Stater Bros or Albertsons for allergies?

[starshine514]

We're going to Ramona next week. It looks like they have a Stater Bros grocery store or an Albertsons. Does anyone know which one would be better for "alternative" foods. My daughter is allergic to dairy (and egg, peanut and sesame - but dairy is the hardest one to work around). So, we end up shopping at Whole Foods and Sprouts a lot at home. I'm sure both would have almond milk, but she eats a lot of Silk soy yogurt and it would be fantastic if we could get our usual dairy-free cheese as well. Does anyone have experience with these and know what we should expect to find there?

Thanks!

 

[SMD]

What gets stocked in a supermarket tends to be based on what sells in the area, and not the brand name of the store. You might be better off calling the stores directly to see which they have. You might want to also call the local big box store if they sell groceries to see what they have. Have you also looked for a local Trader Joe's?

 

[usnuzuloose]

I didn't think Stater Brothers was still around. I have to have dairy free, yeast free, sugar free. I have got a lot of recipes off of pinterest. Many fresh items you can use. I use organic coconut oil. I do use some olive oil.

 

[ImDMous]

I'm in Escondido, which is right down the hill from Ramona. If you're driving through on the way there, I would stock up here first just in case. We have Trader Joe's, Sprouts, etc and we're a much bigger town than Ramona is. Ramona has always been a bit of a country place so I'm not sure how much diary and egg-free you're going to find with so many egg ranches in the surrounding valley. They have come a long way though, at least they have 2 stores to choose from.

The Stater Bros by me is kind of old and small so I'm not sure how it compares to the one up there, but I would try Albertson's first.

 

[starshine514]

What gets stocked in a supermarket tends to be based on what sells in the area, and not the brand name of the store. You might be better off calling the stores directly to see which they have. You might want to also call the local big box store if they sell groceries to see what they have. Have you also looked for a local Trader Joe's?

You're probably right there. We buy her favorite soy yogurt at our local Walmart, but have yet to find it at a Walmart in California.

We've had some bad luck with Trader Joe's, their products are often not labeled for cross-contamination. My daughter had a reaction to undeclared milk in one of their products and their response was basically "we're sorry, but you really shouldn't let your child eat anything with chocolate - it all has milk in it" (which I know is not true, we use the Enjoy Life chocolate chips all the time and she's never reacted to them). I still buy a few things there - produce, some meat items and their coconut cream, but that's about it.

I didn't think Stater Brothers was still around. I have to have dairy free, yeast free, sugar free. I have got a lot of recipes off of pinterest. Many fresh items you can use. I use organic coconut oil. I do use some olive oil.

We cook at home, from scratch, most of the time as well. I was pleasantly surprised how normal a Thanksgiving meal we were able to prepare - the big thing is making everything yourself!

I'm in Escondido, which is right down the hill from Ramona. If you're driving through on the way there, I would stock up here first just in case. We have Trader Joe's, Sprouts, etc and we're a much bigger town than Ramona is. Ramona has always been a bit of a country place so I'm not sure how much diary and egg-free you're going to find with so many egg ranches in the surrounding valley. They have come a long way though, at least they have 2 stores to choose from.

The Stater Bros by me is kind of old and small so I'm not sure how it compares to the one up there, but I would try Albertson's first.

We're going to be coming in through Yuma, so Escondido won't be on our way in. But, we could make a trip there on our second day. We actually usually stay in Escondido! This is our first time staying in Ramona. I'm going to plan on bringing shelf-stable, quick-fix (can you say safe spaghetti and red sauce?) items to make dinner the first night and breakfast the next morning and will hunt out a grocery store then. That way, if the Albertsons in Ramona doesn't have what we need, we'll be able to head over to Escondido without having hungry kids in the car waiting for us to find something safe to eat.

 

[smilezlie]

Stater Bros has better prices but you may get more of those "allergy" friendly products at Albertsons. Most have a better variety of specialty products similar to Whole Foods or Sprouts. Not quite as good as Ralphs but better than Stater Bros.

If you can make it to the Sprouts in Escondido I would suggest that. I am not sure if you are familiar with Sprouts but it is great for all sorts of specialty and allergy products.