Top Three Worst Gf Products

[anerissara]

Ok, I'm in a rare mood tonight so I thought I'd start a thread just for fun.

We've all been there...the gluten-free product that you shelled out half your life savings for, slaved over for two hours in the kitchen, looked forward to trying all week long and turned out to be AWFUL!!! Let's vent about our *least* favorite gluten-free products and get a good laugh out of it.

Of course there should be a disclaimer somewhere here...something like "the following opinions are only opinions and as opinions mean absolutly nothing when it comes to actual products. Everyone's tastes are different and the top three nasty gluten-free products on one person's list may well be the top three yummy items on another's...yaddah yaddah yaddah".

That said........drum roll please..........

~~My All Time Top Three Nastiest gluten-free Products List~~

3. Ener-G white rice bread. With twice the half-life of a twinkie (but none of the taste) this loaf of styrofoam strongly resembled bread but tasted like whatever my alergy-free pillow is stuffed with. So dry I wondered if it had been dipped in Decon before packaging. Inedible unless saturated with butter and toasted, and only marginally ediable then. My son liked it slightly less than I did.

2. My attempt at gluten-free crepes. "Ah," I thought, "Crepes are mostly egg and should be easy to substitute flours!". Little did I know. Followed the regular recipe but used gluten-free mix instead, turned out way too thick. Added milk. Put whole mess in blender and added more milk. Blended. Added more milk. Burned motor of blender up with still-too-thick batter. Opened windows to clear smoke. Tried to use batter anyway by smearing it around on the hot pan with a spatula. Crepes puffed up to pancake size, managed somehow to be burned black on outside but completely raw on inside. Tried to eat them anyway. Dumped the whole mess in the sink and prayed that the motor in the disposal would win the battle.

1. All-Time-Worst gluten-free purchase EVER: Nana's gluten-free cookies. Spent $10.00 on nicely packaged, moist looking, big round cookies. Bought lemon, chocolate, and chocolate crunch. Drooled all the way home. Opened cookies, sat down with the kids and dug in. When we opened the packages and tried to take out the cookies we ran into the first problem: Cookies disenegrate upon touch. Suddenly we each held a bag of crumbs, peppered here and there with a dime-sized chunk. Ok, I think, so they're a little crumbly. Then I tasted it! It was like eating chocolate flavored sand. But not as nice. The cookie stuck in my throat as if I had been eating cotton batting! Not only that, but my throat hurt after eating it, it felt all scratched up! The kids, who will eat nearly anything if it is sweet, were having similar experiences. All three of us instantly wanted to drink at least a gallon of water, there were crumbs all over the place (looked like a cookie factory exploded) and my toddler hated it so bad she started crying and trying to wipe her tongue off. No kidding! I kept the extra cookies in the pantry as incentives for eating a good, healthy dinner...."eat all your peas or you'll get a Nana's cookie for dessert!"

Anyone else want to share? I could use a good laugh!!!

[debmidge]

Gillian's Bread Crumbs should be on the list. My in laws, who are not gluten-free breaded chicken with them (first try out of gluten-free bread crumbs ever). We sat down to eat them and they had a terrible after taste. We removed the bread crumbs from the chicken by getting a large, wide skillet; poured fresh water in skillet and placed our chicken pieces in there and let the water come to boil. We boiled off the bread crumbs in order to eat the chicken. We don't buy this brand.

[angel-jd1]

1) Chebe Bread, has an aftertaste of licking a battery (metallic). GROSS!!!!!

2) Ener-g Bread.....ok MOST glutenfree breads BLEH!

3) Annies Cowgirl Ranch Dressing.........just plain nasty!!!

Those are my votes.

-Jessica

[Guest nini]

Orgrans version of gluten free canned spaghetti (like Chef BoyarDee)... my daughter and I were so excited about these and made an event out of opening the can, heating them up and them getting ready to eat... when we put the first bite in our mouth we were instantly like "YUCK!!!!!!" The pasta had been soakiing in the sauce so long it was mush and the sauce had a really odd flavor

[Portageegal]

Oh, man ... you guys are killing me. I just found out I have Celiac. Look what I have to look forward to. UGH!

