I Hate Everything

[Lisa]

Not much help Gemini, as I have a single issue, but it's a wonderful thing you are doing.

I received some wonderful gravy from a great friend around Christmas. And I lost a bet with Canadian Karen and sent her some Lee&Perrins.

It's so much fun to get surprised in the mail/post.

[UKGail]

Strawberry - I don't suppose your boyfriend would drive up to Northern Ireland for you? There are Sainsbury's supermarkets in various places there, and they have a great range of gluten free food, as well as being a large well-stocked supermarket. The nearest to you is Newry, but the largest one is likely to be in Lisburn, and it is just off the motorway. Sainsbury's do a very nice rice and buckwheat porridge too, amongst other things. Yeo Valley do lovely organic, gluten free ice cream. It is quite expensive though. I can't vouch for how safe it is though as I can't do dairy.

I hope you find some easy high-energy comfort food until you get over the worst of your illness. After you are over the worst of it, I really think you need to cook nutritionally dense foods to help you fully recover, and keep the gluten free goodies to a minimum.

[Gemini]

Strawberry - I don't suppose your boyfriend would drive up to Northern Ireland for you? There are Sainsbury's supermarkets in various places there, and they have a great range of gluten free food, as well as being a large well-stocked supermarket. The nearest to you is Newry, but the largest one is likely to be in Lisburn, and it is just off the motorway. Sainsbury's do a very nice rice and buckwheat porridge too, amongst other things. Yeo Valley do lovely organic, gluten free ice cream. It is quite expensive though. I can't vouch for how safe it is though as I can't do dairy.

I hope you find some easy high-energy comfort food until you get over the worst of your illness. After you are over the worst of it, I really think you need to cook nutritionally dense foods to help you fully recover, and keep the gluten free goodies to a minimum.

These are good suggestions and yes, Sainsbury's has a good selection of gluten-free foods but she is also dairy and soy free too. Do they have foods that fall under this catergory?

As far as gluten free goodies go, no one knows if they will react to them until they try them. If you are careful with your source, they shouldn't be a problem. No one, not even those who aren't Celiac, should go overboard with processed foods but for those of us who are the skinny Celiacs who have a problem putting weight on, better to eat a brownie than lose too much weight. I was deathly sick at diagnosis and dangerously thin. I ate gluten-free bread and brownies to put weight back on, along with all the healthy foods and never had a problem. I think the notion of eating whole foods only during healing is overblown. It all depends on what your weight is. You just cannot gain weight eating veggies, fruit and protein only. As long as you are getting your nutrients from other healthy foods every day, bread and brownies never hurt anyone.

[IrishHeart]

We Celiacs have to stick together!

Irish...do you know of any soy free goodies or snacks? You are soy free, correct?

True, that, my friend! We Celiacs are in this together and I would like to help by paying for the postage. Totally serious. You have my email.

Okay, let's see, my infrequent (but fun) snacky foods for gluten-free/DF/SF living are:

Larabars

Enjoy Life Chocolate chips and BoomChocoBoom Bars

Nuts of all kinds

Craisins

Indiana kettlecorn

Mott's all natural Applesauce cups

Cape Cod Potato Chips

ANYTHING by So Delicious (coconut milk) but those products will not travel well across the Atlantic

The King Arthur mixes

Namaste Mixes

CHEBE mixes

GLUTENFREEDA hot cereal, oatmeal packets

Rice cakes with Smucker's natural PB and St. Dalfour Jam (although those rice cakes might not travel well either )

I have not ordered from these people yet, but my hairdresser recommends:

Open Original Shared Link

for candies and goodies. Maybe WF carries them?

We do not have a WF near us (bummer) so I am not sure.

[UKGail]

Gemini - I defer to your experience on feeding up a very poorly underweight person.

Sainsbury's are really good on labelling allergens, and their free from range goes the extra mile, with the main allergens being avoided prominently displayed on the front of the product (eg, wheat free, gluten free, dairy free).

I attach a link to their website below. In the allergens area there is also a long list of products which are free from X allergen. There is a soya exclusion list, although it would also need to be cross-referred to the gluten free list, and any other allergens Strawberry needed.

Sainsbury's also do on-line shopping, so Strawberry could choose a bunch of stuff her boyfriend could buy for her, if he is able to get there, as I guess they won't deliver over the border to the Republic.

The free from range includes not just a large range of goodies, but also a decent selection of ready meals and cooking sauces or soups which can make up a quick meal. I would expect the majority of them to be soy free as well as gluten free, but they would need to go to the largest possible store, rather than a smaller city site.

