When it comes to quality of my food, I learned to choose for the best whenever possible.  For a long time now, I have been avoiding conventional food and buying mainly their biological equivalents.

Till now, I haven’t been paying much attention to the costs of such food choices. However, recently I went to Lidl a couple of times and I noticed that I have a few (bio/GF) favorite products. Even better, I realized I saved money by buying these products in Lidl rather than in AH or a biological supermarket.

Below I show you some of my favorites from Lidl. They are gluten free (based on ingredients and allergy information), some also biological.

Vegetables (all biological)

You can find more biological vegetables by Lidl. Last weekend, I saw also different bio pumpkins and zucchini.

Nuts and seeds 

Great in salads!

I like to grind walnuts and use them in gluten free baking as a replacement for an expensive almond flour.

Sugar-y but gluten free 

These sweets contain glucose syrup and/or maltodextrine. I can have only a small amount, otherwise I get headache and other symptoms. Perhaps, you can tolerate them better.

 From the Delicieux line in Lidl, also the ‘Amandel Petits Fours’ (small amandelgebakjes) are glutenfree. Their bottom is made of almond cookies.

Other

I became really addicted to olives last weeks. These are quite tasty and cheap.

Soon, I will post a recipe for vegetarian butternut squash-lentils chilli ‘con-carne’ that I made with these beans. The sauce contains corn starch and is free from wheat.

I like these eggs for their nicely yellow yolks. But I also buy the biological eggs from Lidl if they are in stock.

I don’t tolerate dairy proteins well but I have no problem with butter.

 I really like the bio apple moes as an evening snack. The curry sauce makes a boring meal a bit more spicy and the gluten free pasta’s from Lidl are really cheap (penne, fusilli and spaghetti).

You can also find in Lidl paprika chips which are gluten free, some borrelnootjes, fritessaus, some ice-creams (Gelatelli /fake almond Magnum; Noblissima/Viennetta), frozen potato croquettes (not my fav though), an oven-dish fish mediterranean, some fresh and processed meat (e.g. Zwagerman Saksische leverworst; and andere vleeswaren), many dairy products, (bio) rice waffles and other.

I just wanted to show you the ones that I like the most.  I also buy there WC paper (the pinky one ;). The mineral water is not so tasty BUT unlike the Dutch tap water – the Lidl mineral water is free from estrogen and traces of Roundup chemical so I buy it sometimes too.

And bananas, not biological but so cheap ! ;-) I like to use them in my banana-avocado-cacao-honey ‘pudding’ (see the recipe).

Cheers,

Kati xxx

I was in Rees in Germany the other day and I stepped in to the drugstore DE. To my surprise, I found gluten free food products that I haven’t seen before. Next to a large  stand with Schar products (which are cheaper than in NL) I noticed gluten free food from the organic brand FruSano. There were for instance gluten free ketchup, gummy bears, drops, lactose free chocolates, protein bars, rice in lactose free chocolate, gluten free and fructose free jams. Perhaps nothing unusual but if you are around and use these kind of food products, you might like to enter.

I bought a couple of ciabatta’s. I really like to have them from time to time.

I regret I didn’t buy this ketchup. It was quite expensive and I usually buy Heinz Bio, which is also GF, but who knows perhaps this one is even better.

Some gluten free candies – also low in fructose. Not for me though. I cut off refined sugar from my diet and I feel way better now.

Jams. They looked really nice but ehhh the price! I prefer the jams (also free from refined sugar) from the brand FiordiFrutta (from EkoPlaza).

The prices of the biological products are quite high but so is the quality. Most of the products are lactose free and refined sugar free; some even fructose free. I think they are aimed at a certain group of people with these specific food intolerance’s and allergies.

Next time I see a drugstore abroad I will surely step in to check out the rack with the special food.

Do you have similar experience with the drugstores in other countries? I have been to drugstores Rossmann in Poland and they had a wide assortment of gluten free food too.

Cheers,

Kati xxx

Whatever gluten free product you need, you can find it here!

The Free From Shop in Apeldoorn provides a wide assortment of the gluten and lactose free food products. Luckily for me, Apeldoorn is just a half an hour drive from Arnhem.

From fresh baked goods and any baking/cooking ingredient, that you might think of, to frozen ready meals – you can find there everything.

I bought a couple of things

What I forgot to place in the basket are: gluten free beer , suikerbrood and beef croquettes from VA Foods.

I have heard of a soy-based whip cream before but I have actually never seen it in any shop before.  I was happy to find it there :-)

‘Gevulde koeken’ (filled cookies) were always my favorite Dutch sweets. Unfortunately, most of the gluten free filled cookies are packed per one and they are ridiculously expensive. You can imagine my joy to find a package that actually contained 4 cookies :D

Yeyy, a gluten free marsepain (in different colors)! I regret I didn’t buy aromas for baking, there were a couple of them with different flavors. Oh well, next time!

I bought Sam Mills pasta made of corn flour and quinoa flour. Something new to try.

A Belgian mayonnaise Delaan without preservatives and color agents. So good! I don’t want to eat any other mayo from now on :-)

The suikerbrood (sugar bread) from Specialetaarten.nl was amazing! I have noticed too late that it contained wheat starch < 20 ppm (it was enough to fire up my rash and make me feel like this). Further, it was mouth-watering :D

Many different breads were for sale; they contained all kind of flours. I chose a walnut bread which, unfortunately, contained wheat starch (<20 ppm) as I found out at home (luckily, before I ate it).

