Grocery Shopping in Scotland

After much (ok, not that much) research on Scotland's labeling, I was convinced I could safely feed my daughter while there, even with her many allergies.  Really, if it came down to it we could have lots of fresh fruits, veggies and meat.  We'd all come away healthier for having less processed foods.

One food that I was certain I would have to give up for the trip was butter.  Having a dairy and soy allergic daughter, among other things, there is really only one butter on the market that I can use.  I lived without butter for quite some time before my current margarine (Earth Balance Soy Free) hit the market, so I knew I could do it again.  That does not mean I was looking forward to it.

To my surprise, there were not one, but several choices waiting for me!  Pure offered a choice of spreads based either on sunflower oil or olive oil if you prefer.  Best of all? None of the pesky pea protein that so many of the allergic families I know are avoiding.  I wanted to buy a case and have it shipped home to my support group for distribution among the families that are still butter free.  There were also store brands that were sunflower based, with more added ingredients, but still safe.  What's that sound? Yes, it is angels singing.

Bread is another food that I figured would be out of the question.  I was so certain, in fact, that I ordered a bread machine from Amazon UK and had it shipped to a friend so it would be ready for us on day one.  Bread is something that I so rarely am able to find here that I bake my own on a regular basis, so I assumed that life would continue as usual.  Not so.  There were several organic loaves that were safe and tasty as well.  Nice!  Of course, I still made a few loaves.  Nothing is better than fresh bread, both for flavor and aroma.

Sunflower butter is something I assumed would be easy to find, since there are several on the market here.  Alas, it was not to be.  There was ONE store that carried it (one brand available), the store my husband refers to as "The Hippie Store".  Yep.  I loved the store.  Loved. It.

Hemp milk is another assumption I made, with so many on the market here, I assumed that I would easily be able to find it there as well.  Nope.  I bought the last two the hippie store had, and had to mail order two more.  Apparently no one buys it (per the manager), and there is only one maker.  Good Hemp was a good stand in, even with quite a bit more sediment than most hemp milks I have used.  The good news?  Other alternative milks were readily available if you can use them.  Soy (or soya as they refer to it), almond, rice, and goat's milk were all plentiful. We stuck with hemp, just carefully rationed.

Stay tuned... my grocery adventures are not yet done!  More coming.