Allergaroo GFCF Pasta Kids Meals - Quick, Easy, Tasty

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• All Natural
• Gluten Free
• Milk Free
• Soy Free
• Microwave Ready
  

I won three bags of Allergaroo meals at the Gluten Free Twitter Party in April and was excited for Alex to try them. At the time, I'd yet to see this "fun" kids quick meal in my local stores but have since seen them sold at Whole Foods, Wegmans and the local health food store. They are pricey at around $6 a bag, or you can purchase them on the Allergaroo site in a 2pk/$8.58 or 6pk/$24.45. There is a handling fee of $2.50 and shipping is based on the actual weight of your order. I've not ordered from the website, but it says that they ship via FedEx. I was really pleased to see Allergaroo on Amazon, at even better prices!


They are also available from The Gluten-Free Mall for Gluten-Free Foods:

Allergy Friendly Foods Allergaroo Gluten-Free Chili Mac with Tomato Sauce & Chicken
Allergy Friendly Foods Allergaroo Gluten-Free Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce
Allergy Friendly Foods Allergaroo Gluten-Free Spyglass Noodles with Tomato Sauce & Chicken

Allergaroo was founded by a mother of two children with multiple food allergies who longed for a convenient and delicious meal alternative that her kids could safely eat without worries. All Allergaroo dishes are made on dedicated equipment in an allergen-free dedicated space. Allergaroo products are formulated to be free of the 8 most common food allergens (wheat (gluten), milk, soy, peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, fish and shellfish). They are delicious and all natural too. Just heat and eat!

The meals are individually packaged in 8 oz pouches that are a "generous" single serving (supposedly). The pouches are shelf-stable and do not require refrigeration. You can either cook them in the microwave or pour the pouch out and cook it on the stovetop. Preparation is quick and lunch can be served in minutes. I am not a huge fan of cooking in the microwave but for test purposes I did cook one of the meals that way (chili) and the other 2 I prepared on the stovetop.

The 3 dishes that we tried are
Spaghetti - Rice Spaghetti with Tomato Sauce. Ingredients Info.
Spyglass Noodles - Penne Rice Pasta with Tomato Sauce and Ground Chicken. Ingredients info.
Chili Mac - Elbow Rice Pasta with Mild Chili Sauce, Pinto Beans and Ground Chicken. Ingredients info

Of the three, I figured the spaghetti was a "sure bet", the spyglass noodles were a "probably" and the Chili Mac was a "doubtful". I figured we'd try them in that order and see what happened.

Since my son is a big fan of rice spaghetti and so it was no surprise he gobbled up the Allergaroo spaghetti in a blink. For him, 8 oz of spaghetti is barely enough and left him wanting more! At several dollars per pouch it is definitely cheaper (and not difficult) to boil up my own rice spaghetti - we enjoy the Tinkyada brand.

With the Spyglass noodles, I figured since it was like Penne pasta that he also enjoys he would most likely eat it. I wasn't sure about the mention of ground chicken. Alex loves chicken nuggets or strips and will reject cooked chicken if it doesn't look right. He doesn't like ground beef, so I figured ground chicken would also be picked out microscopically - heavens forbid it "taint" his dish. I made no mention of it and fed him the Spyglass noodles with chicken and he ate it all - he didn't pick the chicken out or proclaim "yuck! meat!". Another success. Looking back I don't remember really seeing too much chicken in it.

The final test was the Chili Mac. I held off on this one because I was sure I'd heat it up and he would turn it down. He's never eaten chili before and the thought of the beans and meat are not in his repertoire. I did the Chili Mac in the microwave over the weekend and it smelled just like 'regular' chili. Alex was sniffing the air and making a face like he'd just smelled something really bad. I didn't make a big deal and just put it in his dish and served it to him. He immediately started picking out the meat and the beans and told me it was yucky. He hadn't tried it yet, so I told him to try it. He told me that he wanted me to eat it and gave me a spoon of it. I ate it, and it tasted like penne pasta with very mild chili sauce on it. I commented to my husband that perhaps I should have cooked it a little longer so the noodles were a bit less al-dente. So, here's where I was a bit 'naughty' but I told him if he ate the beans that it would make him 'fart'. Since he is an 8 year old boy who enjoys doing that, he tried the beans. The meat went down with the beans too. He ate it slowly and left the table a few times each time he came back for more. He managed to polish off the whole bowl of it. I write this with certainty that if I did buy this he would eat it again with much less hesitation.

Since trying all 3 meals and seeing that my son did eat and mostly enjoy them - I would purchase these again to have on hand. There are definitely times that we need a quick meal or something easy to send into school, to the grandparents etc. Because of the price, I wouldn't buy them for frequent consumption but for convenience purposes -- heck yeah!






For more info: http://www.allergaroo.com/