So, there are plenty of great gluten free products out there, and just as many BAD ones. Just because brands can make a thing, it doesn’t mean that they should. You know the ones, bread that’s got massive holes in it, the cardboard tasting things (although I don’t think I’ve ever eaten cardboard to tell what it tastes like). I mean, when something new comes out, a lot of people and bloggers get us all hyped up about it, and I know when you’re sent something to review, it seems pretty ungrateful to slate them. But I’m not getting paid for my blog or sent anything for this post, so I will go ahead and list just five products I’ve felt personally victimised by, you know, since wasting my money on them.
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Tesco’s Free From Mac and Cheese.
I do admit, I jumped on the bandwagon with this one, it was vegan friendly and I was feeling autumnal a.f. when this came out. But I absolutely regretted telling my followers about it. Compared to the Amy’s Kitchen one, this one was just terrible. I appreciate the fact they tried to create a vegan friendly and gluten free option amongst their ready meals, but it wasn’t the greatest. The cheese sauce was really runny, the breadcrumbs disintegrated along with the ‘macaroni’, and it just tasted like pepper. I’m sorry I encouraged you guys to purchase this and let you down. I take full responsibility for this.
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Schar Deli Style loaf.
So, this one, I never bought, I got free in my Allergy Show swag bag. And it’s good that I did. I love Schar’s bread and I was so sad to see this only had 5 slices in. To make sandwiches, it would be rubbish, quite frankly. £2 and it only makes two and a half sandwiches? Are you having a laugh? I did tweet them with my feedback and it seems a few others feel personally victimised by Schar and quite a few people agreed.
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White Rabbit Pizza – Not all of them, but most of them.
Oh my gosh, I really didn’t enjoy these as much as I wanted after seeing other bloggers big it up. I won them in a competition, and my opinion may be a bit biased, because I had a terrible time communicating with their team, It took me almost 2 months to receive the full prize. But you know, there are a lot of gluten free pizzas and pizza bases out there that DON’T fall apart or taste like cork (yes I have eaten cork before. I don’t know if it’s gluten free) and the White Rabbit Pizza co. ones aren’t on that list. Yes I appreciate they are handmade, and some are vegan, the vegan cheese is nice on them, but I certainly wouldn’t pay the RRP of £5 for them. Most definitely not the ones topped with aubergine, just no, ew.
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Genius Puff Pastry.
So gluten free pastry is hard enough to get right, and there is a selection of really bloody nice ready to roll ones that have recently came out. Genius seems to have had their frozen pastry out forever and I think there’s no competition with the ones already available that you don’t have to worry about defrosting. I’m probably doing something wrong with it, but I struggle to get it to become both flaky and golden brown. It’s always hard in texture or paler than me when I’m low in iron, there’s no in between.
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Kelkin Teacakes.
These are sooooo bad. If you’ve ever tried the Tunnocks version, pre-diagnosis, these are nothing like them. Apparently they won an award, but I don’t see how. The base is like eating rocks, my poor teeth couldn’t cope. And they looked nothing like the photo on the box, the base wasn’t even a biscuit, it was a flat stone.
I want to try another pack because I probably just had a bad batch, but I can’t bring myself to help fund their production. It’s a shame because their Jaffa cakes are so good.
So there you have it, my least favourite gluten free products. If you’re a manufacturer reading this, please take my comments as light hearted banter and feedback, as I know feedback is important for brands.
I know some of you will be going down your own lists of bad products like…
But if you’d like to let me know what products you disliked, please let me know in the comments below.
The Coeliac Sloth 