Dairy free and wheat free

cazzak79

Hi hoping for some advice
I've IBS so I want to follow dairy free and wheat free hoping it help
Where is good to buy these foods ie
What aldi& lidl like
Cheers

Dizzyblonde

Moved from Food & Drink.

rubiesarered

Not being smart but are you looking for advice on foods to mimic what you can't eat - i.e. "wheat free" pasta and "dairy free" cheese or are you looking for foods that you can eat instead - - i.e. rice, oats, soy milk...


I have IBS and manage it through diet. I don’t eat any dairy products at all and I eat minimal wheat. I can’t really advise on “copy” products as I don’t eat them.

I eat oats instead of cereals, brown rice instead of pasta. I use shredded cabbage instead of noodles in stirfrys.

I use soy milk and almond milk. You can also get rice milk and hazelnut milk. It’s just a case of trial and error. I like almond milk in my porridge but I prefer soy milk in my hot drinks.

Alpro do a range of soy based yogurts and desserts (definitely sold in Tesco and probably most other big supermarkets). They also do cream which you can use in cooking. The yogurts are in the chilled aisle but the milks/cream and desserts are usually on the shelves somewhere.

Lidl/Aldi do a really yummy sorbet which you can substitute for icecream. Lidl also do a carton of soy milk but I think it is called “soy drink” or something like that.

Have you tried goat cheese or feta cheese (check the label on feta cheese as lots of it actually contains cows milk)?

Some people who avoid wheat can eat spelt bread or rye bread. I think Dunnes do a big range of "alternative" breads.

shortie_chik

I've just recently been reading up on exclusion diets to see if it would improve my rhinitis, and I've found that wheat is in everything! So I'm reading the back of every packet I pick up now.

Anyway, these all might be completely obvious to others, but I found this list from the book I'm reading helpful to find / avoid wheat.
bulgar
couscous
cracked wheat
kibbled wheat
semolina
spelt / kamut
triticale

I'm also avoiding dairy & have tasted a couple of the rice milks. They're (as far as I can tell so far) UHT so they're not sold from the fridge, but you should refrigerate them after opening. Even before opening, I keep mine in the fridge so it feels more like regular milk to pour it cold on my cereal! Provamel is nice, has kind of a vanilla-ey taste. And Rice Dream is much the same. I've only used them in cereal though, so can't say how they are in tea.

The Alpro soya yogurts (come as a 4-pack from the refrigerated aisle) are nice enough. The regular ones are certainly better than no yogurts, and there's a new creamy one (2-pack) which is just as nice as any regular yogurt. Glad to have discovered that one!

In Tesco & I'm sure most of the big supermarkets, there's a section for "free-from" type foods. It's worth checking out the alternatives there. Lidl have a small free-from section, can't remember exactly what they stock. I'm sure it'll vary widely.

Tesco "free from" section has some wheat-free cereals, but they're a bit more expensive than cereal from the regular aisle. The Eat Natural one (gluten free, just has rice and/or buckwheat - which isn't regular wheat at all - and fruit, nuts, cereals, seeds, etc.) is nice but a bit pricey for the size of the box. The Bakery on Main one is DELICIOUS but quite expensive for the size of the bag. I suppose it's ok for an occasional treat!
Since I'm trying to avoid wheat, oats, rye, corn & barley, that only really leaves rice. So Rice Krispies are cheap enough! Maybe someone else can recommend more regular cereals.

The hardest thing that I just can't / won't give up, is chocolate! But you can buy vegan chocolate in health food stores. I got a Plamil brand bar in Down to Earth on George's St in Dublin, €3.90 for 100g. Bit expensive and not as delicious as regular chocolate, but might keep you going for a few weeks while you get started & see if excluding dairy is making any difference.
I also noticed that a Lidl bar of Bellarom 74% cocoa Finest Dark Chocolate (100g, can't remember the price but not as expensive as the Plamil one) has no actual milk ingredients listed, but it does say "not suitable for milk allergy sufferers". Could just be that milk is used in the factory, I can imagine the milk chocolate is made alongside it. Well you could try it & see if it agrees with you.

