New gluten-free pizza bases at Pizza Hut

I was really lucky to win a Twitter competition recently to try the new and improved gluten-free pizza bases at Pizza Hut.

You may recall I've blogged about my success at Pizza Hut  before and how much I love their GF pizza.

Pizza Hut is probably one of the best places I've found to eat out gluten-free and I've never had any problems there or accidental-glutenings. Since my first blog post about their pizza's I have been back time and time again and always get a great experience.

You can certainly tell the difference between the new bases compared with the old ones. They are a bit thicker and doughier, which I like. I'm not the biggest fan of the thin and crispy crusts to be honest, not that there's anything wrong with them - I just like a bit more bread on my base. I think the Pizza Hut GF bases are the closest I've found to a "normal" pizza. In my opinion the bases taste just like the Italians would make them.



The base I had was lovely and soft, not hard or crispy and I actually couldn't really tell it was a gluten-free base if I'm honest (apart from the fact it was a square base not round - this is a really great way that Pizza Hut staff distinguish between the gluten-free and normal bases, so there is less chance that mistakes might be made in the kitchen and you get given the wrong pizza base).

You might notice from my photo, however, that I was not supplied with my own pizza cutter this time (just a steak knife). Does anyone know why Pizza Hut have stopped providing pizza cutters with the GF bases? I liked the fact that I had my own cutter before. It's still good that I had my own knife and could cut it myself (all GF pizza's arrive un-sliced), again this is another good way Pizza Hut try to limit the risk of cross-contamination - by making you cut your own.

I went for the Meat Feast with added Roquito peppers, I like my pizza the spicier the better!

What's your favourite Pizza Hut topping?

George's chippy, Leek, now does Gluten-Free every Sunday!

I heard some great news the other day! I'm really happy to tell you that George's Tradition Fish and Chips now do gluten-free every Sunday, simply ask the staff and they will be happy to oblige.

I blogged a while back about my excitement that George's were offering gluten-free fish and chips on the first Sunday of every month - click here. Now, due to the enormous success, you can order gluten-free fish and chips EVERY Sunday - amazing!

https://www.georgestradition.co.uk/gluten-free-sundays-2/

52 Broad Street

Leek

Staffordshire

ST13 5NS

Why I won't be eating at Chiquito any time soon

You may remember me telling you recently about the new extension to the Potteries Shopping Centre in Hanley with 6 new restaurants and a 9-screen Cineworld Cinema? In case you missed it, my review of the first Coeliac-friendly eatery I tried - Gourmet Burger Kitchen - is here

My second visit to the new restaurant complex was not quite so successful. We decided to try Chiquito, as regular readers of this blog will know that I love all types of Mexican food, and spicy food in general. 

However when we sat down in Chiquito and I was faced with their menu, I was really disappointed to see that they only had a "Gluten Intolerant Menu". I quizzed the waiter on what this actually meant and he said that the dishes contained on this menu were suitable for gluten intolerant diners, but like with many restaurants, they couldn't guarantee that the food served was 100% gluten free, leaving me to make the decision as to whether to stay and risk the food being cross-contaminated, or leave. This was a really tricky decision because I had been so looking forward to the meal and I just really wanted Mexican food! But we have to be really careful with places like this, I mean, it's really not worth risking making yourself ill, just for something you really want to eat. If there's any chance of cross-contamination I try to avoid it. 

I also checked the small print in their menu and saw that they advised that they don't cook their "gluten-intolerant" menu in a separate fryer, meaning obviously the chance of cross-contamination was really high. Here's what their website says:-

Wheat and gluten ingredients which are deep fried will use the same fryers in our kitchens as dishes not containing these ingredients - there may be risk of cross contamination which may therefore affect extremely sensitive sufferers.

You can read more about their menu's here

We actually got up and left, before even ordering. What a complete disappointment! If other restaurants can make the effort to have controls in their kitchens to minimise the risk of cross-contamination with nasty gluten, why can't a big chain like Chiquito do the same thing?

