Tesco Free From 2 double chocolate muffins

One product I tried a few months ago are Tesco Free From double chocolate muffins.  I like to make my own gluten-free treats occasionally but have only ever made fairy cakes and brownies.  My baking expertise does not stretch to making muffins!

I like eating sweet muffins, and my favourite muffin of all time is the blueberry muffin (Waitrose used to make them with blueberry jam in the middle, and they were AMAZING), but I haven't been able to find a gluten free version so far.  So I recently bought a pack of my second favourite flavour muffins... chocolate.

These muffins are smaller than individually-bought muffins (but there are two in a pack).  They look the same...

When I opened the packet the smell was INCREDIBLE.  I couldn't wait to tuck into one.

When I cut into it, it immediately crumbled. It was still crumbly when I ate it, possibly more than a normal muffin.  A small problem I had was there wasn't enough of a "muffin top".  The best part of a muffin is the top! 

A problem with some gluten free cakes is that they can be dry.  I must admit, these cakes were a little dry, and would have probably benefited from milk in the ingredients.


Taste: Like chocolate cake!  The chocolate chips were also really good, and I enjoyed the sweetness of the chocolate.  It was just a little over dry and crumbly.

Price: £1.00 for a packet of 2 muffins.  Very reasonable when you consider the prices of individual muffins, even though these are slightly smaller than a regular sized muffin!

Availability:  From Tesco stores that have a free from section (the ones I know of are Express, Extra and Metro versions of the store).

Clearly labelled gluten-free?: Yes, in the Free From range and with the labels "wheat free", "gluten free" and "milk free" on the front of the packaging.

Nutritional value: As you'd expect, they're not very good for you!  From just one muffin in the pack, they contain a masive 300 calories, 23.4g of sugar (26% of your daily amount!) and 14.6g of fat.  Needless to say, these should only be an occasional treat.

Comaprison to the regular version: Very similar!  Apart from being slightly smaller and drier, they tasted sweet and chocolatey, and I definitely felt full after eating it. 

Overall rating: 7/10

If you fancy treating yourself to something sweet then one of these muffins would make a good snack or dessert.  Obviously, with the high sugar and fat content, I wouldn't suggest having them everyday.  There also may even be some cakes that would be more enjoyable.  However, if you're really missing chocolate muffins these would be a good suggestion!

Asda Free From Spaghetti

Today is Asda's own brand Free From Spaghetti pasta.

Pasta is my favourite food.  I would ALWAYS have it when I was a teenager and lived at home (around 4 or 5 times a week!).  I now realise that, due to my wheat intolerancy, it was doing a lot more harm than good!

I eat a lot of spaghetti bolognese (or, at least, my own version of it) because of all the vegetables I can hide in it (I'm not a massive veggie fan).  I usually eat it with pasta shapes because of the mess I create when I eat it with actual spaghetti, but I decided to go for a change recently.


Here is the pasta after cooking for 15-20 minutes...

I ate it with my bolognese-mince-vegetables hybrid and parmesan cheese.

Taste: Very nice!  I like my pasta a little overdone, but it kept its texture and didn't fall apart or go soggy when I ate it.

Price: £1.30 for a 500g packet.  Very reasonable for gluten-free pasta.

Availability: Asda "Free From" brand.  Tesco and Sainsbury's also do their own versions for the same price.

Clearly labelled gluten-free?: Yes.  Part of the Asda "Free From" range.  "Gluten free" and "Wheat free" on the label, with the Coeliac UK Crossed-Grain logo.

Nutritional value:  As with most carbohydrates, good in moderation!

Comparison to the regular version:  Taste and texture-wise, pretty much the same.  When I looked at Asda's own version of regular spaghetti it was 75p for the same amount.

Overall rating: 7/10

It's nothing special, but it tastes just like normal spaghetti, and was very good quality and easy to cook. Definitely recommended if you want something simple.

Doves Farm Gluten Free Chocolate Stars cereal

The first gluten free item I will be reviewing is a breakfast cereal: Doves Farm Gluten Free Chocolate Stars.

 

Anyone who already follows a gluten-free diet will probably have heard of Doves Farm! They produce a lot of baking ingredients such as flour, yeast etc.

This cereal is perfect for children who are coeliac and have gluten and wheat allergies/intolerancies.  Some kids may feel left out if they have friends and family who can have normal cereals!

 

This is the cereal without milk.  Looks like a normal cereal.

 
 

This is the cereal with milk.  To quote another famous cereal, “It turns the milk chocolatey!” which is something I’m sure children will enjoy.

 

After eating it, it does taste just like a normal cereal you could pick up from any supermarket! 

Taste: Lovely chocolatey, crunchy cereal. Some gluten-free cereal can be a bit tasteless and chewy, but I enjoyed this!

Price:  The price I paid was £2.08 for a 375g box, bought in Asda, 21/05/2012.  This is one of the more reasonable prices for a box of gluten-free cereal.

Availability:  Sold in Asda and Sainsbury’s “Free From” sections, and online at Ocado and on the Doves Farm website (however the price of a box is £3.09!)

Clearly labelled gluten-free?: Yes, one of the first things you notice on the box!

 

Nutritional value: Not as sugary as some chocolate cereals are.  Reasonable for a cereal.

Comparison to the regular version:  It really does taste like any other cereal, and it made a good breakfast for me.  The only downside was that it didn’t fill my up like a regular breakfast cereal possibly would, and I started to feel hungry again after a couple of hours.

Overall rating: 8/10

One of the better breakfast cereals for a gluten free diet! Perfect for children (or even big kids!).  Enjoyed the taste, it’s a fair price for gluten free cereal, and I have bought it a few times!

What this blog is about

Last year I started a gluten-free diet after discovering a wheat intolerancy.

Whilst I cut out a lot of food containing wheat and gluten, I also looked for alternatives (such as bread, pasta, flour etc).

Some food has been really excellent (and discovered some food I would have never have eaten beforehand!), but some has been low quality.

I thought I would start a blog to test and rate different food, so anyone who is new to the diet can see what is good and what isn't!

First posts to come soon!