I’m not quite sure why I used 60 mins as a cut-off with this diagram.
As a newly-diagnosed Coeliac you can spend the best part of a Saturday morning roaming the supermarket shelves, wondering if you’ll ever eat anything other than fruit and vegetables again.
Of course, it doesn’t actually mean I take any more time to do my shopping. Prior to needing gluten-free, I could spend an absolute age in the magazine aisle (presumably this is why there’s an aisle and not just a shelf – the supermarkets actively want you to spend a fair amount of time there). I learned all sorts of things I needed to know about celebrities and their latest tantrums/break-ups/weight loss stories. I hope you’ll make a note of how educational it was.
Then when I got diagnosed (back when The Spice Girls had just burst onto the scene) there was very little in the way of help to the supermarket consumer. No freefrom section, no allergen information, no chance of forlorn little eyes becoming excited. There was only one thing for it: to ignore all the food in packets and get everything fresh. And then put it all back because I was a broke student. Like many Coeliacs, I ate a lot of jacket potatoes.
Fast-forward nearly twenty years and there’s so much that’s changed. And for a crisp fifty pound note or two, you can stock up on all the foods you used to eat (while a non-Coeliac can get the same for half the price). So I still eat a lot of jacket potatoes, albeit with the odd fresh freefrom loaf thrown in as a treat.
What are your experiences as a Coeliac at the supermarket? Do share your them below!