Review: Tesco free from chocolate eclairs

I think the hardest thing for me since getting diagnosed is missing out on certain ‘desserts’ pastries, cakes etc. I’ve often stared longingly at my gluten eating friends/family as they devoured delicious looking sweet treats.

Tesco’s then introduced gluten free profiteroles, amazing you say….. unfortunately these are not dairy free. So I continued to stare longingly as others are those cream filled eclairs etc.

I recently got told about Sainsbury’s free from chocolate eclairs. I loved these SO much. Unfortunately there is not a Sainsbury’s that is easy to get to. So I was pleasantly surprised to find free from eclairs in Tesco.

These are free from wheat, gluten and dairy. The box comes with four eclairs in, larger than Sainsbury’s offering (although less in the box)

These are in the free from freezer section of Tesco’s, and are really handy to keep in the freezer….not that they last long as I eat them all far too quickly.

I’m quite bad and enjoy these still frozen, as the cream seems to taste even better like that.

The pastry is light and works well with the ‘cream’. There is lots of chocolate on top of these, and they are all stuffed full of cream.

These are definitely not a healthy treat, but they are delicious.

Review: Drink me Chai – Free From Chai Latte

Everybody loves a comfort drink, mine is a soya chai latte.

Unfortunately making one at home has always been time consuming using a chai teabag and soaking for a while. That is until I came across the Drink Me Chai drinks in Tesco’s.

Clearly marked up as free from, this provides an instant chai latte drink.

The pot it comes in is a cute little blue design, that is nice enough to have left out on a kitchen counter top.

Upon opening the lid you’re hit with an extremely strong smell of cinnamon (which I love!)

I then make up approx 200ml of heated cashew or soya milk. Before adding 3 tsp of the chai mix.

Throughout mixing, the cinnamon aroma stays strong, and you’re left with a light brown looking drink that smells strongly of spices, a perfect winter drink.

The drink itself has a strong taste of cinnamon, it’s very warming and is delicious. It is sweet enough that it does not need any added sugar, without being overly sweet.

This drink has become my go to comfort drink, especially when trying to avoid any caffeine or have been drinking too much tea.

Not only do they do the pot of it, but they also sell sachets for on the go chai!

Tesco Extra – Pitsea – New finds

So last night on the way home I needed to stop off at Tescos to use the loo’s. Whilst there I thought I would grab a box of cereal.

Unfortunately I came across lots of new items….. as well as a few bits I know I love.

I was hugely excited to see Paxo are now offering a stuffing mix. This will normally be £2 but is on offer for £1 currently.

Aah! bisto also have a new gluten free offering, which I thought I would grab to try.

I also grabbed the box of lucky charms which is marked up as gluten free!

To top all of this off I went down the Xmas aisle and spotted this:

A nice selection of free from bits for

Xmas. All easily marked up as to what they’re free from.

Tesco’s continue to improve, but Tesco Pitsea has one of the best offerings by far.

Review: Tesco Brown Bread

Bread is one of those things that most coeliacs have got used to eating, whilst it crumbles to pieces. 

A number of gluten free options are dry, or weak and fall to pieces. There are certain brands whose bread is so full of holes that you can’t even toast them properly.

Unfortunately most of us do settle for this second rate bread, merely because it’s a relief to get an option of it!

When seeing a new type of loaf, I will of course try it!

Tesco brought out this sliced brown bread, with a crispy looking crust, that actually looks fairly solid.

One of the more noticeable things about this bread from the outset, is it’s a lot more solid and intact than other brands. 

The crust is much crunchier, and when toasted gives an actual decent crunch. 

I’ve tried quite a number of free from loaves, and this is definitely by far one of the best! 

Review: Tesco Free From Blackcurrant Cheese Cakes

Cheesecake, probably one of my most missed desserts as a coeliac and dairy intolerance. 

There were a number of frozen cheesecakes that were gluten and dairy free, that I fell in love with. However can no longer find any of these. Tesco have recently introduced their own branded frozen version, however this is unfortunately not free from dairy.

