The Great Big Dairy Free Easter Egg Hunt 2016

Oh it's coming soon! 

Easter, I mean! 

And the Great Big Dairy Free Easter Hunt has already begun!!

Last year I left it a bit late, so this year I'm trying to give folks advance notice! For those who think I'm too early, well Easter is earlier this year and as the Daily Mail noted the other week, free from Easter eggs  have already hit the shelves of some Sainsbury's stores! 

Looks like Sainsbury's packaging remains the same, this year!

And, as I spotted this week, Asda's Easter bunny has been just a little busy too! Other stores will undoubtedly follow suit soon, but panic ye not, if your Sainsbury's or Asda has yet to deliver - there are other options that will become available to you sooner or later, so this year's post, is going to try and give you some idea of what to look out for! 

Further updates will be brought to you via our Facebook page 'Dairy Free Baby and Me' or Twitter and hopefully will eventually make their way onto this post, so keep your eyes peeled!

In the Shops:

Back again this year are the handy tables, that proved so useful last year - hopefully from these you will be able to see which chocolates are likely to prove best for you! 

	Dairy Free	Gluten Free	Soya Free	Nut Free	Vegan
Booja Booja	Y	Y	Y	-	Y
Choices/ Supermarket own	Y	Y	Soya Lecithin	Y	Y
Kinnerton	Y	Y	Soya Lecithin	Y	Y
Moo Free	Y	Y	Y	May contain	Y
Plamil	Y	Y	May Contain	Y	Y

Please note:

'Y' means 'yes'

'N' means 'no'

'Soya lecithin' has been indicated specifically, as most people allergic to soya are supposed to be okay with the lecithin which has had the allergenic part (the protein) removed. However, this is not the case for all, so if in doubt, always check with your HCP (healthcare professional).

'May contain' tends to indicate that this product has been made in a factory which uses a certain product e.g. milk/nuts. 

Some stores have yet to stock their eggs, but as the Sainsbury's and Asda selections for this year look incredibly similar to last year, I'm predicting the following: 

Choices and Supermarket own brands 

(Choices, under the umbrella company of Celtic Chocolates also make the supermarket 'own' brand eggs)

A great dairy free 'milk' chocolate brand, from Ireland. They have their usual offerings available, some larger, some small, with the option of a 'white chocolate' egg and 'milk' and 'white chocolate bunnies'. 

Great value!

They have a dark chocolate egg too. However, although they're widespread some of the packaging might vary, as most of the supermarket own brands are just the same, but with their own pretty packaging on top. 

Asda's look exactly the same as last year! The price is the same, too!

	Small White Egg	Small Milk Choc.Egg	Milk Egg with Choc. Disc	Milk Egg with Caramels	Dark Choc. Egg	Choc. Bunny
Asda	-	-	*£3.00	-	-	£0.99
Tesco	-	£2.50	WhiteChoc £3.00	-	-	£1.00
Morrison’s	-	-	-	-	-	-
Sainsbury’s	*£2.50	-	*£3.50	£3.50	£3.50	£1.00
Waitrose	-	-	-	-	-	-
Ocado	-	-	-	-	-	-
Holland & Barrett	£2.79	£2.79	£4.99	£6.49	£4.99	£1.25 (white only)
TKMaxx					Y

*Supermarket ‘own brand’

'Y' indicates that I think they will stock it, from what they've done in previous years.

Prices supplied where known, other prices will be added as they become known. It's interesting to note that Asda have kept to the same prices as last year, whereas Sainsbury's seem to have gone up by 1p each!

Moo Free Chocolates:

A very popular choice of 'milk' chocolate for dairy free chocolate lovers, this company's profile has just grown and grown! Their organic medium size egg come in four flavours: Original, Bunnycomb (honeycomb) and Orange.

This year their packaging has obviously had a revamp!

