Bob Moore, founder and owner of Bob’s Red Mill, retired on his eighty-first birthday this week and turned the ownership of the company to the employees. I’m fortunate to live a thirty-minute drive from Bob’s and visit there frequently to stock up on supplies and enjoy a delicious gluten free sandwich at their restaurant. I met Bob once at the store. Even in a brief conversation, I realized that this was man I would like to have known better. I’m hoping — and expecting — that Bob’s Red Mill will continue its tradition of quality even without Bob at the helm. Bob’s Red Mill is one of the few manufacturers that have such a good reputation that its products are featured in many mainstream supermarkets as well as in specialty stores.

Here is the link to the Bob’s Red Mill website. One of the great features of the site is a huge collection of gluten free recipes with each recipe providing links that will allow you to order the gluten free items needed to prepare it. This feature may be somewhat complicated for people not used to shopping on-line so I wrote an article giving step-by-step instructions. Bob’s products are also available at Amazon.com and this site may be useful to people who are ordering in quantity. Click here for details.

REMINDER: If you have not already done so, please complete our latest survey. We’ve all heard a zillion times that we should “read every ingredients label every time”. But what do “real celiacs” do when those labels present information that is unclear or subject to different interpretations? click here to complete the survey. It will take less than five minutes of your time.

These sixteen supermarkets feature gluten free products in their stores and list those products on their websites. Type the name of the supermarket chain in the search box below. Clicking on the search box will probably produce several different options, but the first one — the supermarket’s home page — is the one that concerns you. This page will provide a general introduction to the store and also give you links to addresses of individual stores and links to the supermarkets list of gluten free options. Here is your list:

If you feel like you have seen this information before, you are quite correct. I am attempting to accomplish two things in one article. The computers at google and the other search engines don’t do well under those circumstances and unless the machines are satisfied, you will not find the information you need. Here are my goals:

♦ I am trying to provide a useful list of supermarkets and the gluten free products lists that make our shopping more pleasant and more effective. I titled this article “Supermarkets with Gluten Free Lists”

♦ I am experimenting with a new approach to list-making. Whenever we read a printed list, we go to the internet to make sure that the information is still up-to-date. We can avoid that step by using lists that send us directly to the appropriate website. That step not only saves time for you, but it streamlines the otherwise tedious task of researching the information and entering the data into the computer. Thus, these lists can be expanded indefinitely, updated regularly, and offered at minimal cost.

I wrote two articles in order achieve two goals in a way that the computers can comprehend. Next week, I will write about restaurant chains that provide gluten free meals.

REMINDER: Our current survey deals with the problems we confront when dealing with ingredients lists. We know that we must read every ingredients list every time. The survey describes four “problems” that might arise when we are reading ingredients lists and ask everyone to indicate how they would react to that situation. There are no right or wrong answers, but it is helpful for each of us to know how other celiacs deal with these “problems”Click here if you have not already completed the survey.

Read every ingredients label every time. I wish I had a gluten free cupcake for every time I have heard that statement or written those words. As you probably know, it is important but not as easy as it sounds. Our current survey addresses that problem. It sets up four problem situations and asks how the person taking the survey would respond. There are no correct or incorrect answers. Knowing what other people living gluten free would do in this situation. If you have not already done so, I encourage you to click here and share your opinions. There is also a space for you to share “label problems” that you have had. I’ll use your ideas in future versions of the survey.