Due to this, it has been a while since I’ve had a cheesecake fix. Therefor I was of course extremely excited when I came across these chilled cheesecakes in the refrigerated free from section.

I’ll admit to being a little apprehensive once I’d got them home. I’m not entirely sure how a cheesecake can be made with oil and coconut milk. 

Packaging wise, there is two in a pack. The cheesecakes themselves come in two little plastic pots with film lids. 

There isn’t a great deal of dessert in each pot, and so these aren’t particularly great value for money.

The ‘cheesecake’ is a layer of a syrup’y tasting jam, which wasn’t particularly great tasting. The next layer was the strange tasting ‘cheesecake’ part. 

This pretty much tasted like coconut oil, but was still better tasting than the jam like syrup layer.

At the bottom of it all was the biscuit base. Nothing particularly amazing here, just a thin layer of crumbs.

Overall, I was rather disappointed. Yes it’s a vegan cheesecake that suitable for coeliacs and those who can’t eat dairy or eggs. However, it’s not cheap and it’s not a cheesecake.

I’m sorry Tesco but these were a disappointment. I will not be trying them again!

Review: Tesco Golden Syrup Pancakes

Tesco’s free from range is now easily marked up, to show what products are free from.

These pancakes are easy to spot as being gluten, wheat and milk free. 

The pancakes are also freezable, so easy to keep some in the freezer as a handy snack.

The pancakes come in a pack of six. They are thick, and actually hold together well. The golden syrup flavour is not too strong, there is just a hint of it. However I have found they are not too sweet to have with jam.

I love pancakes, and these are definitely no different. Cheaper than other branded versions, Tesco’s have produced a nice tasting product.

I tend to have mine coated in lots of dairy free butter (Vitalite), but have recently tried them with alternative toppings.

An amazing one, was bacon and maple syrup. Not healthy, but amazingly good.

Review: Tesco Garlic Dough Balls

I’m of the belief that you can never have enough garlic (work colleagues probably disagree with me on that one)

You can imagine my pure excitement when I came across gluten, wheat & dairy free garlic dough balls!

In the past I’ve managed to find a few garlic baguettes that were free from gluten and dairy, but am often left saddened when I find minimal garlic on them. So am left with a baguette with a hint of garlic.

I was delighted to open the garlic dough balls and find a tray full of garlic ‘butter’.

The dough balls cook from frozen and are handily already in a foil tray.

Removing the dough balls from the oven showed how much garlic ‘butter’ they had. It had all melted leaving the dough balls sat in a large amount.

I’ve never had standard dough balls, so was not entirely sure what to expect and can’t compare them.

But these were absolutely delicious!! The balls had soaked up lots of the melted butter, and there was enough left to pour over the top of them, for extra garlic goodness. The dough balls were soft, ‘light’ and not crispy and dry, as we often get with gluten free.

Tesco Free From Porridge Pot

Breakfast is pretty much my favourite meal of the day.

Being a coeliac makes it a little harder, as I can’t have quite as many things. This is worse when it comes to needing to get something ‘on the go’

There have been a number of porridge pots that have come out recently that are ‘gluten free’ unfortunately they had milk powder in. Meaning they were still  not suitable for me.

Whilst browsing the latest additions in Tesco. I came across this delightful find….

Yes, that’s right!!! 

An instant porridge that is free from gluten, wheat and dairy!!!

After a moment of utter excitement I filled my basket up with these, and other new finds I had spotted.

The labelling on Tesco’s free from range is nice and clear. To make it easy to spot what products contain.

I have since tried two pots of this porridge. It doesn’t beat porridge made at home, but it’s a quick and easy alternative that can be taken for breakfast on the go.

The syrup flavour is not too strong, it gives the porridge just enough sweetness that it doesn’t need any extra sugar.

It does need to be stirred properly and I found that leaving it for slightly longer once water was added before opening the lid again, gave a much better texture.

Definitely worth grabbing a few as an emergency food source when out.