	Moo Free Milk Chocolate	Moo Free Orange Flavour	Moo Free Bunnycomb
Asda	-	-	-
Tesco	-	-	-
Morrison’s	-	-	-
Sainsbury’s	£4.00	-	-
Waitrose	£4.25	£4.25	£4.25
Ocado	£3.99	£3.99	£3.99
Holland & Barrett	£4.99	£4.99	£4.99

Holland and Barrett tend to price Moo Free eggs higher to begin with, but may suddenly add in a seasonal offer later, which may work out cheaper, but this is a bit of a gamble. Theirs are only available online at the mo.

Kinnerton:

Kinnerton produce a dark style dairy free chocolate. Speaking as someone who prefers milk chocolate, this one is fairly easy on the palate.

No change here, then!

	Kinnerton Dark Chocolate Egg	Kinnerton Dark Chocolate Bunny
Asda	*	*
Tesco	Y	Y
Morrison’s	-	-
Sainsbury’s	£6.00	-
Waitrose	-	-
Ocado	-	Y
Holland & Barrett	-	-
Home Bargains	Y	-

*available last year, but not yet spotted this year, although other eggs are on their shelves

Mark's and Spencer also stocked this egg, last year, but in their own packaging. See here:

You'd never know it was the same egg, from the packaging!

Curiously though, they did not claim it was nut free, as Kinnerton do with theirs! Most confusing!

Booja Booja:

Definitely a luxury brand, and not so widely available, these are usually quite a bit more expensive. For your money to get a hand crafted papier mache egg, which encases the most delicious chocolate truffles.

A touch of class

	Large Booja Booja Egg	Small Booja Booja Egg
Asda	-	-
Tesco	-	-
Morrison’s	-	-
Sainsbury’s	-	-
Waitrose	-	-
Ocado	£24.99	£9.99
Holland & Barrett	-	£9.99

Plamil:

Made with organic chocolate, until fairly recently, they were only available online (via Plamil's online shop, or online Free From or Vegan sites) or in independent health food stores, these are now usually available through Holland and Barrett, where they are £3.99. 

Plamil now also usually make an own brand egg for Holland and Barrett, for exactly the same price, just different packaging!

Cute packaging!

Plamil make an Easter bunny(£12,5 at Holland & Barrett) as well as a packet of mini chocolate halves (£5.99 from Holland & Barrett) which are perfect for Easter egg hunts, especially when they're encased in plastic eggs from Poundland!

Online Brands:

If you can't find the chocolate you want locally, there are places to look online. Check out the following brands:

Ayni

Ayni's range is all handmade raw chocolate, which is  dairy, gluten, nut and soya free and suitable for Vegans. I haven't tried it, so can't vouch for the quality, although Umm assures me it is lovely, but last year there was plenty of choice on the website. This year's offerings are here.

Cocoa Libre

This chocolate I have tried and can vouch for! They are very yummy indeed!! A full review of what I made of them can be found by following this link. No Easter eggs as such but last year they brought out some Easter chicks to add to their little lambs!

You can buy Cocoa Libre online from their website, or through the stockists listed on their website, see here. Some of Cocoa Libre's range can also be bought online from Holland and Barrett.

D and D Chocolates

From what I understand, their chocolate is supplied by Plamil, so meets the same standard. Their range is great for any dairy free Easter egg hunts. You can view it here.

These small solid chocolate eggs (they had new packaging last year) have proved very useful in the past!

We love these!

For those who prefer it, they also do a range of carob.

Lots of this None of that

Not a brand I've tried, but available through Holland and Barrett. They're actually also made by Plamil, but this time absolutely soya free. I notice they have brought out a chocolate bunny for £1.25

Online Stores:

There are a number of online shops that stock dairy free Easter eggs, some of which have already mentioned, along with a few other tasty treats. These stores include:

Alternative Stores

Animal Aid

Free From for Kids

Goodness Direct

Tasha's Dairy Free Delights

The Vegan Store

Vegan Town

Just be aware when buying dairy free chocolate from online Vegan stores that although some chocolate labelled Vegan will be suitable for those with milk allergies, you do have to watch out if you are severely allergic, as some Vegan chocolate is made  on the same lines as normal milk chocolate, and therefore 'may contain milk'. Such chocolate may cause reactions in those who are very sensitive.

