of course making your own is a great idea, and cost effective, however it is not easy traveling through customs with unpackaged food. if you are traveling within canada, like Robyn is, this might be alright. if you are traveling cross-border or overseas like me, packaged foods are your best bet. they will have a longer shelf life too if you are traveling for extended periods of time. there are many options these days, which makes us so happy.
the first gluten free snack bars we found few years ago are the EnviroKidz Organic Crispy Rice Bars by Nature's Path Organic. they come in five flavours: lemur peanut chocolate drizzle, fruity burst, cheetah berry, koala chocolate, and peanut butter. all flavours are gluten free, and obviously kid approved! but don't be bashful about eating these if you are an adult, hey we can fun too! since these are made with puffed rice, they are very lightweight. shopping hint: look for a $1 coupon for this product on the Healthy Shopper website.
another company that makes a similar product is Source Salba, however instead of puffed rice, they use puffed chia seed to make their Krispy Rice Bars. if the word chia sounds familiar to you it is because this is the same seed used for the famous Chia Pet. chia is an ancient grain from central and south america that is high in fiber with many other nutritional and health benefits, you can read more about it here. Source Salba also makes an Organic Real Whole Food Bar, which is packed with Salba (chia) seeds, nuts, and peanuts. please note that the Salba Soft & Chewy Ancient Grain Bars are NOT gluten free. there is a long list of where to buy Salba products in vancouver, you can find it here.
recently I discovered Glutino makes two kinds of bars, breakfast and organic bars. in Canada, the breakfast bars come in strawberry, apple, chocolate, blueberry, and cranberry flavours, and in the United States there is also a cherry breakfast bar. I haven't tried them yet, does anyone know if they are good? the Organic Bars come in three flavours: chocolate and peanuts, chocolate and banana, and wildberry. I have tried the chocolate and peanuts organic bars, and they are really good! the only drawback is that they are so small (see photo above). I measured one: 3.5" long x 1" wide x 0.5" thick. the box comes with five bars, and Choices sells them for $6.79, that's $1.36 each. fortunately you can download a $1 ecoupon from the Healthy Shopper website for any Glutino product, and save a little. Glutino products are a little cheaper at glutenfree.com, but the shipping prices are outrageous. (more on glutenfree.com later)
there are several other gluten free snack bar options, but I will save those for the next post, part 2. and a few other gluten free travel food ideas as well. hasta luego! Andrea.
envirokidz | source salba | glutino
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4 comments:
Have you tried Larabars or ElevateMe bars??? ElevateMe is made in north Vancouver and are my favourite! They're super high in protein too without all the added junk!!
I just found Taste of Nature bars in a large pack at Costco yesterday! Gluten free, Organic, and yummy!! And made in Canada.
Just found your blog last month, and it's making my recent switch to gluten free easier! Thanks!!
I took some Enjoy Life brand cinnamon apple bars with me on travels to Spain, and they were without a doubt the nastiest things I'd ever eaten. Personally, I wouldn't even give them to my worst enemy. Thankfully, I had picked up Lara Bars from Costco...
Jeff
thank you so much for your comments laula, westcoastmama and jeff! we really appreciate your feedback and product updates, this truly helps other readers of our blog. i am especially happy to see dialogue on gluten free subjects amongst our readers as this is why we started the blog in the first place.
laula, i have tried lara bars and they are great! i found them in downtown vancouver as well in a small lunch spot called natures fair in the waterfront center food court. they also sell wild country nut bars. http://glutenfree-vancouver.blogspot.com/2010/01/natures-fair-gluten-free-in-downtown.html
andrea has also tried elevate me bars which i think she was going to post in her snack bar part 2 post. i havent tried them yet, but i will!
westcoastmama, i have not heard of taste of nature bars until your recommendation, so thank you! i will definitely try them and post on them for others. i went to their website and they look great (and similar to wild country bars).
jeff, i have also heard that enjoy life bars are a bit distasteful to say the least, they are soft and chewy right? i havent tried them yet for that exact reason...thankfully there are so many better options now. what are some other gluten free products that you find are good to travel with?
i just came back from a week in Ottawa, Ontario, and this was my first time traveling for work and also having celiac (i have traveled to california twice but thats the extent of my travel so far) and it was tough (more to come on the blog) but i did take the glutino chocolate and peanut bars and they were great to have in my purse since i wasnt able to eat anything on a few occasions during the trip :(
thank you all for reading our blog! keep your comments and suggestions coming!
robyn (+ andrea)
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