Monday 12 May 2014

Perk!er gluten & wheat-free foods review


When Perk!er got in touch to ask if we'd like to try out some of their products, I must admit, it was a brand that I'd never heard of, so I was keen to see what we'd think. The quick description in the email sounded great : "PERK!ER offer gluten-free healthy breakfast cereals, porridges and porridge pots, popular with Winter Olympic sports stars, which are equally great for gluten and non-gluten eaters. They also do 'naughty but nice' chocolate biscuit treats and the whole range is available across Tesco, Sainsburys and Asda." Time to get taste testing !


The first thing I tried out was the porridge pots. These are great for breakfast but I also like them as a Sunday evening light meal, when I'm still stuffed from a big roast dinner. The porridge pots come in Golden Syrup, Fruity Berry and Apple Cinnamon & Raisin flavours. They contain a mixture of gluten-free oats, skimmed milk powder, sugar and flavouring so the only thing you need to add is boiling water. Wait for two minutes and it's ready to eat. I'm always dubious about porridge pots that only need water, not milk, especially as I love really thick, almost solid, porridge, but the consistency met with my approval. Leaving it for a couple of minutes more after I took the photo, all the water was soaked up to form a sweet, gooey porridge packed with flavour that was really filling. It's like a hug in a pot on a cold day ! 


Next, I moved on to the naughty but nice chocolatey treats. These are very decadent and lovely - look how thick and chunky they are in the photo ! - despite being free from gluten, wheat and eggs and made with no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives. PERK!ER Tiffin combines an indulgent mix of crunchy chocolate biscuit with crisp honeycomb and raisins, covered in melted milk chocolate, while Rocky Road envelops chunks of chocolate biscuit and soft marshmallows in Belgian milk chocolate, drizzled with white chocolate. They are very tasty but I did almost have a heart attack when I looked at the calorie content ! - the Tiffin contains 318 calories, 31.8g sugar and 18.2g of fat, of which 11.4g saturated fat. The Rocky Road bar contains 320 calories, 25.7g of sugar and 18.2g of fat, of which 10.7g saturated fat. They're very tasty though (oops, I may have already mentioned that !) and the 65g bar is very generous so you could get away with half a bar if you're watching your waistline.


The other option is the sharing tubs, which give you a smaller portion size (although you do need the willpower to stop at one piece !). In this format, each bite-sized piece of Rocky Road contains 59 calories and Tiffin 58 calories.

Even as non-Coeliacs, we all thought the whole range was delicious so they're well worth investigating, even if you don't need a free-from diet. If you like the sound of them, you might like to join up to be a part of the Guinea Pig Network of taste-testers. They're a new brand so I'm looking forward to seeing what else they come up with. (Keep an eye on their Facebook page for special offers in the supermarkets too.)

star rating 4.5/5

RRP : porridge pots £1.50, snack bars £1

for more information : http://www.perkier.co.uk/

Disclosure : We received the products in order to write an honest review.

Other reviews you may be interested in :

Madhouse recipe : Peruvian Potato & Smoked Sausage Stew

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