And finally...

If you're not milk allergic, or don't need to worry about 'may contain', then you may be okay with brands such as Montezuma's, Hotel Chocolat or check out the dark chocolate from Divine and Green and Blacks.

Made without dairy but not suitable for those with milk allergy

Please note: 

This post is not an advert. I have not been paid to write this post. I am not sponsored in any way, even by advertising. I do not receive products free to review, although I have often been offered them. This is to try and maintain an unbiased approach. All views expressed are my own (unless I've asked for The Hub's or Kiddo's).

Related posts:

Howzat! On turning a 'normal' Easter egg into one which is Dairy Free!

Have yourself a Dairy Free Easter Egg Hunt!

Cocoa Libre Dairy Free Milk

Why my child is NOT a 'fussy eater' - food aversion and food allergy

'Fussy eating.' Have you ever heard that phrase? 

Yes? 

Well I have and I hate it! 

It's the hidden condemnation, the stigmatization that accompanies the phrase that I really hate the most. The assumption is that as a child you're trying to get attention, or 'get away with' something, or that as a parent you haven't been strict enough. As far as I'm concerned, although this could be the case, in some circumstances, this kind of stigmatization really ought to be stopped!!

There's a reason why (in our house) most dinners come with cooked carrots!!

For us, it all began at a really early age. 'Baby' was just beginning to wean. It was difficult to put her down and get on with things. I didn't like to cook with her in a sling, in case she got hurt, so cooking food was altogether a tricky matter. 

To begin with, I relied a fair bit on bottled baby food, until one day I decided to take on the task off cooking her food from scratch. I dutifully boiled up and mashed some carrots (not without resistance from 'Baby' I might add). She, being hungry, by the time I'd finished, happily accepted the first mouthful, then she took the next a little more slowly... and then she stopped. 

It's amazing how much a six month old face can tell you! She looked incredibly dismayed. Big tears rolled down her cheeks. This was not what she was after! And she steadfastly refused to take any more! Me, inexperienced, panicky, immediately felt the pressure and tried to perform the 'firm but fair mummy' trick. No, no, no, she wouldn't take it. Her mouth was firmly sealed shut. That was that. Angry, confused and... humiliated even, I eventually gave in and found her something else to eat - after all I couldn't let her get hungry, could I??

Some people might think that's where I went wrong and that I caved too quickly. But I honestly couldn't see how a six moth old could be 'trying it on'. And as we continued to wean she appeared happy to try all kinds of food, but then things went into reverse - her tastes started narrowing down and bit by bit 'Baby' became a lot more selective. 

If only (and not for the first time) I knew THEN what I know NOW... I think quite a few things could have been a lot easier for both of us!

1. A lot of food advice seems to be hung up on everyone getting their five - now SEVEN - a day. Good advice for healthy adults. Not quite as necessary for babies, whose diet should be higher in fat than fibre. If you're fed this message when your kiddo is struggling to eat one a day, where do you go from there??

2. Some people are super sensitive to taste. I watched a programme about this once. I so wish I'd recorded it and tracked down the expert they interviewed. She explained how some people can detect taste in a way that others can't. She called them 'super tasters'. I believe she found they have more taste buds than the rest of us. 

I can't remember the detail, but do remember that this struck a real chord with me at the time, in connection to 'Baby'.  If I try to 'hide' something in her food, she's on to it! She can also detect different brands of food. She's a lot better now, but at one time, she narrowed herself down to ONE type of sausage - no other sausage would do. So every time we had sausages it had to be that brand or she wouldn't eat it!

