Our eyes met over the gluten-free Hobnobs and there was an instant connection.
See, the supermarket free-from aisle is a magical place. You can fill your trolley with stuff you never thought you needed, drain most of the weekly budget on chocolate biscuits and meet like-minded (and physically broken) people.
Where else can you so easily strike up a conversation in a shop? Certainly not over frozen peas or tampons. “Oh, no, really, you MUST try the super-flow, they are fantastic.”
My latest brief encounter, with a lovely pensioner in Tesco, was an eye-opener.
In the space of five minutes, I found out she loves the smaller Genius brown loaf but can only get the larger, not so fresh-tasting one, on prescription. But her coeliac mate, who lives around the corner, can get it. What’s all that about?
And you can easily make up the cost of your Coeliac UK membership with the vouchers they send out – especially if you’re a pensioner, as you pay less. I don’t know, free bus passes, extra heating, these pensioners don’t know they’re born.
She also pointed me in the direction of Lees’ snowball marshmallow teacakes (six for 69p!) that were in the ‘normal’ biscuit aisle. “It’s a good job they haven’t clocked on to the gluten-free label on the pack or they’d put them here and add an extra pound on,” she whispered. Surely not, would they…?
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See, the free-from aisle is a proper little bubble, where it is completely acceptable to spill your guts about all sorts, including your guts. Or if you’re not in a talky mood, you can do little sideways glances and guess if they are coeliac, allergic, intolerant or just following what the Daily Mail health section is saying that week.
My latest informative chat got me thinking about free-from aisles. What underused places they are and what unappreciated shoppers we are. I mean, where is the love, big chains? Aren’t you supposed to be fighting tooth and nail for customers?
Here is a demographic willing to pay £3 for nine slices of bread. That will happily fork out double the normal price for a lemon slice. We are special.
But we are rarely able to join in the free taster sessions shops do. So why not host nights aimed at us, where we can test products in the store? Hook up with the big brands? I mean, I drove for 45 minutes the other day just to get my hands on a Christmas turkey stuffing new sandwich from M&S. This is the determined, crazy customer base you should be sucking up to, to get their undying loyalty.
We are hungry for a bargain and for ANY new product. I have cupboards full of GF pork scratchings that say so.
So how about about it, Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s, M&S, Morrisons, Co-op, Aldi, Lidl, Waitrose, Booths? Show us a bit more love, host some special events and cash in on our free-from pound. Ah, go on.
By Kay Harrison – usually found lurking in supermarket free-from aisles trying to find friends