Two and a Half Cheers for Tesco Free From

Have you spotted the gluten free ready meals from Tesco yet?

We came across them almost by accident; I don’t usually go down that aisle in the store, because I don’t usually buy ready meals (too expensive to feed five of us on ready meals), and even if I did, I wouldn’t expect anything to be gluten free.

But I found these when I placed an order online:

  • Free From three cheese fusilli pasta bake
  • Free From chicken and bacon pasta bake
  • Free From beef lasagne
  • Free From beef and dumplings
  • and Free From spaghetti bolognaise.

Did I miss something? Or did these just sneak in without much publicity? I even chatted to the Tesco Free From brand people at the recent Free From Foods Awards event, and they were all about the Free From dairy-free products, and didn’t even mention these…

No matter: we’ve tasted the first two on this list, and the beef lasagne is in the freezer (it was on special offer, yay!). And… she liked them!

I probably won’t buy them very often, because of the cost, and because I prefer to cook a meal we can all eat. However, it is great to know that they are there, and they’ll be a good fallback for the occasional evening. Or, of course, if one of her friends wants to invite her round to eat, and needs something easy to feed her.

So, two and a half cheers. Not three, because it seems to me that Tesco is struggling with communications. Not only was I not aware of these… why not, Tesco? You know that I buy Free From goods; you have my email address; you print out coupons for me […]

By |June 16th, 2012|Living Gluten Free, Shopping Gluten Free|9 Comments
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Gluten Free and Out in the Cold

Did you see the findings from the survey that Warburton’s Free From carried out?

11% of Brits wouldn’t invite someone—even family and friends—to a meal if they had special dietary needs, such as needing a gluten free diet. This even includes Christmas dinner and wedding breakfasts, events that are usually inclusive and welcoming!

This is mostly for ‘good’ reasons: fear about making their guests ill, or not knowing what to cook. But it really doesn’t have to be hard, as a lot of food is naturally gluten free.

Reassuringly, most of those surveyed thought they could cater for these friends if they had the right advice: 87%.

If you’re worried about inviting someone with special dietary needs to eat with you, then ask them for help and advice! There is advice online, but asking the person you’d like to cater for what would would be OK for them not only makes it easier for you, but is also reassuring for them.

It is unnerving to go to eat somewhere else, because of the risk involved. You could help your visitor out by telling them what you plan to offer, asking where the risks lie and discussing alternatives.

They may be worried about cross-contamination in your kitchen. It means gluten unintentionally getting into their food – it doesn’t mean they think your kitchen is dirty! It’s easily done: transferring crumbs, for example, on a knife, or maybe serving two dishes, one gluten free and one not, with the same spoon. Your guest won’t want to be rude, but slip-ups like this may mean they can’t eat what you’re offering.

Please do invite people! Even if they prefer to bring their own […]

By |May 18th, 2012|Campaigns, Living Gluten Free|1 Comment
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Taste Test: Helen’s Brilliant Mixes

Ever got to nearly-lunch-time and realised that you didn’t have any gluten free bread?

That certainly happens to us!

We were recently sent some of Helens Brilliant Mixes to try the scones, brown bread, and white bread. These have been around for a while; I think we picked up a pack of bread mix in Sainsbury’s some time ago. They’re obviously having a marketing push at the moment to try to bring them to the attention of the consumers. That’s us!

The mixes were just as good as I had remembered. We whizzed the scones up in no time, when some surprise guests arrived, and they went down very well with everyone. I know that ‘normal’ scones are really speedy too, but it was good to have something quick, easy and gluten free to offer.

And both breads turned out well too. The white bread takes a little longer, but it is versatile, as it could apparently be used as a pizza base or foccaccia. We’ll have to try doing that next time.

I don’t normally buy mixes, because I was taught to bake from scratch as a child—though before we knew anything about coeliac disease. But I can see that having a ready prepared mix would be very helpful, particularly if you’ve recently been diagnosed, since baking gluten free is different to ‘normal’ baking. And I would be tempted to buy these again, as they seem reliable, and my daughter liked the results.

Though it must be said that no ready mix is going to be as cheap to use as mixing your own from the basic ingredients—you’re paying for the convenience. But that might be a […]

By |May 17th, 2012|Living Gluten Free, Shopping Gluten Free|0 Comments
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It’s The Little Things: Allergy & Free From Show 2012

Are you going to London for the Allergy & Free From Show 2012? It’s less than a fortnight away now, but if you don’t have a ticket yet, you can still get a free ticket here.

We’ll be there.

We went last year, and it was great. Exhausting, because it is such a big event, but really enjoyable. We talked to very many different manufacturers, and learnt a lot about new products and services. I just love to see the range of products available to us constantly increasing… and I am delighted by the choice now available!

But the best bit, for me, was when we took a break for lunch in the cafe, which was selling only gluten-free products. That was excellent in itself (and they were pre-packaged, so no risk of cross-contamination). But there was more…

We sat down to eat, and I tucked in to my gluten free houmous and red pepper sandwich, without realising that my teenage daughter didn’t know how to open the triangular box to get at hers. Because she’d never, ever, eaten a sandwich that had been wrapped up and made available for sale before.

I’ll write that again: she’d never eaten a bought gluten free sandwich before. Obviously she’s eaten gluten free sandwiches all her life, but a year ago, we’d never seen one available for sale, still less one wrapped up in a triangular display box.

Such a little thing—a tiny thing—but it shows just how different her experience of life has been from that of most of her peers.

And she was thrilled. Here it is, a year later, and it still comes up in conversation occasionally. The […]

By |May 10th, 2012|Events, Living Gluten Free|0 Comments
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Gluten Free Tipping Point?

Are we at a tipping point?

Has living gluten free finally become normalised?

In the course of one day last week, I learnt that:

  • one of the restaurants in our nearest town has a gluten free menu
  • one of the bakeries in that town has a poster in the window, advertising that they stock gluten free products (it turns out these are from the Gluten Free Kitchen, and they are delicious, particularly the carrot cake and the coffee and walnut…
  • and the cafe down the road is stocking Delice de France gluten free bread rolls and sweet muffins. I didn’t even know Delice de France offered gluten free products!

So: is the gluten free diet becoming the norm, and acceptable in the way that, say, the vegetarian diet is acceptable? Or was this just one day in which I really looked at my local town?

By |April 30th, 2012|Gluten Free Market, Living Gluten Free|0 Comments
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