free from – Bit of the Good Stuff

Dairy-Free / Vegan Easter Eggs – Top Picks for 2015

Published on March 26, 2015 by Sharon12 Comments

With just over a week until Easter, our minds have been on all things egg and bunny shaped, and preferably made of chocolate. We’ve been scouting the shops and online stores, checking out what’s on offer for vegans and the dairy free. Every year, the selection gets bigger and bigger. I remember not so long ago that it was impossible to find a dairy-free egg (even the dark chocolate eggs contained dairy :/). This year, whether you’re a milk, white or dark chocolate lover, we’ve got you covered. Here’s our top picks for 2015.

1. Moo Free Organic Dairy-Free Milk Chocolate Bunnycomb Egg 100g (Vegan Town, Animal Aid, Viva!)

2. Moo Free Organic Dairy-Free Milk Chocolate Egg 100g (Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Holland & Barrett, Ocado)

3. Moo Free Organic Dairy-Free Milk Chocolate Cheeky Orange Egg 100g (Animal Aid, Viva!)

4. Plamil Organic Dairy-Free Milk Chocolate Egg 85g (Holland & Barrett, Vegan Town)

5. Choices Dairy-Free Easter Egg & 6 Choc Discs 125g (Holland & Barrett)

6. Choices Dairy-Free Caramel Flavoured Egg with 3 Caramel Chocolates 120g (Holland & Barrett)

7. Vantastic Large Vegan Milk Chocolate Easter Bunny 100g (Vegan Town)

Guaranteed dairy-free: Moo Free, Plamil

1. Vantastic Large White Chocolate Bunny 100g (Viva!)

2. Zotter Mi-Xing White Easter Egg 100g (Viva!)

3. Choices Dairy Free White Chocolate Egg & Buttons 65g (Holland & Barrett)

4. Choices Dairy Free White Chocolate Bunny Bar 40g (Holland & Barrett, Sainsbury’s)

1. Montezuma’s Dark Chocolate Chunky Button Egg 250g (Ocado)

2. Cocoa Loco Dark Chocolate & Ginger Easter Egg 225g (Cocoa Loco)

3. Divine Luxury Dark Chocolate Easter Egg with 100g Dark Chocolate Raspberry Bar (Waitrose, Ocado, Animal Aid)

4. Hotel Chocolat Dark Egglets 110g (Hotel Chocolat)

5. Hotel Chocolat Dark City Bunnies 90g (Hotel Chocolat)

6. Montezuma’s Dark Chocolate Mini Eggs with Almond Praline 150g (Montezuma’s, Ocado, Animal Aid)

Hotel Chocolat Milk-Free Milk Chocolate – NEW for 2015!
As soon as I heard that Hotel Chocolat had launched a range of milk-free milk chocolate, I headed straight to our store in Bath to check it out. It didn’t taste quite as I expected… it’s got that quality cocoa flavour that we know and love about Hotel Chocolat, but it didn’t have the creaminess (or sugary sweetness) that we associate with dairy chocolate. When Lil’ L tried it, he said that it was more like a dark chocolate than a dairy chocolate. If you’re a milk chocolate lover, I’d recommend trying a sample before you buy to make sure it suits your tastes. I like it… but then again I’m a dark chocolate lover 😉

1. Milk-Free Milk Scrambled Egg 210g

2. Milk-Free Goose Egg 130g

3. Milk-Free Milk City Bunnies 90g

What chocolatey treat would you love from the Easter Bunny this year?

Dairy Free / Vegan Advent Calendars – Top Picks for 2014

Published on November 17, 2014 by Sharon19 Comments

Once again, Christmas has sneaked up on me. I thought I’d misheard someone this morning when they said it was 5½ weeks until the big day. Seriously, how did that happen? I really need to get myself organised, make some lists, start thinking about gifts and festive foods. However, first things first… we need to get some advent calendars. Preferably one each, and definitely chocolate calendars. What a wonderful excuse to have to eat chocolate every day for a whole month 😉

There seems to be more choice than ever this year of dairy-free / vegan calendars and especially calendars designed for children, which is really lovely to see. These calendars use rice milk instead of dairy, and are suitable for any milk chocolate lovers.