Cue angry/grumpy face from me! 

If you are gluten-intolerant and not as sensitive to a small amount of gluten, then you may just be OK here at Chiquito, but for Coeliacs who need to completely avoid gluten, Chiquito really isn't the place for us. 

Shame! 

Morrisons new and improved 'free from' section

It's been a while, and I'm really sorry. I should probably start this entry by wishing you all a Happy New Year, as this is my first blog post of 2016! Thank you for reading and supporting this blog. It means a lot.

It seems that the new year has brought a positive change to the supermarket chain, Morrisons. They have really upped their game in the past couple of months and increased their 'free from' section about ten-fold! OK, so maybe that was a slight exaggeration. But there are so many more products to choose from now (in the supermarket's own free from range) and they have introduced loads of new and exciting well-known brands which you just couldn't get in there before, such as:-

No G
Feel Free For Gluten Free
ilumi
Heck sausages
Udi's
Schar &
Mrs Crimbles pasta range

to name a few!

Free From section in Leek Morrisons which is now 3 times the size!

Free From chilled section too!

I didn't really think much of Morrisons free from section in my local Leek store before. I found it was much smaller than the free from section in Sainsburys or Waitrose and very uninspiring, but now it's probably just as good. I was so impressed to see they've made a huge effort, listened to their customers and brought in lots of new products. They can now compete with the best of them. I will definitely be popping in a lot more often now.

Good work Morrisons!

To see more information about Morrisons' free from range click here

A Coeliac abroad: Tenerife

I finally did it - I went on my first holiday abroad since being diagnosed as Coeliac. And it was brilliant!

Where we stayed: an apartment in Golf del Sur, which is on the south coast of the island, in the province of Santa de la Cruz.

Staying in an apartment we were self-catering which was perfect for me and it meant I had more control of what I was eating.

A little bit about the area:

Golf del Sur is a holiday resort and golf course in the municipality of San Miguel de Abona. Situated alongside a golf course and marina, it's a peaceful, pretty town. There are black sand and pebble beaches here, not your usual golden sandy beaches. The more touristy Los Christianos and Playa de la Americas are only a 20 minute drive away.

I felt incredibly lucky when my Mum &  Sister announced they were going to take me away on holiday for my 30th birthday. I haven't been abroad since our honeymoon to Italy 5 years ago so a holiday was very much needed! It was also my first holiday since diagnosis.

I was very much looking forward to getting away for a bit of sun. However I was nervous - eating out abroad in a foreign country where I don't speak the language AND being Coeliac - how was I going to cope? The more I thought about it the more I began to panic!

The important thing to remember when planning a Coeliac holiday abroad is: do your research before you go. I spent a lot of time researching places to go beforehand. It was a toss up really between Lanzarote or Tenerife &  none of us had ever been to either before. We wanted somewhere with pretty much guaranteed nice weather and places where I could eat out safely.

My initial research on Google came up with a few places in Tenerife so we booked to go there. But I also was very grateful for the tips provided by Claire Tulloch and her Positively Coeliac blog facebook page who had been to Tenerife just a couple of months before (thanks Claire!) I therefore felt a bit more confident going away knowing that there were a few places suitable for me.

I would definitely also recommend downloading from the internet an appropriate dietary information card in the language of the country you are going to. They are ideal if you are going somewhere & can't speak much of the language - you can simply pass to a waiter or shopkeeper & it will explain to them what dietary requirements you have & the types of food you can & can't eat. I found one in Spanish & printed off a copy from Celiactravel.com - just click here

What impressed me the most about our time in Tenerife was actually the labelling in supermarkets, in particular there was a small Dino supermarket literally a stone's throw from our apartment - this was actually way better than the main, much bigger supermarket a bit further away for gluten-free labelling.

There also wasn't a Free From Section in this Dino Supermarket, and all the gluten-free food was dotted about all over the place in amongst the 'normal' food (which I actually quite liked - it felt normal) but it was all very well labelled with these nifty signs.

