Thursday, January 07, 2016

Present idea for food intolerant friend plus some serendipitous timing

Hello there!
I hope you are well.  I'm good except for headache and earache today- I keep trying to shush the paranoid voice in my head that says, "It's the infection in the tooth back!" - I'm onto my second set of Antibiotics now, so hopefully any malingering nasties will be flushed into oblivion!

Anyway, I thought I'd share a little idea I had.  My work colleague is dairy, gluten and wheat intolerant-she has awful eczema that is exasperated by them too. Anyway, on Monday, we were chatting and we got onto the subject of what snacks and treats we like. She was telling me that she adores these Booja-booja truffles that Holland and Barratts only do at Christmas and on Valentines. I felt pretty sure it was her birthday soon so I decided to try and get her some. I ordered some from H&B online along with some coconut oil which is in the penny sale (you buy one and get another one for a penny) which was very good timing as I was in the process of ordering, I heard CBC groan from the kitchen that the coconut oil had just run out (ahaha, how did I know!!??!?!?!!) 

Anyway, I received an email from H&B yesterday saying that the BB chocs were out of stock according to their Warehouse and they wouldn't be getting anymore.  Woe is me! It had transpired that her birthday was indeed Saturday so this meant I had little time to do anything about it!

I went to town in the evening and had an idea that I could create L her own snack tin which I could fill with the type of snacks she can eat. Because, of course, for somebody with special dietary requirements, it's hard to get a snack from just anywhere.

I was in TK Maxx and I found this pretty looking tin on the sale table for £1! 
 I decided to use silver outline stickers to personalise it for her on the side...
and also on the top.

 After I left TK Maxx, I went to Sainsbury's to see what little bits I could fill the snack tin with.
L had mentioned that she could eat Sainsbury's jelly babies, she loves them and Refreshers so I grabbed those.  Then I remembered she eats those Nakd bars- so I found those and serendipitously, they were on special offer, reduced by a third on normal flavours and the Christmas pudding ones were reduced by 70%.

I hope she'll like the personalised present! The tin plus contents cost me less than £5.

By another stroke of serendipitous timing, I happened then to pop in Holland & Barratts and found that they had ONE box of the champagne truffles AND they were in the penny sale, so I picked up the last box of the Hazelnut truffles for my friend Anne's birthday which is soon- she is also Gluten, Dairy and Wheat intolerant.  When I took them up to pay, I should've been charged £10 (the big ones are £9.99 and the little ones are £7.99) but they didn't register as being in the penny sale. I showed them the labels on the shelf which clearly indicated that they WERE and then they totalled it. Bizarrely, I was charged £8.00, the price for the cheaper ones! So I managed to get the boxes for £4 each essentially and I have two presents sorted.

Feeling rather pleased with this!

What do you think?  If you are someone with special dietary requirements, what is your opinion?

xxx

26 comments:

  1. I am not someone with special dietary requirements but I think it is an absolutely lovely present

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  2. You're such a dear for going through all the trouble of finding goodies for your friend. You got lucky with the price. She is lucky to have you.

    Hugs,
    JB

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  3. That's a great idea Kezzie - I'm wheat intolerant - it wrecks my joints and there's lots of acidy foods that I can't take either. It makes snacks almost impossible to find. I'm sure your friend was delighted.
    I hope your earache settles down - make sure you're taking lots of natural yoghurt when you're take the antibiotics.Get well soon. Fil

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  4. That's so thoughtful, Kezzie. She'll love her snacks.

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  5. This is such a lovely idea, I love the effort you put into this!

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  6. My daughter has eczema and is on a very restrictive diet just like your friend. This is such a thoughtful gift as you have no idea how hard it is to live in a world where you can't eat very many "normal" things. I've had to learn a whole new way of cooking. You are a dear.

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  7. Your thoughtfulness is worth cheering here. I imagine your lovely snack tin will be cherished and consumed (the contents) very quickly. And getting gifts for your other friend paid back at the till. Think of me when you eat a few of those CHAMPAGNE truffles. Yum!

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  8. What a sweet gift for your coworker. You are truly a gem, dear.

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  9. That's such a wonderful idea!

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  10. That's such a lovely gift. I'm rather partial to those Naked bars too - bakewell tart is my favourite :)

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  11. That is such a lovely idea
    Julie xxxx

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  12. Clever idea, the tin looks so pretty. I didn't see those truffles in H&B, maybe I should look for a bigger one. They must be delicious.

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  13. Lovely gift, what a great friend you are to think so much about it. Those truffles are the best too, I love the coffee ones, yuuuuum!

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  14. What a thoughtful gift and so personal too!
    Liz

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  15. That's a lovely gift and really thoughtful. My sister has been GF for years and my younger niece is DF, so I know how hard it is. Jx

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  16. The Booja truffles are so good, I was sent some in a swap last year (I think the sender thought I might share them with Thomas - as if!).

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  17. Booja Booja has a web site where you can find stockists possibly Waitrose or Tesco. Its made near where i live in Norwich.

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  18. Oooo, aren't you so thoughtful! Kezzie you're the sweetest of all sweet treats x
    Anna
    Anna's Island Style

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  19. This is so sweet of you! It is a lovely idea and I like how you put it into practice. I do think those personalized stickers give this snack box a nice personal touch. My friend once gave a similar present to my mother for Christmas. She filled one jar with all kinds of candies.

    Anyway, being on a restricted died can be really hard at times. These days, I'm not as restricted in my food choices as I used to be, but I remember what it used to be like...it is easy to feel a bit left out. This is a really fantastic present for a food intolerent friend and I'm sure she will like it.

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  20. It must be very difficult to be intolerant to certain foods. It's thoughtful of you to look for products that your work colleague will enjoy and be a treat on her birthday. I hope all your aches will go soon and you can relax this weekend. That will be a help I'm sure.

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  21. I would love to receive a gift like this, dietary needs or not. It's incredibly thoughtful and I'm certain it will be appreciated.
    Lisa x

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  22. A lovely idea, and what good luck too!

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  23. Great idea, Kezzy, I'm sure it will be very well received

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  24. Mummykins6:39 pm

    I'm intolerant to potatoes and carrots so consequently make my own soups most of the time. I read ingredients and then find something has potato start in - including Baxters Cream of Tomato Soup. Heinz is ok and even most of the Covent Garden soups have potato or carrots in. It's a weird intolerance. I can't eat most crisps unless it's something like the quinoa ones which I was munching at Kenzie's yesterday. I'm not too bothered about the potato one but love carrots and they don't like me. IBS type symptoms are what usually occurs. Luckily sweet potatoes are fine. They count as one of 5 a day whereas ordinary potatoes don't count.

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  25. Those are amazing presents; the tin is so thoughtful, and it sounds like you snapped up some serious bargains! What lucky friends you have indeed :) xxx

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  26. Those are lovely presents! I don't eat meat and I'm intolerant to eggs, dairy and soya, I would to recieve special treats in a pretty tin or booja boojas (they're delicious, I'm addicted to the booja booja chocolate ice cream they sell in Holland and Barrett, it's yummy and vegan and only has 4 ingredients so it's surely pure and healthy and good for me!), your friends are very lucky! :)

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Greetings! Welcome to the maaaaaadness! I am so glad you came to visit and leave me a pretty comment!! Would you like tea and cakes? The books are over on the shelf! I have sofas a-plenty so leave us a friendly comment and I'll pretty much guarantee I'll come a-visiting to you at some point soon!! This blog-post will self-destruct in 2 minutes. Go, type, type, type!!!!! (and put a hat on!)