HomeFree Treats Giveaway and Review!

I'm very excited to be sharing these treats with all my readers. I was contacted by HomeFree Treats to see if I would like to try some samples and write a review. Well, of course I would love some samples, and would be delighted to write a review!

My samples arrived on Christmas eve, just in time for the stomach bug we had to take hold of us. :( Christmas was a blur of forced present opening and everyone laying around moaning... today we are feeling a bit better, so we decided to try our treats! I personally, usually shy away from gluten free products. I know they can be good, but I also know a lot of them still contain dairy and soy, so I just pass by the gluten free section of the store and go about my shopping.

Well, from now on I will be stopping at the gluten free section to grab a box or two of HomeFree Cookies!! They are just the right amount of crunch, and just a perfect amount of sweet. We gobbled them right up.

I'm double excited that they are coincidentally based only one town over from me, and their treats are in many of my local stores, you can double check to see how close they are to you too here! If you don't find them near you, I would encourage you to buy from their website.

Not only are these cookies delicious, they are also allergen free!! They contain no DAIRY, gluten, nuts, eggs, and there are a few without soy in them. They offer a few different flavor options and are very clear about the allergens that are and are not in each different treat right on their website. They are sold not only by the box full, but also in small single servings so you can easily take them with you while on the go. This is especially helpful for us because we have to pack a bag of snacks where ever we go.

Here's a note from HomeFree:

Hi Andrea,

Thanks so much for sharing our cookies and your perspective with your readers! One more thing to mention, if you don't see our cookies in the gluten free section many stores also stock them in their organic section as well. Also, if you don't see our cookies on the shelves at all, be sure and ask your local store to carry them since your requests do make a difference and stores do listen in most cases! We appreciate the support since our goal is to make delicious, allergy friendly options conveniently available to everyone at their favorite local stores.

Kira

--

Kira Morehouse
Social Media Marketing Intern
HomeFree, LLC
P.O. Box 491
Windham, NH 03087 
www.homefreetreats.com

Connect with HomeFree on Facebook and Twitter:
http://www.facebook.com/HomeFreeTreats
http://twitter.com/HomeFreeTreats

HomeFree Treats is offering one of my readers a free box of their 

Gluten Free Mini Vanilla Cookies.

CONTEST CLOSED.

To be eligible to win, you must be a fan of  Milk Free Kids on Facebook and HomeFree Treats on Facebook or Twitter, then leave a comment stating that you are. Also, feel free to show HomeFree Treats a little thank you on Facebook while you are there!!

For an extra entry, simply leave a comment here telling us what flavor you'd be most likely to choose.

For another extra entry post on your Facebook or twitter the following: "HomeFree Treats and Milk Free Kids are giving away cookies!!!  http://www.milkfreekids.com/2011/12/homefree-treats-giveaway-and-review.html " and come back here and comment with your link. (Please post publicly on Facebook, and feel free to tag our pages with an @ symbol!!)

That's it! 3 separate entries which all require their own comment here. Contest runs through January 1st, 2012!!

Please leave up to 3 comments. Entries will be verified. One comment counts as one entry. Winner will be chosen by random.org on January 2nd  and posted here. Winner has 48 hours to claim their prize before a new winner is chosen. I was not compensated for this review, I only received samples in return from my opinion. 

How to deal with school/parties..

It ain't easy being NON-cheesy....

Sometimes I think that dealing with school and parties might just be the hardest part for a food allergic child. As a parent, it's so hard to stand there and say "No honey, you can't have that." and as a kid I bet it's so heart breaking to have to sit at the table and just watch the other kids.

What's been the most difficult for me, personally, is when friends and family KNOW we can't eat certain foods and they never ask how they can accommodate. I can't even count the number of parties we've been to where the food consists only of pizza, Doritos, Cheetos, and ice cream cake. I mean COME ON... you know my kid can't eat CHEESE!?!??! 

So I have a great 3 minute cake recipe. You can whip up a little cake on the way out the door, and grab a can of milk free frosting (most pre-made frosting's are milk free) and by the time cake time rolls around you can frost that little puppy up and make your kid(s) their own special little cake. 

What I've always done is called the party host and asked what the menu will be. Sometimes the party host, usually a mom, will ask if they can grab anything special. If it's pizza, I would usually ask about ordering a small cheeseless pepperoni for my guy, if not I would bring our own pizza. Burgers and dogs are a good safe food... and my favorite party fare... you can usually find me hovering around the grill making sure they leave at least one cheeseless burger!

Once, and only once, a mother was having my oldest to her house for her son's party. She called and asked what my son could eat, and then she planned her entire party menu around his dietary restrictions. That left a memory that I will never forget. That little bit of kindness... that ability to actually drop my son off at the age of 9 and know that he could eat the food, the cake, the candy, ALLLL of it! It really made my day, and really made him feel special. 

School on the other hand has never been easy for us. All of the reward parties are ice cream or pizza. I used to be able to get some tofutti ice cream into the teacher freezer  with it's own scoop and hope for the best. Luckily my son was good enough that he wouldn't eat anything from parties or school without asking "Did my mom say I could have that?" or telling people "I can't eat goldfish." haha. He didn't eat school lunch until 5th grade, and even then I had to go read all the ingredients from the kitchen and send lunches in on the bad days. 

It's been a long hard road socially. My youngest can't eat ANYTHING prepared, so it's definitely going to be more of a challenge when he grows up. I'm tempted to dangle a sign on this one that says "DON'T FEED ME" because people are rude enough to just shove food in your kid's mouth without even thinking twice. 

So leaving home, and counting on having fun at a party just doesn't happen for allergic kids like it does for non-allergic kids. It's heart wrenching to say the least. I'd love to hear any ideas that you may have for parties and school situations!!