In the UK we look for gluten-free or free from. In Spain it's 'Sin Gluten'.

Where did we eat?

All the restaurants we ate at were in Golf del Sur, just a short drive if feeling lazy or a few minutes walk from San Miguel residential village.

The first place we ate out at was Pata de Oro, we liked this place so much we went twice!

 

Here's their address: 

Calle Trasera San Blas | Bunaglow No. 9, 38620 Golf del Sur, Tenerife, Spain

 

Pata de Oro has a great range of tapas, a lot of it is gluten free. The guys that run the place speak very good English and seemed pretty clued up on what is and what isn't gluten-free. This immediately put me at ease. We ordered a selection of tapas. It was great!

Yummy tapas

We also spotted on the menu: Paella. This has to be ordered at least 24 hours in advance for 2 or more people, so does require a little forward planning. Spain's national dish is paella so we definitely had to try some authentic paella whilst we were here. We therefore decided to order a seafood paella for our last night in Tenerife and come back.

Check out this beauty!

Now that's proper paella!

The paella was amazing and I would definitely recommend it! This was supposed to be paella for 3 people but it could have easily fed 5. I think we did a pretty good job though.

Washed down with a large jug of sangria too!

 

Next we visited Rendezvous. You can find Rendevous at the Winter Gardens apartment complex. Their address is:-

 

Ground floor, Winter Gardens, Las chafiras, 38639 Golf del Sur, Tenerife

 

There are 2 parts to Rendezvous - a restaurant upstairs with an A la Carte menu or a bistro-style cafe downstairs overlooking a bowling green. We opted for the bistro which serves your typical bar food. If I'm honest the bistro feels more British & touristy as they were showing football on the big screen (think it was Arsenal vs someone). Don't let this put you off though. Less choice here for Coeliacs but I did manage to get chicken & chips with a nice salad. I asked behind the bar on arrival what gluten-free options they had on the menu & it is really a case of adapting what's on the menu to make it gluten-free. At least the chips were gluten-free. I think if you fancy a break from Spanish cuisine & feel like a few home comforts e.g. fish & chips then this place is for you. I personally don't like going abroad & eating food you can get back home and much prefer sampling foreign cuisine when on holiday, but everyone is different. Sometimes being a coeliac you just can't be that fussy & so eating here was absolutely fine. I think maybe next time I would choose the restaurant upstairs.

Tapas & Chill

Apartamentos Aguamarina Golf Local 3 | Avda. del Atlantico 9, 38639 Golf del Sur, Tenerife, Spain



I was really pleased to stumble across Tapas & Chill. For me this place had the best allergen labelling on their menu. Each dish was clearly labelled whether there was gluten, dairy, and nuts present which was really helpful. I decided on a selection of tapas including the roasted red pepper and pork in creamy port sauce. Delicious! We couldn't really fault the food at all - authentically Spanish, a friendly atmosphere and staff and plenty of gluten-free options for me.












Everything was really helpfully labelled


On our penultimate night in Tenerife we decided to stay in the apartment and cook for ourselves. Our apartment had its own BBQ so we bought a load of BBQ stuff from the supermarket (gluten-free chorizo sausages and salmon fillets, lots of salad for me). It's really easy to self-cater in Golf del Sur, the supermarkets are really good for gluten-free and you will pretty much find everything you need to prepare a home cooked meal. You can always take a bag of gluten-free pasta in your suitcase and a few other essentials but fresh fruit, veg and meat and fish can be found in all supermarkets.

Just a couple of the many brands of

      crisps that are gluten-free in Tenerife!

                                               

Another nifty find was this great ice cream parlour also in the San Miguel residential village, I would definitely recommend you pay a visit here. There are tons of ice cream flavours to choose from and if you ask the lady who works there (she is very sweet and speaks good English) she will tell you that all the flavours are gluten-free. I was a bit dubious about the oreo cookie ice cream so I would maybe avoid that one. But I sampled numerous flavours over the course of the week and was fine with every one I tried.

