Annoyed by Grocery Shopping

T

Tac0caT

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Does anyone else get annoyed whilst grocery shopping? The places I visit or order online from hardly ever have the "healthier" versions of things available - for example the No added sugar and salt ketchup, Cauliflower rice bags, etc, etc. I also recently had a bag of cauliflower rice substituted for normal rice which was a pain.

Now I know I could make all of this myself, but I am a busy guy and I just do not realistically have time to do this on top of cooking my meals from scratch too.

There are literally whole aisles of "Free From" ranges in most stores now to cater for GF diets, and considering that Diabetes is on the rise in the UK I am surprised that we aren't seeing more stores cater to low carb/less sugar diets.

Maybe I am just being bitter - but it does get me down sometimes, like it shouldn't be as hard as it is to have a varied diet that doesn't get boring after a while.
 
Tac0caT said:
I also recently had a bag of cauliflower rice substituted for normal rice which was a pain.
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If you don’t want it substituted you can turn off substitutes or reject it at the door.
 
Tac0caT said:
There are literally whole aisles of "Free From" ranges in most stores now to cater for GF diets, and considering that Diabetes is on the rise in the UK I am surprised that we aren't seeing more stores cater to low carb/less sugar diets
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I feel your pain.
However, “Free From” is typically one aisle which caters for more than gluten free. Those needing a gluten free diet have a fraction of that aisle.
As for Diabetes, it is mentioned at the top of every page of the forum, “everyone manages their health differently”. Not everyone eats a low carb diet.
Plus, cooking from scratch does not have to take that much effort. Meat and fish are carb free.
 
The short answer is no, but that's because I don't expect to find a diabetes-focussed aisle, even if such a thing existed or is even possible. My low carb/low sugar choices are in the fruit, veg, meat & fish aisles. I do buy GF bread from the Free From aisle, even though I don't need GF, because it has fewer carbs than regular bread.
 
Only when they are out of my favourite foods, so not specifically diabetes related although because I follow a low carb diet, my food choices are more restricted and if my odd treat like feta stuffed peppadew peppers are sold out or there is none of my favourite natural Greek style yoghurt that I have every morning or they are out of double cream for my coffee and only have Elmlea, then I am a bit chewed off, but in reality I don't think it is any different to anyone else going shopping and not being able to get something on their list.

I don't get deliveries so the issue of substitutes doesn't come into it for me. I like to go and choose my own items, particularly fruit and veg and meat too because I know what I want/like and different varieties or quality makes a difference to whether I buy them or not.
 
I find that there are whole aisles I can just ignore - I coast down the salad/fruit'n'veges hit the meat area hard, along the back chiller line for cheese, yogurt and cream, down frozen veges and berries, maybe divert into the drinks once in a while across the middle for tinned fish, high cocoa chocolate, ground coffee, consider if I need anything else, then checkout and away.
I use a pressure cooker for speed of cooking these days, with triangular holders and stacking dishes it is easy to keep things separate if necessary, or just throw in all the suitable leftovers from the fridge cook and chop as required when lifting out the result.
 
Only thing that annoys me in supermarkets is price increases week after week, 2p on this 5p on that it all accumulates.

Think stores cater for all diets if you look hard enough, doesn't bother me if aisle is dedicated to one particular diet, life's to short to worry about such things.
 
@Tac0caT I live in a small town and tend to buy from fishmonger at farm shop plus veg from wi market and farm shop. During term time I go to my local city and tend to buy fresh produce from the market and other bits from M and S. I like their smoked salmon and a pouch with steamed baby beetroot. I was interested in trying red lentil or edamame pasta. Went to Tesco and looked in their free from aisle and couldn't find any. I have seen it advertised in Holland and Barrett. I get a little fed up looking on labels for carbs they are under nutrition sometimes per portion sometimes 100 gms. I wish it was more standardised and obvious. Sometimes ive thought something is a single portion then on further reading it isn't. I was going to buy something salad with bits from M and S acceptable carb count I thought then realised it was 4 portions I assume as a side dish but I was considering it as a main.

On a side issue to save me searching your posts how did you reduce your reading so quickly? I was 69 at end of June and tried to rejig my diet and was disappointed to only have dropped to 64 at end of July. I did not have a meaningful conversation about medication and had metformin confirmed by phone in mid August. Later I had an SGLT2 added which has knocked my confidence as I believe I now have to eat more carbs and having lost a stone and a half I am not now losing weight [ but not gaining either]
 
I don’t think it’s appropriate to indirectly kind of pit GF against diabetes. Many people are gluten free due to coeliac disease, a serious medical condition - and one that’s around 6 times higher in people with Type 1 diabetes. There are also people with food allergies that need safe foods.

The reason why they don’t have a ‘diabetic aisle’ is that people with diabetes eat all kinds of different things, and the reason they don’t have a low carb aisle is because they already have some - the meat aisle, the fish aisle, the cheese aisle, the veg aisle.

