Organic food in supermarkets

Kirri

^ I suppose with WF, a lot of the experience would be lost online, probably over 50% of the shop is fresh/pick/bottle/make up your own type counters even though they could offer online on the smaller grocery sections which have a good selection of every item. Saw a sushi counter as well which I hadn't noticed before.

I find the same with salt, I can really taste anything it's in and it comes across as the main taste in processed foods. I despise seeing chefs insisting on adding it in large quantities for 'seasoning'. I began seeing cheese in that way last year in vegan month, it became more of a salty/fatty flavouring once I stopped eating it.

I use the Wilkos 80 pocket folders £1 for recipes, can't fit lever arch in here, lack of space Bit more awkward as can't swap the pages around but I file in order mostly by ingredient or type. Got some organic chestnuts in WF so was pulling all my chestnut recipes together this week.

Wilkos have own brand soda crystals on offer at the moment for 80p, careful though the caustic soda is in the same packaging :eek:

For anyone into GYO, Wilkos also have over wintering onion sets reduced to 25p for a pack of 50 in 'snowball' variety, can go in up to December.

Few of my fave areas of WF, the nut butter machine, the muesli bar and the salad bar which is mostly vegan, there are 4 types in that box plus few green leaves/alfalfa sprouts.. I couldn't fit the vegan paella salad in though so will get that next time.

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savingmonkey

If anyone has not tried Abel and Cole before and would like to, I got 3 vouchers in my veg box yesterday - PM me if you would like a code - it gives you a free box. You would have to set up an account but can't see you are tied in after that so could cancel if you didn't want to carry on. This is the offer

http://www.abelandcole.co.uk/news/friend

Edit: Codes all gone now

Edwardia

Spotted in Sainsbury's on Friday.. Heinz Squeeze and Stir soups which are concentrated purees in a tube. They become cup soups by adding water, stirring and adding more water. 59p each in Sainsbo's.. not organic but no artificial flavours, colours, preservatives or MSG.

The Cream of tomato, Cream of tomato and basil and Mediterranean vegetable varieties contain ascorbic acid (vitamin C) presumably as an antioxidant. Other variety is Chicken and Mushroom.

Bought some for OH because he isn't a coeliac and the ingredients don't include wheat, barley, rye, spelt or triticale. But the soups aren't declared gluten free so if you're ultra-sensitive to gluten these may not be in suitable in case there's been cross-contamination.

The Husband wandered into my study with an empty pack of Udi's Gluten Free Au Naturel Granola 311g, marked in capital letters DON'T BUY AGAIN NO TASTE. :rotfl:

Bought in Tesco, price 3.25 :eek: and made in USA by Boulder Brands it isn't organic. The granola comprises 65% certified gluten free oats, 23.8% wildflower honey and rapeseed oil. https://www.udisglutenfree.com

OH's parting shot was that the flakes were just too small and he prefers the " knobblier " granola.

Edwardia

Although he rejected the Udi's gluten free granola, OH really loves having organic yogurt (Brown Cow, Rachel's or Yeo Valley) with granola for breakfast. He takes it in a Sistema Klip It breakfast pot and eats on train/in office.

Other gluten free granolas/mueslis I've found are:

Finax Frukt Musli which includes papaya and pineapple and costs 5.70 :eek: albeit for 550g, from Totally Swedish
http://www.totallyswedish.com/en/webshop/food/gluten-lactos-free/naturally-gluten-free-fruit-muesli

Amisa organic gluten free crunchy granola 375g 4.27 (RRP 4.49)
http://www.thehealthbay.com/amisa-org-gf-crunchy-granola-375g.html?gclid=CLaG34zat7oCFbLLtAodpGcAVw

Biona organic gluten free 40% fruit muesli 500g 4.65 (RRP 7.11 :eek:) http://www.thehealthbay.com/organic/health-foods/biona-fruit-muesli-40-fruit-glutenfree-organic-500g.html

Neals Yard Wholefoods gluten free muesli 1kg currently on offer at Holland and Barrett 3.99 saving 96p (I bought this one)
http://www.hollandandbarrett.com/pages/product_detail.asp?pid=2871&prodid=3666&cid=459

Neal's Yard Wholefoods gluten free granola 400g 4.99 (bought this)
http://www.hollandandbarrett.com/pages/product_detail.asp?pid=5031&prodid=6038&cid=459

Any other gluten free granola/muesli sugestions please ? Pref organic, no added sugar and not American. xxx

Kirri

I was just looking at millet on Ocado after reading about it in the 'bulk goods' booklet I picked up in WF - millet is apparently 'light and very digestible, often used by people on wheat-free diets' (no idea if GF? I keep forgetting what is on your GF list as ok). On Ocado there was a millet/rice cereal and someone commented that althought that one isn't GF they have no digestive issues with it. Only 5 millet items came up in the Ocado search and two were for pets/birds.. There was also a millet bread.

