Marks and Spencer's Made Without Wheat 2016

Marks and Spencer have a much larger range of "Made Without" products... and many of them are Made Without Wheat (MWW).  The aim of this blogpose is to provide details about a few that have made Sous Chef J ask for "more, please!", as well as others.

There are NEW chiller cabinet items - including pasta ready meals - supplementing the range. We have now tried the Macaroni Cheese, Spaghetti Bolgnese and Lasagne.   They are all tasty and we choose to oven cook our ready meals (SCJ asked what a ready meal was - which indicates how rare such an item is in this household)

Sous Chef J particularly "LOVED" the Rhubarb Crumble and also the Strawberry Trifle (which he will devour at one sitting, given the chance).

Servings of crumble and trifle tend not to last long... 

Also in the MWW range, there is a lovely Apple Pie and a New York Cheesecake... don't be fooled by the size of the cheesecake - each morsel is packed with calories and we struggled to eat the (small sized) cake between three of us.


Picnic items are also in evidence - with a Quiche Lorraine and a Cheese and Onion Quiche.  Sous Chef J doesn't like the Scotch Eggs but we do... and we've tried the Sausage Rolls too.
 

Always a favourite are the Salmon Fishcakes and the Chicken (and mushroom - don't tell SCJ) crispbakes.  These are often on offer at two packs (of 2) for £3.

In the ambient section, there's a good offering of cakes and bread (mostly).  Crumpets and cake mixes, plus pasta are also stocked.





SCJ favours the MWW White Boule and will eat the lot... we had to try the MWW Brown Bloomer (£3 for 6 slices - eye watering!) but he wasn't keen... even dressed up with cheese and chutney as sarnies.

Overall, we appreciate the increased range very much but still make a plea for "RELIABILITY OF AVAILABILITY"... without this it's difficult to rely on being able to buy products (in ALL M&S food halls)... after all, we can't spend our money on items if the goods aren't on the shelves!

PS In addition to the MWW range, there are still plenty of 'mainstream' products marked with a glutenfree symbol - the grill range and tortilla chips are go-to items for us too.  We love M&S for this!

Marks and Spencer Made Without Wheat Victoria Sponge Cake Mix

We picked up a packet cake mix in Marks and Spencer - J's always been a fan of Victoria Sponge and he thought he'd "give it a go".  It's from their Made Without Wheat range and required the addition of two eggs, some melted butter and milk.

Gathering the ingredients and equipment that would be needed to bake the cake, Sous Chef J was keen to follow the mix's instructions
to the (rather small) letter.

Having greased and lined the baking tins, SCJ started by sifting the flour mix from the bag into a large mixing bowl.

Next the milk and eggs were lightly beaten together and added to the flour mix.

Melting the butter, this was then allowed to cool slightly before being added to the cake mix.


The batter came together well and was quite thick but easily mixable with a silicone spatula.






The mix was shared between two 6" sandwich tins (SCJ used scales to ensure even distribution) and then baked according to the instructions.

Once baked thoroughly, the cakes were removed from the oven and allowed to cool completely on a cooling rack.

Raspberry jam was then spread on the top of one of the cakes.  SCJ used a small silicone spatula to do this.

Finally, whipped cream was added, the other cake was placed on top and it was covered with a dusting of icing sugar.

The cake was moist, light and very tasty.  It didn't last long!  We'll definitely buy the mix again... so long as supplies are on the shelves, that is.

Christmas Party Food from Marks and Spencer

Once again this year we have been pleased to see how many of the 'mainstream' party foods products in the Marks and Spencer chiller cabinets are marked as gluten free.  Sous Chef J is a VERY BIG fan of the Mini Chicken Kievs whilst I like the Belly Pork bites.  Here's a selection of the products we've tried so far this 'festive season'...

 ... first off, we were delighted to find a really lovely, decorated Christmas Cake.  When we bought it, there was the additional bonus that it was on offer at a cost of £8.  It can also be ordered online here using Marks and Spencer's food to order service and has a cost of £12.

 

Sous Chef J is a HUGE fan of the mini Chicken Kievs - these can be found in the chiller cabinets and also the freezers (useful for stocking up) - and will eat almost a whole pack himself!  They are crispy chicken bites, filled with garlic butter which are a firm favourite.




The Mini Toad in the Hole with  caramelised onion chutney are lovely little mouthfuls of Cumberland sausages in a crispy batter. 

The BBQ Pork Belly Squares are delicious - the meat falls apart and the barbecue sauce glaze is a fab last minute addition to the tray when they're being cooked.

When we found the Mini Christmas Dinner Bites, Sous Chef J was not sure he would like them.  They're made of bitesize turkey and stuffing wrapped in streaky bacon with a pomegranate, clementine and cranberry glaze.  The glaze is added 5 minutes before the end of the cooking time.

In the end, Sous Chef J enjoyed trying the bites... and they do look appetising - a nice touch is that the bamboo picks have Magic & Sparkle engraved on them.

The last party food item we found was also something Sous Chef J liked - Sticky Asian Lollipops - as they are "easy to eat" which always something that's likely to make him happy!









Spotted in the freezer cabinet was a dessert called Christmas Candles - no gluten was listed in the ingredients or allergen information... we are still trying to find out if this is gluten free but it looks like a lovely option for an easy pudding.

Marks and Spencer also sell gluten free Christmas Puddings and mince pies although, to date, we've only seen the empty shelves where these are meant to be.  

