The good folks at Tim Horton’s reached out to me last week and asked if they could send me their new Gluten-Free Coconut Macaroons. As I tell all companies who want to send me samples, I said I’d be happy to try them but I can’t guarantee a review. If I like it, I’ll let people know via social media.
But I figured since this product is in thousands of locations in several countries, and it’s gotten tons of press, a review may not be such a bad idea after all.
Let me start with the verdict and I’ll work backwards from there:
It was delicious. And I’ll never eat one again.
Sorry folks, but I just can’t recommend it even though it tasted good.
Why?
Reason #1: The ingredients. Lots of sugar and lots of things I can’t pronounce. The thing is just really, really unhealthy. You know me by now. You know how I’m a big believer that celiacs don’t just need gluten-free, but they need to go one step further to truly care for their bodies. The macaroon just doesn’t cut it.
Reason #2: The pain. Within 4 minutes of finishing the macaroons, I got a stomach ache. It’s now an hour later and I still feel just kinda yucky. Why did I get a stomach ache? Go back to Reason #1.
So to you Tim Horton’s, here is what I say:
Thank you for the gluten-free macaroon and for giving celiacs another option when they are out and about.
Thank you for packaging it off-premise and for doing the right way so they are safe to eat for celiacs.
But I implore you and all other companies out there are who starting to offer gluten-free in your establishments, please, please make them healthier. Many celiac’s insides are a mess and we just can’t tolerate something with 23 ingredients in it, most of them crap.
I am imploring you to rise to the challenge to produce something that is not just gluten-free and delicious, but is actually made with whole ingredients.
And don’t tell me it can’t be done. There are many small companies out there doing it right. But when their products are released, it doesn’t make the news.
Instead, when gluten-free makes the news, it’s usually when Dunkin Donuts or Domino’s or Tim Horton’s does something.
That’s great. We’re happy to get the press.
But let’s do it right so celiacs can truly celebrate the news.
Good moning, GD! 🙂
I have just returned from my trip and I read your other recent post about how yucky you have been feeling after trialing these products. So, after reading this one too, my honest opinion is….you have additional food intolerances. It can also explain why you have been flagging lately. This is how I feel after eating ones I cannot tolerate. Sorry kiddo.
Like you, I have a hard time with some packaged foods items, plus eggs, shellfish, wine, soy, cured foods/deli meat, MSG, sugar, and food dyes. (no more M and Ms for me)
I thoroughly enjoyed a traditional New England fried platter of onion rings, clams, scallops Saturday–all GF and yummy!–and had the stomach ache/bowel fun stuff/fatigue to match the next day. Not gluten, just my gut and my response now to shellfish. damn! It’s not right that a native born New Englander can’t have those foods. waaa!!! Ah well, I loved the moments while I was eating them LOL
If you can identify what foods/additives are causing the problem, it will help you recover. I’m afraid we just have guts that like us to eat more cleanly.
here’s a thought: If you want a macaroon, make these paleo ones from Elana Amsterdam.
http://www.elanaspantry.com/egg-free-paleo-macaroons/
and drizzle some melted Enjoy Life chips over them.
Hope you feel better soon!! xx.
No doubt. I’m already off soy, dairy and corn. And lord knows whole food is so much better for us. I just wish these big chains didn’t make such gluten free crap.
Also, Dude, have you investigated fructose malabsorption?
(Coconut is high in fructose, if you are wondering.)
Apparently, fructose malabsorption and celiac are a common combination, as are fructose and junk food.
Ditto to I.H. Aside from the obvious offenders for me (known allergens) and of course, gluten, there is food I just can’t eat. Now, MOST of the time I accept that but there are the times that I have the “are you freakin’ kidding me” food. You know, the stuff that you “should” be able to eat.
My personal rule of thumb is quite literally the length of the ingredient list. Using the recipe that Irish references above for the egg-free macaroons, it uses 6 ingredients to the way-to-many in the Tim’s option.
Set yourself free, Dude and step away from the samples. You don’t need to be the guinea pig.
Sue, 🙂
I have expressed this very same thought many times about packaged ingredients: if it has more than 5 and if some of those words sound like unpronounceable entries in my hub’s chemistry texts, then I don’t eat it.