[Guest nini]

Oh we're just having fun with some of our least fave. products... There are plenty of really good products out there, but also, you will do best on a diet of fresh fruits and vegetables, clean meats (organic, no antibiotics or hormones AND cooked with natural seasonings), rice, potatoes... things like that. Food in it's simplest form is best, but if you just HAVE to HAVE gluten free versions of your fave things, it may take some trial and error before you find products you like.

[KaitiUSA]

There are tons of good brands of things...alot of us had to go through many yucky things to find those good things but then you can learn from our experiences so then you can go straight for the good things.

My top 3 worst:

1. Ener-G rice bread(tastes like cardboard-not that I know what cardboard tastes like )

2.Glutino chocolate bars-I like the other 2 flavors but those are just plain nasty

3. The version of spaghetti that nini mentioned..they were BAD

Now I'll list my top 3 favorite...well maybe more then that..there are too many for me to name so I will keep it short:

1.Wellshire kids chicken bites-fully breaded

2.Cybros Rice Rolls

3.Foods By George English Muffins(cinnamon)

4. Lays Staxx-yummm

5.Alexia fries

6.Envirokids cereal and bars

7.Glutano lemon wafers

8.Ener-G Pretzels(covered with sesame seeds)

9. Midel cookies

10. Kinnikinnick products and especially the chocolate glazed donuts

Tons more but I'll stop there I think everyone gets the picture...I love food

[Carriefaith]

haha funny topic

My least favorite gluten free food would have to be those corn and rice pasta mixes (The one I tried anyway) Bleh!

[Jnkmnky]

Ener-G white bread. *the fda needs to investigate*

Nana's cookies are useless.

Larabars- could bring down the "raw" movement.

[Guest Viola]

Corn pastas

Energy bread, even the crows wouldn't eat

My attempt at pizza dough was really bad. ... Now I buy Kinnikinnick pizza shells and have yummy pizza

This is a fun thread.

[mytummyhurts]

3) Annies Cowgirl Ranch Dressing.........just plain nasty!!!

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Yes! This is the one I had that tasted like tartar sauce. Yuk!

[anerissara]

Oh, man ... you guys are killing me.  I just found out I have Celiac.    Look what I have to look forward to.  UGH!

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Oh, no! I didn't mean to scare you, there are some really *great* products out there too! I was just wanting to get a few laughs out of the ones we've tried that didn't make the grade. Maybe we should add three BEST products, too?

Hmmm, it really is hard to narrow the list down on this one.

1. Annie's frozen gluten-free cheese pizza. I add extra cheese, parmisan and some pepperoni, it's terrific and fast and satisfies that "I want pizza NOW' craving! Also try Annie's frozen rice crusts for pizza, add your own sauce and toppings and toss a salad for a quick meal.

2. Pamelia's kitchen peanut butter cookies, very chewy and the texture is wonderful. Also the chocolate chunk type. Yum!

3. Panda Puffs cereal. It's a little like the Reeces peanut butter crunch cereal, only healthier and gluten-free. Envirokids makes some really good granola bars, too!

And those are just the 'instant', ready-made gluten-free things...I am getting pretty handy at making breads, cookies, cakes and the like at home. No-crust chocolate cheesecake!! Carrotcake with cream cheese frosting!! gluten-free sugar cookies with butter cream frosting!! Chocolate-cherry bunt cake with chocolate glaze!! I even found a recipe for *real* gluten-free crepes that I can't wait to try, hopefully without blowing any kitchen appliances up in the process. Don't despair, there's plenty to eat that's gluten-free and although you have to get creative it's not too hard to eat really well and still stay away from the big G.

[jenvan]

Preach it on the ener-g rice bread. That stuff is wack I will say though that Nana's gluten-free cookies, the ones shaped like a bar are great, IMHO. I love them! I have never had the other ones you guys speak of...

I also think midel's choc chip cookies are blah, with that aftertaste too.

Hmmm... I'm sure I have others, but can't think of them. I must have repressed the memory of them !