Freezers were full with different gluten free cakes and pastry, breads and ready meals. Definitely, many reasons to go back to Apeldoorn!

If you have a chance to visit The Free From Shop, I am sure you won’t regret. Just  remember to read the labels if you are sensitive to wheat starch. I was so excited I forgot to watch out for it.

This post is not sponsored. I recommend this place because I love it! :-) 

Cheers,

Kati xxx

The Free From Shop

info@thefreefromshop.nl

Soerenseweg 22

7314 CD Apeldoorn

The Netherlands

Finally, I went to Gebaksjuwelier! Twice :-)

Gebaksjuwelier is a gluten free bakery in Culemborg, 30 km below Utrecht or an hour-tje drive from Arnhem. Bakery! Everything is gluten free!

We drove to Culemborg by car. It was easy to find the bakery as we used a navigation. It is located in a quiet area, next to a couple of other shops.

The owner of the bakery is Paula Onink.  Paula is the nicest baker in a Dutch province Gelderland! How cool is that?! (the picture below is ‘borrowed’ from here)

The bakery is a lovely and charming place, designed in a cute inviting style. I took a couple of pictures to give you an impression. I bet, though, that most of you have already been there!

I celebrated my birthday in March and I wanted a gluten free cake. On a short notice Paula agreed to make me a cake (the orders should be placed at least 2 weeks in advance). As we needed a cake without gluten and without dairy, we had two choices for the filling: vanilla or coconut. Besides, if you have wishes with regard to size or a cake decoration, Paula will take them into account. Check out these pretty roses and curly leafs!

The cake was really tasty, with a light filling, moist and not too sweet inside. I ate soo much of it :D

Once in, you can’t leave empty handed. To be honest, I wanted to try EVERYTHING!

We bought all three types of bread that were in stock: white bread, sunflower seeds bread and multi-seeds bread (brown bread). They all were so delicious that I don’t really know which of them I liked most :| Decisions, decisions – I take them all! :D

I can tell you one thing – the best gluten free bread I have ever had.

We went back to the bakery before Easter. We came back home with a bag full of delicious goods.

We tried:

• Brownies and pecan pie

• Mini apple pies (gluten&lactose free)

• Mini Easter fruit cake

• Baquettes

• Chilli bread snacks

• Chocolate (gluten&lactose free) cookies

• Mini quiche

• Paasstol

And we got a sample with granola to test :-)

I am very happy I finally went to visit the bakery. Within two weeks I have been there twice and I can’t wait to go again!

This post is not sponsored. I wanted to share with you this awesome place that bakes gluten free goods and that I absolutely loved!

PS. If you know other places that are worth visiting and suitable for a review on this blog, please let me know.

Cheers,

Kati xxx

GEBAKSJUWELIER

www.glutenvrijgenieten.nl

To not spoil such a beautiful snowy day with boring shopping we went to get food for the next week in Germany.  A fun trip. On the advice of Veronica (in a comment to the post on shopping in the German supermarket Real), the choice fell on Kaufland in Kleve.

From outside, the supermarket didn’t look very big but once inside we quickly realized that we will be able to buy anything we need in there. There is a bakery (nope, not gluten free) and a café inside, also a stand with delicatessen, tapas and things like that. In the middle part of the shop, we found food department, drugstore department, baby stuffs department, department with things for animals, clothes, kitchen accessories, other household stuffs and many more. In one word, everything!

Before I even show you what I bought, I will note that we paid much less for a full basket of food than we paid in Real. We bought a lot of organic vegetables and fruits, a couple of gluten free (some even biological) flours, quite big amount of meat and still, we ended up with a dream-bill. The only thing I didn’t like in Kaufland was no gluten free department as such. The gluten free products were distributed amongst all the other products. It took us some time to walk through the alleys and try to spot the GF logo. Also, the meat we bought in Real seemed fresher than the meat from Kaufland.

Sometimes, the GF logo (and lactose free) was depicted (as below) but not always.

Now, to the point. Let me show you the products that you might be especially interested in.

Bread like things

Flours and mixes

 Pasta

Processed meat &  Vegan Cheese

I am really happy with the wide assortment of gluten free products in Kaufland. I could choose products I wanted to buy as there were many choices for people who follow a gluten free diet. Besides, there were many lactose free product in the stock too. It was a pleasure to shop today!

Cheers,

Kati xxx

• Arnhem – Emmerich (32km)
• Arnhem – Kleve (40km)
• Arnhem – Rees (50km)

Real (Grüttweg 42, 46459 Rees, Germany)

Why we shop in Germany

• It is cheaper than in NL
• Bigger choice of products (e.g. endless types of meats, thousands different brands)
• New gluten free brands/product
• A big choice of lactose free dairy products
• The biological vegetables (and other bio foods) are cheaper there
• German vegetables are famous for containing less pesticides
• It is fun like a mini road-trip
• Our car is very efficient so the travel does not cost us much

The first thing I acknowledged – LACTOSE FREE & GLUTEN FREE SIGNS!

The second thing I acknowledged – THE ALLERGY-FRIENDLY SHELVES ARE FULL!

[See image gallery at glutenfreelady.nl]

The third thing I acknowledged – THINGS ARE SO CHEAP!

[See image gallery at glutenfreelady.nl]

What I bought

[See image gallery at glutenfreelady.nl]

..also some cheap kitchen utilities

• Waffle maker (39.99,-)
• Toaster (9.99,-)
• Brush (0.99,-)
• Cream piping bags (1.00,-)

[See image gallery at glutenfreelady.nl]

Definitely recommended !