3. 'Fussiness' over food can work as an early warning system for allergic children. The Hub's nephew, somewhat older than 'Baby' is allergic to nuts. He also is very sensitive to tastes. Once he even detected that some food we were eating in a restaurant was a bit off. It turns out that food allergy often goes hand in hand with food aversion - there's some kind of detection system that operates with saliva in the mouth. It's a kind of protective response. I learned this from a Paediatric Allergy Consultant on Twitter (George du Toit @goallergy) who tweeted: 

Amazes me that infants can correctly ID many of the foods they r allergic to, typically precedes verbal skills.

and:

Oral mucosa is packed with allergen & toxin recognition cells, designed to protect us, generate early warning signals 

Du Toit included a link to this article. I find this both fascinating and also incredibly helpful - recognition that there is link between food allergies and food aversion. I know this is a common topic among children without allergies as well, but many food allergic children definitely have that problem. And who can blame them? After all, food actually CAN and sometimes DOES hurt them!

4. Getting heated about food refusal can make things worse! Negative emotions can actually embed the problem deeper. The best thing you can do is remain calm and take the pressure off - insisting that the child eat something they really can't stomach adds to the anxiety in the child and can lead to shut-down.

At the end of the day you want a child to enjoy eating their fruit and veg. The danger of making them eat it under duress, is that they will eat it when forced, but will not learn to enjoy it. Then, instead of developing a healthy habit for life, they will not eat fruit/veg. when there is no longer anyone around to make them.

5. Avoid introducing sugar (including natural sugars) too soon. It turns out a lot of baby food manufacturers add fruit juice to their veggie mixes - which obviously sweetens them and makes babies more likely to eat them. Although it may seem like a trendy fad (to be avoiding sugar) it makes complete sense to me, with the food journey we've been on. It's much harder to reverse a bad habit, once it's begun.  I am convinced that allowing 'Baby' to eat biscuits contributed to her food refusal - just you try explaining to a nine month old why she can't have another biscuit!! The same thing goes with chocolate! No one had to teach MY kid how to like it!!

Some 'Do's':

1. Keep offering food, you'd like them to eat, even if they have previously refused it.

2. If something is refused, don't give up on it, but just leave it for a while (like several weeks, I find, 'cos 'Baby' has a very good memory) before reintroducing it... again and again and again, if you have to. I've heard it said that it takes 20 tastes to move from liking to disliking a food. In 'Baby's' case I think it's more like 200, but we are beginning to see results!

3. Model good eating behaviour: 

• Everyone in the family sit down and eat together, round a table.

• Try not to appear 'fussy' yourselves. (Yes, most adults I know have things they are 'fussy' about eating (i.e. sprouts), so why do we condemn young children??) Don't go the other way though, with too much, 'Oh this salad is soooo yummy!' Kids just won't believe you!

• Provide and eat with your little one the things you'd like them to eat. This has been tricky for me, as not being able to eat such a wide variety of raw fruit and veg. (due to OAS) has meant that I haven't been able to model this too well for 'Baby'.

4. Eat in company where you can - particularly with peers. Children like to copy their friends, and also show-off what they will eat, when their friends won't, so this can be a handy little trick, to have up your sleeve. Obviously this also means that the others around the table need to be eating things that your little one CAN eat. With multiple allergies I appreciate this could be slightly more tricky.

5. Offer variety, if something is refused don't argue, threaten, or create a fuss, just allow the child not to eat it. Try to provide some of what you know they will eat, alongside things you suspect they won't.

6. Avoid talking negatively about your child's eating habits in front of them - this could also reinforce negative responses to food. For example, if they continually hear you say, 'She won't eat this,' or 'He's just fussy,' then it's not going to help matters at all and could be self-fulfilling.

7. By all means present food attractively, nice plates, cutlery etc. but don't expect this to result in a miracle cure overnight! 'Baby' was so suspicious of food that even if I made a face on the plate, she's spot a bit of fruit/veg. a mile off and refuse to even try it - all that careful food prep. for nothing!!