Overall I would highly recommend a holiday to Tenerife, especially the Gulf del Sur resort. Absolutely stunning part of the world and great gluten-free good!

 

 

Just a little holiday snap to make you all jealous. I really miss this view!

Gluten-free pot noodles from Kabuto Noodles

I don't know about you but there are certain foods I have craved since being diagnosed Coeliac. For me, it's a pot noodle. (Oh, and croissants).

I don't know why, because I never really ate them when I actually could but ever since diagnosis I've wanted one. I'm always mega jealous whenever one of my colleagues at work brings one in for lunch. We always want what we can't have, right?

Right.

As far as I know there aren't many gluten-free pot noodles on the market. In fact I know of only one,  Kabuto Noodles. But have I ever been able to find any up until now?  No way! 

Well my luck was in yesterday when I did our weekly food shop,  I found these Kabuto Noodles in Sainsburys for just £1.50 each.  They are normally £2 which I think is a bit steep perhaps. I'm not going to grumble at £1.50 though.

What can I say?  I loved them!  They made a great lunch option to eat at my desk at work,  warm &  hearty,  with plenty of Japanese flavours like ginger & spring onions coming through.  I think it would be nice to eventually see a couple more flavours - at the moment the gluten-free flavours are chicken or miso (there are a variety of none gluten-free ones). But it's still a big step forward in to the world of gluten-free convenience noodles for which I applaud Kabuto Noodles.

So simple and yet so tasty! For a fraction of the cost you would pay if you were to buy something similar in a noodle bar you are getting a delicious noodle dish in the convenience of a pot noodle-style tub, you simply just add boiling water, wait 2-3 minutes and what you get is a very authentic tasting (and smelling) Asian noodle dish, just like what you may be served in a restaurant or noodle bar.

I am definitely keeping a few of these pots in my desk drawer at work, they're just so convenient and perfect for a quick lunch at my desk. They taste amazing and healthy too -  a real winter warmer that just makes you feel good. Thanks Kabuto!

Newburn Bakehouse launch two brand new and improved products

This week the lovely people at Newburn Bakehouse launched two brand new products and I was one of the lucky bloggers who got to try them first.

Introducing the new Farmhouse loaf and soft round rolls. The loaves come either white, brown or seeded and the rolls white or seeded. The Farmhouse loaves will replace their existing loaves and the soft round rolls will replace the sub rolls.

I have to admit I was really impressed with both new products. In my short time as a Coeliac I have found that many gluten-free bread products lack that freshness - the smell, taste and texture of a freshly baked loaf from a proper bakery - the Farmhouse loaf and soft rolls are unique in that they actually do feel like they may have just come out of the oven. I think they're brilliant!

The rolls come in a pack of 4 and they are a pretty decent size. I think they'd make awesome burger buns! I tried the soft white rolls just as a sandwich for lunch at work, 1 roll with cheese and salad was enough for me as a lunch. The rolls are topped with a generous dusting of flour which contributes to that freshly baked feeling you get when you bite in to one. I loved how soft and squishy the rolls were, I think anyone would be hard pushed to tell the difference between this and a 'normal' bread roll.

The Farmhouse loaf looks exactly how a farmhouse loaf should with the farmhouse cuts across the top and again the bread is lovely and soft and fresh. I especially liked the full sized slices - no more tiddly half size slices as you can find with some gluten-free loaves. Again the loaf just looks like any normal loaf of bread you'd find in any bakery aisle of supermarkets.

I found the loaf is great for sandwiches and toast.

Newburn Bakehouse have been working for a long time to improve their freshly baked range and I think you can really tell the difference. You may also like to know that all their fresh bakery products are certified dairy free too.

Where can you buy?

Now -  Selected Sainsburys and Asda stores
From 13th October 2014 - Selected Morrisons, Waitrose and Tesco stores

With a RRP of £2.99 for a loaf and £2.40 for a pack of 4 rolls I think these are definitely value for money. This range of fresh bakery products are by far the closest you'll get to 'real' bread and I love it!

