Finding Gluten Free Products

Bought these in Florida, but you can buy
cauliflower crackers at Costco in Orillia.

In Ontario it isn't always easy to find really good gluten free products ... at least not where I live. In Orillia, there aren't the same amount of choices available in the grocery stores, and we don't have a lot of specialty shops to find special dietary products.

In town, there are a few places that are beginning to carry more gluten free products, including one of my favourites - M&M Foods. Because we have local access, and they have good quality foods, I was really happy to find that they have a selection of some of my favourites that are now gluten free, including the delicious breaded chicken breasts (yes, real meat, not processed meat), the fish as well, and their chicken burgers. Now they also have some of the dessert bars in gluten free and all of this only discovered after we got back from Florida. Last year before we left, we didn't have any of those options available in gluten free.


About an hour north of us in Bracebridge, there is another gluten free shop. I haven't had a chance to get there yet, and it's a long way to go for just a few items. The next time I head up that way to visit friends or family, I plan to make a stop at Beat the Wheat, and probably grab a few things to try. Just because I don't have to eat gluten free anymore doesn't mean I don't love some of the products and will continue trying them, and continue eating those I love.

Picked these up at Publix in the US, and they were utterly delicious. Expensive, but I'd definitely buy these again.

Several sites online also provide good resources for those with celiac disease. The Celiac Scene, Gluten Free Ontario, and Gluten Free Garage.  There are a lot of online resources where you can place orders for products you want and have them shipped ... for me, and for a lot of others though, the cost is sometimes difficult to justify.  The food is expensive enough on it's own (more so than non-gluten free foods), but then there is the cost of shipping added.  If you must eat gluten free though, being able to order a few specialty products now and then to help expand your food choices, it's worth it - not all the time, but a few times a year can offer you enough variety to make your life a little happier.

Got these at BigLots in Florida - also delicious

Natura Market (online) offers not only gluten free, but keto friendly and paleo options. They will ship all across Canada, but only Canada, so if any of my readers are in the US you won't be able to order from here.

Well.ca offers shipping to both Canada and the US, and they are located in Guelph, Ontario which is about 2-3 hours or so (depending on traffic) from us. It's doubtful we'd drive there just to shop for a few things, but they have some good options for variety so it could be worth checking it out. They also offer a lot of sugar free products, kosher products, organics, peanut free and just about all manner of specialty products.

Other places Canadian's can order online are (of course) Amazon, and then there's the Real Canadian Superstore.

I'm hopeful that someday, we can all just walk into any grocery store and find all of these products in one place.  I think many cities and towns could benefit from having one (just one, maybe two for bigger cities) grocery store that only carries all specialty grocery products. A one-stop shopping trip would make running from store-to-store for products a thing of the past.

As mentioned in a previous post, some of the "regular" groceries offer a few gluten free products each (Food Basics, Zehrs, Walmart, Orillia Bakery, National Nutrition) but the choices are really limited to a few basics.

Also got these at BigLots (US). Hubby likes these as do I.

I guess online grocery suppliers like those listed above are the grocery stores of the future, but I dunno ... there is something about just running to the store 5 minutes away when you need an item at the last minute.

You can't do that with online shopping, and in our town (central to a lot of other small towns) a single shop providing all or most of these products would probably do reasonably well.

Oh yeah, and for Orillian's, there is a gluten free bakery downtown. I think they opened last year. Bakes by the Lake creates a lot of treats and desserts (including donuts!), and while they do have bagels, I don't see that they have any breads yet. I asked when they first opened about breads, but they still don't seem to have bread. Their site makes note of the fact that they are also dairy-free, so no milk or cream for coffee/tea - except the non-dairy types.

... Guess I'll just continue to order my bread mixes from Hillbilly Farms Bakery in Florida!