• Arden Anglican

We know it’s challenging sourcing suitable foods for kids who have allergies. So we were super excited to hear about new local business Yum Tree Foods. Lee, one of our local mums, and her little family road tested a Yum Tree Foods subscription box full of allergy friendly snacks.

After having our first, super easy and contented baby, hubby and I decided we were pros at this parenting gig and didn’t think twice about weaning our second daughter Audrey onto solids at 5 months. She’d just transitioned from breastfeeding to formula around the same time and she seemed so eager to get her hands on what we were eating, so we jumped into pureed veggies and then moved onto more adventurous flavours.

What we didn’t expect was that our baby would have a number of food allergies and intolerances. After undertaking an elimination diet and testing, we learnt that she is allergic to cows milk protein and eggs, and her gut doesn’t tolerate soy or gluten. It took months to pinpoint the nasties that were making our baby sick, but these foods are no longer in her diet and our baby is happy and healthy once again.

Mum (that’s me), however, has been on a STEEP learning curve to provide allergy friendly meals and snacks to her one year old, as well as satisfying her two year old’s insatiable hunger and feeding hubby and herself, too.

All mums know how exhausting traipsing through the supermarket is, at the best of times. You cling to your shopping list and dart from one aisle to the next, grabbing those familiar packets and handing your kid a muesli bar to keep them quiet for two more minutes. When you’re trying to cater to a restricted diet, a quick shop is impossible. You have to read every ingredient list, every time. It’s stressful to say the least; a bottle of wine is needed to recover.

That’s why, when Yum Tree Foods allergy friendly snack boxes came to us and asked if we would like to try one of their subscription boxes, I said yes probably a little too eagerly

Yum Tree Foods is the brainchild of local Hills District Mums and sisters Gemma and Camille who both have a personal connection to food allergy and intolerance – Gemma with an 11-year-old son with multiple food allergies and Camille with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. Over the last few years they’ve searched for delicious and varied allergy friendly foods for and realised they were growing quite an impressive list, so they decided to share these delicious finds with other food allergy parents and sufferers. Enter Yum Tree Foods!

We waited with baited breath for our box to arrive…..

image1

Friday

Our box has arrived! This ain’t no samples box. It is jam packed with boxes of biscuits, packets of freeze dried crispy fruit, vege chips, gummy bears and pressed fruit straps. I’m surprised by how full the box is. The kids are circling!

image2

Today our little fam is taking daddy to the aquarium for Father’s Day. We’re going to need plenty of snacks to keep the girls happy on the train and while walking around for hours. I grabbed a packet of freeze dried mango slices, a handful of vanilla biscuits and two fruit straps and put it all in a large sandwich bag. The girls absolutely loved the mango in particular. Everything was gone by lunch time, oops!

Monday

Our 2 year old had preschool today and I put two gummy bears in her lunch box as a treat. She told me all about them when I picked her up and she was very excited! I don’t know who she thinks packs her lunch haha.

Audrey enjoyed a vanilla bikkie after lunch. I had a couple too, they’re quite nice with a coffee!

image3

After preschool, I didn’t have the kids’ dinner ready by the usual (ridiculously early) 4.30pm and both the girls were grizzling so I opened the vege crisps and divided them into three bowls for the girls and myself. They were delicious! And even better, the girls loved them and it bought me half an hour of silence.

Wednesday

Playgroup this morning. I packed the girls’ morning tea and included freeze dried strawberries and fruit straps. The whole lot was devoured. These crispy fruits are really a hit!

image4

Saturday

We headed to a first birthday party and I wanted to take a plate of allergy friendly party food so that Audrey would have something to enjoy. I created a twist on fairy bread using the Bitsy Bears choc chip biscuits. I made a buttercream with Nuttelex and added 100s and 1000s. I could have probably made double, they were very popular!

image5

This Yum Tree Foods snack box has allowed me to prepare lunch boxes and grab snacks for my allergy daughter as easily as I have been able to do so for my daughter with an unrestricted diet. It’s such a relief to feel “normal” and have foods that we can all enjoy. I was pleasantly surprised that my eldest enjoyed these foods as much as the other foods she’s been eating prior to us introducing allergy friendly food. I thought that, being a toddler, she would be fussy but the food is just yum. It’s a great way to stock your pantry with those extras to get the kids through to meal times. Plus, having food home delivered is always a winner!


We know there are lots of mums dealing with allergies on a daily basis so here’s a little more info on Yum Tree Foods.

Yum Tree Foods is a subscription box with a difference. Every month they deliver a range of yummy snacks (15 – 20 servings, or 8 – 10 items) that are tailored to a specific food allergy, intolerance or dietary preference. They include brands you are familiar with, and some from small manufacturers that you won’t find in supermarkets. They aim to provide a delicious, varied and exciting range of snack foods for kids and adults that are ideal for work or school lunch boxes.

Yum Tree Foods is kicking off with a range of subscription boxes that avoid five of  the ‘Top 8’ – nut, dairy, gluten, egg and soy – and any combination of these allergens. However, they’re very happy to make custom boxes for people with multiple sensitivities.

The most important thing to remember is – you don’t need to have food allergies to find allergy friendly food delicious!

www.yumtreefoods.com.au
www.facebook.com/yumtreefoods
www.instagram.com/yumtreefoods