Tea 42, Manchester

My apologies for the lack of blogging this past month or so. Things have been a little crazy recently as we are in the process of buying a house and my husband is just about to start his teaching career after a year of intensive training (exciting times ahead!). However, I just have to tell you about this amazing new gluten-free restaurant, Tea 42, I have just discovered.

I finally made it to Tea 42 in Manchester on Monday after my husband's graduation ceremony (his third graduation no less). I'd heard lots of good things about this modern restaurant from my Twitter friends, so I was dying to go and check it out for myself and what better way to celebrate a happy occasion than with some great gluten-free food!

This is probably the best gluten-free place I have eaten at since diagnosis in terms of gluten-free choice, quality of food and Coeliac-friendly staff. It's a modern and stylish restaurant and amid its quirky and vibrant decor, Tea 42 offers an exceptionally high quality dining experience. I mean this could be a Michelin-starred restaurant for all I know.

I immediately felt at ease when, before taking our order, our waiter asked if there was anybody with any food intolerance's. Thumbs up to Tea 42 for understanding people's needs who suffer with allergies and intolerance's. This is probably due to the fact co-owner Will Hannah is a Coeliac himself.

Tea 42 offer an extensive gluten-free menu, practically everything on their menu is gluten-free or can easily be made gluten-free if you just ask, and the menu has options for breakfast, lunch, dinner, afternoon tea and even tapas. Now there aren't many places gluten-free eaters can eat out at that offer tapas. The gluten-free afternoon tea looked amazing too, I definitely need to come back and try that!

Gluten-free tapas!

I was immediately drawn to the tapas and opted for 3 dishes, all reasonably priced at £4.75 each - the Moroccan pulled pork with quinoa salad, tomato, basil and red onion bruschetta and the pesto and parmesan arancini. All 3 tapas were absolutely delicious! What I loved about the food was that each individual dish was beautifully presented and obviously a lot of time and effort had gone in to making the food look good as well as taste great.

Moroccan pulled pork and quinoa salad

Tomato, basil and red onion bruschetta

Pesto and parmesan arancini

Tea 42 offer a great selection of cakes and desserts too which are all displayed in a huge glass display case at the back of the restaurant. When I asked the waiter behind the counter which ones were gluten-free he said all of them were! I really couldn't believe it, this never happens anywhere! As we tend to "eat with our eyes" Tea 42 like you to see the desserts before choosing what to have so we all walked to the display case and had a peek at each mouthwatering cake before we chose - this is a really nice touch I thought.

Scrummy strawberry cheesecake!

Also spotted on the menu was a whole list of gluten-free beers and a host of fancy cocktails. They are a must for next time too!

I'm completely in love with this place and can't wait to go back! The freedom of being able to eat gluten-free here is what makes this restaurant so special.

Here's their website

Newburn Bakehouse square seeded wraps

Last week Newburn Bakehouse announced that their fab square seeded wraps now include an extra wrap in every pack meaning you now get 4 wraps for the same price as we were paying for 3 previously. This was music to my ears as I'm sure it is for Coeliacs everywhere. I love these wraps (they make great fajitas) and they regularly appear in my shopping basket but I have to admit I did find them quite pricey (ranging between £2.90-£3.10 per pack depending on where you shop and where in the country you live). But now we are getting an extra wrap at no extra cost I feel they are definitely worth the money. What you are getting is 4 really substantial wraps that don't fall apart when you pack them with filling, I mean there's nothing worse than a fajita that falls apart in your hands is there?! The cost is definitely justified in that you are getting a great quality product that tastes amazing. Not only that, they are now certified dairy free as well as gluten free. Great news for people that are lactose intolerant or Coeliacs that are avoiding dairy products in the first 6-12 months of diagnosis.

