Review: DrSchar.com ~ TRUfree and Dietary Specials foods

The lovely Becky from Dr.Schar.com sent me a box of goodies to try. Inside were a variety of tasty things by TRUfree and Dietary Specials.


From TRUfree we received some rich tea biscuits and their tasty pretzels...

My daughter instantly spotted the biscuits and demanded to try some. When we opened the box (125g) we found 3pks of 6 biscuits each, i think this is great as it gives more freshness and life to them to make them last longer. However 6 biscuits is quite alot, maybe 4 packs of 4 biscuits would be better?
So i opened them and was disappointed that most of the biscuits were already broken into pieces, I've had these before and they were the same so it wasn't method of delivery. I just think that the biscuits are to thin, if they were slightly thicker then they'd break less. I made some tea to go with them and was disappointed that my tea ended up full of soggy biscuit crumbs.
The taste of the biscuit was nice though, the classic sweet and buttery taste that's plain and simple just like an ''original'' rich tea biscuit.

Next the pretzels got spotted by the non-coeliac in the house, Justin. He loves these and i regularly buy him them as he says (in his words) ''They taste like the real thing''. I find that i defiantly need a drink with these as they are very salty and hard. The bag is quite large, 60g, as just a snack. One for sharing, picnics or even opening a few bags at a party. I'd like to see smaller snack packets of 30g/40g sold in multi packs (6) for convenience, and some other flavours such as chocolate covered or garlic and herb? Yummy :)

From Dietary Specials we had their Chocolate & Orange crispy bars,

bread sticks and brown ciabatta rolls.

The crispy bars didn't stay in the packet very long as they looked really tasty! Inside the 180g box you get 5 individually wrapped bars, one for each week day :) They were very tasty with quite a tangy orange flavour, little pieces of orange were also dotted around the bars. Nice and chewy but not enough chocolate, it would be nice to have the chocolate running all the way though instead of just on the outside. This also might help to make them less dry and bland? Also available in apricot and raisin flavour, yummy.

Next up were their *new* product, bread sticks. They come in a 150g pack and inside are separated into 3pks. This is excellent for freshness and sharing, if you only want to nibble on a few the rest are still sealed and fresh for next time. Or open them all up for a party! I found them to be a bit dry and crumbly but with a dip they were fantastic :) Also they make a good alternative to biki-pegs for a teething toddler, hard enough to help with teething but edible and flavourless for them to like. Little snack sizes packets of these in miniature form would go down well at kids party's, in a lunch box or your handbag as a quick snack when on the go.

 Lastly we tried the brown ciabatta rolls, 200g with four rolls. Winner of the bread and bread mixes catergory at the Free From food awards. I had never tried ciabatta before having these and now i love it!

They are fresh enough to eat as they are but the taste develops if you warm them through. Either a few seconds in the microwave or a few minutes in the oven, for that beautiful fresh bread taste and smell :) I enjoyed mine oven warm with some margarine and a hearty beef stew. The outside turns crispy and the inside stays soft and fluffy with it chewy seeds, fantastic for moping up the gravy. I have previously used these to make garlic bread, again in the oven with fantastic tasty results. I wonder if some larger ones could be made to use as sandwiches? Yummy!!! 

I was overall very impressed with both of these brands, with their easily recognisable packaging and quite impressive products. I am keeping my eyes peeled for any new makes from them, i will be sure to give them a try out to :)

Dietary Specials also has an impressive frozen range including pizzas and pies, very exciting, low fat and flavoursome products again!

If you wish to purchase any of these products or just fancy a look at their full ranges then head over to your local supermarkets which are bound to stock of few items from each company or shop directly from them online here; Dietary Specials and TRUfree.