Which are the best supermarkets for people with food intolerances?

So, let me say at the outset that this review  is based solely on my personal experience as a shopper. It reflects my visits to supermarkets in the South West of England. It is both possible and probable that other branches of these supermarket chains will/may stock a different/wider range of goods. Also, as I rarely do internet grocery shopping (since that leads to short expiry dates), the comments below do not take on-line supermarket ranges into account.

Right, disclaimer over...

As you will may know from my first post, our family's shopping has to cater for lactose intolerance, FODMAP intolerance (i.e. wheat, lactose, onion, garlic, beans, etc.) and my current attempt at a sugar free/no added sugar diet (just for me, not Drew and the kids!). This can be quite a challenge in a supermarket and generally involves a lot of label reading, not great when you're a busy working parent. Plus our family budget for food is tight.

So, for the benefit of others who are trying to keep a similar number of plates spinning, the following alphabetical list reflects my experience of trying to find what I need in supermarkets over the past 3 years.

Aldi. Not great. Just a handful of items within an already limited range of products. You could probably find a wheat free bread, one or two lactose and wheat free snacks and an alternative to cow's milk (soya milk) at most visits.

• Other positives: Cheap! Including an inexpensive albeit limited choice of fresh fruit and veg.

Asda. Surprisingly good. They stock a wide range of 'free from' goods including their quite extensive own brand range.

• Lactose free and wheat free: very good. Lots of choice for bread, crackers, flour, pasta, sauces, cakes, biscuits and dairy free chocolate. You can even find lactose free chocolate spread on a good day. (Well, I found it once). Not so good on chilled deserts.
• FODMAPs: nothing specific.
• No added sugar: I haven't spotted any specific products but they do sell a few of the staples you may need if following any of the popular 'Quit Sugar' plans, e.g. nuts, different sugars. I can also find bread without added sugar.
• Other positives:  Generally good for fresh fruit and veg. The only place I have found which sells big bags of whole wheat pasta.

Co-op. Pretty good although the 'free from' range tends to be quite small - possibly a reflection of the the size of the stores. They have their own range and have enough stock to provide necessities with a small element of choice.

• Lactose free and wheat free: A good range, including bread, flour, crackers, pasta, cakes, snacks, pesto. Unlikely to be much in the chilled desert range.
• FODMAPs: Nothing specific
• No added sugar: Some whole wheat products and I have managed to find bread without added sugar (Vogel's).  No specific products. 
• Other positives: Lots of fresh food although not necessarily a wide choice. However, I generally find that my Co-op shopping trips are the least expensive.

Lidl. In my experience, free from 'free from'.

• Other positives: Cheap! As with Aldi, an inexpensive albeit limited choice of fresh fruit and veg.

Morrisons. OK. A limited own brand 'free from' range plus some of the bigger brands. Most of their own range seems to be sweet rather than savoury.

• Lactose and wheat free: All of the staples. Bread, pasta, dairy free chocolate, milk, snacks, cakes and biscuits. 
• FODMAPs: Nothing specific.
• No added sugar: Some whole wheat products and some of their own wholemeal bread doesn't contain added sugar.
• Other positives: Morrisons more than hold their own with their fresh fruit and veg selection. They also stock a good range of fish.

Sainsburys. Very good. A similar range of 'free from' products to Asda,  including a very good own brand range. Good for bread, bread products, pasta, flour, sugars, condiments, cakes, biscuits, snacks, savouries, dairy free chocolate and puddings. Not much in the way of chilled deserts.

• Lactose and wheat free: Very good. See the above list. Sainsburys have really thought about this. My shop of choice for economic lactose-free milk.
• FODMAPs: Nothing specific but their Free From Frozen Margherita Pizza doesn't contain onion or garlic. (It does however contain milk in the form of cheese, so low lactose rather than lactose free).
• No added sugar:  Nothing specific but I can always find brands which don't add sugar, such as Marigold Vehetable Buillion, Sainsburys' own brand reduced salt yeast extract and various bread products. larger Sainsburys stock many of the 'Quit Sugar' staples.
• Other positives: A very good range of fresh fruit and veg. More vegetarian choices in their frozen range than many competitors.