Means we have to make more things from scratch, but so be it.
It worked from my Gramma and she lived a long life..
Thanks Sue. I should know better, but because it was Tim Horton’s and the press made such a big to-do about it, felt it was my civic duty.
LOL, you took one for the team. When Tim’s made the big announcement, I thought, “Hmmmm, how many ways can this go wrong?” I really am sorry that you feel like crap. I’m not judging as I’m the person that made a pan of rice crispie squares on the weekend and demolished almost the whole pan in short order. Not feelin’ good yet. Go figure, eh. Maybe next time I’ll add beets…..
AARGH!!! NOT THE BEETS AGAIN!!!! 😀
Maybe KALE would be a better solution? 🙂
“Mmmmmm, kale “(channelling Homer Simpson)….
May I offer you a homemade macaroon with a scant 4 ingredients, all healthy? And I promise, no beets this time.
Eating plastic-wrapped food that appears to have been spit out by a gas station vending machine is not a good idea for anyone, let alone those of us with celiac disease. No wonder your stomach staged a rebellion.
Great review, GD. You’re definitely on the right track.
Melissa
I can even be talked into the beets Melissa 😉
no beets? that can’t be right….you can’t be the real Melissa we know and love ! 🙂 🙂
I’m interested in the recipe but didn’t see it. Elana’s pantry is not really that healthy. Agave and honey are still too much sugar. Several years ago I was a regular at Elana’s pantry website until I learned about the dangers of too much animal protien and the truth about how much protien we really need. It bugged me that she comes across like a nutritional expert but is the same as most $$$$ writing cookbooks etc. I got the heads up when some people questioned what she was claiming in her posts.
Elana Amsterdam has graciously shared her recipes for a long time before she published any cookbooks. MANY celiac recipe bloggers are also published authors–the Bronskis, Jules Shepherd, even Melissa whose recipe you are asking for here –what’s wrong with that? They have a right to make a living.
A treat now and then with agave or honey is better than processed, chemical-laden sugary crap. She even offers recipes for an agave-free diet, if that’s your worry.
She does not claim to be a nutritionist. She’s a fellow celiac with other AI diseases who shares her recipes.
You do not need to buy her books, but I do not think it’s necessary to bash the poor woman.
Didn’t say I’d use the recipe. I’ll check it out and see if it works for me. Where did I say people didn’t have a right to make a living? “Poor woman” you can not let emotions rule, or your thinking will be skewed. If my thinking had been , “my poor doctor, he’s so nice and he is doing his best”, I would be very sick right now. There is alot of information that is easy to get these days, so one must be very careful. I am being very careful and have no problem with my comment. You are rude to call me a basher!
Let’s just do our best to keep it civil…thanks.
There is nothing uncivil in my post. Sticking up for myself. Why wasn’t your lets try to keep it civil comment made after irishheart made false accusations? Are the rules different for different people. I’m new, don’t like what I experienced.
I appreciate you being here Grace…sincerely. And I’m totally cool with varying opinions, etc. I’d just prefer to have any name-calling, that’s all.
Grace,
Perhaps “bash” is a strong word and I am sorry if it upset you.
I felt you were “unfairly negative” about Elana Amsterdam. (I use the bash for that)
I respectfully disagree. I wish people would stop conflating “gluten-free” with “healthy” with respect to making products. I don’t want to eat junk food all the time by any means; I just would like the PRIVILEGE of being able to walk into virtually any building and have something I can eat there (read: there is NO celiac equivalent to a cheap burger, fries, soda, much as we would like to tell ourselves that there are options that are just as good). Days out with friends are very taxing when I have to have food packed to avoid shaking whereas they have “food” (lol) options on every corner if they get hungry. Sometimes I wish there were a mainstream gluten-free fast food joint that sources really cheap factory-farm meat, GMO gluten-free grains, and serves it all bathed in grease. You probably think I’m being sarcastic and I am not. People with no restrictions have cheap healthy options and cheap unhealthy options everywhere. I think that the gluten-free community should strive for the same. Especially because many people virtually cannot give up fast food for cultural/money reasons so if they got celiac (and at this point low-income folks probably have a miniscule chance of a diagnosis considering doctors are uneducated and you also need good insurance etc in order to get a test, but I also hope this can change), let’s be real…are they going to start eating plain salads, fresh produce and yogurt while the rest of the family continues to live off of fast food and such? I see it as a social justice issue in a way. Give people realistic options.
