Gluten free in canada

[Bec the Lemon]

As I am very new to the gluten free lifestyle I was hoping there were others on this site from Canada that may be able to suggest places we can eat safely? Restaurants and grocery recommendations are highly appreciated. I also know pretty much nothing about what foods are and arent gluten free. Ice cream? bubble tea? chili? cheesecake? are any of these safe? What are the best gluten free (or places that accommodate gluten free well) restaurants in Canada?

[aliciahere]

Mcdonalds (fries, hash browns, poutine, salad without extra toppings)

Red Robin

new York Fries

Five Guys burger and fries

costco frozen pizzas

mcCain fries (double check ingredients)

little northern bake house bread (Costco)

 

These help feed the cravings. I actually found that eating at home for the first six months helped. 

Remember in Canada to trust the label. High risk items (grains, loose nuts and seeds) should be certified. Anything else trust the label- if it doesn’t say wheat, barley, rye, gluten or beer (or have a may contain) - it’s safe.

 

its tough but it get easier

[kareng]

2 hours ago, aliciahere said:

Mcdonalds (fries, hash browns, poutine, salad without extra toppings)

Red Robin

new York Fries

Five Guys burger and fries

costco frozen pizzas

mcCain fries (double check ingredients)

little northern bake house bread (Costco)

 

These help feed the cravings. I actually found that eating at home for the first six months helped. 

Remember in Canada to trust the label. High risk items (grains, loose nuts and seeds) should be certified. Anything else trust the label- if it doesn’t say wheat, barley, rye, gluten or beer (or have a may contain) - it’s safe.

 

its tough but it get easier

McDonald in Canada have gluten-free poutine?  That is usually not gluten-free

 

[apprehensiveengineer]

I wouldn't trust McDonald's on anything but black coffee. Many of their items are nominally free of gluten-containing ingredients, but the fast pace of the restaurant and teenage/low skill workers means that it is unlikely that proper care will be taken to minimize CC risk. The same is true of most fast food restaurants in any country, unfortunately.

Starbucks in Canada reliably carries pre-packaged food items that are gluten-free. Examples: marshmallow bar (rice cripsie knock-off), potato chips, apple chips, various bars, knock-off Reese's Pieces, packaged cheese.

Chipotle and Mucho Burrito are ok, but be sure to tell workers that you are celiac so that they change gloves and get fresh tubs from the back to prepare your burrito bowl. New York Fries and Smoke's Poutine have dedicated fryers, so you can get fries there. For Smoke's, they have a gluten-free gravy, but it is not guaranteed to be celiac safe due to shared equipment. Though most of their toppings are naturally gluten-free, I would ask them to get new tubs from the back to prepare your order just in case.

To be quite honest, if you are newly diagnosed I would not recommend eating out until you are healed and have a good handle on how you react to being glutened. As much as it sucks, prep your own food at home and bring it with you in a container.

[aliciahere]

2 hours ago, kareng said:

McDonald in Canada have gluten-free poutine?  That is usually not gluten-free

 

Yep- McDonald’s poutine is totally gluten free and very low risk for cc issues. Their fries and hash browns are also low risk and whenever I tell them I have an allergy they are always good about changing gloves- I may not trust them to make a bun less burger- but there fries station is a-ok in my book.

[Ennis-TX]

4 hours ago, aliciahere said:

Yep- McDonald’s poutine is totally gluten free and very low risk for cc issues. Their fries and hash browns are also low risk and whenever I tell them I have an allergy they are always good about changing gloves- I may not trust them to make a bun less burger- but there fries station is a-ok in my book.

Wait the ones in Canada are gluten free? In the US they have contains wheat warnings on the ingredients for the fries.

[kareng]

1 hour ago, Ennis_TX said:

Wait the ones in Canada are gluten free? In the US they have contains wheat warnings on the ingredients for the fries.

And the ones in the US are gluten free, too.  They test at less then 20 ppm.  The wheat is in  a flavoring used during the initial cooking process.... You can read about it on this site in multiple locations.

 

[Ennis-TX]

48 minutes ago, kareng said:

And the ones in the US are gluten free, too.  They test at less then 20 ppm.  The wheat is in  a flavoring used during the initial cooking process.... You can read about it on this site in multiple locations.

 

Still says contains wheat, hydrolyzed can be gluten free...and nothing about testing. >,> does not matter to me I do not eat potaotes anyway and they have corn oil and milk derivatives. BUT as a side of caution I would still never suggest a celiac eat at a Mc Ds with all the chances of CC, poor employee training. Maybe the prepacked yogurt and apple slices but nothing cooked on their equipment. You want fries...go to a dedicated 100% place or buy some ore ida ones.

[aliciahere]

4 hours ago, Ennis_TX said:

Wait the ones in Canada are gluten free? In the US they have contains wheat warnings on the ingredients for the fries.

Yes, while the ones in the USA are “questionable”, in Canada they are gluten free. If you watch the fry station they will see there is very little risk of cc, and if you are really worried, just state that you have an allergy and they are really good at changing gloves and making a fresh batch. It is my go-to for an easy meal out.

[apprehensiveengineer]

20 hours ago, aliciahere said:

Yep- McDonald’s poutine is totally gluten free and very low risk for cc issues. Their fries and hash browns are also low risk and whenever I tell them I have an allergy they are always good about changing gloves- I may not trust them to make a bun less burger- but there fries station is a-ok in my book.

This is not correct. McDonald's Canada does not list its poutine as one of its gluten-free items:

Open Original Shared Link

The reason is likely due to one of the ingredients in the gravy - yeast extract - which may be derived from barley. Barley is not an allergen that must be labelled.

Open Original Shared Link

Gluten Free Watchdog recently did a post on this topic - products that contain yeast extract that are not declared to be gluten-free cannot be assumed to be safe:

Open Original Shared Link

[apprehensiveengineer]

Also, I'll add that ever popular Tim Hortons is a gluten nightmare (I don't even get coffee there lol). They used to have prepackaged macaroons that were gluten-free, but those have disappeared since the company was bought out.

If you look at their allergen chart, you'll notice that the chili is nominally gluten-free. I'm not sure I'd risk it, since the soup/chili vats are located in the sandwich prep area in most restaurants. Solid chance some crumbs have gotten in to it.

The app Find Me Gluten Free is most helpful IMHO. It allows you to look at reviews of different restaurants offering gluten-free food/drinks by location. Typically, if a restaurant has a good number of 4-5 star reviews and has a lot of "celiac safe" reviews it's probably good. You can also filter by type of restaurant (eg. dedicated gluten-free, dedicated kitchen space etc.).

[cyclinglady]

I dunno.  Anyone ever work in a fast food restaurant as a teen?      Back in my day, there was no training in regards to allergies.  You just kept foods appropriately hot or cold to prevent food poisoning (and try to keep the roaches out).   I worked with some pretty dumb kids who did dumb stuff.  Unless kids have changed, I would be cautious when eating at any fast food as a celiac.  The manager or supervisor is not always  around.   Many companies have good food handling procedures in place, but do all employees follow them?   Choose wisely (like a baked potato in foil or bags of apples like Ennis suggested). ?

How do you think fried Oreos, Twinkies, burritos, and other such delicacies found at fair grounds nation-wide were developed?  ?