Budgens of Woodford

A look at the Budgens supermarket in Woodford, Stockport.

You don't often see Budgens supermarkets these days. Although I did spot this one in a nice historic building in Sheffield recently.

This is the only Budgens in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport.

Budgens was founded by John Budgen in 1872.

The company is now a subsidiary of Booker Group, part of Tesco plc.

Market Store in Burnage, Manchester

We popped to Burnage to do some shopping last month and spotted this Market Store. There's something rather familiar about the signage.

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- The Carpet Factory in Middleton

Budgens in Sheffield

A look at a Budgens supermarket in Sheffield.

The supermarket on London Road was a Sainsbury's Local until February this year.

It reopened as a Budgens shortly after.

You don't see Budgens as much as you used to.

The building really stands out and is one of the oldest in the area. A lovely sight to spot.

It opened as The Lansdowne Picture Palace in 1914 and became a Mecca dance hall called The Locarno in the 1950s. It underwent a number of name changes during its time as a nightclub.

Interestingly the building was a Marks & Spencer for a short time in the late 1940s.

Social distancing signage and the welcome mat at the entrance

Budgens was founded by John Budgen in 1872.

The company is now a subsidiary of Booker Group, part of Tesco plc.

What a carrot!

What a sight!

A carrot of distinction

It might have come from the same sample of seeds as the one my brother spotted during National Gardening Week earlier this year.

The Carpet Factory in Middleton is NOT a Tesco Extra

Close, but not.

So close to Tesco, in more ways than one

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Have a break...

...have a KitKat.

It looks like this in-store promotion took the brand's tagline literally.

Back soon

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Links:
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A gluten free burger in a gluten free brioche-style bun!

We're always on the lookout for new and interesting gluten free food and we made a great discovery at Waitrose in Lutterworth, Leicestershire at the weekend when we spotted the packs of brioche style buns made by Just: Gluten Free Bakery!

What a find!

For dinner tonight we cooked up some gluten free burgers from the Co-Operative and put them in the brioche buns. They were delicious.

A fine burger, topped with bacon and cheese and stuffed in a nice brioche style bun. The free from Onion Rings from Tesco were great too. Note the healthy items on the plate

Check out the links below for more info on Just: Gluten Free Bakery.

Links:
- Just: Gluten Free Bakery website
- Just: Gluten Free Bakery on Twitter
- Just: Gluten Free Bakery on Facebook

Related blog posts:

- Gluten Free
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- Funny things about being a Coeliac

Gluten free food from Gilbert's Kosher Foods

Trying some gluten free food from Gilbert's Kosher Foods.

I'm always looking for new food and drink to make my strict gluten free diet more interesting, so I was pleased to see a new section at Tesco in Dunstable. Many of the Kosher products in the refridgerated section are also gluten free (as well as dairy free). And very good they are too.

Mr Freed's Small Fish Balls are very nice!

The Blooms Vienna beef sausages make for great hot dogs

Check out the Gilbert's Kosher Foods website for more information on the products available.

Related blog posts:
- Gluten Free
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- Funny things about being a Coeliac

Links:
- Gilbert's Kosher Foods
- Tesco Free From
- Coeliac UK

New Free From Cakes at Tesco

I noticed that Tesco has some new gluten and wheat free cakes in the Free From section!

Tesco's Free From range now includes Chocolate and Madeira Celebration Cakes

I'm looking forward to an occasion to try them out.

Related blog posts:
- Gluten Free
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- Funny things about being a Coeliac

Links:
- Tesco Free From
- Coeliac UK

Gluten free chicken and beer

Chicken and beer - a great combination.

Emily's a great cook and makes some delicious gluten free treats - both sweet and savoury. We've blogged about some of them here on The Ham & Egger Files and also posted photos and details on her Twitter feed.

The latest creation Emily has perfected is oven baked cornflake chicken (think kind of southern fried, but healthier if you will).

Southern-style baked chicken coated with crushed Nestle Gluten Free Corn Flakes, served with paprika potato wedges, BBQ beans and an avocado. Washed down with a chilled Estrella Damm Daura gluten free beer. Delicious food, gluten free or otherwise

Since my diagnosis with Coeliac Disease in 2008 I've tried a fair few of the gluten free beers available and Estrella Damm Daura is one of my favourites.

