With an eye on the food allergy community as a unique group of consumers since 2008, we're on a quest to find and share ways to continue enjoying the good things in life.


19 September 2012

Food Allergy Consumer: Homefree Treats

Homefree Treats--a New Hampshire based company founded by a food allergy mom-- graciously offered some of their new mini vanilla cookies (as well as some of our old favorites!) to Food Allergy Buzz for review. I must admit I was already a longtime fan of Homefree Treats before enjoying the samples they sent. About 5 years ago, Homefree cookies helped get my son--who has life threatening allergies to peanuts and tree nuts--through preschool. At the time, the preschool did not have much experience, if any, with children who have life threatening food allergies. They were more than accommodating, however, and I was able to supply the preschool with "safe" snacks for my son to enjoy during snack time. The only catch was that they had to be in a clearly labeled package from the store and also had to be Kosher. Homefree Treats came to the rescue!

I was able to find Homefree cookies easily at the local supermarket and they were a tasty store-bought treat my son was able to enjoy. At certain times during the year, each child was able to bring in a treat to share--following those requirements I mentioned above-- and my son's friends were very happy to enjoy Homefree cookies. The chocolate chocolate chip cookies were a real hit!

The newest addition to the Homefree line of cookies are tasty gluten-free vanilla mini cookies. My sons and I thought they were a fantastic new flavor. We especially enjoyed their miniature size and were sad when we had finished them all. Thankfully, we can still get our Homefree fix down the street at the local supermarket.

Homefree's flavors include: chocolate chip, chocolate chocolate chip, oatmeal and vanilla. Many of the flavors are also certified gluten-free. They also make coffee cakes, which I have yet to try but will one of these days. I've noticed there are no coffee cakes at the supermarket that are made in a dedicated peanut-free, nut-free facility, and Homefree's coffee cakes are also dairy-free and egg-free to boot! That seems like a perfect treat to splurge on for a family gathering. 

A word or two about Homefree's dedicated manufacturing facility. One of the things I love about Homefree is the effort they go through to maintain a dedicated facility. Homefree invited me to visit their new manufacturing facility a few years ago but I had some sort of scheduling conflict and wasn't able to attend. My friend Ruth, of www.bestallergysites.com, was able to make the trip and I remember hearing how thoroughly impressed she was by the Homefree staff and facility. She mentioned that you even have to don special clothes to enter the facility so you don't track in any cross-contaminants. I recommend reading about Ruth's visit to Homefree's facility; it's really impressive. Kudos to Homefree Treats for being such a great food allergy friendly company!

The FAB Review 
Dedicated facility: Yes. Manufacturing facility is free of peanuts, tree nuts, eggs and dairy
Appearance: Perfect round cookies (in regular and mini size) 
Taste: In a word--delicious!
Texture:  Crispy and crunchy
Convenience: The individually packaged cookies and bags of mini cookies are super-easy for packing in your lunch bag or handbag. 
Price/value: Consider buying in bulk! A case of 12 individually wrapped chocolate chip cookies is $14.90 online. A 5 ounce box of mini vanilla cookies containing about 32 mini cookies is $5.49 online.

Homefree kindly shared a few photos of the facility and staff members.








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