Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Corn-Free Shopping Online Reviews

The following is a list of sites where you may be able to purchase items from the Corn-Free lists or where you may be able to find other corn-free options. This list also includes sites which promote corn-free shopping, but do not necessarily deliver. Those particular sites are posted here to caution you from blindly trusting online sites, and to point out where you might have problems.

This list is not 100% complete as you may be able to find other online sources for Corn-Free products, if you do know of another source that should be listed here, do email us with your experience.

As always do use caution when buying any product, as manufacturers may change ingredients without notice.

Sites are intended to be listed from the most helpful to the least helpful, but since that is subjective, you may or may not agree with me. :)

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AllergyGrocer.com --- was safe, then closed, and now has reopened. It looks like they are now no longer good for corn-free items like they used to be in the past. Do make sure you read labels and verify ingredient sources. I would not trust their corn-free search to be accurate.

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Amazon.com occasionally carries items from the corn-free list. They're usually reasonably priced (sometimes cheaper than Allergygrocer.com); however, do make sure you read labels and make certain that it is the actual corn-free product rather than a similar version which may contain corn. You also need to watch whether it is shipped from Amazon or from another company. Shipping from other companies increases your shipping costs and can make the overall price much more expensive.

Also Amazon will occasionally have sales or specials on corn-free items, these sales are rare but sometimes provide real savings on foods which we rarely receive discounts. Read the fine print when you sign up, and check the box for the monthly special offers from Amazon, these will often alert you if there are any specials on products you might use (aka corn-free items). Amazon also has "Email Subscriptions" to which you can subscribe in order to receive information on their special offers in that category. Below I've listed the two categories which might be the most beneficial.
Amazon Gourmet Foods Specials - Signup Monthly Newsletter
Amazon Deals - Daily Deals - Signup Daily Newsletter

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Bison Ridge Ranch is an online provider of corn-free Bison meats. Their plain meats are corn-free, though their lunchmeats, sausages, flavored, and un-perishable meats have not been verified corn-free yet. The Bison is grass-fed, and has a very slight game taste though you may not notice it if you normally spice or use flavorful sauces on your meats. It is a very very lean meat, so much so that you often have to add oil to the pan to keep it from sticking. It is actually leaner than chicken or turkey, even though this is a red meat.

The meat is frozen and overnighted to your doorstep (see their shipping guidelines). Shipping is a limited $19.99 within the 48 contiguous states, no matter how much you order at a time making larger orders much more economical.

They also sell gift certificates for you to put on your gift wish list. :)

FYI: The meat/steaks can be rather tough. The meat is also very filling, probably because there is little fat or water melting out of the meat. The 1/4 lb burgers may seem small, but you definitely don't need more than that as nothing cooks out of the meat. I would equate a 1/4 lb bison burger to about 1/3-1/2lb regular beef burger. The cube steak can have some tough strains in it, so make sure to cut your bites small. Their short ribs are heavenly though. I cut them into individual pieces/bones, browned them, then boiled them for 2 hours. They were extremely tender, very lean for rib meat, and delicious. These btw are the only cuts of meats from them that I have tried so far.

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Eden Foods Online Store carries nearly every Eden Foods product imaginable. While many Eden products can be found locally in most places (usually metropolitan areas or health food grocery stores), there are many more Eden products that you'll never see locally but might be beneficial to expanding a limited diet, such as their pastas from various grains.

Eden Foods is a good reliable company known for its good labeling practices and allergy-friendly customer service. Many of their products are on our safe list, and many more probably should be.

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Kosher Meat Products Online: Only Plain meats will be corn-free. Seasoned and ground meats, including burgers, may contain flavoring extracts derived from corn, or seasonings with other corn derivatives. Most people have found these products locally, so I am unsure of the ordering process, shipping costs, etc. You may also want to contact your local Jewish community to see what grocery stores cater to Kosher foods, as you may be able to get these locally for cheaper, or you may get a local Kosher store to start ordering them for you.

Aaron's Kosher Organic
Aaron's Kosher Home - Non-Organic

Empire Kosher Direct

Dr. Praeger's Online Store: Dr. Praeger's Potato Crusted Fish Sticks are on the safe list, and can be found on their online site under Gluten-Free Products. Dr. Praeger's Potato Crusted Fishies (fun fish shaped fish-sticks) are also safe. They also seem to make a potato crusted Fish Fillet, which carries the same ingredients as the other two potato crusted items, so I would assume that it is safe as well. There are a couple other items on Dr. Praeger's site that may be corn-free, but I don't have any info if they've been tried or if there are cross-contamination issues. If you know if any other Dr. Praeger products are corn-free, do let us know.

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DrugStore.com is another place to find corn-free products, but only if you know what you are seeking. Prices are fairly reasonable, and sometimes you can get a good deal on a sale.

Unlike some sites, DrugStore.com does tend to list all ingredients of a product as well as other label information on the site so you can see exactly what you’re purchasing.

Products you can usually find at DrugStore.com include: GNC Fish Oil, Shikai shampoo/conditioner, Badger Balms, Sliquid Silver, and various other items.

DrugStore.com also offers "DrugStore Dollars" in which a percentage of your purchase total turns into $’s off your next purchase. They also often add gift items to your purchase if you purchase certain items or made purchases of a certain dollar amount. These items are not usually corn-free, but they do make good gifts for non-allergy friends/family. Drugstore.com also saves a list of your previous purchases that you can peruse when you sign on and easily see if they’re on sale.

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Special Foods.com is another source of corn-free products. They are very food allergy/intolerant friendly and are very careful to only to use very minimal ingredients. Though do be careful as their products are extremely pricey. I am also not aware of anyone that has actually purchased anything from there.

Special Foods.com Products and Price List

If anyone has tried these products, do let us know of your experiences.

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Rite Care Pharmacy Online is a reliable source of Phytopharmica vitamins at bargain prices. If you’re looking into Phytopharmica vitamins, this is the place to shop. Rite Care’s site does not list the ingredients of each product though, so you may want to peruse the products on Phytopharmica’s website before purchasing at Rite Care.

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Gluten Solutions.com might be helpful for those seeking gluten-free foods as well as corn-free foods, as this store will have more of a variety of gluten-free options than some other online sites.

This site does have a handy allergy search engine, but it is not 100% effective as they do not seem to consider xanthan gum, extracts, natural flavors, or other refined corn derivatives as corn. So do make sure to read the ingredients very very carefully before purchasing, as well as check the Corn & Gluten-Free list.

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ShopCornFree.com boasts corn-free shopping but it doesn't necessarily deliver. While some products are corn-free, others might be corn-free, some products definately aren't corn-free. When shopping at this site, please consider any product not on the Corn-Free lists to contain corn, or to be severely risky. They do not seem to consider enzymes from corn, xanthan gum, extracts, natural flavors, or other refined corn derivatives as corn.

For those new to avoiding corn, I would just avoid ShopCornFree.com completely. Actually I would recommend avoiding this site completely for everyone, as there are other sites available to get most of these products.

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3 comments:

Kathie said...

Where can I purchase Idun yeast? The Norwegian Seamen's Church in Houston is out and is having problems with their supplier. The San Francisco church doesn't carry it. I have emailed the New York church. Any other suggestions? Thanks.--KJE

V said...

Idun Yeast was found on www.norwill.com
but no one has reported buying from them. So not sure on their reliability.

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