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Wednesday, November 30, 2011

PART 2 OF HOW TO GET GLUTEN FREE PRODUCTS IN YOUR LOCAL STORE

11/30/2011

Hello Fellow Celiacs
I thought I would write to you again about a post I did several months ago which is how to get gluten free items in the store  that you usually shop in.
The way you would do this is go into the store that you usually shop in, go to customer service and ask who is in charge of your gluten free aisle to bring things into the store.
They may say you can  only get new gluten free products by calling our corporate office, still ask for the name of the person in that department.  then thank the customer service person that you were talking to and ask for the corporate number.
go to the department where the gluten free items are and search out that person.  when you find him or her say I shop here all the time and love your store but I always have to shop at what ever store you get your product usually if it is by an online website  tell them this informaiton.  Let say the representative in the gluten free aisles name is Rich.  You would say rich when I have to go and purchase something online it cost way more money if I can get it here.  If I have to  purchase it there it cuts into the money that I use to shop in your store so I am not able to get as much as I would like to in your department.  Can you please if you  can see about bringing in this product so that I do not have to cut into my pocketbook  money that I usually spend in your store.  If you belong to any Celiac Support Groups let them know about this tell them I have a lot of Celiac friends and they would love to shop here for their products and I wold be glad to tell them that you have it now.
In most cases they will flip to bring in the product if they can, you will need the name of the product and yu will need the bar code that is printed on the package for them to look it up for their particular ordering book.  You will also need the company name.
In some instances you will have to go to the corporate number to get the product in.  this sounds intimidating but it is really not.  You just call the corporate number and say can you please giive  me the name of the person that would be the buyer for your gluten free foods.  Once you get the name ask to speak to that person..  when you get ahold of them say you would love to get this product into their store so that you do not have to go else where to get it.  in most cases they will work with you.
the next step would be to call the customer service number on the package that you have and let them know that you are tring to get the product into what ever store you are trying to get into .  tell them the name of the person you spoke to and where they are from and their telephone number.  this way it works much faster.  Your last step is to go to the person that you spoke with in the gluten free aisle.  You go back to the person that we named rich in the beginning of our article.  rich we spoke a week ago about getting in lets say my favorite bread Canyon Bake House Breads the San Juan Multi Grain Braead.   I am Ellen do you remember me.  Then say I have spoken to the Corporate office and they are working on bringing in the product is there any way we can work out a deal that you bring in a case and that I will go to you and get one loaf at a time and pay for it.  .  Some store will do this others will not.  I know Michelle Long in Plymouth Meeting Giant Food Store will work with you .  She is the head of the Gluten Free Department and she strives to help you out.  Her telephone number is 610 941 5448 ask to speak to her and she will try to help you ..
I am working now on getting Canyon Bake House Breads into Bottom Dollar Foods.  Bottom Dollar Foods do not have any gluten free items in their stores at all.  When I first approached them when they first opened they said that they do not have the space to put it in.  I waited until they were opened in our area for about a half of a year which is now then I went back to them spoke with the manager of the store.  Since  this is a small store you would go to the manager and ask about bringing in gluten free foods particularly a gluten free bread.  They were more approachable.   .  I let them know that when I shop I love their stores but I have to stop and then go to their competitor  Giant Food Stores and get my gluten free bread there which cuts into my time and money in their store.  They said that they did not think about that way and they would make an effort to bring in the bread I wanted.  I let them know that Canyon bake House Bread the San Juan Bread no one in this area .  So they will not be competing for it but it is really an outstanding gluten free bread  .  Bottom Dollar Foods you do have to go through the corporate office.  after speaking with the manager i went home and called the corporate office to bring it in.  they are working on it now.  It does take about 2 to 4 months for them to bring in a new product this is why I say to go back to the person Rich that we spoke earlier to and work with him to bring it in until it is in their store.  What happens is that he will place it in his freezer and when you come in you go to him and tell him how many you want.  He puts a code on it so he gets credit for his department and you get to know the price for the item.  This is how I get products into stores it does take some work but it is worth it.  .

