Things you don’t need in the free from aisle

The “free from” aisle tends to be more expensive than the “normal” aisle.

However some of the products are there because they have been adapted to be dairy free, egg free, sugar free etc… nothing to do with gluten!! That means there’s a lot of things you don’t need to pay over the odds for.

This guide highlights some of the items that are in the free from aisle because of something other than gluten. Avoid these items and you’ll save yourself some money and broaden your options.

The list broken down into 1) Store Cupboard and 2) Fridge/Freezer 3) Note on Cereals

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Store Cupboard

Ketchup

You don’t need these…

INSTEAD, BUY: Heinz & most supermarket own brands are gluten free. I think some of the ketchups in the free from section are there because they are low fodmap (ie. no onion, garlic etc), nothing to do with gluten free.

SAVING: Rubies is 66p/100g vs Heinz is more like 45p/100g (depending on the size you buy etc) or Supermarket own brands around 15p/100g.

Brown Sauce

You don’t need these..

BUY: HP is not gluten free but lots of supermarket own brands are safe so you still don’t need to buy the free from aisle version.

SAVING: Tesco’s normal aisle brown sauce is gluten free and 24p/100g vs Asda’s free from aisle brown sauce 37p/100g

Gnocchi

You don’t need these…

INSTEAD, BUY: Asda’s own normal aisle gnocchi is gluten free.

PRICE SAVING: Asda’s own normal aisle gnocchi £4.10/kg vs. the first picture above (which is in Asda’s free from aisle) £6.80/kg

Sour Cream, Mayo & Salad Cream

You don’t need these…

INSTEAD, BUY: All of the supermarket own and the big brands (Heinz, Hellmans etc) I’ve found are gf

PRICE SAVING: Chippa Mayo 54p/100g, supermarket own start at around 30p/100g.

DAIRY FREE? If you’re dairy free, you can still buy mayo outside of the free from aisle. Most full fat mayos are fine, or if want a light version check out “Heinz: Seriously Good Light”.

Jars of Sauces e.g. Curries, Pasta Sauces, White Sauce

You don’t need these…

BUY: Loads of regular aisle sauces are gluten free. If I listed them all, we’d be here all day :)! If you’re after something specific and can’t find it, message me and I’ll do my best to help!

PRICE SAVING: As an example, Asda free from white sauce 27p/100g vs. Asda essentials white sauce 17p/100g

Cereal bars

You don’t need these…

BUY: Nature Valley protein bars, Nakd bars, Eat Natural, Lidl’s own are all gluten free… just to name just a few!

PRICE SAVING: not much of a price saving but it does add some variety to know you can shop outside of the free from aisle too!

Rice Cakes

You don’t need these…

BUY: Loads of supermarket own brands in the normal aisles are gluten free. Even lots of the flavoured ones. Just make sue you avoid Snack-a-jacks (they are made in a factory with gluten).

PRICE SAVING: Tesco’s own milk choc rice cakes £1.24/100g, Nature’s store £1.55/100g.

Pesto

You don’t need these…

BUY: in the free from aisle because its dairy free. Most pestos are naturally gluten free anyway.

SAVING: strangely they seem to be about the same price as their “normal aisle” alternative so no saving but it can be harder to find vegan pesto so its great to know the “normal aisle” the is fine!

Stock

You don’t need these…

BUY: some brands are in the free from aisle because they are no salt/organic etc. Lots of options in the normal aisle, including Knorr Stock pots/cubes, Kallo and some Oxo stock pots (but not the cubes!!)

SAVING: not much of a saving but it does add some variety to know you can shop outside of the free from aisle too!

Pasta

BUY: ok this one is cheating a bit…if you want “proper” pasta, you will need the free from aisle. But you can technically buy gluten free pasta in the normal aisle too. The lentil/pea options are mostly gluten free. Be warned though, they taste quite different!

Canned Soup

You don’t need these…

BUY: Often in the free from aisle because of dairy. Tons of gluten free options in the normal aisle – obviously avoid minestrone!!

SAVING: No massive savings but adds a lot of variety!

Crisps and Tortilla Chips

You don’t need these…

BUY: not sure I get why there’s any in the free from aisle! Maybe because some are vegan? (but there’s lots of vegan options in the normal aisle too)! There’s tons of naturally gluten free “regular brands” including Kettle Chips, Pom Bears, loads of supermarket own. Crisps guide here.

SAVING: Free from tortillas tend to be a similar price to the normal aisle, but you get a bigger variety of flavours in the normal aisle.

Chocolate

You don’t need these…

BUY: usually there because its dairy free/vegan/soya free. Lots of “normal” chocolates are gf- thank goodness.. I’d be here all day if I listed them!

SAVING: Vegan chocolate is not cheap! Big savings to be had here.

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Fridge/Freezer

• Yoghurts, milk, butter, cheese, ice cream – Usually only in the free from bit because they’ve been adapted to be dairy free!
• Some of the ready meals – Tons of regular aisle ready meals are naturally gluten free e.g. Tesco regular Katsu and Pad Thai
• Fishcakes/Battered fish etc – Coop’s normal aisle options are mostly gluten free (and clearly labelled as such)
• Sausages – Most sausages in the fridge section of the supermarket will be gluten free. Warning – often butchers sausages, and “cheaper” options inc frozen lines often contain wheat. If you’re after gluten free cheaper sausages, Asda have just launched some for around 89p
• Chicken Nuggets – M&S, Sainsburys and Asda have normal aisle nuggets that are gf and taste just like Mcdonald’s

Note on Cereals

Prepare to be a bit annoyed… We used to consider a lot of supermarket own cereals “gluten free” and they are SO much cheaper than their gluten free aisle alternative. However, we can’t do that anymore so if you want cereal, you’re stuck with the free from aisle prices.

What happened? Most normal aisle cereals that used to be gluten free have “barley malt extract” in them and Coeliac UK changed the rules on how we treat that ingredient. This is my understanding of it:

• The old rule: they used to work with the supermarkets to decide whether the level of gluten in the product was less than 20ppm. If it was, they’d let us know it was safe in the food scanner app, even if the product packaging didn’t bother stating “gluten free” itself.
• The new rule: Coeliac UK aren’t doing this anymore. They want to force the manufacturers to add better “gluten free” labels to the packaging so they’ve removed any items containing “barley malt extract” from the food scanner app, unless the company have put gluten free on the label.

As far as I’m aware, none of the supermarkets have altered their labels so now we have no way of knowing what is gluten free/not. Newbies, that means we have no way of knowing which ones have <20ppm of gluten and are therefore safe. Oldies, if you ate a normal aisle cereal before because they used to be safe on the app, how do you know if the recipe changed? Probably not safe anymore :(!

Not sure how I feel about it… if Coeliac UK could make an exception for cereals, that would be such a cost saving.

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Please remember, the points above are NOT hard rules, it varies from one brand to another so please please please check!!!!!! As always please check at the time, incase the recipe has changed.