Online, Marks and Spencer's food to order even has a Gluten Free Party Selection which contains 12 Mini Chicken Kievs, 12 Scottish Lochmuir™ Smoked Salmon and Prawn Appetisers, 18 BBQ Pork Belly Squares, 12 Sticky Asian Style Chicken Lollipops, and 12 Mini Toad in the Hole with caramelised onion chutney at a cost of £30 for 66 pieces in total.

Overall we have been pleasantly surprised by the range of items that are stocked which are clearly marked as gluten free and, although we'd like the supply to be more reliable, we do think it's worth heading to M&S to stock up on easy-to-cook party food.

Gluten Free Product Finds

... we've found quite a few new (to us) products recently.  This post will cover some of them and share where they've been bought.  However, as the 'market' never stays still and buyer change the line up of suppliers and goods, seemingly randomly, some of them may suffer from 'reliability of availability' issues - a subject that drives many a tweet/rant and has been mentioned in blogs before.

We found these Genius Pains au Chocolat at Waitrose, North Walsham, Norfolk.  Unfortunately, they aren't stocked at our local store but, as they're deliciously crumbly and taste very good indeed, it's probably no bad thing we have to make the effort to find a store that stocks them - a treat for special occasions will be how we consider them. 

Also from Waitrose, we like these falafels... and often have them with our Curry Houmous as a dip.

Genius foods also sell these cupcakes - a two pack of either chocolate or lemon - which we like for days out treats.   Apparently there is quite a selection available in Tesco and Asda but we've yet to get into these stores to see if they're stocked locally.


Online, Ocado has a great range of gluten free goods on sale.  We bought these Eskal Wafer Rolls a while back and, last time we looked, they weren't available... however, Ocado's twitter feed said there's a problem with supply.  Hopefully this will be sorted in time for the summer as Sous Chef J really likes them!

Also from Eskal are these Ice Cream Party Tubs - we leave a pack in the car for days out use when Ice Cream vans don't have a Gluten Free option - a dollop of sorbet in them works wonders if the ice cream isn't gluten free. There's no reason why basic flavours of ice cream should contain gluten, but some do, and this is something we always check.

Eskal also do a range of biscuits including these Tea Biscuits and a Lemon Wafer which is very much like the Pink Panther wafers (which are our staple "take to other people's houses so everyone can eat them" food offering - we buy ours in Sainsbury's)


At ocado, Celia Organic Lager and Clive's Pies were offered as a bundle deal - so that was a good way to get B a different brand of lager to try.


Sainsbury's usually has the largest range of free from items of all our local supermarkets and Marks and Spencer has recently enlarged its range of Gluten Free (made without wheat) products which we blogged about here.

Lazy Days make a range of Gluten Free and other freefrom biscuits and snacks that we also like.  A particular favourite is the chocolate dipped ginger biscuits... yum!

We hope this post has given you a few ideas and shown there is a wide range of Gluten Free products about... even if you do have to shop around to get them.

Latest Gluten Free finds at Marks and Spencer

Finally, at Marks and Spencer, we found an almost full display of Gluten Free (or Made without Wheat) products.  The empty spaces should have contained baguette and fruit scones.  We would have liked to try the baguette very much as we don't make bread. Ever.  Scones we makes lots so that's not such a missed item in our grocery shop. 

It was GREAT to see that someone has listened and realised those on restricted diets also have birthdays!  A Celebration Cake - Extremely Chocolatey - covered in chocolate curls and decorated with a starburst.  Pricey at £10 but nice if the Birthday girl is the main cook (hint, hint Sous Chef J)...

Other cakes on offer were Coffee and Walnut (new), Carrot and Walnut (new), Victoria Sponge, Chocolate Loaf and Rich Fruit Loaf.

Having looked at the 'ambient' food offerings, we went on the hunt for other Gluten Free items... and spotted this three pack of mini meringues - not labelled with the gluten free symbol but the allergy advice does not highlight gluten in the ingredients.  Also, having checked online here, the item is listed in the Marks and Spencer 'do not contain gluten' listing... of course, you still need to check ingredients on the product as 'recipes change'... but it's a good starting point.

The meat section revealed a couple of 'The Grill' range marked with the Gluten Free symbol. 

Sausages are a usual 'staple' purchase for us as many (perhaps all?) uncooked are Gluten Free... but beware, the cooked, lunch/snack ones are NOT?  How? Why? Daft, if you ask us.... there are few enough items to choose from in the takeaway/food to go/lunch snacks that are Gluten Free that it seems odd not to sell the cooked version of the Gluten Free sausages.  There is more good news though - we did find Gluten Free Scotch Eggs ... in the picnic section.


The other day we tweeted about the numerous Gluten Free finds in the Food to Order catalogue - even containing a dessert (large portion sized version of their hot chocolate fudge pudding).  Here's a link to the online offering of Gluten Free items it contains.  There are Celebration Cakes and Wedding Cakes as well as crumpets and meats... but, oddly, NOT the Gluten Free Mini Chicken Kievs Sous Chef J had been so pleased to find in the paper catalogue.  Similarly, the belly pork I so liked at Christmas is not showing up online - I do hope that, if we place an order from the catalogue, these are still available...

... as ever, it seems to be that Reliability of Availability is key.  It is really frustrating to know products DO exist (in some stores) but they are difficult to purchase... and, PLEASE, Marks and Spencer, IMPROVE your offerings at roadside Simply Food stores!  We find the Gluten Free range in railway stations is, usually, pretty reliable but you seem to think we don't go by road... we need to know if we see your store we can buy food we can eat.  Like these Caramel Pecan Crunch Bars which Sous Chef J loves.