grocery store fail

So I usually go grocery shopping fairly early in the day to avoid everyone else as i need to read ingredient labels. Particularly on days when I know I want to try something different, instead of always buying things that I know I can eat--it gets old! There are usually some great new discoveries (I just cracked open a bag of kettle cooked potato chips that are sun-dried tomato and parmesan flavored--delicious!) but a lot of disappointments. Today, I was going to try out a new recipe. It's getting cooler and thus it's crock pot season! So I had this great looking black bean and hominy recipe which would basically make a taco salad. Not too different from my recipe where I dump black beans, mexicorn, and sometimes salsa if I have it into a pot on the stovetop, but I was willing to see what it would be like. Plus this one had condensed cream of mushroom soup in it, so it had the potential to be a different flavor.

Soup can be the bane of my existence. I'm pretty sure Campbell's has either yeast or autolyzed yeast extract in every single soup. I know some of their sip'n'go cups don't, but the actual cans do. The same goes for the off-brand soups too...I know I personally shop at Kroger and Walmart and have checked those, but I'd be willing to say most of the others have yeast in their brand too. I went so far last week as to buy organic cream of celery for my potato enchiladas only to be brought down by rice flour and rice starch! There's an organic brand called Amy's that makes soups, and I know a) their cream of mushroom doesn't have anything in it I can't eat and b) Walmart carried that brand. Success! I headed out to Walmart and found Amy's soups...AND THEY DIDN'T HAVE THE CREAM OF MUSHROOM. Foiled.

This is actually the story of my life (and my mom's too). We know exactly what brands are carried at what stores and what may/may not work. I know Wishbone salad dressings don't have eggs in them (at least the ones I've looked at), but almost all the other brands have either egg or yeast in them. Luckily, almost every store carries Wishbone. There are other things, like the Rainbow Cookie Poptarts (which appear to be discontinued!) that my mom buys/bought at Food Lion. They've not been seen elsewhere. Sometimes I get food from my mom and across the front in permanent marker--"Kroger" or "Walmart" or wherever she found that. Sometimes I have to call her and say that none of my food stores carry x, y, or z so she needs to go get it.

So the next time I go to the grocery store? It'll be Kroger, to stock up on the particular brands they carry.

In other news, the sugar cookie poptarts have been spotted! It almost makes up for the lack of cream of mushroom soup...:)