Supermarket FreeFrom Food Reviews

In order to help you through the maze of the supermarket's freefrom food products we review and mark a variety of products to help you sort out the best from the rest.

Background

Many of the supermarkets do their own ranges of gluten free food and some of these can be very good. However I find the taste can often be compromised since they try to cater for many “free froms” in one product and the products often contain preservatives.

Catering for many “freefroms” in one product

By that I mean, instead of having a chocolate brownie which is gluten and wheat free containing real chocolate they will make a gluten, wheat and dairy free brownie. The reason they do this is to maximise the market for their product, which since they are commercial companies I understand.

However from my experience although you can make a fantastic tasting gluten and wheat free brownie using real quality chocolate which definitely has the Wow! factor, I have yet to taste a really great gluten, wheat and diary free brownie. It is that lack of great chocolate (made from milk of course), which makes the difference.

I do appreciate that for those who have to avoid multiple things it is good since at least you have food you can eat.

Preservatives

Since the market for gluten free and other free from products is relatively small (although growing) the large commercial food producers want to extend the shelf life as much as possible to maximise sales. They do this by adding preservatives. These can affect the taste.

Product Reviews

Sainsbury's FreeFrom Bramley Apple Pie

Gluten, wheat and diary free.

Overall rating: 3 out of 5.

These come in a pack of four individual pies. Overall I gave these a rating of 3 out of 5. They do lack the Wow! factor but would be a reasonable dessert cold or [more......]

Sainsbury's FreeFrom Chocolate Brownie

Gluten, wheat and dairy free.

Overall rating: 2 out of 5.

These can be found as individual brownies in Sainsbury’s Cafes or bought as a pack of four. From my comments at the beginning of this page you will guess that I don’t think much of these. I think they compromise too much on taste so I gave these an overall rating of 2 out of 5. This may be because [more......]