I went mad in the health food shop!

[Pam]

Well, I've just spent £20 in the health food shop! :o I haven't told hubby just how much it cost! :rant:

I got First Glace strawberry (only get vanilla in the supermarkets), some Magnum style chocolate coated chocolate ice cream lollies (£2.59 for 3!), Yofu junior, Yofu summer berries, Tofutti slices, Mozarella melting Cheezly (I'll blame Matt if this is worse than the cheddar :bash: ), 3 varieties of whizzers, 2 packs of Alpro vanilla desserts and some sesame snaps. Oh and a bottle of calcium supplement.

The green and black bars were calling me from the counter and so were the Booja Booja truffles, but I resisted.

My little girl has to stand by :crying: and watch her brothers get all the nice ice creams (like Carte d'or Toblerone/chocolate orange or Cadbury's Turkish Delight/Mint Crisp) and any chocolate bars they like, so I don't mind paying out that bit extra for her to have some treats once in a while.:wub:

[loubylou27]

Wow Well Good for you!
I know how you feel about the treats, What do you do about advent calenders/? (Alice is a bit small really but I wonder for the future) ANd What make are the lollys? they sound worth having.. prob in summer though!!
Our health food shop does glace in chocolate, raspberry and strawberry! YUM!

I hope you and your dd enjoy it all.
Lucy
xx
ps You should have got the green and blacks.. go back tmo!

[Pam]

The magnum type lollies are made by First (who do the oat milk), they are called "Supreme" and are very nice, I just sneaked a taste of the one my daughter is eating as I type.

Now the little monkey has eaten all the chocolate off and decided she doesn't want the ice cream part, so I've had to finish it off. Very nice but rather expensive at nearly 90p each. My shop also does carob choc ices by Sunrise but I haven't tried those. The shop also had first glace in chocolate and a mocha one, but I'm not keen on coffee so didn't try that one.

For advent calendars, we buy a normal one and replace the chocolate inside with a dairy free variety, this makes one happy little girl. It all depends how sensitive your daughter is to milk though because there would be a risk of cross contamination doing it this way.

Alternatively buy one of the fill your own advent calendars that has pockets or boxes so that you can put your own sweets/gifts in - whizzers foil wrapped footballs would be ideal.

Kinnerton will be producing a limited number of dairy free advent calendars but these will cost £6 each (£5 of which goes to the anaphalaxis campaign) you can find out more by contacting them through their web site. I think Playmobil do an advent calendar too with playmobil bits to make up a model.

[loubylou27]

Thanks for that I will have a look at the kinnerton one.. My mum is saying she will make a cloth calender with pockets so I can put whatever in.. haribos and whizzers. I don't think a 2 yr old really needs one though... but I might succumb!!

Many thanks
Lucy

[matt]

way to go with the shhopping trip. i've got the raspberry version of glace and have managed to not try it yet....just me being my normal odd self, very limited appetite means that to eat icecream means i'll miss out on the main part of a meal as can't force a meal and pudding down!

i should write a diet book but trouble is it would only say the same as everyone elses. stop eating too bloody much!

anyhow, enjoy the treats, let us know if the strawberry tastes ok. sometimes the flavours they use taste so artificial.

[Bet]

Playmobile definately did the advent calenders as my sister in law got one from John Lewis a couple of years ago. Only problem being I think she paid £10 for it! - It was good tho' and can be used every year so worth it over time.

Pam - the fill your own advent calenders sound good - any ideas where you can get these from?

[Pam]

Most garden centres and christmas shops sell this type now and I'm sure Studio Cards do them, they are often felt with little pockets on so that you can put your own goodies in or some have small drawer type boxes to pull out. I think Ponden Mills usually have some as well. The prices and quality vary greatly so shop around before you buy.

[Copper]

I have tried the stawberry and it is lovely. I intend to get some for the Xmas holidays - trouble is I don't want to stop eating it.

[Bet]

Thanks for your reply Pam, but you really must put your feet up now and start celebrating your birthday!

Hope you have a good one!

[matt]

i got a wooden advent callender from lakeland last year.

i've seen a wooden calender and one shaped like an old fashion lorry at a garden centre, stewarts in christchurch. so they are out there to find. then just fill them with chocs of your choice. i wouldn't mind betting whizzers come up with some xmas decorated ones.

