How to navigate the grocery store
As new food allergy parents, many questions arise. A large part of managing food allergies begins in the grocery store. Eating healthy, home cooked meals becomes a vital part of our lives. Where do I begin? Well, many foods you already eat may be OK – fruits & vegetables are typically void of the top 8 allergens. Pre-packaged meats are also typical starting places. Watch out for centrally processed products in your store, for example Wegmans shares prep areas for the bakery, deli, cheese shop & some prepared foods areas. They will also tell you they cannot guarantee the top 8 allergens are not found in any of their in-store prepared or sliced foods.
Now in particular, my child has a peanut allergy. Therefore we can eat foods like Teddy Grahams and Goldfish(not cinnamon), even Oreos! Children with other allergies will need to stay away from these foods & the “Nature’s Market” section in Wegmans has a nice selection of Wheat free products as well as dairy & top 8 allergen free foods.
It is important to ALWAYS read the labels on each package purchased, each time it is purchased. Manufacturers can change facilities or processes at any time. These messages are meant to be a starting place to faciliate the process & NEVER do they replace the need for parents to READ LABELS!!!
Hello! My husband works with a friend of yours at pembroke high school and recommended this site. It has been so helpful! My son had a reaction to peanut butter a little over a week ago and my world has been turned upside down. He’s 15 months old. I was reading this article and noticed you said Teddy grahams and goldfish are unsafe. I checked the labels on both of these products and found no warning of peanuts or tree nuts. I thought it was the law that they are to be marked. Now I’m afraid to give them to them. If something says its safe do you call the company? I’m confused. Also I shop at dash market and asked about the deli slicers and they assured me nothing with nuts is prepared in the deli but I’m not so sure. Help me! I’m a wreck!
Karen
I don’t have those product labels at hand, but I suspect what peanutmom was saying is that hose products have something on their label that says they are processed in a plant or on equipment that also processes products with nuts. Thus they can not guarantee that there are not nut based allergies in the product. The products might contain them due to cross contamination. Some companies do make products that are produced in dedicated facilities and therefore do not have the potential for cross contamination and their labels will say as much. This is obviously more expensive for the company, so you pay a bit more, but in cases where people have severe allergies this can be very important.
My daughter has milk and egg allergies, and a wheat intolerance. In a way I don’t think about it anymore. Our lives have adjusted to her allergies. Being almost 3 she likes to eat what mom and dad are eating. Nearly all of our meals come from our kitchen, made from scratch. I think we’ll be in for trouble again when she goes to pre-school, but for now things are fine. Over time you’ll learn what they can and can not eat.
Though I will say that peanut allergies can be much worse. Some people have problems even if the dust is around. Fortunately in our case we can have milk, eggs, and products with wheat in them in the house and my wife and I eat them routinely. We don’t let our daughter touch them and wash pots/pans. Though in many cases we’ve adopted the allergy free products so cooking and preparation becomes easier.
We have been buying Donettes by Hostess for a year or 2 and I have found the powdered sugar ones may contain pecans and walnuts. Not sure when this change occurred but wanted to let you all know. Myself included Always read the labels.