Day 139: Great Underwear Search of ‘08 (update 2)

Posted on | January 18, 2008 |

After dropping The Son off for his Friday classes, I made the trek northward for my appointment with the auto body shop. I had, literally, a fender bender in December after a very icy snow storm. Apparently the entire metro area was involved in one accident or another because today was the first day they could fit me in — for an estimate! The bumper needs to be replaced but there was no damage done to the actual body of the car. Our deductible is $500. The total repair bill will be $624.63. Ugh. Even worse, it’s a two-day repair. How in the world we’re going to get by with one car for two days is anyone’s guess. I need to call on Monday to see if we have rental car coverage.

On the way home from the repair shop, I stopped at Wild Oats. They have officially stopped carrying their house-brand white flour tortillas. This means that the one and only prepackaged bread product that I can eat is no longer available. Words do not exist to express how devastated I am. I consoled myself with a tray of sushi — $6.40.

I’ve decided to boycott Wild Oats and Whole Foods and their whole stupid, insensitive corporate conglomerate. Can anyone tell me why not a single tortilla maker uses canola oil to make their tortillas? Do you know what Whole Foods puts in their tortillas? Soy! I know that I’m not alone in being allergic to soy. It’s a fairly common allergen. Who’s allergic to canola oil? No one, that’s who. Or at least not me. There are two whole sources of oil that I can eat. Two. I can eat canola oil and olive oil. That’s it. That’s all. Canola oil. And Olive Oil. Not sesame oil. Not sunflower oil. Not cottonseed oil. Not palm oil. Not “vegetable” oil. Not shortening. Canola Oil. And Olive Oil. And not one single tortilla maker uses either of those oils.

Enough of that. On to the latest update in the Great Underwear Search of ‘08.

The Son and I stopped at a different T.J. Maxx this afternoon on the way home from class. He picked out two more brands and styles of briefs to try. We picked up two packages of men’s size small Tommy Hilfiger “Hip Briefs” — $5.00/ea. (one package to wash and try, the second package as a back-up in case they work; to be returned if they don’t). We also picked up a package of Calvin Klein briefs in a boy’s size XL (16-18) — $5.99. I’m reluctant to open them and wash them because they’re the same size as what he’s wearing right now. And the whole reason we’ve embarked on the Great Underwear Search of ‘08 is because his current underwear is too small. Tune in for the next installment of “Is the Underwear Right?!”

My final expense of the day was $4.00 in cash for admission to watch The Daughter’s game tonight.

A full yet thoroughly unproductive day. Just another day in my suburban paradise….

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5 Responses to “Day 139: Great Underwear Search of ‘08 (update 2)”

Melanie
January 18th, 2008 @ 11:28 pm

While it’s not nearly as convenient as picking up a package, tortillas aren’t that difficult to make and only have a few ingredients (flour, salt, oil, water). I’m not sure how much you cook, but email me if you want a simple recipe for them!
A
January 25th, 2008 @ 11:20 am

If you google about for “canola oil allergy” and “allergic to canola oil” you’ll find that there are people who are. (Myself included.) As Melanie suggested above, tortillas aren’t difficult to make. If Trader Joe’s ever makes a house-brand of tortillas, you can rest assured that they’ll be made with canola oil - 90% of the goods there are.
Suburban Wife
January 25th, 2008 @ 12:52 pm

A — Thanks for your comment. I didn’t mean to make light of an allergy to canola oil. I was being sarcastic and self-pitying.

I have played around with tortilla recipes and found one that my kids like but I only sort of like. I’m sure there are better recipes out there.

The problem with my one pre-packaged bread source drying up is not so much that it can’t be replaced at home. The real problem arises when I travel. Because my food allergies are so extensive, I cannot eat in restaurants. And there are very, very few packaged foods I can eat — mostly just two or three cold cereals. I’d finally solved part of my traveling issues by buying a tiny traveling fridge. This allows me to keep my packaged tortillas from going bad and stocking up on an Odwalla juice or two.

The past few times that I’ve traveled, I’ve done my homework before leaving home by mapping out Wild Oats store locations. I’ve also mapped out Whole Foods and Trader Joes stores but they could only be counted on for ingredients, not ready-to-eat products. When traveling through some parts of the country, as I did last summer, it can be literally impossible to find a source of “clean” food. Food, food everywhere but not a bite to eat. As easy as tortillas might be to make myself, I can’t do it in a Holiday Inn Express motel room.

I’ll have to make another round-trip cross-country trip this summer. This time I expect it will be even more difficult because I won’t be able to start either end of my journey with a stash of frozen Wild Oats tortillas.
Lori
February 29th, 2008 @ 7:13 pm

La Fe makes canola oil flour tortillas. Henry’s market carries them. The are a sister store to Wild Oats.
Al
April 9th, 2008 @ 12:03 am

I’m also allergic to canola oil. I don’t remember which brands but pretty sure they’re at Costco and Giant. There are a ton! More than 1/2 the tortillas I’ve seen have canola