Presentation can help - I dressed up her pancakes to get her to eat them, but she wasn't completely averse to these, just slow!

8. Resist pressures from well-meaning friends/family. Avoid eating with those who put the pressure on!

9. Ask for help. Explain your approach to family/friends so that they can 'fall-in' with your approach. If it gets really bad, see if your GP will refer you to a dietitian for back-up. 

Some 'Don'ts'

1. Don't blame the child.

2. Don't 'take on' the guilt trip - either from yourself or others. I knew I'd tried to introduce things the right way. I've tried threats/bribes all sorts, but NONE of these worked. 

3. Don't give up. It may take a while - a lot longer than some other peoples' kids, but it can be done. And by the way, most kids go through this to some extent or another.


Our breakthrough

Surprisingly for me, the biggest break-through came when, finally, last year, I went to see the GP. It had got to the stage where Kiddo was not wanting to go to school, because she was feeling pressure to eat things that were making her gag and to finish everything on her plate. 

I has also realised that the Kiddo had all kinds of other sensory sensitivities, involving light, sound, touch, being underwater etc. some of which we had conquered, some of which we were working through and some of which remain on our 'to do' list. These are often associated with autism, but there is no way Kiddo is autistic, but I wondered if they were linked to her so-called 'fussy eating' somehow. Feeling a bit out of my depth, I decided to see a local GP.

The GP listened carefully to everything I said and agreed to refer us on, but crucially, she told me and my child that she thought I had been doing all the right things. She told me she had three kids. All of them had been raised the same way but that one of them, for no obvious reason, was exactly as I had described Kiddo, with all her sensitivities and food aversion. 

Then the GP told the Kiddo, that it'd be good if she could keep trying things - she didn't have to keep eating them if she didn't like them, but just give them a try. That really clicked with the Kiddo and from that point on she has often been heard to say, 'Can I just give it a try, Mummy?' even with foods that she knows she has refused before! Some things she has cautiously continued to eat, others she hasn't...yet! But I know now for sure that we have now 'got the ball rolling', so to speak.

Suddenly, she wanted to try strawberries, again, and... finally liked them!

I think this approach worked for us for three good reasons:

1. It gave me confidence because it reinforced the conclusion to which I had already come - it wasn't the Kiddo's fault, or my fault and that piling on the pressure just wasn't working.

2. It gave Kiddo the confidence that Mummy was doing the 'right thing'. That might sound strange to you, but at the time, school was giving very different messages about food and a few other things. This was 'mixing up the messages' for her and making her doubt my wisdom!

3. It gave the Kiddo the confidence to try again and know that it was okay not to complete something - that nothing bad would happen - which actually freed her up to experiment.

Huzzah!!! 

Onwards and Upwards!!

Further Reading:

Do you make this mistake at the dinner table?

'Picky eaters' will not starve themselves, but problem or resistance eaters might

When feeding therapy becomes aversion therapy

Feeding problems in infancy and early childhood: Identification and management

I love this last one, for 'keeping it real'...

What a pediatric dietitian feeds her kids for dinner

Super little Swedish Supermarket - shopping free from in Sweden

I have to admit, research for our trip to Sweden was not high on my agenda prior to travelling. I was much more thorough last year, when we went to Switzerland. THIS year end of term Nativities, gift buying/wrapping etc. got in my way, so I was more than a little relieved to find that the resort supermarket, just across the car park from the ski lodge, in which we were staying, had a pretty amazing selection of free from goodies - especially considering it was right out 'in the sticks'! I mean most Tesco Extras would struggle to keep up with the product selection in this one and it was a quarter of the size of our nearest store at home!! ICA I take my hat off to you!!

ICA was the only supermarket for miles!

Just take a look at this Free From aisle...

Looking goood!

And it didn't end there!

Dairy Free Heaven

I have to say, the variety of dairy free items was mind-blowing! I'd heard that Oatly had a whole load of products that are not available in the UK and I was able to see them for myself. 

In the chiller...