Nora, I agree: I do see the option to eat whatever you want as a social justice issue! Doritos for everyone!
Also, if you’re looking for cheap, gluten-free fast food, Wendy’s actually is all that. It’s cheap, greasy, and truly gluten-free, if it’s a prepared or microwaved item. (Like their baked potatoes with cheese.)
Wendy’s is very good about gluten awareness (at least the ones in my area) I love dumping their chilli all over one of their cheese baked potatoes.it’s only a couple of bucks and sooo delicious 🙂
Whoa! Whoa! Hold the phone!!! Wendy’s chlii is GF? Why didn’t I know this? Now, can someone tell me where my shoes and keys are hiding?
Understand your point Nora but respectfully disagree. Why would we ever want to push for unhealthy food. Heck…celiac or not, our food system pretty much sucks. I only know how I feel when I eat crap. I would guess many celiacs feel the same way. So why would I advocate more of that food. I get the whole “choice” thing…believe me. But that’s not the choice I’m looking for.
Of course you wouldn’t advocate for it. Because you’re speaking for yourself.
I don’t kid myself that a baked potato is even on the same level as the experience of a Big Mac. 🙂
It’s hard for me to articulate this, but basically I just don’t like the idea that the market should be controlling the choices of gluten-free people to such a greater extent than the general population (and they do, with the super-pricey processed and premade foods – gf people often do whole foods out of necessity). There’s this vibe I get from the celiac community of, “Well, now that you have an illness, you’re responsible for your health so why would you even want those *other* options?” Um, the same reason I wanted them before? Am I obligated to adopt new beliefs about food just because I can’t eat wheat?
I give up…
I wish you wouldn’t. We talk all the time about our needs as celiacs being dismissed or misunderstood. And yet my perspective here is being dismissed and/or misunderstood similarly BY celiacs. I’m not sure what I’ve said that you guys find so ungodly. I say that with complete honesty.
Here is your argument from my perspective. Well, argument is not the right word but you get my point. And if I’m wrong, please let me know.
Because there is so much crap on the market to eat, celiacs should get the opportunity to eat the same crap?
Why? Why should I be happy that there are 23 ingredients in the macaroon? Why is this choice a good thing?
I think that is basically my point, but I don’t like how the fact that I am not in the majority here makes people think it’s ok to treat this perspective like it’s so outlandish as to not deserve a serious response.
I eat mainly whole or minimally processed foods. I still want “crappy” gf food to be more accessible. I believe eating fast food all the time is probably terrible for you. I still want “crappy” gf food to be more accessible. I think grass-fed beef is probably a lot healthier for you than conventional or processed beef. I STILL want “crappy” gf food to be more accessible. Why?
Reason #1 is privilege. I recognize that I and most of the celiac community have the time and resources to eat fairly healthy because the people who can afford to see enough doctors to get a diagnosis (or can even afford to spend time TRYING to figure out what’s wrong with them) are the ones who wind up in this whole gluten-free community. Whereas I implore you to try keeping gluten-free in a food desert with no access to a car, or eating a whole food diet with no time to cook, or eating gluten-free in a community or family that ostracizes you for it. Yes we’d all LOVE it if there were a viable way to get low-income people healthy, whole, gluten-free food in the immediate future. But since they are generally not affording or not choosing healthy whole food when on a gluten-containing diet, it is rather elitist to expect them to all of a sudden do so on a gluten-free diet. So that’s the “social justice” part – if we truly want better diagnosis rates of celiac then it is hypocritical to not want a pragmatic approach to putting gluten-free food in a form that is available to and satisfying for those who do not have access to our “standard” of food.