Their square shape means they are really versatile and also make great light pizza bases ideal for lunch or a tasty healthy snack. I'd love to hear from you if you have tried the wraps and used them in a more adventurous way.

These wraps are becoming more widely available as you can now find them in La Tasca restaurants and Starbucks and Costa Coffee are also using them in their wraps-to-go. Read about my review of the Costa wraps here

Feel Free For Gluten Free's new 100% corn pasta range

Finally a gluten-free, dairy-free, wheat free pasta range that looks and tastes like the real thing! I'm talking proper Italian-tasting pasta! It's also egg and soya free and tastes amazing.

I was asked to sample Feel Free For Gluten Free's new pasta range during the recent Coeliac Awareness Week. They are a UK based company located in York. I have to admit it's a brand I wasn't too familiar with before (I've only really tried their chocolate brownie mix which I found in Sainsburys one time). But apparently they have a extensive range of other products on their website which I didn't even know about including pies, frozen meals and sweet bakery products. I will definitely be checking their other products out now that's for sure.

The new pasta range consists of spaghetti, fusilli, penne and alphabet spaghetti (ideal for the kids). It's 100% corn and has a low glycaemic index too which means it will keep you fuller for longer. Even better!

First things first. What I loved about the pasta initially was the packaging. It's eye catching, bold and very stylish indeed, it would definitely stand out on the supermarket shelf against other brands of gluten-free pasta in your local free from section.


Probably the best thing about this pasta is that it keeps its shape when cooked. It feels firm and there's no sticky gloopy mess which you tend to find with a lot of gluten-free pasta if you overcook it even by a few seconds.

It tasted great too, just how I imagine authentic Italian pasta to taste. At £1.99 a packet I feel this is really good value for money for a good quality gluten-free product.

I usually buy Sainsburys own Free From spaghetti and pasta which is rice based and I find that if overcooked it can be very stodgy as it retains a lot of water. 'Feel Free' pasta is different. It was great to try a new brand of pasta that just tasted like normal pasta and I am definitely going to be buying Feel Free For Gluten Free pasta again.


At the moment you can buy this pasta range online at www.glutenfree-direct.co.uk but I would really love to see it in my local Sainsburys and readily available in other supermarkets in the near future. So watch this space.

Homemade Minestrone soup with alphabet pasta.
For big kids too!

https://twitter.com/FeelFreeGF

https://www.facebook.com/feelfreeforglutenfree

The Gluten-Free Guarantee - My Supermarket Survey

This year for Coeliac Awareness Week Coeliac UK are focusing on the availability of gluten-free products in supermarkets. They know how frustrating it can be for Coeliacs having to shop in various different supermarkets rather than just one to do a weekly shop and get everything they want.

I, for one, am constantly frustrated at the lack of new gluten-free products in any of the supermarkets I shop in, in Leek or Macclesfield. When a new product comes out and there's a huge buzz about it on social media, the majority of the time it does not appear in any of my supermarkets until months after (with the exception of the new wraps from Costa Coffee) when the hype has usually died down and we're on to the next new gluten-free craze. This may be because I live in a small town, on the outskirts of the countryside, half an hour from any big city (Manchester or Stoke-on-Trent) but this doesn't change the fact that there are people living with Coeliac Disease who need to shop for food! The availability and convenience of a range of gluten-free products (not just one or two options) in every supermarket is something I feel so strongly about and I really hope that by raising awareness of this need for choice this Coeliac Awareness Week, supermarkets will listen and take action.

Supermarkets are getting much better, I must admit, and do offer a lot more choice than they did, say, 10 years ago as the demand for gluten-free products increases but there's still plenty more they could do. This improvement is due to the sheer number of people being diagnosed with Coeliac Disease which is growing at a huge rate. According to official statistics released this week the number of people diagnosed in the UK with Coeliac Disease has increased fourfold in the past 20 years. And this number is likely to grow which in turn will increase the demand for gluten-free food in our supermarkets.


