Saturday 28 April 2012

A Dairy Free Review


or...disappointing dairy free apps

I was really looking forward to trying some apps on my new smartphone to help me continue with my dairy free pledge, but having had a good play with the ones that have been added to my phone, I must say I'm disappointed.

Foodwiz
The premise of this is fab - scan a barcode while you're out shopping and it will tell you whether the product contains a particular allergen, in my case, milk. This sounded great to me, and would have been especially handy in the early days of going dairy free, when I had to check absolutely every label to see what was in an item. Nowadays I generally know what I can and can't have, so only need to check the labels if I want to try something new, but this still would have been useful for that. So I was looking forward to using this app, until I discovered that although the app itself is free, you have to sign up to the Foodwiz website, at a cost, for it to work. Well, as my maternity pay is about to stop, I don't want to be spending money on something I don't really need, so I will just have to stick to checking the labels myself.

Dairy Free Fast Food
Another good idea for an app, this lists major fast food chains, and then tells you which foods contain no dairy ingredients, however it does come with the caution that cross contamination may occur. In my early dairy free days, I did miss a McDonald's - until my hubby came up with the idea of checking the nutritional info on their website, which I think they have to provide by law. Thanks to this I have treated myself to the odd sweet chilli chicken wrap meal with fries and an apple pie, which seems about the only thing I can have! However, this app is American-ised, as the fast food chains include Taco Bell, Arby's and Wendy's, and the KFC and McDonald's sections show foods we don't have in the UK. Therefore, this isn't a very good app for use in this country, which is a shame in one way, however, it does mean I won't be too encouraged to eat more fast food to try it out!

Lactose-Free Guide
This app is also American. It contains a few links including lactose free articles, fitness and nutrition podcasts and lactose free videos, as well as a lactose free e-book. The problem is, I am completely dairy free, not just lactose free. Lactose is the sugar found in cow's milk, and it would be simpler if it was this causing Ryan's intolerance as it's easier to avoid, but he is intolerant to the protein in cow's milk, which is why we are dairy free, not just lactose free. The e-book would be useful to a lactose intolerance sufferer, as it explains all about the condition, and advice on preparing to go lactose free, and also includes suitable recipes, including one for lactose free ice cream!

I did try a search for dairy free apps on the play store, but nothing useful came up, so it seems dairy free people just aren't very well catered for in the app world!

In conclusion, there aren't many useful dairy free apps available, but if you're willing to pay a subscription, Foodwiz would be worth it, and I may well have paid for this when I first had to give up dairy as it would have been very handy when I was still trying to get my head around what I could and couldn't have. Dairy Free Fast Food is ok, but I would be worried about the cross contamination aspect, and feel it would be better to rely on the official restaurant websites for up to date nutritional info. Lactose-Free Guide would be useful for sufferers, but not for me!

This has been a disappointing exercise, however I have discovered other apps along the way to help with aspects of being a new(ish) mum, but I'll save them for another post!


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