Generally speaking, I love cooking fresh foods and make everything from scratch, but we all need freezer food. Freezer food is amazing because all we have to do is throw it in the oven and eat it, and works perfectly in the following scenarios:
- you've finished work late and you're stomach is contemplating eating itself
- you feel like reliving your favourite primary school-style dinners
- hangover from hell
- similarly, suffering from non-self-inflicted illnesses and needing feeding
- you just can't be arsed
Since I was diagnosed (we're gearing up to Month #3 people!) I've turned to frozen food for all of the above on several occasions, so I feel ya. Just to make things easy for you, here are a few frozen gluten-free/dairy-free/egg-free gems that have been approved by my taste buds:
1. Tesco FreeFrom Thick Pork Sausages
Generally, I'm dubious of anything that moves me out of my food comfort zone. I've been a Richmond sausages girl from the word go, so moving onto another brand (even more so, gluten-free) did make me a bit dubious at first. Why I bothered to worry I don't know, theses are literally incredible. They taste exactly like normal Lincolnshire sausages! They churn out a bit more fat than I generally like, but other than that I don't have a bad word to say about them.
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2. Sainsbury's Freefrom Cod Fish Fingers
Fish fingers was one of those foods that I ate probably once every few years - maybe even every five - and I always had good memories of fish fingers at school. I'd fancied them for a while just before I was diagnosed, and when I found these in Sainsbury's I thought why not kick the craving and try them out. Just like the sausages, you could blindfold me and I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between those and normal ones. Now I've always got a box in my freezer.
3. Georgia's Choice Mexican Bean Bakes
I've never actually been one for bean burgers, despite the fact that I pretty much love all vegetables, beans inclusive. When I saw these it was actually the fact that it was a Mexican-style bake that I picked these up, and I'm so pleased I did. They're packed full of so many vegetables and goodness, and they have just the right amount of chilli kick. I bought mine in Sainsbury's but I know quite a few big supermarkets do stock them.
4. Tesco FreeFrom Onion Rings
I love onion rings. If ever I went out, to a burger place or similar and they had onion rings on their menu, I was getting a side of them and there was no stopping me. These Tesco onion rings are massive, and the coating is lovely. I will say that occasionally there is the odd onion ring that seems to be more ring than onion, but I can't criticise this particular brand alone because we've all been there.
5. Amy's Kitchen Gluten-Free Mexican Beans & Rice Burrito
I love me some Mexican, especially burritos. I found it really hard to find a picture, so if you could all be dolls and imagine this exact product in the same packaging but green, and with gluten-free on it, that would be great. These burritos are packed full of beans and rice, just like it says on the tin, and it's a really nice gap filler if you eat it on its own, or if you make some skin-on fries and a salad makes a great dinner. I couldn't find any supermarket websites that showed they stocked the gluten-free version, but I bought mine at Whole Foods.
6. Georgia's Choice Gluten Free Fish Cakes
Much like the Mexican bean bake, these fish cakes have a perfect crispy coating that doesn't distract from the flavour. The inside of fish cakes can seem a bit sparse sometimes, where you can't even taste the fish, but these Georgia's Choice ones are lovely!
... and obviously I couldn't NOT mention these:
7. Walls Swedish Glace Non Dairy Frozen Dessert in Smooth Vanilla
To be honest, I don't know why they call this 'frozen dessert'. It kind of tells you not to get your hopes up and that there's a chance that it's going to taste more like a vanilla sorbet. Wrong. It is so damn creamy, it's creamier in taste than most actual ice cream. It also comes in a raspberry flavour, but I think that this is an old wives tale or something because I'm yet to find it anywhere *sulks*.
8. Booja Booja Hunky Punky Chocolate Dairy Free Ice Cream
I always loved the infamous Chocolate Fudge Brownie, and I found that Booja Booja chocolate ice cream alternative is basically that without the chunks of chocolate fudge. Bold statement I know, but this is some seriously good ice cream, full of flavour, mega-chocolatey and really enjoyable. Just break up a gluten-free brownie and you've basically got your own Ben & Jerry's, minus the nasty allergy aftermath.
Click the images to shop these products at your local supermarkets.
