Category Archives: Shops/Places

Tesco Poland – Thank you!

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Remember some time back when I wrote about Tesco Poland and how absolutely awful it was in terms of free from? I sent that blog post to every Tesco head office address I could find, tweeted it repeatedly and emailed SO many people. Then… a few months back things started happening in Tesco. A free from shelf appeared, then two shelves, then three…. the bio section grew as well. I kept saying to hubby, I HOPE they bring their free from range over, its SUPERB… then I started seeing the Free From lactose free stuff (this from a shop that didn’t even have basic lactose free milk before). The Free from cottage cheese arrived a few weeks later, and I was like “YES!!! They are SERIOUS”. We now have a gluten free section that would put most other shops to shame, bigger then Auchan and carrefour for sure… and today…. oh wow… today, there was a free from sign on the freezer, and there was ICE CREAM! And there was jumping up and down a little and squeals of happiness and YESSS!!!!!!

Now all we need is the pies, the ready meals, the lasagnes, the cottage pies the everything!

And one of the leading sandwich meat factories went gluten free a couple of months back, and another looks like its following suit! POLAND, you are shaping up nicely for people like us! Im so happy. Really. Its only food… and yet its the normality of walking in to a shop and being able to buy something that others take for granted.

Tesco Polska, dziekuje bardzo!

Inne wiadomości na temat życie bez glutenu w Polsce, nie zapomnij śledzić nas na Facebooku.

Holland & Barrett

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Oh my gosh! WHY Did I not know about this before? A few days ago I stumbled upon Holland & Barrett while searching for gluten free, eggfree cornfree flours. Randomly clicked around and a few minutes later realised they do International delivery! And guess what, it works out cheaper (delivery wise) then amazon to Poland!

Shopping Corn free, gluten free , wheat free and egg free means there is very very little available to us, but after clicking our allergens on the left and reading ingredients I found flour (!!), bread mixes (!!) biscuits and mayo. Anyone else who is corn free on top of gluten free will know my joy. Soups, so mummy can make lunch occasionally without cooking! Gravy, because making it from scratch every time gets so old, sweets, because kinder egg chocolate – however nice it is – gets boring after a while, ice lollies, because, ICE LOLLIES! Fancy teas for mum, because hey, Im worth it!

Then the joy when half the order came just 3 days later!

My joy though is nothing compared to the joy of little madam who got to eat mayo!

And in 2 days there will be more joy when the rest arrives!!

(This is like the kind of jumping up and down screaming joy that only teenage girls feel. Its A W E S O M E!)

Thank you Holland & Barrett, you made my day!

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http://www.hollandandbarrett.com

EPI!

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Gimme an E, gimme a P, gimme an I, what do we have? EPI!!!

Do I sound exited? Thats because I am, cheerleader kind of exited with high leg kicks!

For ages now whenever I say we are gluten free, people ask if we do all our shopping in Epi. Im like… ehhhm, no I go to a few places. Then in my head I think I should visit Epi one day, but I didnt get around to it, we are fine, and how good can it really BE?

Let me tell you how good it can be! So good that my eyes went all shiny and I almost had to cry a happy tear and Im pretty sure the staff were viewing me with great suspicion walking around with my giant smile and shiny eyes.

Walking in to Epi is like walking in to gluten free heaven, or like I described it to hubby, like a mixture between the best spinneys and organic foods and cafe but cheaper and BETTER (Dubai ppl will understand). The jams are all high end good jams, there are tahinis galore, most organic, no other shop in Wroclaw has a choice of 10 tahinis, and they have sunflower seed butter (insert cheerleadery star jumps here)!

Then you get to the gluten free bread section, and its the size of a normal bread section, and part of you is so happy its crazy and the other part a bit disappointed because where are the biscuits and flours…?

Then you get stuck at the freezer section that has a whole freezer just with gluten free! Fish fingers, mini pizzas, lasagne etc. Onwards to the cheese and milk section and they have a ton of lactose free / dairy free cheese and milk and butters.

And meats! Poland might be the country of cold cuts and sausages, but finding gluten free ham and sausages here can be very very difficult. No problem in Epi, daughter and hubby will be happy, they are real sausage lovers.

Then.. then you get to the biscuit section, and there is a giant gluten free section, and flours galore and choice! Isn’t that what we all miss the most? To be able to choose between several things rather then having to buy whatever is there?

I also found organic potatoes (woop woop) and several kinds of organic gluten free drinking chocolate.

Is it expensive… well yes, but buying gluten free and organic stuff is expensive anywhere so actually I don’t think it was that bad.

Will I go back to Epi? HELL YES! I might even move in if they let me!

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-Linda

Epi is near Arkady Wroclawski (actually just across the road) and has its own parking, parking is free if you spend money so show your car park card at the till.

They are open 8am-10pm every day except Sunday when they are open 10am-4pm.

http://www.epi.com.pl/site/

Friendly Food Poznan, my first visit to a gluten free restaurant!

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Yesterday I did something I haven’t done in 2 years and 8 months (give or take), I went to a restaurant and didn’t use even ONE wet wipe! We went to a gluten free restaurant! And its really gluten free. It doesn’t just have a great gluten free menu, it has a gluten free premises! No gluten allowed what so ever, everything is certified gluten free! The owner and the staff all know their stuff. I assume they are Celiacs themselves, but due to a language barrier I am not 100% sure.

