My frustrating trip to the grocery store...

[Andi]

This is just a vent so please bear with me!

I went to the grocery store b/c I needed Enchilada Sauce to make Chicken Enchiladas tonight. I first read the delphi list to check which ones are gf and wrote all possibilities down. I went to two grocery stores & couldn't find a single one w/ no gluten. Both grocery stores have natural foods - nothing there either.
So, I ended up buying taco seasoning that looks safe (McCormick?) and I guess I'll mix it with tomato sauce (which I also hope is safe, but has natural flavors - they all did - even the organic).
I guess it's just the learning process - standing in front of the Ketchup for ten minutes because I couldn't remember which was gluten free & all had natural flavors so I was nervous just to grab one.
They didn't have any of the brands of corn tortillas that I wrote down either so I got the only brand they had (Mission) and will have to check some of the ingredients on those, but I'm hoping they are safe.
Holy cow! Why is this so hard? I'm so glad my kids are being patient with me - we're spending a lot of time & $ at the grocery store lately.
Thanks for letting me vent!
Andi

[Judy]

Andi - I feel your frustration and pain this morning and I'm NOT a newbie at this. It must be grocery shopping nightmare day! I came to post my VENT and saw yours so I'm just adding my VENT to it!! I found out we have a Whole Foods in a town not far from us so I went to check it out this morning. First of all, I couldn't print out the whole foods GF list (broken printer) so I figured they might have hand outs - wrong ..... Then I see a pamphlet on their Gluten Free Bakery!!! OMG! My heart was beating like mad!!! How exciting!!! Wrong..... No breads - just expensive cookies and brownies ($8.00 tray of brownies $5.00 for 6 cookies!). Asked about the breads and the bakery worker gave me some crap about not being able to get into the freezer because of a big clump of ice (HUH???) then she decided to try the freezer and found the GF shelves bare. Then the excuse was they probably haven't made any because lots of people are on vacation and they wouldn't sell it. (HUH AGAIN???). I wound up buying GF cereal and some almond scones from the bakery. Hope Hubby likes them - they were $4.99 for 4 of them!! Thanks for letting me vent.
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Judy

[jenh]

Hi Judy,
I went to Whole Foods yesterday and bought some of those $5 cookies you mentioned. I drove from the Cape up to Hingham to get them so they better be good. Anyways, my mother and I wandered the aisles aimlessly trying to find GF items. It was my mom's first experience shopping GF and I could tell she was overwhelmed. I couldn't find a lot fo the items they mentioned, but we did find lots of other items that weren't even on the list. Anyways, the cookies are delicious, and they should be for 80 cents a piece.
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Jen

[Judy]

Jen, cookies are one of the easiest of the gluten free items to make at home. I'll get my recipe out and post it for you.
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Judy

[Nikster57]

I am so shocked that you had such a bad time at Whole Foods. I would most definitely complain. My whole foods has labels on the shelves of what is GF. It's a brown label. Go to the pasta section and get rice noodles. I make them all the time and nobody is the wiser and they all eat it up like it was the real thing. Bakery! I am double shocked! I can't always find white bread but I can find other kinds. The sun dried tomatoe bread is delicious. I put mozerella cheese and a couple of pepperoni's and bake until cheese is melted and I woof it down. Got sourdough last night and made patty melts for the family. They had no idea the bread was GF. I really would write headquarters about your experience.

Also freezer section has the VAN brand waffles, AMY's brand say on the box "Gluten Free". I'm sorry you had such a bad time There is no excuse for that.
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Nikki from Texas

[Judy]

Thanks, Nikki. I think I will write to them. This bakery person was a "ditz!" There were no gluten free labels on shelves either - I don't even mind that - I shouldn't have gone without the list, but the bakery really steamed me! YUM on the bread - I know my husband would just love to try it. He doesn't like VAN's waffles - don't know why.
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Judy

[Nikster57]

Judy: Try to buy Pamela's Waffle and pancake mix. It is in a pink package. I made pancakes and nobody knew they were GF. I also used the same mix to make fried chicken strips. They came out so pretty I couldn't believe i cooked them! Once again, nobody knew they were gluten free but me. Fiance's son is Type 1 diabetic and has been tested. It was negative. I know the foods and stuff are expensive but I don't like temptation so I try and make this easy as possible for everyone. Especially the cook!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Nikki from Texas