Meltdown in Aisle Four

I went to Giant Eagle to pick up a few groceries, and, as it usually does, a few items turned into several items. I found myself craving things I couldn't have like chocolate covered prezels and Lorna Dunes and pathetically checking the ingredients, thinking, Maybe these Lorna Dunes or these Oreos will be made without wheat flour? I sadly searched the boxes of the Ginger Snaps, the Vanilla Wafers, cookies I haven't eaten years, and yet, because they are not forbidden, they seem so appealing.

A few things were wheat free, but then there were Ben's peanut allergies to consider. Diana's Bananas, which I love, is made with peanut oil. I found myself thinking, Maybe I can eat Frosty Paws, an ice cream for dogs, but I think--though I did not check--that that contains forbidden ingredients too.

I was going to get Ben some Gerber's oatmeal cereal since the Earth's Best says it may contain traces of wheat, but the Gerber's is made with wheat flour. One night a while ago, Ben had a bad eczema flareup, and we think it might have been caused by Gerber's rice cereal, which has numerous ingredients. Earth's Best just has a few.

I did find---some corn tortillas, which appear to be wheat free, some ready-to-eat spare ribs, some awesome lunch meats to make an antipasta salad with, and a not very good Hershey's Carmel candy bar, which I scarfed down at the cash register and later regretted. It is made in a facility with nuts maybe but did not appear to contain them. I also got yummy looking hot-Italian sausage, splurged on Delmonico grilling steaks, got some Bob Evans garlic mashed potatoes and some other meat stuffed with meat as well as organic burgers plus two kinds of lettuce for the salad and plum tomatoes for Jamie.

If Ben continues to have these allergies, I don't want him to feel deprived of anything, so I'll continue to scour the stores and special order when I need to so that he doesn't feel deprived.