Wegmans Blog: Fresh Stories

Stir-frying is a quick way to get a flavorful, veggie-packed meal on the table in minutes.  Finding a gluten-free sauce isn’t always so easy – until now!  Our chefs developed seven new Asian Classics Sauces with authentic flavor profiles using ingredients that are Vegan, Lactose-Free and Gluten-Free!

My son and I enjoy cooking together and we made Vegetables with Stir Fry Sauce.  We paired the veggie stir-fry with the Gluten Free Bourbon Street Chicken and the family loved it.  It was so easy to prepare and tasted great too!

No time to cook? We’re working on ways to help. Items like these can make gluten-free meals easier, but not so much when you’re in a rush.   With more restaurants offering gluten-free menu options, we’re constantly receiving inquires like these:

• Could you tell me if any of the $6 entrees are gluten-free?
• Do you have any prepared items that are gluten-free, and are you labeling them as such?

We conducted a few pilots looking to establish a process that would allow us to offer fresh-prepared, gluten-free foods.  We realized that because our stores have different layouts we are not able to implement company wide protocols to prevent cross contact with gluten at this time.

Some customers told us they understand this risk, but want to know if we have prepared foods items that are made without gluten as an ingredient.  So to start we will begin identifying some of our items that are made without gluten by listing “No Gluten Ingredients” on the product’s sign.

Remember, No Gluten Ingredients doesn’t mean the item is gluten-free, It does mean the item was not made with any ingredients derived from wheat, rye, barley, or oats, and may contain gluten due to the risk of cross contact.   (For customers who aren’t concerned about gluten, fear not— we didn’t modify these recipes in any way. We just verified that the ingredients used do not contain gluten.)

You’ll find No Gluten Ingredients items on the Fresh Foods Bar, Vegetarian Bar, $6 Meals case and Service Deli case.  If we find this information is helpful to customers, we may expand No Gluten Ingredients signage to other areas.  We are also training our Prepared Foods employees about what gluten is and why some customers are looking for gluten-free foods. They will be able to explain how No Gluten Ingredients items differ from Wegmans brand packaged items that are labeled with our Gluten-Free Wellness Key. That way, we’re all on the same page.

While No Gluten Ingredients items won’t meet everyone’s needs.  We will continue to offer a variety of packaged gluten-free items from Wegmans and other brands as well as explore other options. I hope you’ll enjoy these tasty stir-fry sauces as much as my family has.

Try them out with your family and let us know what you think.

Trish Kazacos, RD, ACE-CPT

Wegmans Nutritionist

5 years @ Wegmans