More Easter Chocolate!

image from here

After ordering my daughter's Easter Eggs online the other week, I went shopping for our eggs at Darrell Lea. I had been chatting to a friend who was planning to buy Australian made eggs this year and finding it difficult to actually find many. Most of the supermarkets etc don't have many made in Australia and if they are, the ingredients are often imported. We talked about Darrell Lea as an option, so I decided to buy our Easter chocolates there.

I had a good look around the store trying to work out what to buy and found that they have a dairy/nut/gluten free range (and egg free of course - eggs don't normally get used in regular chocolate). I decided to buy a pack of these Easter Bunnies since we are going to a park event soon that will involve an egg hunt and I want to have enough substitutes for her. At only $8.69 for 12, that's pretty great. Plus being individually wrapped really helps - I can keep one in my handbag just in case and I gave one to preschool in case someone was going to give out eggs etc. They also aren't that 'mini' but more generous. So that's pretty cool.

It's a shame there were no actual eggs (I find bunnies a bit tricky to help kids get the real meaning of Easter. We can talk about new life with eggs, but rabbits...?), but these and a larger rice crackle bunny are still great to be able to get without shopping online and to know you are buying Australian-made.

Oh and my daughter has already tried one (Mummy caved! Rare but true!) and loved it.

Product Deletions

Here is an excerpt from Allergy Train's latest newsletter about product deletions. I have previously recommended the Millet Rings and Mrs Robens Tortilla mix so it's a bit sad that they won't be produced anymore.

"Product Deletions

There are a couple of products that have disappeared in the last few months and i just wanted to let you know what has happened to them. 

Eskal Marshmellows - Unfortunately our supplier had the wrong shipment of marshmellows arrive. They received pink and white instead of plain white. We do not yet have a time frame on when these will be back.  

Ecor Rice and Millet Rings - these have been deleted by the manufacturer and we can no longer get them. This is very sad news for many of our customers who's kids loved them for breakfast. If you hear about an alternative product that may be a suitable replacement for these, please let us know and we will do our best to get hold of them.  

Angel Foods Meringue and Marshmellow Mixes - these have been deleted and are no longer available. We have a few meringue mixes left, but no marshmellow.

    
Mrs Robens - The manufacturer closed it's doors last year and last we heard the potential buyer was still talking to their bank so it looks like these may not be back any time soon if at all, which is a real shame. We loved their tortilla and pie mixes at our place."

We have ordered our Easter Chocolate this year from The Cruelty Free Shop and our daughter will enjoy a Moo Free Easter Egg and some Bonvita Rice Milk Mini Half Eggs as we remember what Jesus did for us on the cross and how he's alive again. Happy Easter!

Hot Chips & Chicken Salt - Red Rooster & McDonalds

Having fun with a birthday treat earlier this year :)

I have been meaning to blog about this for a while because last year we went to Red Rooster for hot chips and, after it taking a very long time for them to find the ingredients of their hot chips and chicken salt it then turned out that it had gluten in it. So we went back to our safety zone of McDonalds fries (download the food sensitivity table or look at the ingredients list)

However, I thought I would check the nutritional information again and looks like they no longer have any allergens in them. So whether or not the information I got first was right or not, you can now know that their chips and chicken salt are free of gluten, dairy, egg, soy, peanuts, treenuts and all other main allergens. Nice to know that a more solid potato chip is available.

Read more about hot chips and which other ones have allergens here.

Opportunity for feedback

I might be catching up with a General Manager from Woolworths about their allergen-free range and so I am trying to think of all the things that I wish that Woolies stocked.

Do any of you have ideas that I could also pass onto her? Please comment below!

Hot Chips & Chicken salt: KFC & Oporto

Yesterday we went searching the food court for hot chips for my daughter. The only options for hot chips were KFC and Oporto. I went to Oporto first and their allergen info was easily accessible for the person serving (she knew where it was) and it showed that the chicken salt had gluten, seeds and soy in it. So on to KFC we went and asked the girl there - she had to check with the manager where an ingredients list was, he couldn't find the brochure but thankfully thought of getting the chicken salt box. It had gluten and, I think, dairy, in it (as well as other things that I didn't bother listening to once I knew she couldn't have them). So I asked if we could buy chips with no salt and that was easy. Not sure if Oporto could do unsalted chips, but I assume they could if you asked? It just means getting them out of the fryer and not putting them in the storage/salting area.

So - be aware of chicken salt - it can contain allergens.

Koorong Cookies

Koorong is a Christian Bookstore that has a great cafe (Pages Cafe - and they make good coffee) and a great little fenced and undercover playground for the kids. I took my son on a bus ride the other afternoon and we headed there and then my husband drove our daughter once she woke up. They have an ANZAC cookie that is 'everything' free so we ordered one and it was very yummy. They also have another allergen free cookie but it has nuts in it so we couldn't try that one. It's great to know that everyone can have something when we visit.

Allergen free on the Central Coast

photo from here

We recently had a week up the central coast (NSW) and I found this bakery via google and found that there was a stockist near us. We bought some of their buns and they have been thoroughly enjoyed by our little girl who loves having rolls like us.

Look in different places

This year, we have been shopping for our fruit and vegetables at a local fruit and vegetable shop rather than the big supermarkets. 

Only recently I ventured into the shop's deli/pantry section and discovered that they had a gluten/allergen free section with lots of the products I regularly buy and some ones I hadn't seen before. The prices were almost the same (the dollar amount was the same, the cents may have been different, so really not that different!) and so I bought them there.

I went into another fruit and vegetable shop and found the chocolate mousse mix that I blogged about last week. I've never seen that in the supermarket.

I think it is worth looking in different places every now and then - you may find something you've never seen before and that is always worth it when there is so little for your child (or you) to eat in this world.

Choices Gluten and Wheat Free Bakery

photo from here

Hello again.

A friend told me about this store and I finally had some time to go and visit. It's simple and small but it has a great range or foods that are mainly gluten & wheat free but many are dairy and egg free as well. They have 4 locations around Sydney - Turramurra, Bella Vista, Mona Vale and Bondi Junction.

They specialise in breads, pastries, pies and cakes but have other things as well. You can check out their website here and I realised that they deliver all over Sydney and delivery is free if you spend over $40. It's not hard to spend $40 because it is expensive, but having tried it with my daughter and seen how she eats it really well has encouraged me to go back. We have tried the fruit loaf (smells fabulous and my 3 yr old eats the crusts she won't eat!), hamburger buns and par-baked buns. They are all able to go in the freezer which makes bulk-buying a great idea. I just placed an order for the fruit loaf (2 of them!), and buns as well as a banana loaf pre-mix and noticed that they have started selling Christmas items so I have ordered some mince tarts to keep in the freezer. And it's nice to know I don't have to do the drive out to Bella Vista again unless I want to!