Going for a Scavenger Hunt at the Grocery Store

Guys. It’s been over a year of dealing with allergies and I still get confused about where to find all the weird ingredients I need. All grocery stores are set up a little different, but mostly you just head to the back of the store if you are looking for dairy. Peanut butter is in the middle. Produce is on one side or the other. But, now that I am looking for dairy free "cream cheese" and vegan "mayo" it kind of feels like a scavenger hunt every week.

Peanut butter alternatives are definitely the easiest to find. The nut butters, sun butter, coconut butter are all next to the peanut butter at my grocery store. Sometimes they are separated out by brand and you do have to check your jar twice to make sure you have the almond butter and not the peanut butter, but for the most part, it’s an easy section to find.

Egg alternatives get a little more confusing. The refrigerated egg substitutes are all next to the eggs (though I have to be honest I haven't been brave enough to try egg free scrambled "eggs"); but if you are going to make a flax egg, the flax ground seed is on our baking aisle. Vegan mayo, on the other hand, is not just in one place, it’s scattered throughout the store. There’s some that’s refrigerated in the tofu section, but then there’s some more with the other condiments. It seems odd to me that an oil based mayo would have to refrigerated, but some raw egg yolks are perfectly fine hanging out on the shelves... but I guess the safety of eating raw egg yolks is one thing I don't have to worry about anymore!

Diary alternatives are hands down complete nonsense. Take the milk alternatives- soy milk, almond milk, oat milk, and the drinkable coconut milk are mixed up beside the cow’s milk, but the cartons of milk alternatives are on the bottom shelf of the cereal aisle… and the cans of coconut milk are on the Asian aisle. There are a few vegan "dairy" things that live beside the tofu and refrigerated vegan mayo- “cream cheese”, “cheese” (shredded and sliced), and “sour cream”. They don’t have any soy in them, but sure, okay, that's where they live. 

Fancy real dairy butter OR vegan butter?! Let's play Russian (milk allergy) Roulette!

The vegan “butter” and vegan “ice cream”, on the other hand, are with the real butter and real ice cream, respectively. The problem with this is, they are haphazardly thrown together to make a wack-a-mole situation. You could be picking up the highest quality European butter or you could be getting a safe vegan alternative. The packaging designers clearly went to the same design school, the packaging looks remarkably similar- fancy writing, bright, clean colors, you just have to look closely for the happy cow picture that means it’s definitely not vegan. To further the confusion, there’s the whole margarine versus butter situation. While margarine is, by definition, a butter substitute that's made form oil, it usually has milk proteins in it for taste. Actually having milk in it, doesn’t stop the margarine tubs from putting a green leaf and bragging about being “plant based”. Most brands are jumping on the dairy free train, and have at least one version that is milk free, you just have to be extra careful which bucket you grab. You know, checking the ingredient list. And then double checking it.

I feel like what would make things easier would be if instead of calling it vegan "butter", they went for a different word. Booter. Mylk. Cheez. Isn't the whole point of getting a dairy free alternative that you don't want the real thing? 

So, if you are tasked with going to the grocery store and getting safe, allergen friendly foods, good luck! Take a map and some reading glasses. It might take a while.