Well I hope this helps! Good luck with the new regime!

cazzak79

Thanks for the replies

Splendour

Has anyone had a reaction to Lidl's gluten free oats? The packet says 'gluten free oats' but how can this be as oats contain gluten?

I understood that oats do not contain gluten but the reason they are often not safe for GF is the risk is cross contamination with processing and growing in the same place they grow wheat

Risteard

I got a packet before and the back even said still may not be suitable for coeliacs so I never bothered trying them. That was Tesco brand though.

Splendour

That's crazy! I've just sent Lidl an email as I ate some 'gluten free' oats this morning and not feeling too good. I should've looked at the pack more closely but then again shops should not be advertising them as gluten free when they're not!

blatantrereg

FODMAPs (a type of carbohydrate) are what need to be avoided rather than gluten specifically. Gluten free diets are only useful for IBS in that they reduce consumption of FODMAPs. Low FODMAP diet is proven effective for IBS but is very restrictive - moreso than just gluten free.

Copermin is also proven effective and addresses the same sort of effects as low FODMAP (reducing gas buildup in the gut). It is just peppermint with a special coating so worth trying also.

helliwen

Splendour wrote: »

Has anyone had a reaction to Lidl's gluten free oats? The packet says 'gluten free oats' but how can this be as oats contain gluten?

There can be two issues with oats. One is the cross-contamination, which should be minimal when they're labelled as gluten-free (20 parts per million of gluten or less). The other is that oats contain a protein called avenin, which can cause similar reactions to that to gluten. It could be that this caused your problem and not any gluten as such.

Splendour

Here's a reply from Lidl to the email I sent...


'We would like to thank you for your recent email regarding the Gluten Free Porridge Oats.

We have contacted our supplier who have advised that oats do not naturally contain gluten. Gluten free oats are carefully farmed to ensure there is no contamination throughout growing and milling.The farmers personally walk the fields to remove any grains which may cause cross contamination, ensure the combine is cleaned down after each harvest and test every truck of raw oats which enters and leaves the mill.

We hope this answers your query.

Assuring you of our best intentions at all times.'


From the sounds of it, the chances of getting uncontaminated oats is very difficult as cross contamination must surely happen with machinery/ wind etc...

irlirishkev

Splendour wrote:

From the sounds of it, the chances of getting uncontaminated oats is very difficult as cross contamination must surely happen with machinery/ wind etc...

Difficult but certainly doable. Food cannot be labelled as gluten free unless it's been tested and comes in under 20 ppm.
GF oats are farmed on clean ground, and separate storage/machinery is used.
You could drop the Coeliac society of Ireland a mail. They'll chase it up further.

cbyrd

Gluten free and dairy free in my house.
You get used to it after a while.
I mostly cook from scratch, I picked up lots of recipes from the puredairyfree.com range.
I make iced muffins that are gluten and dairy free by using pure spread (sunflower) rice flour ground almonds and almond milk eggs and sugar. Then I divide the mix and make some coffee and walnut or blueberry or chocolate chip using dairy free chocolate.
Or I make them chocolate by using cocoa. The icing is butter icing with either lemon cocoa or vanilla..
I make dairy free chocolate treats by using coconut oil cacao vanilla maple syrup and pinch of salt. Yum, carrot cake using coconut oil.
Swedish glace do a beautiful icecream
Alprosoya do lovely custards and yoghurts.
I substitute pasta with corn pasta, available everywhere, it's a little trickier to cook, I find if I change the water half way through it doesn't get as gloopy.
Rice noodles can be gotten in bigger supervalu stores,
I make a deep pan pizza Base using rice and potato flour with egg water and carrot..
I use gluten free biscuits for bases of things like cheesecakes, although these are not always dairy free. Depends who is eating it in my house. I'm dairy intolerant and the other half is coeliac. 5 of 9 kids are one or the other.
Extra mature cheeses have only trace amounts of lactose,
Beware of the breads though, they're full of gunk, my other half always feels I'll after eating some brands, particularly the aldi ones, but the kids will be okay..