Stuff Parents Need

Easing the chaos in the nest, one find at a time.

Chuck E. Chees Launches a Gluten-Free Menu

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If you are the parent of a child who has dietary restrictions you know how disappointing it can be for them when they aren’t able to participate in what are the typical fun kid activities like birthday parties at themed restaurants.  I am so excited to be sharing the great news that on November 13th, the New Chuck E. Cheese Gluten Free Menu was launched at more than 500 locations! Thanks to the new offerings, Chuck E. Cheese is now an even better location for more children to enjoy a typical classic birthday party.

Chuck E Cheese Gluten Free Menu

The New Chuck E. Cheese Gluten-Free Menu

Knowing that kids are the pickiest when it comes to a different menu item, Chuck E. Cheese has definitely put hard work into creating a fun and tasty Gluten Free Menu that will satisfy the kids and adults who need it as well as appear close enough to the traditional menu that they won’t feel singled out for eating something “different”.  We all know how much fitting in and being the same as everyone else can impact a young child.  Parents will also appreciate the fact that they don’t have to (1) bring something from home that singles out their child (2) spend twice as much for the meal as they would the traditional menu.

The Chuck E. Cheese new Gluten Free menu consists of only 2 items at this time but they are the classic items that will appeal to almost all children and adults.  They are offering a gluten free cheese pizza as well as a gluten free chocolate cupcake.  While you can also partake of the salad bar offerings and request preferred toppings to be added to your cheese pizza they don’t currently have any pasta dishes available.  With the launch of the new menu at only 500 locations a good response will only increase the desire of the corporation to introduce more items as time goes by.

Currently the Chuck E. Cheese Gluten Free menu is not a part of their birthday party packages but if you know you will have children in attendance at your party who are in need of gluten free food you can request that it be added separately.  Being able to sit down to their own personal pizza that looks just like the other kids will surely be a plus factor for those in attendance who otherwise might feel singled out and sad they can’t enjoy pizza like the rest of the gang.

For further information about the launch of the Chuck E. Cheese New Gluten Free Menu and to see if it is available in your area feel free to contact them directly at 1-888-778-7193.  Their staff will be happy to share with you full nutritional information and listen to your comments or concerns regarding this upcoming menu launch.

And don’t forget to check for Chuck E. Cheese coupons before your next outing! You can save quite a bit of money with just a few clicks!

Van’s Offers Great Gluten-Free Snack Options for Summer (Giveaway)

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It is very likely that you personally know someone who has some sort of gluten sensitivity. That person might even be someone in your immediate family. My mother-in-law cannot eat wheat, so we try to remember to have some wheat-free options on hand every time she visits.
I recently got to experience what it was like to not only be wheat free, but also gluten-free. Tim and I practiced the Paleo diet for about a month, and one of the things you avoid on this diet is gluten. While it was tough to break old habits and stop eating things I was very used to eating (pasta, bread, carbs of all shapes and sizes), I was very pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to find YUMMY food that was gluten-free in the stores. When I asked my mother-in-law about her experience finding such products, she said that it has become significantly easier over the past few years, as awareness and diagnosis of the allergy has increased.

Gluten-Free Snacks

Van’s Natural Foods is a brand that I have purchased before and will definitely purchase again. They make a wide variety of nutritious and delicious products, including two gluten-free options I wanted to highlight today. And trust me when I say that you don’t need have a gluten sensitivity to love these. They are DELISH!!!
First up are the Van’s Whole Grain Crackers. Lately I’ve been pairing these with hummus and just keeping a platter on the dining room table for snacking throughout the day. We’ve tried the Multigrain flavor and the Say Cheese flavor, and I would buy them both again! These retail for a very reasonable $2.99 and are made with gluten-free oats, brown rice, millet, quinoa and amaranth. They are free of artificial colors, flavors and preservatives, which makes them very clean-eating friendly, too! Don’t they look yummy?
The other product we have been enjoying, especially around 3pm when you hit that slump in the day, is the Van’s Whole Grain Snack Bars, which retail for $4.49 per pack. These contain more than four times the fiber of other gluten-free bars on the market today, and they are nutrient-rich. I will usually split one with Darah along with a glass of milk. They are very satisfying!

One of the reasons I’m particularly fond of these snack options from Van’s is because they pack so much nutrition into products that are very fun to eat. I think that’s a big improvement over things like popsicles, which are of course also fun to eat, but typically just full of empty calories.

What are you serving up for snack time over the summer? Any suggestions to offer to others as they make their grocery lists? 

Win it!: One lucky Stuff Parents Need reader will win 2 coupons for free whole grain snack bars and 2 coupons for free whole grain crackers (ARV $14.96)!

Be sure to enter my other current giveaways, found on the sidebar of my page.

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I received complimentary products for review purposes. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are strictly my own.