My children have multiple allergies including milk, egg, nuts and sesame. So you would think that the free from food aisle would be our best friend. What could be better than shelves stocked with items my little ones can eat? Well, nothing. Except it rarely works like that. 
Now don’t get me wrong, I am very happy to see the rise in free from food. I am very happy my children are growing up in a time when allergies are well recognised. And I have been impressed by the time and effort many supermarkets are putting into their ranges. But my frustration has been brewing for quite a while now and I feel I need to be honest. Here are my problems with the free from aisle:
A glut of gluten free
I understand that supermarkets are commercial and are led by customer trends. However, the current focus on gluten free foods is very frustrating. The shelves are awash with them while dairy and egg free finds are still few. It feels like we are not being catered for and that coeliacs aside, the free from aisles are becoming a place for people who choose a special diet, rather than are forced to eat one.
Inconsistent labelling
As an allergy parent, I am an avid label reader. I have to be. But I would really rather not have to spend so much time perusing ingredients. Many supermarkets flag up allergens clearly on the front of products in the free from aisle. However, this is inconsistent, especially for some reason with egg. Products can often be egg free but not labelled as so. On the other side, many freefrom products are also still ‘may contain’ nut or sesame so I have to check for these as well.
Unhelpful organisation
My children cannot eat the majority of food in the free from aisles and to find the ones they can, I have to sift through every shelf as they are not well organised. I understand that many products are free from a number of things, but a simple ‘vegan’ or ‘dairy free’ section would make this so much easier.
Inflated prices
You would think, by taking ingredients away, things would cost less! Yes, I know it’s not as simple as that but it does seem like supermarkets are profiting heavily off people’s special dietary needs. Often, for gluten free goods, there is a lot of extra expense for a certified facility and smaller suppliers are not able to provide such competitive prices. However, a ‘freefrom’ pasta sauce that is fairly identical to one in the ‘normal’ aisle suddenly gets a big price increase when it is relabelled.
Brand dominance
There are a lot of amazing free from brands out there and I am happy to see some of them stocked regularly in lots of supermarkets. However, there are many that just never make it to the shelves, which are dominated with big names, who aren’t necessarily the best quality or value. Also, many of the brands produce the supermarkets’ own ranges, so the cross-section is even more limited than it can appear.
So there you have it. I will visit the free from aisles for specific products but often I source things elsewhere or even better, find regular products that are safe and suitable. What are your experiences of shopping in the free from aisle? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Couldn’t agree more!! Fortunately we can tolerate gluten and wheat so we rarely visit the Free From aisle as it often doesn’t offer us much!
Or little girl is dairy and egg free! The free from aisle is not a great place for us as so many of the products contain egg. We have a few favourites but these tend to be occasional treats.
We also find that a large section of the free from items are catered for coeliacs – I feel that there is generally a very limited amount of toddler friendly free from products in these aisles !!
Completely agree about the free-from aisle. My son is free from dairy, egg, soya, peanut, pea and lentil. Of course, we are very lucky that he can have gluten but I do find the only thing he can often have in whole of the free-from section are the chocolate buttons! In fact, as pea flour is sometimes used in place of wheat flour in gluten free products (and pea isn’t an allergen that needs to be listed in bold) shopping in the free from section can be even more time consuming!
I agree with you! I’m “lucky” (if you can call it lucky haha!) to just be coeliac, so the free-from aisle would be my friend… if the prices were more reasonable, and if they weren’t taking products that are already gluten-free, and whacking the price up because of the sticker on the pot that says “gluten free”! Bolognese sauce and tikka masala sauce, for instance. Own brand is 79p and gluten free in Tesco, in the free-from aisle it’s also marketed as gluten-free and yet it’s £1.30!
I think different sections of the free-from aisle would be a good idea, so you know whether you’re buying just gluten free, just dairy free, just egg-free, a combination of all of the above etc. And if they’d stop putting vegan but not free-from products in with the free-from! It conflates lifestyle choice with genuine medical conditions.
Really great post and food for thought. The free-from foods also tend to be chock-full of sugar too. x
I never bother with the free from aisle despite multiple allergies as it is purely the gluten free aisle. The supermarkets just don’t get it. I have egg as a major allergen and there isn’t anything for me at all in any of the supermarket free from sections.
I understand that frustration. I agree it would be fabulous if the aisles could have clear sections within the free from section. My friend who has a child with a dairy allergy finds that most biscuits are fine in the ‘normal; aisle, but as you say it takes a lot of sifting packets which is very frustrating…
Gosh that does sound frustrating. Do you find it any easier shopping online or is that just as annoying? I don’t frequent the free from aisle very often, but when I do, the thing that strikes me is how ‘processed’ so much of the food is. They take out the allergens but then stuff in a whole load of unpronounceable rubbish!! Eb x
Yep this is us! A whole freefrom aisle that the Peachicks can’t eat because of the egg & soya in EVERYTHING! We really need soyfree veganism to become trendy too!
My son has severe allergies to wheat, dairy, egg, soya, nut & sesame. I for one am grateful for all of the gluten/wheat free items in the free from section, it’s not just coeliacs who need them. Sainsbury & Tesco have really improved lately & I can find quite a few things for my son to eat.
Whilst it’s annoying to have to pay extra for free from items, I understand it costs more to produce these items in a factory that is designed to be free of certain allergens. At least I can be sure there won’t be any cross contamination! I’m just grateful there are items that I can buy in the Free From section to be honest! If the supermarkets could produce a birthday cake free of all my sons allergens I’d be over the moon!
We don’t shop.in the free from aisle.either, my son is dairy, egg and nut free. If it’s dairy and wheat free it tends to still have egg in it. The only thing we get there is dairy free chocolate as a treat.
Yes, yes, yes… My thoughts exactly! I remember my frustration the first time I attended the Allergy & Free From Show, or as I called it then, ‘the gluten-free show.’ It is frustrating when supermarkets proudly show off their new gluten-free range and you then find there’s nothing at all there without eggs in. Tesco tends to be the culprit where we live, whilst Sainsbury’s and Ocado have an impressive range of ‘free from’ food. xxx
Totally agree with all the comments here, shopping for Beth as a Coeliac is far easier than shopping for me as a potato, wheat, soya, dairy, egg intolerant. In fact, I’m becoming most intolerant to the supermarkets intolerance of other free-fromer’s (say that after a vino!)