As much as I grumble about how rare it is for me to serve a meal that is received enthusiastically by all three of my kids, don't think for a minute that I don't appreciate the fact that my kids have no food allergies, aversions or sensitivities. I bow to the mothers who plan and serve meals around special diets for all the reasons that special diets exist. These mothers often can't fall back on my quick stop at the grocery store for a head start on dinner because everything has to be homemade so that all ingredients are considered.
Gluten-free has become a much more mainstream diet for a variety of reasons. Gluten-free diets are followed by the 1 in 133 Canadians who suffer from Celiac disease. Gluten-free products are also sought by people with wheat allergies, autism and other non-celiac related sensitivities. Traditionally, Canadians have had to shop at (often expensive) specialty food stores to find gluten-free products.
Metro has recently expanded its Irresistibles brand to include 15 gluten-free products, becoming the only private label to have a gluten-free line in Canada.
My family tried a variety of products, including pasta, potato chips, pancake mix and chewy nut bars. We didn't notice a difference in taste; pancakes tasted like regular pancakes, and granola bars were popular. I can only imagine how welcome it must be for families to find the foods they need in regular grocery stores, accessible and affordable.
Check out Metro's Irresistibles line for these products at Metro stores across the country now.
In the interest of full disclosure, Trend Watch is written by me; all opinions are my own. It is not sponsored. Sometimes I am given free products to review and sometimes I purchase the products all on my own. I was given a free sample of the Irresistibles Gluten-Free products, but I was not compensated for my review.
-thumb-130x130-30028.jpg)
Cuyler has been gluten and dairy free for 6 years now. When we started the food tasted like stale cardboard and cost a small fortune.
Now we have delicious, AFFORDABLE gluten/dairy free options that the whole family enjoys.
I used the Irresistibles white cake mix to make cupcakes this past weekend and they were quite good. I'm looking forward to trying the pasta this week.
I'm quite impressed with the line they have introduced (although rice crackers, rice, tortilla and potato chips don't count - most every brand of tortilla and plain potato chips are gf and Cuyler's diet is mostly rice based)
I don't know about them being the only private label gluten free line. There are a few out there that I have used for some time now.
Maybe the only chain store to have their own private label?
I'm excited by this. I plan to post something about our gluten-free issues (I'm hating cooking these days) and yes, many of the foods we've tried do not taste good AND cost a small fortune. GAH! Please give me your list of favourites!!
We are gluten, dairy, soy and egg free which makes most packaged GF foods out for us but I have found a few. I honestly find them to be tastless, chewy, and go bad in a matter of days - not worth the HIGH price tag. So we eat close to the earth, alot of rice, alot of potatoes and I make granola bars (sort off LOL) for a nice treat, I am really into apple crisp right now (our style of it) which no "regular" person would want to eat, but they are yummy to us LOL. We eat ALOT of fruit and veg - like ALOT, I go to the green grocer almost daily, that is the majority of my food bill, I am sure they must think we are vegan - we are not. But my daughter would love macaroni - not sure not sure it has the same apeal to me without gooey cheese sauce on it, but she would be thrilled! Sounds good - in theory!