The Grocery Store That Gluten-Free Customers Love To Shop At

Grocery shopping according to a dietary restriction or allergy usually means having to go to a health food store for the "best of" certain items, including dairy-free cheese, meat replacements, or gluten-free breads. And because of their rarity, these products come with a steep price tag. Gluten-free foods tend to cost more because of the short shelf life of their ingredients and the careful measures needed from producers to avoid cross-contamination. But surprisingly, one of the most popular discount retailers in the nation has a gluten-free section to write home about, as gluten-free customers rave about the selection and pricing of Walmart's gluten-free aisle.

It's rare to find a traditional grocery store with a dedicated gluten-free aisle; most have one or two GF options available mixed in with the other items, like pasta or bread. Walmart's section has multiple options for many different categories of foods, such as bread, cookies, muffins, bagels, pizza, baking mixes, dinner kits, candy, and snacks. And it's not just the popular gluten-free brands like Udi's and Glutino that they offer — Walmart's signature brand, Great Value, has a line of GF products from boxed mac and cheese to a cheeseburger pasta dinner kit. And for every product in the GF section, Walmart is still able to keep its prices lower than what you'd find at a specialty grocery store.

Aside from its pasta meal kits, Walmart also offers a range of plain gluten-free pastas to choose from. To substitute gluten-free pasta in recipes, use a large pot to cook the pasta, salt the water well, and check it frequently to avoid mushy, overcooked noodles. The superstore also offers some of the best gluten-free flour alternatives for cakes and any other baking needs; you can find King Arthur's Measure for Measure GF Flour, Bob's Red Mill 1:1 GF Flour, and more on the shelves.

The Schar brand, which many credit for the rise in popularity of gluten-free bread, can also be found on Walmart's shelves. The retailer sells a variety of Schar products, like snickerdoodles, chocolate and sandwich cookies, pizza crust, wafers and "Kit Kat" copycats, shortbread cookies, and more. Even if you're not strictly gluten-free, some of its offerings are so tasty that it's worth browsing the aisle on your next trip to Walmart.