First Trip To Grocery With Jacob

[JacobsMom]

Okay I dont think I will EVER take him back to the grocery with me. I left there all upset b/c he wanting everything he couldnt have. I had a better time with him at Wild Oats....

I am very confused....WHAT exactly am I looking for on the label?? I mean I know if it said Wheat Barley and Oats but are their KEY words to look for. I have the CSA book and it has alot of ingredient terms in it but I am still confused....Like I was looking at Bush's Vegatarian Baked Beans...They looked fine but I am scared to death there will be some little ingredient that I will miss or something like that...

Anything you could tell me that would help I would appreciate....I have a 2 year old who doesnt eat alot of meat and to make him eat a salad would be impossible....WE are very picky eaters at my house and I am scared that he isnt getting enough and I cant just feed him the same old thing every day....LOL

Thanks and hope everyone is having a wonderul weekend

[celiac3270]

A few tips for grocery shopping:

• Buy stuff by Kraft -- If there is any gluten in the product, it must be mentioned, based on the rigorous labeling policy they've adopted. If the modified food starch has wheat in it, it will say so like this: modified food starch (wheat). So, if there's ever a questionable ingredient, you know it's gluten-free with Kraft unless it has wheat, malt, rye, barley, etc. Here's an article/guide that explains this (you need Adobe to view it): Open Original Shared Link
  
• Get lists -- Hormel has a gluten-free list at their webpage under the FAQs section...FritoLays has gluten-free lists...go to a grocery store armed to the teeth with lists and it will be a lot easier Many companies will mail or e-mail you gluten-free lists if you e-mail them and ask.
  
• Call the companies for questionable products -- if you go at the right time, you could call right from the store on a cell phone...if not, write down the phone number and product name from the package...then the next time you go, you'll know
  
• Know the brands that will clearly list gluten: Richard (lovegrov) compiled a wonderful list of companies that have the same terrific labeling policy as Kraft--companies that will also clearly list gluten on the label. They include the companies listed below.
  

I've been seeing questions about Kraft and other products from companies

that say they will clearly list gluten in the ingredients. So I'll repost a

list I sent out (and have added to since) a while back.

These are companies that say they will clearly list gluten in the

ingredients. I have not included companies that are specifically gluten-free or

smaller specialty companies. I know this list is not complete. Some of

these are actually subsidiaries of some of the others, but I have not tried

to sort that out.

When a company says it will clearly list gluten, you might still see things

like "modified food starch" or "natural flavor." In this case, the suspect

ingredient does not have gluten if gluten is not plainly listed. I cannot

tell you about any policies regarding cross contamination.

Aunt Nelly's

Balance

Baskin Robbins

Ben & Jerry

Betty Crocker

Blue Bunny

Butterball *lists wheat only

Breyers

Campbells

Cascadian Farms

Celestial Seasonings

ConAgra *lists wheat only

Country Crock

Edy's

General Mills

Good Humor

Green Giant

Haagen Daz

Hellman's

Hershey

Hormel

Hungry Jack

Jiffy

Knorr

Kozy Shack

Kraft

Libby's

Lipton

Martha White

McCormick

Nabisco

Nestle

Old El Paso

Ortega

Pillsbury

Popsicle

Post

Progresso

Russell Stover

Seneca Foods

Smucker

Stokely's

Sunny Delight

T Marzetti

Tyson

Unilever

Wishbone

Yoplait

Zatarain's

cheers

richard

Good luck for your next visit

[lbsteenwyk]

My daughter eats Bush's Vegetarian beans all the time with no problems. They are one of her favorites.

[Guest taweavmo3]

I feel your pain. I was never fond of grocery shopping much anyway, now I absolutely dread it.

This beginning stage has been so much harder than I ever imagined. When I do have a chance to go grocery shopping, I don't have two hours at a time or more to do it. I honestly have felt like breaking down and crying in the store. I have printed lists and lists.....but with three kids in tow, it is next to impossible to sit there and read the label, compare to all the unpronouncable ingredients on the large forbidden list, then go onto another brand to do the same thing if the one I picked up is a no-no. Then on top of that, I try to comparison shop to save money. UGHHHHHHH!

I'm going to have to get seriously organized to make this work and to save my sanity. Friday night we tried making pizza dough. I don't know what in the world I did wrong, but the dough was too mushy, I kept having to add flour to make it pliable. Then when I cooked it, the toppings were done way before the dough was. I had to have a few adult beverages (as my son calls it!) so I wouldn't care that the pizza didn't work! Then I tried to make Pamela's brownies, and added sour cream like it suggested. WELL, the darn things would not get done on the inside. Don't know what I did wrong there either. I could cook somewhat before all this, now I feel totally inept!

Oh, and we had our first accident yesterday. My parents came over to watch the kids while I was at work. Emmie must have eaten something with gluten, b/c last night and today she has had diarrhea again. She had been having normal BM's for the past week or more.

Sorry I don't have any suggestions for you....but I do have lots of sympathy! I guess this just takes time like everything else.

[Roo]

Taweavmo3,

I too feel your pain, I am new to this too and I am always depressed when I am in the supermarket, I have just been trying lots of new things and keeping notes of what to buy again and what not to.

But I just wanted to mention since you were talking about your brownie disaster I made the best brownies last night. We were having people over for dinner so I made a completely gluten-free meal, nobody noticed....Chicken in a yummy sauce, glazed carrots and mashed potatoes anyway the desert was what was in question. I tried "Aunt Tootsie's brownies" by "The Really Great Food Company" They were great! No one knew and they gobbled them up. I've also made the Original Bread mix by them and it was great toasted, not toasted and made into French Toast.

Just wanted to share that with you, hope it helps. I think you said you have a teenage boy...so do I he's 13, and we are just going on 2 weeks gluten-free.

Roo

[celiac3270]

My mom said to me at the beginning of the diet that she dreaded going into a grocery store because she just got so depressed seeing all the stuff I couldn't eat...now it's not a big deal, but it was that way for the first month or two. It will get better...

Roo, I'm a teenaged boy also (14)

[mommida]

I want to add that McCormick does not hide any gluten on the label. ( i.e. other natural flavor) I called the company and feel safe with their response.

www.mccormick.com or 1-800-632-5847

I hate grocery shopping too!

Laura

[celiac3270]

Yup...that was in Richard's list (above).....seems like he really did his homework

Yea--I don't like it, because it seems like you can never try anything new--or if you do, it's a drag because you need to call the company, hold for ten minutes in the store, ask them questions.......ugg.

[cdford]

It will get easier...the first few months are the hardest. Once you get used to shopping gluten-free, you know which brands you can get and you just pick them up. I always find that I have to call on some little item, but now it is just one or two each time instead of everything every time. My kids are getting used to it as well. I get the usual amount of "I want"s but not that inordinant stuff I had at the beginning. I keep a notebook with my research and a couple of good lists in it. I tend to shop at only a couple of stores so that I know which store brand items I can purchase at each one. If possible, you may want to try shopping alone a couple of times or making a detailed list with brand names that are okay to purchase next to each item. I keep mine on the computer and print a new one out each week. I put it on the fridge and just check off the items I need to purchase the next time I go shopping. Most of the information I need is right on the list. I grab it and go when it is time to shop.

I promise you it will get better. Hang in there!