Budget Gluten-free Frozen Meal
Nov 14 2009

Budget Gluten-free Frozen Meal

cajunsteamerCafé Steamers are frozen meals made by Healthy Choice, a Con Agra brand. You might have seen TV commercials about them. I never heard them tout the products are gluten-free but one Café Steamers meal is actually gluten-free. At least it’s made without gluten ingredients, according to the company representative I spoke to. She explained that they will mark all forms of gluten on their products, even though wheat is the only form of gluten that is legally required to be called out on food labels in the U.S.

The Cajun Chicken and Shrimp was the only Café Steamer at  Publix that didn’t contain gluten. It might be the only gluten-free option period, but since the company doesn’t label any of them gluten-free, they don’t maintain a list of gluten-free items. In fact, ConAgra is not impressing anyone with their efforts to cater to the gluten-free set. The company seems a bit behind the times when it comes to the gluten-free niche market.

The Cajun Chicken and Shrimp meal was quite good and I will purchase it again. Despite the name, I did not find the meal to be very spicy. To me, Cajun equals spicy and this dish just wasn’t that spicy. That was a plus for me as I don’t love spicy food for the most part. I was worried that I would not be able to eat it when I bought it due to the name, but I was willing to take a chance based on the great value.  The meal was about 40% less than any other frozen meal that is labeled gluten-free. The fact that the meal has 12% of your RDA for fiber and only 260 calories was also a plus. The meal is only 6 Weight Watchers points.

One of the things you’ll notice about non gluten-free labeled products is that many are on sale at times. But when it comes to gluten-free replacement foods, it’s pretty hard to find something on sale. Here in Atlanta the only stores (that I shop at) that routinely have gluten-free items on sale are Return to Eden and Natural Foods Warehouse. Whole Foods has some items on sale but those are far and few between and the sale price is rarely anything to get excited about. Call me greedy but putting a gluten-free flour blend on sale for $.40 off doesn’t have me dancing in the aisles. If something was 25% off instead of 5%, that would have me doing back flips!

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Article Written by: Tiffany Janes

Tiffany works as a gluten-free consultant with Atlanta area restaurants. She is considered a gluten-free advocate, as well as the most discriminating gluten-free diner around.

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