While recently shopping for a gluten free Chocolate Yule Log in Tesco's Free From section I noticed that Estrella Damm Daura were included in a 3 for 2 offer and so twelve bottles of the great gluten free beer were £12 - a great buy for a savvy coeliac like me.

Links:
- Estrella Damm Daura website
- Estrella Damm Daura gluten free beer on Twitter
- Tesco Free From website
- Nestlé Cereals website

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'Free From' Festive Chocolate Yule Log from Tesco

New festive free from products at Tesco.

While on Facebook this morning a photo from the coeliac blogger Little Missed Gluten was in my feed showing the new Festive Chocolate Yule Log from Tesco's Free From range!

The Tesco Free From Festive Chocolate Yule Log is gluten, wheat, dairy and milk free

I had to go and get one!

The new Festive Chocolate Yule Log added to the Free From range at Tesco

I had a slice of the yule log for dessert tonight and it was delicious - you'd never know it was a free from product!

Little Missed Gluten had been tipped-off about the new product by another gluten free blogger - Coeliac Delight. Check out their sites for more gluten free news, reviews and recipes.

Luckily Tesco currently has a 3 for 2 promotion running so I was able to pick up one of the gluten and wheat free Yule Logs, as well as some Christmas Cakes. The Festive Chocolate Yule Log isn't cheap - it costs £4.75, but I thought it was worth a try, Christmas comes but once a year after all.

A Red Christmas! Estrella Damm Daura gluten free beer is also in the 3 for 2 offer at Tesco - twelve bottles for £12 is far more reasonable than the £7.50 for four that it usually sells for!

This year my gluten free purchases for Christmas started earlier than ever before as I found some gluten free mince pies on sale in Hastings on 20 September! I bought my advent calendar (my first in years) a week later.

Links:
- Tesco Free From
- Little Missed Gluten
- Little Missed Gluten on Facebook
- Coeliac Delight
- Coeliac Delight on Facebook
- Estrella Damm Daura

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- Gluten free and ready for Christmas
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Gluten Free Enjoy Life Soft Baked Chocolate Chip Cookies

Finding some new gluten free cookies in Tesco.

While shopping in Tesco Metro in The Mall Luton I spotted an interesting box on the Free From shelves - it was was from the US company Enjoy Life and contained chocolate chip soft baked cookies.

As I'm always looking for new and different gluten free food & drink to try I had to get them.

The Enjoy Life Soft Baked Cookies contain twelve delicious treats. Unfortunately I had already scoffed four of them before I was able to take this photo

After poring over the details on the box to ensure they were total and utterly gluten & wheat free I was really pleased to see they were.

You get twelve cookies in a box for £3 and while they may look a little small they are packed full of choc chips, nice and squidgy, and delicious. Thinking back I may well have had some of the Enjoy Life range on a previous trip to the USA as I always try to stock up my hotel room from the nearest Whole Foods Market.

As someone with Coeliac Disease I've been 'stung' a few times over the years when products have proclaimed they are 'gluten free', but in the very small-print it'll say something along the lines of 'made in a facility that handles gluten/wheat etc.' so I was very pleased indeed to see that the box was full of reassuring signs of it being safe for me to eat.

Enjoy Life foods are 'Free from the 8 common allergens'*. On the Enjoy Life website you can read that they are dedicated to producing delicious snacks that are certified gluten-free and safe for those who have celiac (coeliac) disease, gluten intolerance or gluten sensitivity so everyone can enjoy without worry.

The reassuring and bold messages on the box of Enjoy Life gluten free cookies

The Enjoy Life Soft Baked Chocolate Chip Cookies are also Dairy, Nut and Soy Free and made in a dedicated nut and gluten-free bakery. Great to know.

I'll be looking out for more Enjoy Life products on sale in the UK.

Related blog posts:
- Gluten Free
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Links:
- Enjoy Life
- Tesco
- Empire Food Brokers

* Enjoy Life products are free of eight common allergens and listed on the box are: wheat, dairy, peanuts, tree nuts, egg, soy, fish and shellfish. They are also made without casein, potato, sesame and sulfites. They are also marked as 'Certified Gluten-Free' by the Gluten-Free Certification Organization (GFCO) - a program of The Gluten Intolerance Group.