Reason #2 is that I do not want YOUR standards of food consumption and YOUR restrictions dictating what I eat. You said that you know how YOU feel when you eat highly processed food. Fine. That doesn’t mean it’s how I feel. I don’t tell gluten-eating folks that they have to not eat gluten because I don’t, and yet there’s so much overlap between “people who are celiac” and “people who want all food to be fresh, local, organic, etc” that they seem shocked by the very idea that someone could be celiac and want to eat something that’s *gasp* bad for them. Well, most of the population wants to do that to some extent. Lots of people who only eat fast food once a month or once every two months (like me pre-diagnosis!) very much want those outlets to exist even if they do not frequent them. I am not saying we have a right to McDonalds, just that I personally have a desire for some counterpart to exist in legit form (again, I’m trying to imagine convincing my college friends that “being gluten-free is no different because we have BAKED POTATOES lol!!!”). It’s just my taste. And bear in mind that there is no objective measure that says “This vice is MUCH WORSE than that vice.”
Additional explanation of Reason #2: Claudette’s comment 🙂
I understand what you’re saying, Nora. I’ve gone hungry many days rather than get sick, all while driving past McDonalds and a dozen other FF restaurants.
Yes, it’s my responsibility to be prepared but even after 2 years GF, it can be hard breaking a lifetime of habits. It isn’t good that I used to eat half my meals on the run in my car and I do eat better now but if I could drive through a FF place and get safe fries and some chicken chunks or even an egg sandwich in the morning, my life would feel more normal.
I’ve had conversations with people who won’t even get tested because they can’t imagine eating GF, for whatever reason. It’s a huge barrier in our FF culture. I agree with GD that the world doesn’t need another packaged GF sweet treat, but also with you, that it does need more options, even unhealthy ones.
I agree 110% its nice to, at times, have a burger and fries or something deep fried with zero cross contamination. Don’t let “Glutendouche” get to you. You are in the majority.
Ah…name calling RJ. How…sad.
I’m in full agreeance with you here on every point as well as your other replies to gluten dude. I don’t understand why it’s such a horrible thing to want to eat greasy unhealthy food every now and then to treat yourself. Not everyone feels horrible after eating unhealthy food. A Big Mac once a month won’t kill you. This country is overly obsessed with being 100% healthy 100% of the time. It’s incredibly toxic. When I was diagnosed with celiacs and tried to find gluten free versions of my favorite types of food, it dawned on me that so much of gf food is tacked onto food that is organic, vegan, dairy free , soy free , low fat zero sugar etc. It actually made me have the thought why can’t someone just make tasty fatty food that simply has no gluten. I’ve considered opening up a fast food joint called celiac sinners for those of us that want a damn burger and fries without gluten instead of a bean sprout tofu burger.
Nora brings up a good point – “healthy” and “normal” are not necessarily the same thing. Sometimes (most of the time) we should want “healthy.” And sometimes it’s OK to say “I want NORMAL!!!”
But it’s also a good reminder that “healthy” and “normal” are also not the same thing in the non-celiac world either.
And we also haven’t brought up the charming covariates of “taste” and “texture” yet – which more often than not are what most celiac folks really miss.
For example: there’s a certain cracker brand I WILL NOT TOUCH because the product tastes and feels like eating pressed birdseed. It’s probably the healthiest GF cracker on the market. But it loses BIG TIME on the “normal-like”, “tasty”, and “good-textured” components. I’ve been dying for a GF equivalent to a saltine and the closest thing I’ve found is a GF matzo cracker only available during Passover (so I stock up in March).
It’s OK to want normal – but to remember that none of us should be “eating normal” anyway. Occasionally indulging in “Normal” is what keeps the psychology of deprivation from driving us toward pigging out…
Can you share the name of the matzo cracker? There’s probably less kosher foods in my area than there are gluten-free foods but I’d love anything close to a real cracker, even if it is once a year.
Terry –
The ones I like are Yehuda brand. Be warned that Yehuda also makes regular (gluten) matzo.
Thanks! I’ll keep an eye for them.
These were the ones I was going to recommend, too…
oh I know. My big pet peeve is that most gluten-free treats are not packaged individually.
Sometimes all I want is a good baguette.