The numbers for the Corporate office for some of the stores
I do not have Genuardi's number because there is a rumor out right now that Giant Food Stores will be buying most of them in the near future

Also one more tidbit there is a new virtual grocery store that is really great , they do not have many gluten free items but they are striving to bring in more.  Their website is www.alice.com  You have to put in a 50.00 order they will ship it to you in about three days and it is free shipping.  If you  put in the search bar the gluten free item that you would like they will either show you the item or say that there is 0 results for that particular item.
They will then direct you if they do not have to put in the information for them to bring it in.  I usually then call the customer service number which is a 1800 number and tell them what item I would like into their data base for gluten free items and they are very accommodating..    

Giant Food Stores Corporate Office Number 1 717 249 4000

Bottom Dolars Corporate Office Number 1 866  685 1180

Thank you

Ellen Gaffney
thegcats@comcast.net

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Sunday, November 27, 2011

NEW GLUTEN FREE WEBSITE TO SAVE ON GLUTEN FREE PRODUCTS

11/27/2011

Dear Fellow Celiacs:

I just found a great website called www.glutenfreesaver.com  This website you sign up for emails from their website.  Every day they will have deals on gluten free items from leading gluten free companies. 
These will be special savings that you can purchase online and they will be shipped to your door or they will have coupons for that product to redeem at the store you usually go to
They have a special right now for 12 packs Gluten Free Macaroni and Cheese for half off.  Take a look at their website and see what I am talking about .  The website again is www.glutenfreesaver.com

They say that they send out to you even more deals on gluten free items if you let others know about  their website and that you tell your friends on Facebook about their website.  I am not doing this blog just to get products , I have not done the procedures  to get those additional deals I am just giving you the information so that with this economy that you can save on your favorite gluten free foods. 

 
 When you sign up for their emails the deal of the day will come in your email , some of these deals you will like others you will not this is the best part you get to choose which deals that come that particular day that you like and if you do not like that particular deal no problem .  The next day their might be one that you do like   It might and probably will be of great savings to you from a gluten free company that you usually get your gluten free foods from. It could be  a deal on a new gluten free company  that you never heard of before and you find a great deal on something that you have not tried out as of yet and find out that it is a new gluten free find that you absolutely love.

This is a great way to find out gluten free companies and foods that have not come out in a  store near you   but you get at great savings

This is a win win situation that usually  does not come out to fellow celiacs so why not take a chance and sign up on this website so that you can get some deals on gluten free foods. instead of always having to pay out for more on gluten free options.

Thank you

Ellen Gaffney
thegcats@comcast.net 

Saturday, November 5, 2011

NATURAL SKIN CARE FROM YOUR KITCHEN

11/05/2011

Hi all I have come across some natural skin care products  that you can make for your self that work and are a lot cheaper then getting products from stores and of course a lot healthier.

First off Honey you can do so much with honey.  You can smother it on your face and leave it there for about 15 minutes then rinse off with  a warm  wash cloth and you have given yourself a great facial  and moisturizer.

You can use it for a hair conditioner by putting a generous amount on your  hair waiting  about twenty minutes and rinsing  off then shampoo to get all the honey out of your hair

My personal favorite for honey is to put about two tablespoons of honey maybe more if you have longer hair and fill the rest of a 16  oz cup with warm water.   Stir it until the honey and water are well dissolved  .  Let it sit there for about an hour or two .  This is now a hair lightener.  You can have it on wet or dry hair just pour the mixture over your hair.  You can let it sit there for as long as you can stand it then rinse off and shampoo or some people just leave it in until the next shampoo  to lighten and moisturize the hair.  This will not be a drastic change but it will lighten  little by little and you  will see a change.  I had used henna on my hair and it did not turn out well.  I was waiting for it to grow out.  I decided to cut my hair short to get most of it off.  It was half in that in between stage and I did not know what I was going to do.   Then I heard about this idea from a henna website and they said that this can be done on any type of hair henna, chemical treated colored hair or just natural that you want a change.  They say that it will give subtle results.  I tried it and it did work for me and best of all I am not damaging my hair.  Honey evidently has naturally in it hydrogen peroxide.  it is very low levels that is why it does it in a way that it is not dramatic.  I have done this now for about a week and my hair  is almost back to my natural color. I would recommend  not to use the leave in method that I told you about.  I  tried this one today and  after about 4 hours I had to wash it out,  my hair felt  in a word crunchy.  It did lighten it a little bit more.  You just have to have time and patience for this .  It is said that you leave the honey , water mixture on your head for as long as you can stand it.  They say for best results 4 - 8 hours.  They also say that it does better with  doing distilled water with the honey..Also one more tidbit once  you have the mixture on your head place either a conditioning cap or a shower cap on your head to keep your hair moist while you are lightening your hair.  If yu would like more information about Henna and how to do it correctly you can call the Henna Page at 1 330 673 0600 and you can look at their website at www.hennapage.com  this is the website that helped me out so much with the idea of the honey and water.  

