gluten-Free Shopping experience. I am going to be out and about on the side of town where whole foods is. On the side of town I live, there is no Whole Foods, but I can buy the naturally gluten-free stuff at the Kroger or HEB

Any gluten-free must-haves I should know about for my shopping trip?

[gfpaperdoll]

Ask for the gluten free list at the courtesy booth area - up front in the Kirby store. It is a list of all the gluten-free things in the store.

Gluten Free Pantry Brownie Mix - made them today for a friend of mine that is in a nursing home. I just picked up a package at Central Market - which is on Westheimer not too far from Whole Foods on Kirby. Central Market has a new 8 Foot section of gluten-free food. It is amazing. I also got some Enjoy Life chocolate chips that they ordered for me.

I also got some Tinkyada Lasagne noodles - really I think all brands of Lasagne noodles are just as good as the wheat ones. I made Lasagne also for my friend. I usually do not eat the replacement stuff. But I am trying to make some things that will be familiar to her...

At Whole Foods look in the bakery section & they should have some almond horn cookies & chocolate chewie cookies. The are awesome. $1.00 each but worth it. Be careful they might be touching a wheat cookie. If you call them the first thing in the morning they will bag you up some when they arrive, without putting them in the case. they are not made in a dedicated facility but I never have a problem with them - & I am very very sensitive. I have posted the recipe for the chocolate chewie cookies here on the recipe thread, see Flourless Chocolate Cookies.

They will also have coconut macarrons in a round package in the bakery section - they only have potato flour in them. They are good, if you can do potato flour.

The kids also like the 365 brand cheetos - they do not have all that gunk that the regular ones have & they taste better. we liked the smaller ones. But one grandson liked the large puffy ones.

If you want to eat lunch while you are out, there is a Carrabbas on Kirby. There is a Pei Wei on Waugh drive closer to Memorial. There is a Cafe Express on West Gray between Shepherd & Waugh. Then there is Goode Barbeque on Kirby outside the loop. I think the original P F Changes location is still open on Westheimer right down from Central Market, inside the loop, but not sure... There are a lot of things that you can eat at Central Market, our director eats there, but I have not - just ask them - they are very helpful...

Take a cooler, the meat & seafood at Whole Foods is awesome, they will pack ice for you for your meat & seafood. If you have a softsided cooler, I would plop it right on the shopping cart, as you go in.

Please take a nice sample of the pineapple for me!!!! I love all the fruit samples etc.

Have fun!!!! & let us know what you get....

[quillpenz]

the Whole Foods in Chapel Hill, NC has a frozen pastry section and in that section are gluten free pizza crusts, pie crusts, cookies, breads (which I don't like), cereals. The biscuits and cookies are good, the almond raisins. Good luck. Quillp

[rpf1007]

I like the WF gluten-free Bakehouse ginger molasses cookies. They are chewy...and seem like regular cookies. The chocolate chips ones are good too. I get waffles there as they are not in my regular grocery store. I also get my Tinky and Ancient harvest pasta. They also have meringue cookies which are good.

[BallardWA]

I always get the Glutino bagels if they have them and throw them in the freezer. I eat maybe one a week, when the rest of the family is having something yummy, and I don't feel deprived. Also look for the Glutino individual pizzas. They can really save the day!

[tom]

Hi Jessica

You're "-free" of a lot of things there .. ..but not yeast despite the sensitivity?

Or cocoa?

There's a ton I can't have, so what I get at WhFds has no soy, milk, yeast, sugar etc.

Tortillas -

Food4Life brown rice torts. (Need steaming to be more pliable - I wet them & microwave)

Tortilla Factory Teff torts. Ppl love 'em but they have some ingred I can't have.

Hummus -

Many have citric acid, made w/ yeast, but WhF has enough options that a few are doable for me.

Racquel's is one, but it's local here so may not be in TX.

Many types of rice milk at WhF, or do you avoid only "whole milk"? (Rice Dream has gluten btw)

There are many dairy-free, soy-free ice cream substitutes. Some rice-based, some newer coconut milk ones. Do coconuts count as nuts?

I buy their 365brand Smoked Sockeye Salmon, as it's so rare to find any w/out sugar/sweetener in the curing.

Aren't Lara Bars all made w/ nuts?

I'm pretty sure that "Robert's American Gourmet Smart Puffs & Tings" use Nutritional Yeast as a flavoring.

Certainly the "Tings" do.

Don't most of the baked goods have eggs, yeast or milk?