If you haven’t already made it to you local grocery store to stock up for Passover you might want to head over there. Passover is a veritable bonanza of gluten-free, dairy-free and corn-free foods that you cannot find the rest of the year.

Once a year, observant Jews rid their homes of most grain products with the exception of matzah. Then they have a big party. Which, except for the matzah, tends to be gluten-free. So they need lots of snacks. There are rules I don’t fully understand which also means that barley, corn, soy and other grains are off limits. This means that the stores are full of Passover food you can eat.

Because of the need to segregate dairy from meat, many of the products are not only kosher for Passover but also Pareve which means that they don’t contain meat or milk. If your dairy allergy is severe double check the packaging for cross contamination potential. It is usually quite safe but the standard for kosher may not be enough for someone with severe allergies.

So I already purchased a one year supply of crackers, chocolate syrup (made with cane sugar instead of corn syrup and without dairy products) gluten free and rice free egg noodles and shells for chicken noodle soup (the noodles are made with eggs) and even some gluten-free and sugar-free cake mixes. My son is relishing his gluten and corn free onion ring snacks. I am planning an even bigger trip to the actual Kosher grocery store, but these items I mention can be found at your regular grocery store.

A few words of warning

1) Most of these products come from Israel. Israel is on the metric system. The cake mixes sometimes seem to have been translated poorly. For example there is a frosted cake mix from Gefen that suggests that you use a tablespoon of water for the icing. Don’t do it. They mean a teaspoon. Also I have a sugar-free gluten-free coffee cake downstairs that is kind of like a pie or custard despite my following directions to the letter. It tastes good, but…

2) They make Lays Potato chips with palm oil and Coke with real sugar for Passover. Feel free to stock up on corn and GMO free potato chips. Coca Cola, however, makes a very small run of the Coke products so unless you are corn allergic or an observant Jew, it is not nice to stock up on the Coke with real sugar.

Also if anyone works for Coca-Cola, please note the demand for a product with cane sugar. You can charge more for it. Just a thought.

Happy Passover!