It sounds like a big part of the problem is substitutions. Just tick Don’t Substitute or Add notes about what subs are acceptable.
 
nonethewiser said:
Only thing that annoys me in supermarkets is price increases week after week, 2p on this 5p on that it all accumulates.

Think stores cater for all diets if you look hard enough, doesn't bother me if aisle is dedicated to one particular diet, life's to short to worry about such things.
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To clarify this is more about the availability of products, not calling for a Diabetics aisle.
 
Inka said:
I don’t think it’s appropriate to indirectly kind of pit GF against diabetes. Many people are gluten free due to coeliac disease, a serious medical condition - and one that’s around 6 times higher in people with Type 1 diabetes. There are also people with food allergies that need safe foods.

The reason why they don’t have a ‘diabetic aisle’ is that people with diabetes eat all kinds of different things, and the reason they don’t have a low carb aisle is because they already have some - the meat aisle, the fish aisle, the cheese aisle, the veg aisle.

It sounds like a big part of the problem is substitutions. Just tick Don’t Substitute or Add notes about what subs are acceptable.
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Sorry if it came across like that, that was not my intention - I know coeliac disease is serious but obviously so is Diabetes.

The reason I mentioned GF is because that is the best example of stores adapting a catering for those with specific needs, I understand that Diabetics are not one size fits all and so I am not saying there should be an aisle, but certainly in terms of product choice it would be nice to have suitable alternatives where available - again I point to the ketchup example, Heinz cater for most (Original, Less salt and sugar, and no added salt and sugar) but most places have original or just the "less" version.

Maybe I am just being a Diva, but am glad to see peoples responses 🙂
 
Tac0caT said:
again I point to the ketchup example
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A 15g portion of normal ketchup is 3.5g carb. A 15g portion of the no added sugar one is 0.8g carb. If you’re eating enough ketchup that the 2.7g carb difference per portion is affecting your blood sugars then you need to review your ketchup portions.
 
I think with things like ketchup, you might as well just have the normal one as the amount you have is tiny. No, I don’t think you’re being a diva 🙂 I was just reinforcing the idea that people with diabetes eat a huge variety of foods, so a ‘diabetic diet/food’ doesn’t exist.

If you want healthier versions of normal foods, you might find it easier in health shops. Mine has natural ketchups and fruit spreads, etc.
 
I’d also not consider ketchup an essential. If you really want the no added sugar one and they don’t have it then just set substitutions to no and buy it the week after instead? Surely you can manage without ketchup for a week.

Or you could buy the 50% reduced sugar one instead. That’s 1.8g carb per 15g portion, and won’t make any noticeable difference compared to the 0.8g per portion one.
 
saffron15 said:
@Tac0caT I live in a small town and tend to buy from fishmonger at farm shop plus veg from wi market and farm shop. During term time I go to my local city and tend to buy fresh produce from the market and other bits from M and S. I like their smoked salmon and a pouch with steamed baby beetroot. I was interested in trying red lentil or edamame pasta. Went to Tesco and looked in their free from aisle and couldn't find any. I have seen it advertised in Holland and Barrett. I get a little fed up looking on labels for carbs they are under nutrition sometimes per portion sometimes 100 gms. I wish it was more standardised and obvious. Sometimes ive thought something is a single portion then on further reading it isn't. I was going to buy something salad with bits from M and S acceptable carb count I thought then realised it was 4 portions I assume as a side dish but I was considering it as a main.

On a side issue to save me searching your posts how did you reduce your reading so quickly? I was 69 at end of June and tried to rejig my diet and was disappointed to only have dropped to 64 at end of July. I did not have a meaningful conversation about medication and had metformin confirmed by phone in mid August. Later I had an SGLT2 added which has knocked my confidence as I believe I now have to eat more carbs and having lost a stone and a half I am not now losing weight [ but not gaining either]
Click to expand...
I got my Hba1c down by radically changing my diet from pretty much the moment I was told I might be diabetic, it was a further two weeks before I got the confirmation test - this consisted of Keto and Freshwell recipes (There is a Freshwell app on iOS and Android or there are free recipe PDFs from the website) and was walking 10 minutes after every meals. I think it was part luck though, Keto meant that I was eating less calories and I was dropping weight quickly and the minimal carbs/no sugar will have helped too.

Since my test of 37 I have been naughty more often though and it was always the plan for me to consume more carbs once I had gotten the test that was back to "normal" ranges just to see what my body could tolerate, but my current 90 day average is lower than before my last test - so January will be interesting for sure.
 
Inka said:
I think with things like ketchup, you might as well just have the normal one as the amount you have is tiny. No, I don’t think you’re being a diva 🙂 I was just reinforcing the idea that people with diabetes eat a huge variety of foods, so a ‘diabetic diet/food’ doesn’t exist.

If you want healthier versions of normal foods, you might find it easier in health shops. Mine has natural ketchups and fruit spreads, etc.
Click to expand...
That's a good shout actually - I have a H&B in the next town over so maybe I will have a look there. Thank you 🙂
 
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