(And I know the cracker you mean)
I so miss wheat thins. There is a lentil cracker that is similar enough…
You can make your own baguettes! 🙂
( recipe from Living Without Magazine)
Gluten-Free Baguettes
MAKES 2 BAGUETTES (8 servings each)
3 cups Gluten-Free, High-Protein Flour Blend*
1 tablespoon cornmeal, more for dusting
2 teaspoons sugar of choice
1 tablespoon xanthan gum
2 packages (4½ teaspoons) rapid yeast
¾ teaspoon salt
1¼ cups warm water
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
2 eggs, room temperature
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a double baguette form with foil, extending foil up the sides by 2 inches. Lightly grease foil and sprinkle with cornmeal. Alternatively, make two baguette-shaped forms (each measuring 2 inches wide, 4 inches high, 14-16 inches long), using a double thickness of heavy-duty foil, dull side out; lightly grease and sprinkle each with gluten-free flour or cornmeal and place on a cookie sheet.
2. Mix dry ingredients together in the bowl of a stand mixer.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the water, vinegar, eggs and oil. Add to dry ingredients.
4. Using the beater or paddle of your mixer (not the whisk), beat mixture on low speed until well blended. Then turn the speed up and beat for 5 minutes on medium-high speed.
5. With oiled hands or oiled plastic wrap, divide dough in half and shape into 2 baguettes. Place in prepared pan and cover with lightly greased plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place for 20 to 30 minutes.
6. Spritz dough with water. Place in preheated oven and bake for 30 minutes or until done. Bread is done when internal temperature reaches 200 degrees.
High-Protein Flour Blend*
This nutritious blend works best in baked goods that require elasticity, such as wraps and pie crusts.
1 1/4 cups bean flour (your choice–like garfava),chickpea flour or soy flour
1 cup arrowroot starch, cornstarch or potato starch
1 cup tapioca starch/flour
1 cup white or brown rice flour
Thanks for sharing this… need to try it soon! Thanks, IH…
And if Sue and Melissa are goign to be known for their love of beets, I will be known for my love of KALE… 🙂
Hi,
Have a look at this Facebook page these people are doing G/F, D/F, S/F and using real foods.
https://www.facebook.com/YummyDelightsFoodServices?ref=stream&hc_location=timeline
After dissing their national treasure’s gluten free offering, Canada is contemplating an invasion of the USA for the sole purpose of replacing all Starbucks Cafes with Tim Hortons. With the Macaroon as the only food choice. Gluten free or regular. Oh Gluten Dude. What have you done.
Thanks for the morning coffee spit on my laptop! 🙂
I actually had to read that twice to make sure you were just kidding. Well played!
For the record… I also tried these while out for a cup of coffee with another fellow celiac. We both agreed: sugary and dry, not anything we’d purposely go to TH to get, but if we were out with non-celiac friends, it is good for avoiding and deflecting feelings of deprivation and isolation. It appears that the culprits in the ingredient list are the usual suspects added to GF foods that need a longer shelf life.
There is one thing about the whole sudden “Hey, LOOK! We made something GF for you!” trend a lot of places have begun to adapt that, while I’m sure I should be thrilled to have ~something~ I can eat at their business… there is something in the back of my head that growls and bares it’s teeth at the idea that I ‘should be thrilled to have ~something~ I can eat at their business. It’s the same issue I have with restaurants who proudly holler that they have GF options and I can happily enjoy their service…. if I want a piece of steamed, unseasoned, limp on the plate piece of chicken, a plain baked potato and a salad that looks like someone has rooted through it in order to flick out the croutons. I want… I want choice at a restaurant. I want the same options everyone else gets to dither over at a bakery. I want to feel like my business is not only ‘allowed’ but WANTED. I want to be courted by a chef. I want my dollars to be worth as much as everyone else at the table.