Whether you’re a milk or dark chocolate lover though, I have a wonderful selection for calendars for you. Here are my top picks for 2014…

For the Milk Chocolate Lovers ♥

Moo Free Organic Dairy Free Advent Calendar
This award winning calendar is made in the Moo Free dairy free UK factory, and is filled with organic, fair-trade, dairy free rice milk chocolate. A full list of UK and worldwide high street and online stockists can be found here. It’s great to see that Moo Free has made it all the way across the globe to Australia and New Zealand!

120g / RRP £4.75

Holland & Barrett Dairy Free Alternative to Milk Chocolate Advent Calendar
These calendars are filled with organic, fair-trade, dairy free rice milk chocolate and come in two different cute designs, one blue and one pink.

125g / £3.99 (currently buy one get one half price)

Plamil Organic Fairtrade Milky Dairy Free Advent Calendar
This fun, brightly coloured dairy free milk chocolate advent calendar is made in the Plamil factory which never uses dairy, gluten or nuts. It’s available to buy directly from Plamil. You can get 10% off your first order by entering the code FIR14 at checkout.

125g Price: £4.95

Tesco & Sainsbury’s ‘Free From’ Calendars
It is really encouraging to see that UK supermarkets have started selling ‘Free From’ calendars made with rice milk. Hopefully more will follow suit in the future. So far I’ve spotted dairy free calendars in Sainsbury’s (72g / £2.69) and Tesco (72g / £3.25. Currently on a ‘3 for 2’ offer until 23/11/14)

For the Dark Chocolate Lovers ♥

And for the dark chocolate lovers, I have two beautiful high quality advent calendars.

Montezuma’s Organic and Vegan Dark Chocolate Advent Calendar
This calendar is filled with 240g of Montezuma’s organic house blended chocolate. New for 2014, each window has a picture behind it! It’s available from the Montezuma’s high street shops and online.

240g / £9.99

Hotel Chocolat Dark Chocolate Advent Calendar
This high quality, super stylish calendar is filled with 24 Christmas sculptures, including reindeer, snowmen, penguins and enchanted Christmas trees, cast in smooth 70% dark chocolate. It’s available from Hotel Chocolat shops or you can order online. If you’d like to send the calendar as a gift, a personalised message card can be included for free when ordered online. Use the code VNOV10 at the checkout to receive 10% off (expires 23/11/14)

125g / £12.50

Have you bought your advent calendar yet? If so, do you tend to go for a chocolate calendar or do you prefer the more traditional wooden or cardboard ones?

Stuff I’m Loving – Autumn 2014

Published on October 3, 2014 by Sharon18 Comments

The market for tasty, healthy snacks and dairy-free alternatives seems to have exploded this year! Honestly, every time I visit the supermarket the ‘free from’ aisle seems to grow bigger and bigger! I love checking out new products and sharing my favourites with you in these posts. I also love to hear about your new discoveries so please do share them in the comments section below. I’m always on the look out for new things to try!

Here are five yummy goodies that me and the family have been loving lately…

Ombar Organic Coco Mylk Chocolate Bar
Dairy free / Gluten free / Vegan
Individual bars (35g) £1.99
Ombars are no ordinary chocolate bar. They’re made with raw organic cacao which not only gives them rich flavour, but also means that each little bar is packed with antioxidants and minerals. The bars are gently sweetened with organic coconut sugar (perfect for me as my body tolerates cane sugar less and less well these days) and some of the bars, like the Coco Mylk and Strawberries & Cream, also include probiotics (‘friendly bacteria’).