In the fridge section there were lots of Oatly products, including Creme fraiche! Unfortunately I could only look - being gluten free as well, I was unable to try them out and 'Baby' was unlikely to switch from her favourite 'Giraffe' milk, just to satisfy MY curiosity!!

There was even Oatly ICE CREAM...

Note: More than one flavour!

There was also Swedish Glace - labelled, in Sweden, as 'Tofuline'. 'Baby' loved this one, which I've not seen before - it was chocolate with a ripple of chocolate sauce.

Tops with 'Baby'!

Alpro products were also in abundance, alongside lots of 'Laktosfri' or lactose free products - which sadly are no good for milk allergies! Although, that said, some of the gluten free products labelled 'Laktosfri' were also cow's milk protein free, but just not labelled as such (grrrr - pet hate)!

Lots of soya-based alternatives, not so much of anything else, apart from the Oatly

There was, however, a very good selection of dairy free milk but no 'giraffe' milk (Alpro junior soya milk), so I'm glad we brought 'Baby's' with us in our suitcase! However there was a soya milk drinking chocolate, which she loved, so we bought a small flask to heat some up and take it to the slopes for her.

Just some of the 'long life' dairy free milks available!

Point to note: Watch out for anything labelled 'Eco' - that's the term used for organic - any organic dairy free milk won't be fortified with calcium.

Watch out for 'Eco'

The Hub also spotted a dairy free cheese! 'Sheese', however, is made from soya, so no good for me. We bought some for 'Baby' but she was definitely NOT a fan! Unfortunately, there was no other option. :(

It was the ONLY dairy free cheese!

And, to top it off, The Hub also found a dairy free potato gratin! It might sound a bit strange to you, that I found this exciting, but it just goes to show how much the Swedish Free From market reflects the tastes of the Swedish population - it turns out that potato gratin is big in Sweden, so for any dairy free Swedes, this would be just right! However, it was not for me - it was made with oat milk!

A traditional Swedish favourite!

As for butter, although there was a specific dairy free substitute (which we didn't discover at first), we used Becel. In the UK, this would be unsuitable, but in Sweden, for some reason the recipe was dairy free!

Gluten Free Heaven

Gluten free products were also much in abundance in this little supermarket. This is just as well, as the Swedish clearly love their bread and their pastries! Some of this was located in the Free From aisle, but also, funnily enough, in the freezer! This was where we found a dairy and gluten free chocolate brownie cake by Fria. It soon turned out to be no good for me, but 'Baby' LOVED it!

I allowed myself a little taste and it WAS yummy!

I could have had these! If I could have had a dairy free ice cream that was suitable for me. 'Baby' had the benefit and loved them.

Love the free from symbols!

There were also these gluten free 'cornetto' style ice creams - but no good for us, as they weren't dairy free, merely lactose free *sigh*. 

Great for the gluten free

So with all this dairy and gluten free goodness floating around, I should have been in 7th heaven, but alas and alack... no! 

The main issues for me, was that the dairy free alternatives were often made with things I couldn't have, like oat or soya or cashew. Similarly, a lot of the gluten free food, by Schar and Semper, contained soya and/or milk (BOO HISS). The Fria goodies, which are gluten and dairy free were made with 'gluten free wheat starch', which did not appear agree with me either (so watch out if you're wheat free), so most of the Fria goodies were a no-go for me as well, however, there were one or two things that I could have - like these gluten, dairy, egg and soya free frankfurters:

What a find!

Some of the Semper cookies were also okay for me, like these Pepparkakor (gingerbread biscuits - which are a Swedish Christmas necessity)!

'Baby' loves these two!

I was also able to find a good gluten free pasta (yippee)! So, it was a good job that (with my more complex dietary needs) I brought my own cereal, bread and a little cake. However, if you were just gluten or dairy free, you'd be fine!

