Request: GF stuff in the UK?

[nerakrose]

Calling UK residents! I'm moving to the UK in September. (Scotland, to be precise, and I will be in a big(ish?) town so should be able to get a good variety of stuff?)

What I'd like to know is what kind of GF stuff is available, and which shops are most likely to carry it? (And also so I know which store managers to badger about ordering stuff in if my local shop doesn't carry it :D)

- Can I get fresh GF pasta (not dry) ?
- Can I get fresh GF bread (not frozen)?
- Which brand of GF flours are your favourite (and where do I get them?)
- Does anyone remember which shop carries the double/triple chocolate chip cookies that come in a black and purple box? They are very good and I want a pack as soon as I get there, lol.
- Any other tips for me?

Comments

[020104isme]

Most supermarkets have GF stuff and the choice is growing seemingly every month.

The bigger supermarkets are:

Morrisons
Sainsburys
Waitrose
Tesco
Asda
Lidl
Aldi
Scotmid
Co-op
Spar

Depending on where in Scotland you move, you'll have your choice of them.

Marks & Spencer have food halls in many of their shops and they have a good choice as well.

I have tried some GF stuff from most of them but it is not a requirement for my diet so I am afraid just try the stuff that looks interesting.

[nerakrose]

good to know! thanks!

[meepettemu]

You won’t get fresh gf pasta very easily. Bread you can get not frozen, but again more difficult to find ‘artisan’ loaves

[nerakrose]

oh, but fresh gf pasta IS available? it's not in my country (at all) and i cry about it appr once a week. i don't care how hard it is to find, i'll find it if it's available, and if necessary badger a store manager about ordering it in.

so what kind of bread is that? all i want is plain bread i can turn into toast or grilled cheese sandwiches or something like that.

[meepettemu]

I don’t know if it is available- I’m not gf so haven’t ever looked. I’ve never seen it in a larger supermarket. You’d have better luck with some kind of deli.

You’ll get that kind of bread in most supermarkets in their free-from section. It’s just small loaves!

[nerakrose]

i will have a poke around first thing :D

[meepettemu]

Good hunting!

[notreallystars]

You can easily get bread like this. This is the brand of bread I often buy, and you can find it in a lot of/most UK supermarkets. I've only seen fresh GF pasta in one supermarket (Morrisons, I think), but it does exist. Coeliac UK has a list of restaurants/caterers who they've accredited as being able to provide safe gluten free food, if you need to avoid it to a coeliac level (I hope I'm not breaking a rule here? Just trying to recognise that different people have different levels of gluten-avoidance).

[nerakrose]

thank you so much!!! that's exactly the type of bread i want :D there's a Morrisons in my new town to be, so that's A+ and i'm very excited about the prospect of fresh gf pasta. :D thank you for the link! that's so good to have.

[notreallystars]

You're welcome! I don't know where you're moving from, or whether this kind of thing is common in the rest of the world, but in the UK food packaging is required to list certain allergens, including cereals containing gluten, in bold. I've found this really helpful when scanning the ingredients list to see if I can eat something!

[nerakrose]

i'm coming from Denmark, and we have the same rule here! might be an EU thing? but yes i agree, it's really helpful and has saved my skin on a number of occasions.

Specifying degree of gluten freedom is fine

[jesse_the_k]

(I hope I'm not breaking a rule here? Just trying to recognise that different people have different levels of gluten-avoidance).

Thanks for your awareness! It’s great to specify just how GF something is, particularly because the US and EU have differed on whether wheat starch is permitted in the past.