I’ve loved all the flavours I’ve tried so far but my absolute favourite has to be Coco Mylk. With its creamy flavour and melt in your mouth texture, it’s like a high quality milk chocolate, yet its 100% vegan. While the bars might seem pricey for their size, the chocolate is incredibly satiating, so I find that a little goes a long way. Since Coco Mylk is my favourite flavour, you can imagine how delighted I was to find a bar in my latest TVK Box!

Ombars are currently available in the UK in independent health food stores and online.

Propercorn Sweet & Salty
Dairy free / Gluten free / Vegan
Individual bags (30g) – 75p, Family bags (90g) – £1.59
Lil’ L and I had never tried sweet and salty popcorn before, so when a packet arrived in our August TVK box, we couldn’t wait to tuck in! We were amazed at how well the flavour combo works, and loved how the brown sugar coating gave the popcorn a light ‘crunch’ as you bit into it.

Since Lil’ L discovered that Waitrose sells Propercorn, a family size bag seems to magically appear in my shopping basket every week. It’s his favourite treat for movie nights and, since it’s so light, he also likes to stash a bag in his backpack for school trips and biking adventures.

Propercorn individual and family bags are currently available in Waitrose; individual bags are available in Tesco.

Nakd Bars
Dairy free / Gluten free / Vegan
Individual bars (35g) 75p; Multipacks (4 x 35g) £2.70
My family are big fans of Nakd bars and I like to keep a stash in backpacks and handbags for snacking on the go. I love how they’re made of 100% natural ingredients (basically raw fruits and nuts squashed together) with no added sugars, syrups or oils. They come in nine flavours and there are three in particular that I absolutely adore – Cocoa Orange, Cocoa Mint and Caffe Mocha. The packaging’s really cool too!

In the shops, you can buy individual bars and four bar multipacks. Selection boxes are also available from the Nakd website. I love the ‘Find Your Favourite’ box which has one of each bar in the range. It makes a yummy treat for health conscious friends. I recently sent one to a friend that was going travelling as a ‘bon voyage’ gift.

You can get great deals on Nakd bars in the UK supermarkets, so I stock up whenever I spot them on offer. This month, Waitrose are offering two bars for £1 and two multipacks for £4.

Oatly
Dairy free / Vegan
Oat drink (1 litre) £1.39-1.49; Organic Creamy Oat (250ml) 75p
I’ve only recently discovered the Swedish company Oatly, but they’ve been making oat drinks since the early 90s. In Sweden, Oatly is the number one milk substitute, and they’re rapidly growing in popularity here too. There are currently five Oatly products available in the UK. The Organic ‘milk’ only has three ingredients – oats, water and a little salt. For those that prefer fortified ‘milks’, the one in blue packaging comes fortified with calcium and vitamins D2, riboflavin and B12. There’s also a dairy-free alternative to single cream called ‘Organic Creamy Oat’, which is perfect for drizzling on desserts and can also be used for cooking.

Oatly has recently had a re-brand and the new packaging is really cool!

The Oatly ‘milks’ are available in most major UK supermarkets, and the cream alternative is currently available in Tesco and Waitrose. Since they have such a long shelf life, I like to stock up on the UHT ‘milks’ when they’re on offer. Both Waitrose and Sainsbury’s are currently offering multibuy deals (3 for £3; 2 for £2).

Hoots Snacks
Dairy free / Vegan
Individual bag (38g) £0.60
We first discovered Hoots through the September TVK box, and were delighted to meet the team behind this delicious snack at London VegFest last weekend ♥ Hoots sell a range of oven baked snacks made of wholegrains and mixed seeds (all free from added colours, flavours, preservatives and MSG). The pickled onion flavour is lush! For me, it tastes like a healthy version of my favourite childhood junk food – Pickled Onion Monster Munch! Lil’ L loves them too, and has enjoyed taking them to school and on trips as a ‘treat snack’.

They’ve only recently launched in the UK and aren’t widely available, so I’ll update this post once they launch nationwide (Fingers crossed that will be soon!)

Over to you, lovely readers ♥ Have you discovered any new yummy plant-based products lately?