Supermarkets and Gluten-Free

 

Our closest supermarket is a Waitrose in Newmarket and their gluten-free offerings are pretty good.

I get Trufree crackers, Village Bakery cakes and ginger biscuits and Orasco bars from their Free From section, but I also buy a lot of other things that are certified gluten-free from other parts of the store. These include Whole Earth cornflakes, Aspall cyder and some of the ready meals by people like Castle Farm Kitchens. (They also seem to have introduced a Free From section into the chilled foods in the last week or so.) My problems with Waitrose include the fact that they don't do any reasonably priced liver.

Sainsbury's are the closest the other way in Haverhill and their gluten-free offerings are not as good as some of their more up-market stores. I do buy their small sponge puddings (where are the jam ones), some of their scones and the Meridian sauces. For a time they did have a very good gluten-free pitta bread, but apparently the factory burned down. I would use them more but they don't stock Village Bakery stuff.

I try to avoid Tesco for personal reasons, but I still have to go there for their pitta bread.

As for Asda, being owned by Wal-Mart is a very good reason not to shop there.

My wife also gets things like liver and gluten-free fishcakes from Marks and Spencer. They also do some excellent cheese soufflés in some stores.

So to get what I need, I have to go to four different supermarkets. That isn't really a problem for me as I travel to Cambridge about twice a week, where there is another Sainsbury's and three Tescos. But this must be a problem for people who only have easy access to one supermarket or large shop.