Saw some GF granola in WF but can't remember the brand, will check next time, it looked quite nice, big pieces. Rofl at the note from your OH :rotfl:

WF had a good selection of GF crispbreads.

Saw those Sistema boxes in Wilkos today but the lunchbox looked more man size to me and didn't think it would fit in my cool bag handbag..

Edwardia

Kirri, the whole wheat/gluten free thing is new to me but having had budgerigars who ate millet sprays, it's not a grain like wheat, barley and rye. I suspect it's related to buckwheat, it's got bunches of tiny seeds going on.

I moseyed around the internet and found that while millet is naturally gluten free, it shouldn't be ingested in large quantities as it can contribute to thyroid probs especially when cooked.

The note amused me too Thanks any brand names would be great.

Sistema does loads of different BPA-free lunch boxes/bags. OH has several different ones he uses depending on what he decides on for lunch.

ASDA Direct sells 83 Sistema products
http://direct.asda.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-ASDA-Site/default/Search-Show?q=sistema&start=0&sz=20&showHits

Lakeland has 14
http://www.lakeland.co.uk/brands/sistema?intcmp=INTSRCH:sistema

Tesco Direct sells 107
http://www.tesco.com/direct/search-results/results.page?icid=spiffy_sistema_spf_sist&catId=4294967294&searchquery=sistema&SrchId=4294967294&_requestid=1449590#

OH thinks they are great, especially the ones with multiple compartments. He's got a Marks & Spencer insulated backpack and Riverford cool bag - most of the time he just shoves it all in his bag though.

Kirri

^ ah ok. I may try buckwheat again though seem to remember it was horrible, read earlier it's almost a complete protein.

I think Wilkos only had about 3 of the products but were all quite bulky to me.

I had the Clive's organic GF vegan pie tonight in Aloo Gobi and it was really good. I like the pastry better than a normal pastry, it's a lot lighter. Good filling too. Definitely buying both the varieties I've had again.

Edwardia

When living in Canada, I used to like the weekend edition of the New York Times. Every Fall NYT does veggie Thanksgiving recipes so here's a link to the database.
http://www.nytimes.com/projects/well/vegetarian-recipes/#home

Found YouTube video of Novak Djokovic, organic GF tennis champion, handing out gluten free chocolates at a press conference. Evidently he does it at his last and first tournaments each year. Bit of research looking at boxes and seems most likely that they were Booja Booja. Anyone tried these ?

Kirri

Edwardia wrote: »

When living in Canada, I used to like the weekend edition of the New York Times. Every Fall NYT does veggie Thanksgiving recipes so here's a link to the database.
http://www.nytimes.com/projects/well/vegetarian-recipes/#home

Some fantastic recipes on there, thanks for posting, have saved link. Particularly like the look of the roasted cauli, hazelnut and pomegranate dish.

I struggled in America to get healthy veggie food, I could only mainly get really stodgy stuff that was suitable and ended up putting on weight, the dishes really lacked in containing actual veg.

Edwardia

American Greg Sams (bro of Craig of Whole Earth and Green and Black's) is credited with inventing the VegeBurger, in London.

Paul Venner invented Gardenburgers in 1982 in his veggie resto, he and his partner didn't make any money out of it, the company they founded changed hands and ended up being owned by Kellogg's. https://www.gardenburger.com

Most likely you would have seen/been offered these in US ?

Years ago, vegetarians ate healthily because there wasn't the convenience stuff but now it's possible to buy supposedly healthy veggie ready meals, burgers etc which have additives, high levels of salt etc. I have veggie SIL who can't cook and lives on this stuff eww.

I confess to liking the Burger King bean burger before I went low carb tho.