Before becoming gluten free we used to have lunch out every weekend, even when Celiac kid was undiagnosed and difficult, we still made the effort to eat lunch out, taking turns to hold and comfort our screamer. Then there was a period of us attempting to continue this (after diagnosis), we would bring Celiac kids food , wipe down the table etc, but it always felt a bit like Russian roulette, not something you want to play with your kid! So the restaurant visits became fewer and fewer. It just didn’t seem so important anymore. Sure, there are a few places that we trust that we go to, likewise, if we travel we do eat out if when we feel like it, we don’t let celiac rule our lives, BUT, given the choice, we would rather eat at home where we know everything is safe.

We went a bit crazy I must admit. I mean, a whole menu where everyone can eat everything??!! Its like letting kids in to a sweet shop and saying, ‘hey, you can have whatever you want!’.

We had crepes with spinach and feta filling, crepes with turkey mince and tomato filling, crepes with chocolate and pizza and hot dogs, and some grainy thing that was some kind of kasha (looked a lot like quinoa) and it tasted so amazing I cant wait to go back and have it again. We had chicken with veggies and roasted veggies. Everything tasted awesome. The best part was actually not the food though, it was being able to sit together, with everyone being able to touch each other without using hand wipes AT ALL, and all of us being able to try everything from every plate and not having to worry. It actually brought tears to my eyes. So normal for most, but something we so rarely (never) get to do.

They have a shop too, they sell spices, tons of them, I was overwhelmed! Then there are pizzas and breads and grains and flours and biscuits and so much stuff!! Again I must apologise for my photos, iPhone again, I really need to bring my camera out with me.

Im not a food reviewer, but if you are a gluten free person and you ever find yourself in Poznan, you MUST visit Friendly Food.

Friendly Food Website

rezerwacja@friendlyfood.pl
tel. 665 450 858

-Linda

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Staycation, a Gluten Free trip to Fujairah Rotana Resort and Spa.

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Originally posted on Gluten Free UAE in August 2012

Like many other gluten free families, we rarely travel unless its for a big reason. Those last minute trips and sleepovers that were so much fun before, are no longer possible. Even short trips away require planning and shopping, and plenty of worry and stress. What if there is no gluten free food? What if our Celiac gets contaminated and spends the whole trip being ill?

Having spent the whole summer (so far) here in the UAE, and many many loooong hot days doing very little, me and the kids were absolutely climbing the walls. Lets take the risk, lets GO somewhere!

We booked one night at the Fujairah Rotana Resort & Spa. One night , because booking 2 nights seemed very very risky, given that we didn’t know how it would work, gluten free wise.

We brought with us a loaf of freshly made gluten free bread, plenty of biscuits, crisps and bananas, crossed our fingers and left. We had a big breakfast before leaving, plenty of snacks, and some sandwiches in a cool box, worst case scenario all we eat is dinner, then if its not that great we can always go home after breakfast tomorrow we thought.

We really needn’t  have worried. Not long after arriving we had been introduced to the Executive Chef and Half the waiting staff. A basket of fruit and a tray of sweets (all gluten free) were sent to our room, as well as a basket of bread rolls. The bread was good! Too good, I had to call the kitchen just to double check that it really was gluten free (you just never know right?).

We had a great afternoon by the pool, the kids going crazy on the water slide and enjoying being outdoors.

Dinner time came, and we went to the restaurant. We were looked after like celebrities at this point, the ‘gluten free family’, yes yes, here. The head waiter came to greet us. We discussed what our Celiac would eat and it was decided she would have chicken (plain, no marinade, made in a clean pan) and home made chips made in a clean pan with new oil. Plain perhaps, but absolutely perfect for a Celiac 3 year old, and in terms of stress levels for the mum, less is more!

The rest of us had the Iftar buffet avoiding obvious gluten. When out of the house we don’t worry about trace amounts or contamination for the rest of us, but we wouldn’t eat ‘real bread’ around her, besides, real bread now makes me ill too!

The chef also made us some gorgeous home made thin and crispy potato chips (crisps).

We had a nice and relaxed evening and a good sleep.

Breakfast came and another buffet for the rest of us. We had 3 types of gluten free bread given to us, and we all enjoyed them. Had our celiac wanted eggs, or bacon or anything else, a fresh portion would have been made for her in a clean pan just to be sure. She was quite content though – stuffing herself with bread rolls!

We enjoyed lunch in the pool snack bar before leaving, another meal which went off without a hitch. The Celiacs meal was made in the main kitchen- again under the watchful eyes of the executive chef.

Our short break has given us not just a well deserved break, but also some extra confidence. We will be going away soon again for sure. Maybe even for 2-3 nights.

A big thanks to executive chef Tarek Mouriess and his staff for looking after so well. We will be back 🙂

-Linda

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I am not a food critic, or a resort critic (I bet you can tell!) But I really wanted to share our POSITIVE experience with you all, because for some people – like us – food safety is top priority. So while I may not be able to tell you about the succulent this or that, I can tell you that our Celiac was happy, and didn’t get ill! :)) Apologies for the bad pictures, they were taken in hindsight with a very dirty iPhone! 

Check out the Fujairah Rotana

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