It’s like going to an amusement park with friends and being pulled aside, patted on the head, and told not to worry… the choo-choo train ride will be okay for me, aren’t I a lucky girl? as my friends all pile into the rollercoaster. In that instance, and at the risk of annoying my friends for not being a team player – I would just as soon stay home. I’d rather cook my OWN dinner, thanks, then be constantly put into the position of GF Oliver asking if I may please have more gruel from my overlords. I don’t want to be ‘grateful’ someone thought of me – enough to include one highly processed hockey puck that I can be ‘allowed’ to eat. I’m not a street urchin to be pacified. If you don’t want to court my cash that’s fine – but don’t insult me and treat me like a petulant child that you have to give at least ~something~ to in order to shut me up. And really, that’s what a lot of these GF products feel like. Like “Well, they won’t shut up, so scrape up ~something~!” Tasty (and even HEALTHY – I’ve finally figured out an oat cracker/biscuit/depending on the mood can be sweet OR savory bit of tastiness that hits all the right spots AND is good for me) IS possible. So is healthy. So is cheap. So… I can’t understand why it seems impossible for manufacturers with access to ingredients in bulk and machines that make the work a bit of nothing to deal with. If I can source things and create them in a kitchen that is still, as yet, not finished – why the blazes can’t they?
Basically (and oh dear. I’ve rambled again on your page. I really will try and stop doing this. And out of nowhere again! Meep!) give us ~CHOICE~ or stop trying (and by trying I mean stop making one lone over-processed bit of over sugared god know what all is in it bit of nothing). Actively work for my money and give me options – or make it clear that this isn’t a place I am going to spend money and I need to look elsewhere. View me as a customer you value and want to make me return again and again or stop pretending.
As far as the overly sugared, god knows what is in it, should we eat it or should we not, should it be a choice thing… personally? I can’t do 75% of the items on offer so I likely am a no-go in the discussion. Its something that makes me want to just never eat out of my home again – I’ve got celiac, but I’m also allergic (not sure on intolerance. I know I should finally tackle that, but I’m still wrangling, or attempting to wrangle outright “Hey, I’m not breathing, this could be a thing” and there is only so much rope I have at the moment.) to nuts (thankfully, I missed the peanut & cashew allergy – but almonds which are so endemic in GF cooking close my throat if I even hold them and pecans, walnuts, and others are the same), shellfish, bananas, kiwis and eggs… which I need to stop cooking with as I’m dancing with danger each time but they are a toughie to work around. Which means that, inevitably, when someone pops up and says “Hey, we can go ~here~ because they have this new GF item” I usually end up reading a label, seeing something like almonds on the first line, and as I apologize and attempt to explain, the look of “Wow, she is just a whiny bitch desperate to be difficult” spreads across people faces. (And sometimes is said outright) So… do I like how much crap is pumped into GF foods for reasons I can’t understand (having proven to myself that you can make seriously tasty cookie/biscuits in 5 ingredients or less?) and do I like how much excess sugar and fat is included to ‘make up’ for it being GF? No. Personally, I’m at a point in dealing with my celiac that I just can’t DO huge wadges of sugar. Greasy food, even GF, makes ME sick for days. My tastes buds have (thankfully) changed. But that’s… that’s MY issue. Do I want healthy store bought options to be available to me? Sure. But celiac and allergies and frankly being a cheap wench who struggles to open her wallet for convenience items that cost 3x what their gluteny counterparts do and taste like pressed cardboard means I’m likely to be viewed as someone with no dog in the fight.
Still wish stores would either go with a plethora of options or just leave it. This whole “we have one thing and if you don’t like ~it~ you are just being difficult and we’ve proved this is you being a pain so we’re done trying” thing is… frustrating. (What can I say, in the end? I really really really hate the texture of coconut in macaroons. Makes me shudder.) And even for me… this has been a babble.
I also tried these and have to agree with everything you said, they were extremely sweet in taste but I also found them to be very dry. They crumbled upon biting into them.
In any case I love Nature’s Emporium in New Market. They have a great selection of treats that are gluten free and only use 3 or 4 ingredients.