Open Original Shared Link

[IrishHeart]

okay, I learned today that

Skittles

Starburst

Jolly ranchers

are gluten-free/DF/SF too. If you have a sweet tooth!

[Gemini]

True, that, my friend! We Celiacs are in this together and I would like to help by paying for the postage. Totally serious. You have my email.

Okay, let's see, my infrequent (but fun) snacky foods for gluten-free/DF/SF living are:

Larabars

Enjoy Life Chocolate chips and BoomChocoBoom Bars

Nuts of all kinds

Craisins

Indiana kettlecorn

Mott's all natural Applesauce cups

Cape Cod Potato Chips

ANYTHING by So Delicious (coconut milk) but those products will not travel well across the Atlantic

The King Arthur mixes

Namaste Mixes

CHEBE mixes

GLUTENFREEDA hot cereal, oatmeal packets

Rice cakes with Smucker's natural PB and St. Dalfour Jam (although those rice cakes might not travel well either )

I have not ordered from these people yet, but my hairdresser recommends:

Open Original Shared Link

for candies and goodies. Maybe WF carries them?

We do not have a WF near us (bummer) so I am not sure.

Oh, my! We have a snack expert here! I am writing this all down for myself, although I have had and love the Namaste mixes and Chebe bread. I did not know they were soy free also.

That's awesome of you to offer postage and we'll have to wait and see if Strawberry takes us up on it. How could anyone resist that list? You could gain weight just reading it.

[Gemini]

Gemini - I defer to your experience on feeding up a very poorly underweight person.

Sainsbury's are really good on labelling allergens, and their free from range goes the extra mile, with the main allergens being avoided prominently displayed on the front of the product (eg, wheat free, gluten free, dairy free).

I attach a link to their website below. In the allergens area there is also a long list of products which are free from X allergen. There is a soya exclusion list, although it would also need to be cross-referred to the gluten free list, and any other allergens Strawberry needed.

Sainsbury's also do on-line shopping, so Strawberry could choose a bunch of stuff her boyfriend could buy for her, if he is able to get there, as I guess they won't deliver over the border to the Republic.

The free from range includes not just a large range of goodies, but also a decent selection of ready meals and cooking sauces or soups which can make up a quick meal. I would expect the majority of them to be soy free as well as gluten free, but they would need to go to the largest possible store, rather than a smaller city site.

Open Original Shared Link

I have had the Sainsbury's digestive biscuits before and they are really good! I did miss those when diagnosed but now there are companies that make them gluten-free. There is another line of cookies called True Free, I think, and those are excellent also. I got them in the UK, though, not Ireland.

Thank you for this information. I do vacation in the UK as much as I can afford to and this will come in handy for me also!

[mushroom]

Don't forget a jar of Nutella

[auzzi]

Look for rolled rice ["pohu"] at your local indian supermarket. It comes in thick, medium and thin style. It makes very nice porridge.

[Strawberry-Jam]

here in ireland, nutella has milk in it, and starburst has soya lecithin! argh! but I do buy and eat skittles here sometimes >_>

omg so you guys are just gonna get me stuff? :lol: :lol:

all I can think of right now is that I love terra original exotic vegetable chips! you can pop the air out of the bags and roll them up to take up less room, then tape them again (my mama did that once when she mailed me some stuff) and the 123-gluten-free spice cake mix is really good, iirc. aaaaaaaaah isn't it expensive to mail stuff though?! tell you what, if you're getting me a present it's totally up to you how much you want to get, and as long as it's clearly gluten-free, dairy-free, and soya-free... I'm not a huge chocolate person either come to think of it. I do love anything with cinnamon. I don't know... *choice-coma*

[kareng]

Is there just "normal people" food from the groceries that you can't get there? Jello? Koolaid? plain popcorn? etc. sounds like skittles or Starburst or Jolly ranchers.

Yes! We must send Strawberry a care package! I would be happy to help.

[Strawberry-Jam]

you guys are... gonna make me cry... I was sick for so long, I hated everything... but if it wasn't for celiac I wouldn't have y'all... *SUPER SAPPY MOMENT*

I've been eating peanut butter and jam sandwiches, soup/stew, and stir-fries-over-rice for so long I don't even know what "normal people food" is. haha

[IrishHeart]

you guys are... gonna make me cry... I was sick for so long, I hated everything... but if it wasn't for celiac I wouldn't have y'all... *SUPER SAPPY MOMENT*

I've been eating peanut butter and jam sandwiches, soup/stew, and stir-fries-over-rice for so long I don't even know what "normal people food" is. haha

But honey!--this IS normal people food!! It's what many of us eat!