My next great find is Coconut oil.  I love love coconut oil I use it as a moisturizer just taking some out of the jar I have and smothering it on.  I use it has a hair conditioner  and my personal favorite as a solid perfume.  You just get a small tin leave it a side then get a microwave safe cup and place a small amount of coconut oil in it microwave it on high for about 20 to 40 seconds then take it out and carefully fill your tin with it  then place about 40 drops of your favorite essential oil more if you like a very strong scent and you can mix a few scents to form your very own scent.  I used Jasmine grapefruit  and orange oil and a touch of lemon oil and it smells great.  Just wait until it hardens then put your lid on and you have a solid perfume that you have made right out of your kitchen.  Just make sure that you leave your solid perfume in a cool dry place so that it does not melt but if it does just let it harden again. 

My next favorite kitchen item is an Aloe  plant.  You can use this as a moisturizer as a healing agent for burns and my personal favorite as a great helper for someone like me who is 50  and is beginning to have those pesty lines on your face.  This plant acts like a line eraser and also it sucks up any puffiness in your face.  My sister lives in California I see her about every two to four months.  She was in town last week and when we met for coffee  she said to me you  look great your face looks fantastic what are you using and have you lost weight.   I thought at the time no I just do my usual things then that night I thought about it and realized it was the aloe plant

I wanted to put onto this skin care blog some of my older natural skin care tips so that they are there in one page  for you.

Soap nuts for a natural laundry soap  .  You can go to the website www.laundrytree.com  I love doing this , these  are from a plant in India that is how natural they are.  This is so economical too  You pay l9.95 which sounds a lot for a natural detergent but it is not really.  .  When you get your detergent you take out of it between 5 to 8 soapnuts and put them in the little cotton draw string bag that come in with it.  The Soap nuts look like acorns to me.  After you put them in the draw string bag you draw it close and knot it then place it in the washer with your clothes.  This its it , it is non scented so if you want scent you can get your favorite natural essential oils and place about twenty drops on a wash cloth and place it in the laundry then you will have scent.  You then can use the pouch of soapnuts up to 5 times.  Then you just make up a new set up soapnuts for your next laundry.  The laundry detergent that you bought will last you for half of a year.  There is a natural fabric softener in it by nature.  After yu have used the detergent up to 5 times you can make a liquid soap after it.  I love doing this I take the cotton bag that has the used soapnuts in it and place it in a pot of water and let it simmer for about a half an hour or you can just let it sit in a pot with out any heat over night.  Take it out and squeeze it out the soapnuts and this is now your liquid soap.  I put in mine a few table spoons of melted coconut oil a few table spoons of avocado oil and a few tablespoons of honey then I go to town working with different essential oils to form my favorite scent.  My skin is so soft and so smooth from doing this and their is a shimmer on my skin. I almost forgot I do put into it a few tablespoons of unscented Castile soap.  this acts as a preservative and makes it stay a little longer since this is so natural.

The next natural item I use is Baking Soda I use this as a shampoo.  I just put in about 2 to three table spoons  of baking soda in a 16 oz cup and fill the rest with warm water and stir this is it just either pour it straight on your hair  or you can do it with wetting your hair it really does not matter which way to do it then rinse off and that is it.  It might take a little bit of tiem for your hair to get used to it but it will be better then it was before after it doesg et used to it. 

if your hair is a little bit dry at any time just put some coconut oil in your hand about a very small amount rub it in your hands then put it on your hair and it will hav eso much shine to it. 



I guess this is all my natural tricks so far for natural skin care in your kitchen

Thank you

Ellen Gaffney
thegcats@comcast.net       .