Also, this recipe is amazing if you are looking for a tasty low ingredient macaroon type desert. If I’m travelling I try to make these ahead of time and bring some with me.
http://yourhealthyplace.ca/2013/07/05/5-minute-recipe-dark-chocolate-sea-salt-macaroons/
i wanted to take my children to a theme park as a treat. aside from the fact that you can’t take your “home” food in, you can get an out pass to walk back to your car and eat lunch at some random lone table in the car park OR they offer salad and hot chips in some of their food locations. how delicious especially after they expect me to spend a couple of hundred dollars at their venue. yeah the place where Dreams are made of
my son has been at a major hospital for ongoing treatment for a burn. asked at the coffee shop about gluten free snacks or food a sandwich? “oh, there are some gluten free things over there” i went to have a look nothing but low gluten. nice one. and no other choices. in this day and age how is it possible
famous steakhouse i called ahead for options “we have heaps of choice” i get there turns out i can have a plain steak and their extensive range of sauce is gluten free. gggrrrrrrrr.
i would like to buy healthy and nutritious food for myself and my family gluten free or otherwise. it should not matter all should be available. i think that the discussion goes further than simply choice i believe that this matter reaches into discrimination.
i don’t think that it is good enough i that i need to spend so much of my time preparing gluten free food. when i could be enjoying time with my young children instead of trying to run a home with 1 gluten free (me and 3 non gluten free). (sometimes i’m so scared to eat, but i don’t feel it is fair to restrict my young children or my husband when it does not harm them). but with separate loads of plates in the dishwasher, separate places to prepare food, separate prep of food. i am struggling to keep up. i am lucky enough to be a stay at home mum because i really don’t know how i would cope.
(thank god i lost my job a few years back because i was so malnourished, brain dead, stressed out, anxious, depressed, sick, on my way to osteoporosis with frequent broken toes ribs etc, chronically fatigued and weighing 45kg and covered in staph infection and scabs and sores at 31 years of age, my work finally sacked me for being late all the time, after 2 years off work and gf diet i was healthy and lucky enough to get pregnant.)
anyway back to discrimination – why should i have to pay so much for a loaf of bread (between $5 -$8) per small loaf when i can get a regular loaf for $1.
thanks for listening, wow and that is just the rant in my head for this moment!!!!
love and support to all the fellow coeliacs out there and respect to all you who bring us together!
x
Well now you can rest at ease. TH has apparently discontinued the macaroons. I liked having the option to eat something at Tim’s, the token nod in my direction made me feel a little special and acknowledged (not to mention help out in a few starvation-mergencies) Now the choice has been taken away from me. So all the ‘processed sugary treat haters’ can rejoice.
I actually cancelled my coffee order and pulled out of line just on principle. I feel like TH is saying “Thanks g-free peeps, but you weren’t popular or profitable enough. Off to whole foods you go! Enjoy your apple”
That’s a lose-lose as far as I’m concerned.
Best you stick with being the gluten dude and not the healthy food police. I’m a big girl, I can make my own decisions.
This was all over the headlines up here yesterday: according to a consumer survey undertaken by a business school at a Canadian university, Tim Hortons ranks as Canada’s most trusted brand (out of the 249 that were studied). So I guess between that and this macaroon’s discontinuation, we can trust them *not* to be GF lol.
http://www.timescolonist.com/business/university-of-victoria-survey-reveals-our-most-trusted-brands-1.1976531
Maybe there should be a similar survey to determine the most trusted companies in the GF market. Without mentioning any names, some probably rank lower than others.
Thank you for this review. In my family my mother has gluten sensitivity and she often feel ache after eating foods like, bread, macaroon, etc. This review makes me more cautious about not to choose this food for my mother. 🙂
I have celiac and Tim Horton’s is the only restaurant i have ever been to that said I could not even sit in their establishment with my kids and eat nothing. I asked if i could eat my own homemade (really car-made since we were traveling) sandwich while my children ate at Tim’s, and they said i could not and would have to leave if i wasn’t personally eating anything from Tim’s. I could also leave my kids there to eat alone while i sit outside. Nice. Glad to be back in the U.S.
I have celiac and Tim Horton’s is the only restaurant i have ever been to that said I could not even sit in their establishment with my kids and eat nothing. I asked if i could eat my own homemade (really car-made since we were traveling) sandwich while my children ate at Tim’s, and they said i could not and would have to leave if i wasn’t personally eating anything from Tim’s. I could also leave my kids there to eat alone while i sit outside. They also said they didn’t really care what condition i have. Nice. Glad to be back in the U.S.