It's what I eat and I'm normal.

wait for it...... :unsure:

(I just know someone is going to dispute that....karen? gemini? shroomie? lisa? janet? sylvia? peter?.....) :lol:

[Skylark]

Soup is totally normal. So is stir-fry over rice and peanut butter and jam sandwiches. I'm not so sure about my coconut flour muffins and homemade sauerkraut!

[Lisa]

It's what I eat and I'm normal.

wait for it...... :unsure:

<clearing throat>

[IrishHeart]

Soup is totally normal. So is stir-fry over rice and peanut butter and jam sandwiches. I'm not so sure about my coconut flour muffins and homemade sauerkraut!

mmmmm coconut muffins....yummmmmm

[IrishHeart]

<clearing throat>

:lol:

[GFinDC]

I like home made guacamole for snack. Or peanuts. Or you can make peanut brittle in a microwave pretty easy.

Does Sainsbury have gift cards? That might be simpler than mailing things over the pond.

Open Original Shared Link

[kareng]

I like home made guacamole for snack. Or peanuts. Or you can make peanut brittle in a microwave pretty easy.

Does Sainsbury have gift cards? That might be simpler than mailing things over the pond.

Open Original Shared Link

Oh yes. gluten-free! You must send her some guacamole!

[sa1937]

It's what I eat and I'm normal.

wait for it...... :unsure:

uh huh!

[kareng]

But honey!--this IS normal people food!! It's what many of us eat!

It's what I eat and I'm normal.

wait for it...... :unsure:

(I just know someone is going to dispute that....karen? gemini? shroomie? lisa? janet? sylvia? peter?.....) :lol:

Yeah....what you eat is normal.

[IrishHeart]

hardee har har you guys!!

[Gemini]

here in ireland, nutella has milk in it, and starburst has soya lecithin! argh! but I do buy and eat skittles here sometimes >_>

omg so you guys are just gonna get me stuff? :lol: :lol:

all I can think of right now is that I love terra original exotic vegetable chips! you can pop the air out of the bags and roll them up to take up less room, then tape them again (my mama did that once when she mailed me some stuff) and the 123-gluten-free spice cake mix is really good, iirc. aaaaaaaaah isn't it expensive to mail stuff though?! tell you what, if you're getting me a present it's totally up to you how much you want to get, and as long as it's clearly gluten-free, dairy-free, and soya-free... I'm not a huge chocolate person either come to think of it. I do love anything with cinnamon. I don't know... *choice-coma*

If we said we are going to send you a care package, then we will. I will inquire at the post office as to how much it costs to send packages and weight amounts. That's the key....how much it weighs. I have paid $15.00 to have tea sent form England and.......don't laugh.......I paid $40.00 to have a large shipment of cookies sent from Oz. Yeah, I'm crazy. I split the cost with a Celiac from work because he went to Oz on vacation and brought back these amazing cookies that were essentially oreos coated with chocolate ganache.

I justify the expense because I do not dine out that much and this is my treat. I cook all my own food so if I want to pay $40.00 for shipping cookies half way around the world, I'm gonna do it!

The one thing you have to do, Strawberry, is send me your name and address via PM. Don't be nervous....you can trust forum members. I promise I'm not a wacko.

I have a good idea now of what to send. The things you mentioned I can buy easily around here. I will buy things you cannot get in Ireland because those are the comfort foods you are hankering for. But you may want to look at Sainsbury's stuff or find a larger food store near you. That might help. I'll let you know what I find out at the post office but not to worry.....I have a pretty good idea of what it costs to ship stuff so we'll get this done.

BTW....IrishHeart is perfectly normal...she's from Boston!

[soulcurrent]

I logged in today for the first time in months just because I *hate* being gluten free and I *hate* hearing people say "Wow, that sucks." You're damn right it sucks. I'm having a terrible day and all I wanted was Happy Tracks ice cream but my grocery store is out so I went with another kind, without thinking to check the label. Get it home and of course it's got wheat flour in it. On top of that I forgot the milk so I can't make the meal I was planning on. i haven't eaten all day so I'm weak and tired, and now I have to go back out to get the friggin milk because I can't just drop by the fast food place next door.

My diagnosis was the second worst thing to ever happen to me. I've been depressed about it for two years but it's not like I can just go back because now even the tiniest hint of flour in something will make me throw up for HOURS. Funny how I never got that sick before going gluten free. Give me anemia and stomach pain over this any day.