[celiac3270]

I tried a pizza from Namaste...absolutely the worst thing ever. It had a soy cheese thing--looked okay from the box and the first deceptive bite it was actually okay--then you start to really taste it--the soggy, disgusting crust, the soy cheese...disgusting. Inedible.

The first bread I tried was worse than Ener-G...it was just as tasteless, but it was like... WET, hardened saw dust.......

[celiac3270]

1) Chebe Bread, has an aftertaste of licking a battery (metallic). GROSS!!!!!

2) Ener-g Bread.....ok MOST glutenfree breads BLEH!

3) Annies Cowgirl Ranch Dressing.........just plain nasty!!!

Those are my votes.

-Jessica

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CHEBE????

AHHHHH...well, never tried it as a bread--only as pizza, which is the best I've tried thus far.

[Guest imsohungry]

Neat thread!

Ok...my turn, IMHO...

1. Ener-G white rice bread is a poor investment (and possibly a health hazard) at $5.00 a loaf! If that bread went "down the wrong pipe" when you swallow,...it's so dry and chalky...you may never get it back up!

2. EnviroKids cereal bars in the fruit flavor....I know many like them, but I ended up throwing the box of them away.

3. Amy's cheese pizza...I know most people disagree with me But I really didn't like the crust...honestly, it surprised me because I LOVE all of Amy's other products.

My four favorite specialty gluten-free products:

1. Amy's lasagna, enchilada's, and pretty much everything else gluten-free made by the company. (This is lunch for me nearly every day).

2. Midel's cookies for a quick (premade) cookie.

3. Ener-G rice pizza crusts

4. Whole foods tomato-basil bread.

Gosh...this is making me hungry! -Julie

[happygirl]

I must add to the list of hating corn pastas. I tried making macaroni and cheese with it.... it was so awful. Luckily there is tinkyada!!!

I also dislike Amy's frozen pizza-but love her enchiladas!!!

Some of the gluten free crackers (various brands are awful) but I love the ener-g pretzels!

[Guest nini]

My daughter and I went to a support group meeting today that was held at a Chinese Restaurant, and everything served was gluten-free for the group... the chinese food was great, the desserts were provided by Namaste foods in mix form and were prepared by several of the members. I was NOT impressed. I would have to add the Namaste mixes to my least faves! YUCK

[VegasCeliacBuckeye]

1. Ener-G Bread -- my god, is it bread, styrofoam or something nasa invented? Just awful...blech!blech!blech!

2. Any attempt at a gluten free cracker (all companies)

3. All Gluten free brownie mixes - (they only make 1/4 inch brownies)

[Guest nini]

3. All Gluten free brownie mixes - (they only make 1/4 inch brownies)

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[anerissara]

[frenchiemama]

Ugh, that Ener-G bread. Why on earth do stores keep stocking it? Is it because every new celiac buys one loaf initially, thus making it appear to be a popular item?

I had some pretty foul Glutino bread as well, I think it was corn something. I was thinking of using it to insulate the attic.

[mouse]

Chebe bread??

I love it as small rolls. Fresh out of the oven with lots of butter. Of course I am not suppose to eat the butter or the cheese I put in them. But, at times I must indulge. Everyone I have given them to, loves them and asks for more. I use sharp cheddar cheese. OOPs, my 17 year old granddaughter does not like them. Never tried it as pizza crust.

Armetta

[Guest mlwaller]

Ok guys, I know that I have very limited resources where I live, but I must be missing something. Ener-g bread is the best gluten-free bread we have found. We were very excited that they just started making light versions of their rice and tapioca bread. I'm not saying that I love the stuff, but compared to the others we have tried it was definently the winner. So please, whatever I am missing help me. What kind of bread do you guys eat? I am basically limited to internet ordering, so websites would be greatly appreciated. thanx

[VegasCeliacBuckeye]

www.kinnikinnick.com

Once you try their bread, you will not go back.

Also, check out their:

1. Choc Chip Muffins

2. Gluten Free Bagels

3. Cinnamon Rolls (a little heavy, but better than nothing)

4. Hot Dog Buns