Stuff you don’t need in the free from aisle

The “free from aisle” isn’t just for gluten free. 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 at all!

For example – mayo. The mayo in the regular aisle can contain milk and eggs but its unlikely to have gluten!! If you see it in the “free from aisle”, its probably just because the brand has made a milk or egg free version. Nothing to do with gluten.

With that in mind, here’s a list of of items you don’t need to buy if you’re ‘just’ gluten free. Its broken down into 1) Store Cupboard and 2) Fridge/Freezer. For each item, I’ve included a couple of examples of what you could buy in the “normal aisle” instead.

As always please check at the time, incase the recipe has changed.

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Store Cupboard

Item you might not need in the “Free From” aisle	Replacement you could have from the “Normal Aisle”
Jars of Sauces	e.g. Curry, Pasta, White Sauce. Often in the free from aisle because of dairy. Loads of regular aisle sauces are gluten free.
Gnocchi	Asda’s regular gnocchi is one is gf
Cereal bars	Nature Valley protein bars, Nakd bars, Eat Natural, Lidl’s own, to name just a few!
Cereal	Lots of supermarket own, regular aisle cereals are gluten free. Check out this blog post for a list.
Rice Cakes	Plain ones in the normal aisles are often gluten free. Careful with rice cakes with flavourings as I’ve found they’re more likely to contain gluten. Also cannot have Snack-a-jacks (made in a factory with gluten).
Gravy	Bisto Best is actually gluten free. This one causes lots of confusion. Says ‘may contain traces of gluten’ on the back but if you check on the Coeliac UK app, it says its safe (the traces must be <20ppm).
Ketchup	Heinz & supermarket own brands are often gluten free. I think you find special ketchups in the free from section because they’re a low fodmap version (ie. no onion, garlic etc).
Brown Sauce	Warning, HP is not gluten free! But supermarket own brands often are safe eg. Tescos
Sour Cream, Mayo* & Salad Cream	Often in the free from aisle because of dairy/egg. If you’re just looking at gluten, try supermarket own brands.
Pesto	Try Sacla, Tesco’s own
Stock	Knorr Stock pots or cubes and Kallo are gluten free. Some Oxo stock pots are too (but not the cubes!!)
Canned Soup	Often in the free from aisle because of dairy. Tons of gluten free options in the normal aisle – obviously avoid minestrone!!
Worcestershire sauce	Lea & Perrins is coeliac safe!! It has barley malt vinegar but that is ALWAYS coeliac safe according to Coeliac UK because the level of gluten is tiny tiny tiny (<20ppm). You can read more about that here!
Crisps and Tortilla Chips	There’s tons of naturally gluten free “regular brands” including Kettle Chips, Pom Bears, loads of supermarket own
Chocolate	Lots of normal chocolates are gf- thank goodness!!

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Couple of extra notes to help:

• Dairy Free Mayo – extra note to help! If you need a dairy free version but you’re ok with egg, you still might not need to shop in the free from aisle. Buy either full fat mayos or if want a light version, check out “Heinz: Seriously Good Light”.
• Bisto Best – here’s a pic of the jar I was talking about above!

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Fridge/Freezer

Item you might not need in the “Free From” aisle	Replacement you could have from the “Normal Aisle”
Dairy products e.g. 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
Fish cakes	Coops are all gluten free anyway!
Sausages	Most sausages in the fridge section of the supermarket will be gluten free. Warning – often butchers sausages & ones in the freezer aren’t.

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MORE INFO!!

**Want a list of the unexpected items that are GLUTEN FREE IN THE NORMAL AISLES? For example, Sainsbury’s crispy chilli beef? Or Marks & Spencer Dim Sum? Read my bumper guide here!!!**

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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!!!!!!