Gluten-free products may be quick and convenient, but they sure leave a dent in your checking account. Especially when you are first diagnosed, seeking out good quality GF products can cause you to waste a lot of time and money. That’s why the gluten-free community is lucky—super-lucky—to have a blogger like Karen. Her blog, Gluten Free Food Reviews, guides readers through the latest commercial gluten free products so that they don’t have to go out and do all the dirty work themselves. Karen uses an easy-to-understand five star system with 1 being dreadful, 3 so-so, and 5 the best sort of GF product money can buy. She updates several times a month and posts clear, close-up pictures of the product being reviewed.

Just this month she has reviewed the Gluten Free Every Day cookbook; Amy’s Bowls Mexican Casserole; Betty Crocker GF chocolate chip cookie mix and both cake mixes; Cerealvit GF and organic cereals; and Xan confections GF and vegan gourmet chocolates and caramels. She also occasionally reviews restaurants and gives away GF products. So far you can search from over 300 helpful posts!

The left side of Karen’s blog works like an index of links to all of her products reviews, which you can search by category (all-purpose flour mixes, for example) or by brand name, like Tinkyada. She lists ingredients at the bottom of each review, which is really helpful in case you have more than one food sensitivity or if you’re a picky eater. Karen also kid-tests certain products on her children and gives you their blunt assessments.

Here’s a sample of one of her reviews, in this case, Katz Gluten Free Cookies:

This is what I thought of each flavor:

Colored Sprinkle Cookies: These were the clear winner at my house! These gluten free cookies are heart shaped shortbread cookies with fun sprinkles decorating the top. They are just the right size for a child to hold and are delightfully light with a soft crunch. They boast a sweet vanilla flavor that anyone would enjoy. My kids are begging me for more! Rating: 4 1/2 stars

Ingredients: gluten free flour (corn, tapioca, brown rice, sorghum), sugar, palm oil, canola oil, fresh eggs, pure vanilla, xanthan gum, salt, colored sprinkles

Chocolate Rugelech: These cookies look like mini pinwheels with swirls of chocolate and coffee flavored filling with a hint of cinnamon. It is a nice idea, but the end result was less than fantastic. These cookies were brittle and easily fell apart in my hand. They were very crunchy and dry, and I couldn’t even dunk them into a beverage because they crumbled so easily. I am not sure if I got a bad batch, but this happened before and after freezing them. It’’s really too bad, because it is a great idea for a sweet snack. Rating: 1  1/2 stars

Ingredients: gluten free flour (potato, tapioca, white rice, brown rice, sorghum), sugar, canola oil, fresh eggs, orange juice, cocoa, dry yeast, xanthan gum, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, coffee, cornstarch, pure vanilla.

About her motivation for keeping up this blog, Karen writes:

I hated that I wasted so much money on products that didn’t taste good.  I turned online to search for suggestions from real people about what gluten free products were worth my time and money. I admit, I am not the best cook, and definitely not a “foodie”, even though sometimes I wish I was. I needed some reliable mixes and products to help me on my gluten free journey since spending hours planning and cooking everything from scratch just isn’t an option every day.

When I searched for gluten free product reviews, I wasted so much time surfing through so much “clutter” – long personal stories, and personal blogs that were fun to read, but they did not have the product information I was searching for. . . and many the product sales sites I found only had very limited “products reviews.’ And for some reason, all of the reviews were positive. (Hmmmmmm, interesting.) I really felt frustrated! I was too busy to waste my time wading through endless pages of gluten-free related info, only to come away with minimal product information.

I wanted to find a clear cut site, a site that wouldn’t try to tell me a food was good just so I’d buy it. I wanted an honest site that would point blank tell me what was good or not. Since I couldn’t find one, I decided to create my own- thus, glutenfreefoodreviews was born.

I think it is just fantastic that we have this resource of  clearly written, useful, and frank reviews by someone who’s neither a professional cook nor a corporate spokesperson.  Her blog helps the gluten free community a lot. Thank you Karen!