For Coeliac Awareness Week this year Coeliac UK are asking supermarkets to sign up to their 'Gluten-Free Guarantee'. They would like all supermarkets to stock a core 8 gluten-free items, items we use day to day which they feel should be readily available to Coeliacs which are:-

• Fresh white bread
• Fresh brown bread
• Bread rolls
• Pasta
• Flour
• Cereal
• Cereal bars
• Crackers

I decided to do my own research here because I believe the supermarkets in Leek where I live can be a bit hit and miss when it comes to gluten-free products. I know, Leek, despite being a small town, is not the worst place for gluten-free availability but it certainly isn't the best either and I think there is plenty of room for improvement.

My Challenge

During this week I paid a visit to all the major supermarkets in Leek (including a couple that were a bit further afield but I occasionally shop in when I'm at work or visiting friends in nearby Stoke-on-Trent) to suss out the gluten-free availability in each store. Armed with my Gluten-Free Guarantee supermarket postcard supplied by Coeliac UK and my trusty pen, I spent some time looking at each Free From section and counting the number of items on offer. I did get a few funny looks from people as I stood in front of the shelves scrutinising them but I didn't really care, this was all in the name of research. 

Have you filled yours in yet?

Here are my findings...

	Supermarket
How many types of	Sainsburys Leek	Tesco Hanley	Tesco Metro Macclesfield	Waitrose Leek	Asda Leek	Morrisons Leek
Fresh white bread	2	6	2	3	0	0
Fresh brown bread (includes seeded)	4	6	4	6	1	3
Bread rolls	2	5	2	6	0	2
Flour	3	2	2	4	0	1
Pasta	7	6	2	6	1	2
Cereal (including porridge oats)	18	10	5	16	1	3
Cereal bars	9	4	3	10	3	4
Crackers	7	6	2	5	0	2
Total no of items	52	45	22	56	6	17

As you can see, way out in front were Waitrose and Sainsburys with an impressive 56 and 52 points respectively and no score lower than a 2 or 3 which means that in every one of the 8 categories there was more than one product to choose from. That means choice! And lots of it. Very close behind was Tesco in Hanley with a decent selection in all 8 categories. By far the worst supermarket for choice was Asda in Leek. This is only a small Asda store but the fact that this store did not even have white bread, rolls, flour, and crackers and only one choice of brown bread, pasta and cereal really isn't good enough and fell well below the standard set out by the Gluten-Free Guarantee. I will definitely be writing to head office about this particular Asda store. It's a good job there are plenty of other supermarkets in Leek to choose from otherwise I'd be pretty stuck. The most impressive Free From display must be awarded to Tesco in Hanley who had a massive Free From section, by far the biggest display in all 6 supermarkets I visited - the shelving took up pretty much half an aisle! (Wish I'd taken a photo). The smallest Free From section was Asda who had a pitiful 3 shelves - very disappointing.

On the whole I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of gluten-free products available where I shop. It's great to see that most supermarkets' Free From range are developing and expanding. Sainsburys and Tesco have their own very extensive Free From range, consisting of not only all your essential items such as bread and cereal, but Sainsburys even have their own frozen food Free From section including pizza, sausages, veggie burgers, chicken nuggets and fish fingers, whilst Tesco have a few of the more unusual items such as cous cous and jars of their own pasta sauce. Most supermarkets I visited stocked plenty of well known brands too such as Genius Foods, Newburn Bakehouse, Perkier Foods, Mrs Crimbles and Udi's Gluten Free, perhaps Morrisons being the only exception. I'm confident that over the next couple of years we'll see a lot more variety in our supermarket Free From sections, new companies starting their own ranges and supermarket Free From sections taking up much bigger shelf space in the aisles rather than just a couple of tiny shelves pushed at the end of an aisle. Perhaps also, supermarkets will begin to lower their prices of Free From products as the demand for these increases. We can but dream!

How does your supermarket fare? Do you have access to all 8 items on a regular basis in your local supermarket? Please comment below or send me a photo of your local supermarket's Free From aisle.