Newbies - For your Information!

[zoombie]

I have been to M & S today - and asked about GF food. I have been given a printed list of all their GF foods. The assistant was extremely helpful. The list is quite long too so a bit of good news. Also, the home food delivery company - Wiltshire Foods - do a good range of GF food - found their literature at the Docs surgery this morning - well worth looking at if not to buy but definitely giving ideas regarding meals!

[Angelbelle]

I found your comment interesting as that happened exactly to me. However, in M & S I could only find bread products, nothing else. What's the point in giving us a long, long list of gf foods if they don not stock them.

[jackieO]

Angelbelle the list from Mand " is downloadable from their website and contains a whole host of naturally gluten free products just like you would find in ANY supermarket. A large range of their desserts are made from ingredients that do not naturally include any gluten such as the jelly and cream based ones. That is why the list is so long. I have never had an issue getting GF stuff in my 3 localish MandS stores. I even had one of their meals for £10 over easter as they have substitutes for the items that may be unsuitable for specific diets and the till assistant even went and got me a non alcoholic drink option as I do not drink wine and had not notices=d there was an alternative.

[doug6708 in reply to jackieO]

i can honestly say that i can get a lot of food from m&s .if u look around and read the product .lots of items marked gf -love their burgers and their pork and black pepper sausages - u can become an expert at what u can get -have never had a bad experience from anything i have got from m&s----i know not all items are not labelled gf.but they all must tell you what the allergies are on the packages--

[FionaGFG Administrator in reply to doug6708]

A great point Doug. We love their chorizo GF burgers - in the mainstream chilled section. So great to see that they've integrated GF into their main range making it accessible and profitable from them.

[doug6708 in reply to jackieO]

forgot to say that the m&s i visit is in n.ireland and is also the best store out of all their stores in the uk.

[Hidden]

You can order from M&S which is the reason for the long list. I was also told that if at times something on the list wasn't marked as GF then it just meant that when they produced that product on that day that they couldn't guarantee it being GF so not to think they were no longer making it. My local M&S don't have a large enough foodhall to stock everything

[mcroucher1]

As unprepared as ever, I was looking for some biscuits to take on a trip and went to M&S. I was disappointed that there weren't any but can recommend their frangipane cake - it was fantastic!!

[Maqh]

I feel M&S only pay lip service to gf food, the items available are hit and miss between stores. They do not have a separate free from area 'because they feel we should be treated as "normal"' whatever that is. Anyway, do you have time to pick up every item to check if its gf? This is a bit of a bug bear with a number of coeliacs who want to be able to run in grab a couple of items and get on with life. I have contacted M&S re this but felt the response was condescending and just a bit of waffling on. Really is bad form for a company that supposedly listens to its customers.

[Roxy-55 in reply to Maqh]

Have to say, I agree with M and S ... I want to be treated as normal (also, I personally think food without wheat etc fillers are healthier for everyone). I find the free from aisle pretty depressing ... except for Mrs Crimble! Checking ingredients is second nature to me now. Really pleased allergens now have to be in bold!

[1stgls]

I have to say that the M and S in Plymouth do not seem to stock "special" GF foods I did ask an assistant and her son is a coeliac so she knew what she was looking out for.. the only GF foods they do are ones that grow that way!

[MaryDB]

When I asked the assistant in our local M & S she said "OH yes" and was delighted to show me a pack of 2 gf chicken and mushroom crispbakes (and some bread). Pity I don't like mushrooms.

[Maqh in reply to MaryDB]

That's the sum total my local M&S stock... Mind it is a small store.

[freelancer]

The one thing I've noticed at M&S is that when they have burgers/sausages that have rusk/breadcrumbs in to bulk them out, they usually use gluten-free crumbs. In, say, Waitrose these are usually bread. Their stuffing at Christmas also seemed to be standardly gluten-free without making a big fuss about it.

I think they're not bad - the labelling's OK and quite a lot of the processed meals seem to be gluten-free.

I saw the crispbakes and also didn't buy them because I don't like mushrooms!