Reading Labels

Allergy labelling can be a bit variable at the best of times - different companies can highlight allergens differently. In Sweden, allergens are generally highlighted in bold, just as I would expect to see them in the UK. Sometimes this would be reinforced by symbols or phrases on the front of the packet too. The only thing is, I soon discovered that reading labels was to be a little trickier than I thought. 

Here certain phrases have been flagged up on the front of the packet

Unlike our experience of shopping in Switzerland (where an English translation was often included in the ingredients section), most of ingredient labels were written in Scandinavian languages (none of which do I happen to possess the slightest  grasp). Fortunately, quite a few of the phrases I needed were very similar to English and/or German, so that was a bit of a life saver! And as for the rest, I just have to thank Google Translate and The Hub's mobile quick-draw! Good job there's a good Wi-fi connection in resort! (PHEW!)

We found ourselves learning certain phrases pretty quickly!

Handy vocabulary:

Ingredienser - ingredients 

Allergener - allergens
Mjolk - milk
Mjolk-protein - milk protein
Mjolkpulver - milk powder
Skummojlkspulver - skimmed milk powder

Mjolkfri - milk free

Fri fran mjolk - free from milk
Laktos - lactose

Laktosfri - lactose free
Smor - butter
Yogurt - yogurt
Gradde - cream
Ost - cheese
Gluten - gluten

Glutenfri - gluten free
Vete - wheat
Vetemjol - wheat flour

Glutenfri vetestarkelse - gluten free wheat starch
Havre - oats

Soja - soya
Soja-protein - soya protein

Sojalectin - soya lecithin

Kan innehalla - may contain

Related Posts:

Shopping for food allergies in the UK



Self-catering in Switzerland?? What you need to know when shopping Free From...



Travelling with the dairy free 'Baby'

My first dairy and gluten free burger - why we're lovin' McDonald's Oslo, Norway

I know! I'm a bit like a record gone wrong - every time I go somewhere different, I always end up in McDonald's!

'Tis sadly true, but is mostly because it's just too convenient, and, having just landed in a strange land AND needing something pronto because you have a hangry child, you just need somewhere reliable to go, where you (and said child) can immediately get your bearings! The last thing you need to be doing is scanning through a menu trying to work out whether you can find something free of umpteen different things. And of course The Hub had already checked out the menu online, so we knew exactly what we could have before we got there!

It was also an attractive proposition because THIS one, unlike any other I have previously visited, was able to offer me something I've never had before - a gluten free Mc Donald's hamburger! And here it is! It was also dairy, wheat and soya free! 

Gluten free, dairy free!

Hat trick!!  

  

So I had a hamburger fries and salad. A complete meal, in fact! Huzzah!!

To avoid mistakes, the wrappers state 'gluten free'

The Kiddo, meanwhile, being only dairy free, happily tucked into the chicken nuggets Happy Meal (she could have had a hamburger as well). Normally, in the UK, she would have a fish finger and that would be her lot, but elsewhere (as we found in Paris) the nuggets are often dairy free.

Also absurdly happy it was a Snoopy Happy Meal!

The Kiddo was also happy, because there was a free play area! It was a great way of keeping her entertained whilst we queued for the food - the service was a bit on the slow side, and the soft drinks were self-service. 

So all in all we were happy campers, and trundled away well-fed, but it did leave one query in my mind... here, in the UK we are told gluten free burgers at Mc Donald's are not an option, because there just isn't the space in the kitchens. However the kitchen in Oslo didn't look any bigger to me, than any I've seen in England... SO, I wonder, maybe the will to do it in England is lacking, and NOT the space?? 

Please note: 
This post is not an advert. I have not been paid to write this post. I am not sponsored in any way, even by advertising. I do not receive products free to review, although I have often been offered them. This is to try and maintain an unbiased approach. All views expressed are my own (unless I've asked for The Hub's or Kiddo's).


Related Posts:

Why we're lovin' Mc Donald's... at Disneyland Paris



Travelling with the dairy free 'Baby' - Leon at Heathrow Terminal 2