New Gluten Free Milkshake from Shaken Udder

A new breed of milkshake from Shaken Udder.

A bottle of Chocolush gluten free milkshake by Shaken Udder

While shopping in the Tesco in Royston on Sunday I spotted a new milkshake called 'Shaken Udder' and had a check to see if it was gluten free. Luckily for me, it was.

The three flavours of Shaken Udder milkshake are £1.29 a bottle in Tesco

I do like milkshakes, but as someone with Coeliac Disease my choices are limited, so it was great to see a new product catering for the needs of a gluten free diet.

Priced at £1.29 for 330ml the Shaken Udder milkshakes come in three flavours - Chocolush, Vanilla-Licious and Top Banana flavours. As a chocoholic I had to buy the Chocolush one and it was delicious.

The new gluten free milkshakes from Shaken Udder gets a thumbs up from me

Gluten free milkshakes are obviously like buses as on Friday I spotted the My Straw Milky Magic milkshake tubes on sale in the Waitrose in Newmarket are gluten free too!

Check out the Shaken Udder website, Twitter and Facebook for more information on the brand.

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Links:
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Udi’s Gluten Free – more than just mince pies

Finding out more about the new range of Udi’s gluten free food.

While shopping in the Dunstable branch of Tesco Emily and I spotted a new range of food in the Free From section of the supermarket.

A selection of the range of Udi's Gluten Free food that I've tried so far

The brand was Udi’s and recently launched in the UK. It’s been going strong in the USA since 1994.

One of the products in Udi’s range of gluten free food are the Rich n’ Fruity Mince Pies. This year I had my first mince pie of the festive season a little later than in 2012, but since that first mince pie in October I’ve bought (and scoffed) at least four more boxes!

The first of Udi's products I tried were the Mince Pies - back in October! Very festive.

On that shopping trip we also bought packs of the Udi’s Ancient Grain crisps – in both Jalapeno Cheddar and Aged Cheddar flavours.

Udi's Ancient Grain crisps also come in a very tasty Aged Cheddar flavour

After seeing “My first gluten free Mince Pie of the festive season” blog post the team at Udi’s got in touch to send me a hamper of their range, which was very much appreciated.

When I received the box of goodies from Udi’s the first product that caught my eye was the Chocolate Chip & Toffee Flavoured Muffins. And they tasted as good as they sound.

One of my favourites among the Udi's range - the Chocolate Chip & Toffee Flavoured Muffins

Next to be tried, though not on the same day, were the Cinnamon & Raisin Bagels. While not a fan of bagels (I've always found them to be very dry, and haven't eaten one since I was diagnosed with Coeliac Disease) I found the Udi's ones to be very nice. They were helped by not being plain ones and as the packet says, they taste great toasted.

The Cinnamon & Raisin Bagels. The best I've tried.

Next out of the bag were the Toaster Pastries. These caught both me and Emily's eyes and brought back memories of pop tarts!

The most interesting of the Udi's range are the retro Toaster Pastries!

As we don't own a toaster we simply put them under the grill for a few minutes to heat them up to that perfect molten lava level before allowing them to cool a bit.

Emily is a fan of the Strawberry Flavoured ones, while I liked the Apple Cinnamon ones more, but would be equally happy with either for a breakfast treat.

The products Udi's sent through to me, and those we've seen in-store are just a selection of the range they are bringing to the UK.

Emily also recently bought a pack of the soft white Classic Finger Rolls and we’re going to use them with some frankfurters we found that were gluten free while shopping in Aldi last week.

Looking at Udi’s US website it’ll be interesting to see if the small and large Tortillas they offer will also be an item they’ll be bringing to these shore as we're big fans of Mexican food!

Check out the Udi’s website for details of the full range and to sign-up for the email newsletter. 

Related blog posts:

- My first gluten free Mince Pie of the festive season

- Gluten Free

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Links:

- Udi's Gluten Free UK

- Udi's Gluten Free UK on Twitter
- Udi's Gluten Free UK on Facebook

- Udi’s Gluten Free USA

- Udi’s Gluten Free USA on Twitter

- Coeliac UK