[linny]

I really love the strawberry glace ice cream, it tastes very much like the cartons of soya milkshake, I prefer the strawberry to the vanilla glace. Has anyone tried the choc flavour? I'm not a lover of choc ice-cream as it normally tastes 'powdery'. I may give it a go though.

[Copper]

I have tried the chocolate version and I didn't like it. I would not get it again.

[Pam]

The chocolate one went down ok in our house, but the vanilla is very nice and much better than most normal ice creams. We haven't tried the strawberry yet.

[Pam]

The little madam pestered for some strawberry ice cream after tea yesterday, which she duly received, but after playing with it for 10 minutes she announced that she didn't like it because it had strawberries in! It tasted ok to me, but I'm not really a fan of strawberry ice cream anyway. It is mainly pink creamy stuff but with a few minor swirls of what I imagine is strawberry puree and she obviously took exception to these.

It could also have been something to do with the large number of sweets she had eaten during the afternoon following a very successful trick or treat session the previous night. She often says that she doesn't like something when she just can't be bothered eating it.

[linny]

I spotted one in Wilkinsons today. It's the type with little pockets in and was £4.00. It was in the household section with other Christmas bits. Pam I think it was you that was looking for one. I also found some 'Ruffle' bars in Superdrug. I had them when I was a kid and saw them on the Vegan website. They're raspberry flavour coconut filling in plain choc (dairy free). They were only 25p each, so I bought a few! I'm feeling a bit down today as our next door neighbours of 10 years moved out on Saturday:crying: , so I've started some of my Christmas shopping!

[matt]

after hearing about the ruffle bars i went to a local old fashioned sweet shop in totton. found the ruffle bars raspberry flavour and also orange at 20p each. got several will let you know what i think. also got my favourites sugar almonds and some edinburgh rock. i'm a sucker for sweets that's why i don't go to this shop too often. ie only once a week!

i kid myself that atleast the sugar almonds are sort of good for me with the nuts...yeah i know but don't point out the obvious. let me live in my own little world. it may not be real but it's nicer than the real one!

[zoefruitcake]

Ruffle bars! I'd forgotten about them completely! I used to love them. I'm going to have to look out for them

[linny]

Matt, hope you enjoyed the Ruffle bars, I've never seen orange ones. I was obviously ripped off buying them for 25p each, it just shows that sometimes larger shops are more expensive. Hope you like them!

[Rebecca]

Hello there. Im quite new to "dairy free" so i was hoping you could help me. I have been dropped in at the deep end and told basically not to eat dairy. I dont know what contains dairy. I have got the dairy free butter and soya milk but that is it. Am I right in thinking I can eat plain and dark chocolate? What about take aways? Are there any information sheets available? Please help!! :)

[Pam]

Have a look here http://www.dairyfreeuk.com/forum/article.php?c=2 this is a link to the articles page on the site which is accessible from the home page. It has a list of all the different milk derivatives and things containing milk that you will probably find useful.

Some plain/dark chocolate is okay to eat as long as it doesn't contain butterfat or anything else off the list but you can also buy dairy free "milk" chocolate from Tesco, Sainsburys and other supermarkets which is bearable. Green & Black plain chocolate is ok as are After Eights and a few others.

You'll soon be able to recognise what is good/bad from the ingredients list, though it will take you longer to do your shopping initially.

Takeaways - indian food cooked in ghee is a no-no (ghee is clarified butter) but if they cook in oil you should be ok - just stay away from dishes containing cream or yoghurt. Chinese is quite good, there shouldn't be much milk in any of that but it might be worth asking about batter or sauces (even those that don't look milky sometimes contain lactose). Italian - the cheese and creamy sauces make it difficult. Fish and chips - generally ok but the batter might be worth checking (we don't have a problem with it). MacDonalds do a free from list on their web site and should have the info available in their outlets.

There are recommendations for lots of foods on the various forums here, but we tend to start off on one subject and then go off on a tangent so threads end up very long and totally unrelated to the original message. If there's anything you want to know, just ask - someone should be able to help.

[matt]

go off at tangents? never, surely not!! as if we'd do that.

:bleh: