Wheat- Free Products?

I have a daughter who is gluten-free, which is essentially avoiding wheat plus oats/barley/rye. I shop at Whole Foods, Jungle Jims and Biggs. I would highly suggest getting a babysitter for your children and going to Jungle Jims by yourself for a very long stroll down the isles (2-3 hours!)- you must read every single ingredient, and call all the 1-800 numbers to verify contamination issues. Thankfully the FDA requires wheat and peanuts to be listed on all ingredient labels, but I don't think that the risk of contamination has to be listed (that's optional - some companies do this, some do not). I know it's over-whelming in the beginning, but pretty soon you will be an expert! Good luck to you!!!!

My son is also allergic to wheat. Bigg's & Whole Foods both carry an amazing range of wheat-free products. We can get crackers, bread, cereal, mixes for just about anything you could want. Look for "gluten-free" products. At bigg's they're in the organic aisles - frozen and non-frozen.

D.

Hi H.,

I don't have any specific foods to recommend to you, but if I were you, I would call Whole Foods (Rookwood Commons & Deerfield Towne Centre locations) and ask if they still give the food tours. When Whole Foods used to be Wild Oats, you could sign up for a free store tour w/an employee who would point out the foods that meet your specific needs. I know that they carry a lot of wheat-free products, and from what I've heard about the tours, they can really help save you the time of reading every label in the store.

Good luck to you & your daughter.

I too am allergic to wheat and gluten, as well as eggs. Whole Foods on Mason-Montgomery Rd.has the biggest selection I have found so far- lots of gluten free products and snacks/cookies etc. They also have quite a selection in the freezer department including ready made gluten free pie crusts. I also found a nice selection at Meyers (at least the one on Tylersville)- they have a "healthy living" section near the spaghetti sauce which carries some wheat-free, gluten-free items, including crackers, cookies, cereal bars,pastas- so you can still make mac and cheese from scratch, spaghetti, etc. My experience is that the corn pastas and quinoa pastas are the best tasting. The rice pastas are very bland and fall apart more easily than the corn and quinoa pastas. I also recently made quinoa (which I bought from Whole Foods)and made it in vegetable broth, and it was really good- my 6 year old daughter even loved it. Quinoa is kind of a cross between rice and pasta- very good if you've never heard of it. Anyway, at Krogers, you can also ask them to special order items, as long as you have the item's number. The wheat-free/ gluten-free food at Kroger's is just about always in the Organic section. If you look in the organic freezer section at Krogers, you will be able to find waffles that are wheat free and they are also really good- I have the original buckwheat (which actually contains no wheat or gluten) or the berry waffles, and they are really good too. There is also a good/big selection of foods at Jungle Jims. Anyway, hope that helps. Good luck- I know how overwhelming it is to try to figure things out when you first find it out-if you have any food or recipe suggestions, feel free to contact me.
A.

H.,
I have two children with food allergies, although my daughter has outgrown all of them (it took 12 years!) The best advice I can give is to join the Food and Allergy Network. They have some fabulous resources that saved me a lot of time and headaches. There is a local branch that meets regularly at Childrens Hospital-your doctor should be able to hook you up.
When my daughter was first diagnosed (and her older sister was not allergic) we would put happy face stickers on food containers that she was allowed to eat. I would put them on the cereal boxes, crackers etc as well as plastic containers that I would store food in. That also helped with cross contamiantion.
Wild Oats Market and other local natural food stores are great resources. I noticed a big inmproved in this area since my daughter was diagnosed 12 years ago to when my son was 2 years ago. It is manageable it just takes a lot of time, planning and organization. Good luck!
K.