Tesco. Very good. A very extensive 'free from' own brand which Tesco has clearly put a great deal of thought into. Good for everything, but I have to give them a shout out on behalf of Robbie for their new dairy free strawberry and vanilla cones.  Also, while they are by no means my favourite supermarket,  Tesco is definitely King of the Lactose-Free Chilled Desert Mountain. Less positively, these days their fruit and veg seems to have quite short dates, even after rummaging.

• Lactose and wheat free: Really good. Everything you might need, provided you go to a large store.
• FODMAPs: Nothing specific. 
• No added sugar: A larger store is likely to stock most of the 'Quit Sugar' staples.
• Other positives: One of only 2 places you can scan while you shop. A huge time saver. And, if your scanned shop is selected for a random check when you pay, Tesco staff only have to rescan a small number of items, unlike Waitrose where the whole shop has to be rescanned.

Waitrose. A limited range, even in larger stores. Possibly they expect their target customers to prepare everything from scratch? They have their own 'free from' range which includes the usual bread, bread products, pasta, cakes, snacks and biscuits, plus they stock selected items from other brands.

• Lactose and wheat free: Good, albeit with few alternatives in some categories. Their own brand bread products taste delicious,
• FODMAPs: Nothing specific.
• No added sugar: Nothing specific but Waitrose is surely the spiritual home of spelt?
• Other positives: One of only 2 stores where you can save valuable time by scanning as you shop. Their food is always of a high standard and there is, of course, the free coffee for My Waitrose customers.

There are very few store cupboard ingredients out there for FODMAP intolerance, so most of our cooking has to be done from scratch. I will share the few FODMAP friendly products I have found in a later post.

Diagnosing FODMAPs intolerance

I realise that, to a lot of people, our family's food restrictions must sound like First World problems. I agree. But, putting briefly to one side more important global food issues, I would like to say a bit about how we came to realise Robbie was intolerant of some FODMAPs because, actually, the resulting unhappiness is much more easily preventable.

Robbie is a healthy, tall, outgoing 8 year-old. No one seeing him would think that he had ever failed to thrive, However, Robbie had various gut issues both as a baby and a toddler which never quite went away. In essence, all the way through reception and into infant's school he had problems with bowel movements that were difficult to control. This led to frequent 'accidents'; generally minor, often unpleasant and potentially socially awkward.

One difficulty in identifying a food intolerance in a child is that the symptoms may not be consistent. Drew and I would sometimes notice that everything seemed to have quietened down for a few days but struggled to pick up any pattern. This inevitably raised the question of whether the issue was behavioural rather than involuntary. We tried every reasonable carrot and a few sticks but the problem never really went away. Over time Robbie also developed intermittent problems with his hearing and ended up having bi-lateral grommets fitted aged 6.

It became increasingly apparent that this problem was not something Robbie had any choice about. He would become incredibly bloated after some meals. Unfortunately, however,  our initial contact with the medical profession was far from promising. I was told by a doctor at an allergy clinic at our local children's hospital to stop Robbie drinking chilled water and to wait for him to "grow out of it". He also said we could   give Robbie - then aged 5 - a dose of  'immodium' if we need to control his symptoms for a special occasion such as a wedding! When I asked this doctor how long I should leave it before I came back, I was told to leave it 2 years, otherwise people would say 'Oh, it's that woman again'. Needless to say, I did not take up the offer of a follow-up appointment.

However, our GP practice was much better. Around 2 years ago we were referred to an excellent paediatric dietician. By then I had started eliminating foods from Robbie's diet by myself but with only limited success. So, for example, eliminating lactose would work well some of the time but the symptoms would lessen rather than disappear.

Eventually, in July last year and just after a particularly stressful camping trip when Robbie's symptoms were really not good, the dietician suggested we try FODMAPs as a last resort.

Although the literature said that is might take several week to see any difference, we could tell within a few days that things were getting better. By the end of 2 weeks Robbie's accidents had all but ended.

Robbie stayed off all FODMAPs longer than the initial phase, mainly because he was changing schools and we wanted him to settle in without unnecessary worry. Even now we generally only reintroduce food during the school holidays.

So far, so good. We have established that lactose really doesn't work with Robbie, although low lactose food such as cheese is fine in smallish quantities. Lactose intolerance isn't much fun and is something he shares with his eldest sister Meg.

(See http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/lactose-intolerance/Pages/Symptoms.aspx for more information abot lactose intolerance).

Apples have proved to be fine as has wheat. We put off reintroducing wheat for ages as that had been one of the partially successful food eliminations pre - FODMAPs.  However wheat came back in with no problems during February half term. Onion and garlic are still off the menu, as are beans of any types and some sweeteners. All vegetables are back in, although we still  limit some such as sugar snap peas. I think honey may be one to go for during next week's half term holidays.

So, in summary: if you or your child have a a similar problems with little 'accidents' , have a look at FODMAPs.

Our Family and Food

Meet the Team

We are a family of 6, living in the South West of England. My husband and I both combine full-time work with looking after our 4 children. All in all I would say we are a pretty normal bunch - except when it comes to food.

Although I love to cook, I generally have to adapt most dishes and recipes in order to navigate a range of family food intolerances and/or preferences. In fact, this is something I do so regularly (and with good results most of the time) that the children have suggested that I publish some of my ideas for recipes and workarounds.

So, the intention behind this blog is precisely that. In the coming weeks and months I plan to share some of the sources (outlets, brands, etc.) I have identified as being good places to start when short of time and shopping for restricted diets. I will also share some of the alternatives methods and ingredients I have tried and tested at home and, of course, some easy, family-friendly recipes.

What I don't intend to do is to get into the weeds about the whys and wherefores of food intolerances and restricted diets. I am not a scientist. I am a lawyer. However, I will occasionally link to information I have found helpful or particularly informative about shall issues. I will also tell you about the journey we had to go on before we were able to identify our youngest child's food intolerances, since this may give hope to other  parents in similar position.

But for now, let me introduce you to our family and our dysfunctional diets.

First off, we are (almost all) fish-eating vegetarians. I gave up eating meat in my teens. Meat was something I had never greatly enjoyed eating, so this was a relatively easy decision at the time, centred around concerns about animal welfare (this was a long time ago) and economics. My husband also gave up eating meat when we got together 21 years ago.

Our approach to the kids and meat has been to start them off veggie but to let them choose whether for themselves once they are old enough to want to make a choice. From experience to date this seems to be around the time they start secondary school (aged 11 or 12). Thereafter I won't cook meat at home but they can order what they like if we eat out.

All of the kids are still in full-time education.

Our first born is Meg, aged 18. She tries to limit lactose as this gives her (ahem) digestive problems. Meg loves food and eats all things veggie and fish. She certainly went through the ubiquitous bacon-eating phase in her early teens but I think largely abstains these days.

Then comes Nora, aged 16. She also loves food but has a (relatively short) list of things she doesn't like - peppers being one of them. Nora eats all things veggie, loves fish and at present is an infrequent eater of meat in the hope of growing a bit more before it's too late. (She has also bet me a million pounds that I will lose interest in this blog after a couple of weeks).

Number three is Harry, aged 12. He is very much a growing lad and is already taller than me. Harry is, sadly, a fussy eater who doesn't like fish at all or sadly an awful lot of vegetables (tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms, onion which is still visible to the human eye, courgette,...). He is currently a regular meat eater.

Last but not least is Robbie, aged 8. He has significant food intolerances which we have been fortunate in identifying as relating to FODMAPS. He loves food and is my most complimentary customer.

FODMAPS are fermentable carbohydrates, a foodgroup which has only recently been identified as a potential cause of food intolerances such as IBS. More on FODMAPS anon but the link below will tell you more about what Robbie can't eat).

http://www.med.monash.edu/cecs/gastro/fodmap/

One of the other grown ups in the team is my husband, Drew, who is mid forties and (sadly) a 'MAMIL'. He eats everything veggie and fish and also eats pudding as though still a teenager, He is wearing his sweet tooth relatively well thanks to the cycling and the 5:2 diet.

Finally there's me. Working mum, turned 50 a few days ago. I eat everything veggie and fish but have in the past 10 days been trying a 'no sugar' diet. More of that anon as well.

Hopefully more to follow - or there will be a significantly wealthier teenager in the South West fairly soon.