Three out of four Smart Travel Family members are celiac, so we know firsthand about this condition and the challenges and dangers coming with it. And – how difficult it is to find gluten-free food as a traveler in a new location.
This guide will help short-term tourists and those planning to stay in Tenerife for longer periods to quickly find both gluten-free essentials and treats. The guide includes a general overview and also covers all main supermarket chains in detail.
Do SuperDino Tenerife stores have a good gluten-free selection?
SuperDino and Hiperdino stores have probably the second-best gluten-free selection after Alcampo (Auchan).
The best thing about this chain – it has probably the widest store network on the island, hence, there’s likely a store within 20 minutes walking distance.
And – where there’s a SuperDino, there’s at least one dedicated GF shelf with bread and other essentials.
What gluten-free items are available in SuperDino and Hiperdino stores on the island?
The strongest case for visiting a SuperDino store was that no matter the size of it, there was always at least one dedicated shelf with gluten-free goodies. You are guaranteed to leave with bread, pasta, flour, cereals and some cookies. Often, the selection was much better and included pre-made frozen and fresh pizas.
Gluten-free items are also clearly marked in SuperDino and Hiperdino stores. While one could wish for more color, you just have to pay attention to the black-and-white wheat symbol.
Did you notice something else in these stores not covered in the post? If yes, please leave a comment and, if possible, share a picture which we’ll gladly include in the article. You can send us an email to smarttravelfamilyhq@gmail.com or also on Facebook or Instagram.
This article is part of a series on gluten-free selection in Tenerife’s supermarket chains. Go to the main article to get a quick overview and what’s on offer in other stores: Alcampo, SuperDino, Mercadona, Lidl, Aldi, 5 Oceanos.
Let’s dive into more detail – here are the items we noticed and a comment about each of them.
Bread, pastries, gofio
SuperDino stores always carry at least two types of Schar bread. Occasionally, other brands were also available, but we didn’t like those as much.
There were also plenty of pastry products: muffins, cookies etc.
The gluten-free shelf was also the right location where to get gofio, the traditional Canary Islands roasted corn flour. While corn is naturally GF, gofio is often produced in mills where also wheat is handled and cross-contamination is guaranteed. For this reason, always select gofio that’s certified as gluten-free.
Breakfast cereals, cookies
Our kids very much appreciated that SuperDino stores carried not only the regular corn flakes variety without sugar but also tastier brands. While breakfast cereals in SuperDino stores were more expensive compared to Alcampo, sometimes it’s ok to pay for convenience.
We often stopped at SuperDino stores on Saturday hikes to stock up on granola bards and cookies. Note that most stores are closed on Sundays on the island, so make your store runs during the week or on Saturdays.
Gluten-free pizza
SuperDino stores almost always carry at least this one type of gluten-free pizza. While the taste was nothing to write home about, it did the job, particularly for our always-hungry tween. He liked to improve the taste with an additional cheese topping.
Yatekomo gluten-free instant noodles
Yes, we admit it – we allowed our kids to have instant noodles from time to time, as these were also a delicacy for them which they had coveted but never had before our stay in Tenerife. Too bad this variety is often not available in mainland Europe stores despite Yatekomo produce being widely available.
A great emergency meal when the kids are tired and the parents don’t have the energy to make something or go out for a meal.
Clearly marked gluten-free candy
This is something we appreciated a lot in Superdino stores – clear indication if candy was safe for our kids. In other stores too often you have to study the tiny letters on the back while your kids are impatiently waiting.
Broth
Gluten-free chicken broth was not usually in the dedicated GF shelf, however, most stores usually had several varieties. These could be used to quickly whip up a soup.
Gluten-free chocolate
This one was a bit iffy. The stores carried many types of supposedly gluten-free chocolate but only a few of the varieties were ‘certified gluten-free’ on their packaging/wrapping.
I guess it always pays to exercise common sense and not blindly trust the store markings.
SuperDino and Hiperdino store locations in Tenerife
I have not been able to find a reliable number of SuperDino and Hiperdino stores in Tenerife, but the number is to large to be display them all in one Google Maps view of the island. Once you know where you’ll live, search for SuperDino + locality, and a SuperDino or even a Hiperdino will show up in the vicinity.
Title image copyright: Tim Pope, Wikipedia.org, CC BY-SA 3.0
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