[doug6708 in reply to freelancer]

they have salmon fish cakes in the crispbakes also

[Hidden]

I also think M&S are fairly poor and stock very little. One thing I will say is that they do cocktail sausages which are gluten free, this is a big issue if you have a gluten free child! Having said that I only found them by accident, my sister found them amongst the ordinary sausages and you really wouldn't have known they were there unless you had stumbled upon them like she did.

[deltauk]

I've been in 2 of our local M & S and asked for the Gluten free section and both times thy looked at me as daft?

Can't believe this big thing regards M & S Food department that do not stock a GF section?

[Hidden]

I think you are having a real go at M&S when in fact compared to 5years ago so much of their 'normal' range of foods are now GF. This may mean we have to scrutinise labels (what's new there?) but it does also mean we are not paying through the nose for a 'freefrom' version. I have noticed that 'freefrom' sausages have a very low meat content and in general are not high quality foods so I am very much for 'reading the labels' and getting more 'mainstream' food made GF. They do also label food in the chiller as GF on the front of the packaging. How many of you have been caught out by the biscuilts in Tesco and Asda in their 'freefrom' section because they are now using oats in their products?

There is far to much negativity about our foods etc instead of enjoying that so many food producers are slowly becoming GF aware. When I was first diagnosed I could buy the odd biscuit in Holland & Barratt if I was lucky...I feel spoilt for choice nowadays. Rant over

[marywales]

I love M&S cumberland sausages, really tasty . nearly all their sausages are GF but you do have to look for the crossed grain symbol.

I think they're getting better but we could do with clearer marking. I agree a section would be helpful, I skip aisles of ready meals cos I don't expect there to be anything suitable.

[Angelbelle]

I wish someone at M & S would read all these comments then perhaps we would get a gf section in each store fully stocked with all their foods.

[meanioni]

I've had a number of people say to me how wonderful their GF range is but have never been that impressed - to be honest on a par with Tesco's/Sainsburys, well actually slightly less so as they don't usually have a Free From section.

One of the best supermarkets which do GF more readily I have found is Aldi e.g. own brand beans, ketchup, bratwurst, chips, all GF

[jackieO]

But "Free From" sections are just full of high calorie Junky foods that we really don't need to eat. I buy very little from them apart from the occasional ready made cake or some chocolate wafer biscuits. Yes I dO read labels avidly; I hate the phrase New Improved Recipe as for many many years that menat they had added some dsource of gluten as the "improvement". Recipes in prepared products change all the time as do the production lines they are made on so avoiding allergens is a reading labels way of life and will ALWAYS be so. I like the M & S attitude that we should not be made to feel less than normal and that so may of their general range of products is safe to eat.

[FionaGFG Administrator]

For any other newbies we post these up on our facebook page discussions section: see apps.facebook.com/forumforp... All supermarkets can normally provide an e-version or hard copy. They change from time to time and they will also change where they are located on their websites.

[FionaGFG Administrator]

Hi maybe many of you have missed that M&S have changed their mainstream foods to be gluten free? For example many of their normal sausages are made with gluten free rusk and they have their own GF logo on the front of packs for ease. They also stock GF fishcakes, fish and chips, ready meals, desserts, frozen veg and sauces. So it really does pay to read all their labels when you next visit you maybe pleasantly surprised!

[doug6708 in reply to FionaGFG]

i agree with your comment --i can come out of m&s with plenty of food that are gluten --free-not all labelled as gf but u need to read the ingreds., my wife also eats wht i buy and has no problem withthe food

[Mia1057]

I agree with Fiona what I like about M&S is I feel normal when I shop there and I can buy lots of the food and feed it to everyone so we all eat the sausages, the same desert, the same sauce etc. I don't really want a separate section I want more choice throughout the whole supermarket range and these days we all need to read the labels not just for gluten but fat and sugar and calories. As far as possible I try to cook one meal for everyone and the only thing I want to have to do is boil separate pasta and get people to cut their bread in our non GF corner and put it in our non GF basket.