Published 9th July 2014
Mum-of-two Rebecca McCracken has spent the last four years reading ingredient lists on pretty much everything she buys at the supermarket.
Like many parents raising kids with food allergies, a quick trip to the supermarket often means checking labels, comparing products and hoping to find something the whole family can eat.
Bec’s four-year-old son and 17-month-old daughter were both born with cow’s milk protein allergy. While her son has since outgrown his allergies, her toddler still reacts to dairy, making even everyday staples like bread a challenge.
“Unless we buy expensive sourdough for seven or eight dollars, we don’t really have a choice.”
Even then, it’s not ideal.
“A kid doesn’t want to eat a sourdough sandwich,” Bec laughs. “And fairy bread on sourdough is not great.”
Bec runs an online community for allergy families, so she spends plenty of time sharing recipes, product finds and supermarket discoveries with other parents.
It was one of those parents who first told her about new JUST bread.
“A follower messaged me and said, ‘Oh my gosh, this bread is coming soon.’ I was like, ‘Where? When? I need to know. I’m getting my car keys and running!'”
Made with baker’s flour, water, yeast, vinegar, oil and salt, JUST bread contains no artificial preservatives, flavours or colours.
For Bec, it sounded almost too good to be true. “When we saw JUST bread, I was like, ‘You’re joking.’ A bread that’s fresh baked but in the bread aisle? That’s unheard of for us.”
“It was really exciting for our family and for the allergy community.”
Of course, there was one person whose opinion mattered more than anyone else’s.
“My toughest critic is my daughter. She is so fussy. We know something is really good if she approves it, and she approves it. She loves it. She’ll eat it plain, toasted, as French toast … whatever. She loves it.”
Bec says she was impressed too.
“I like it. I like that it’s only got minimal ingredients and doesn’t have the additives and preservatives that are in a lot of other brands.”
Bec tried out JUST bread because of her family’s allergies, but she says it has a broader appeal.
“I think everyone is becoming more conscious of additives and preservatives in their food.”
It’s a feeling many of us can probably relate to. We don’t all want to overhaul the way we eat, but plenty of us are paying a little more attention to ingredient lists and looking for products that keep things simple.
Bread is one of those foods that’s always around. It ends up in lunchboxes, on the breakfast table, alongside soup on a cold night and covered in hundreds and thousands at birthday parties. When we eat something that often, it’s only natural to wonder what’s in it.
JUST bread keeps things simple with a handful of pantry ingredients and no artificial preservatives, flavours or colours. It’s the sort of loaf that fits easily into busy family life without asking us to compromise on taste or convenience.
For Bec, finding a loaf of bread her whole family can enjoy is about more than ticking another item off the shopping list.
“It seems like such a little thing to the normal community, but for us this is a massive win.”
Being able to make sandwiches without worrying about ingredients. Packing lunchboxes a little more easily. Bringing back fairy bread for birthdays. Sometimes it’s the little things that make family life feel a whole lot simpler.
And while Bec found JUST bread because she needed another allergy-friendly option, its simple ingredient list is likely to appeal to plenty of other families too. After all, when we can choose everyday foods made with ingredients we recognise, that’s a pretty good place to start.
JUST Bread is made on a line that also processes soy and sesame.
Mouths of Mums is proudly working with JUST. to bring you this article. JUST bread is made with just a handful of pantry ingredients. JUST. The Good Stuff.
ReplyI am so glad to hear about this and will definitely be on a look out for this in the supermarket. I have noticed that there are starting to be more ‘cleaner’ products in the supermarket, meaning consumers are being heard. We are going full circle back to how foods use to be produced before companies got greedy and started taking shortcuts to producing food items. I hope we continue seeing more preservative and additive free options that are affordable come back in the supermarkets.
ReplyI am so glad to hear about this and will definitely be on a look out for this in the supermarket. I have noticed that there are starting to be more ‘cleaner’ products in the supermarket, meaning consumers are being heard. We are going full circle back to how foods use to be produced before companies got greedy and started taking shortcuts to producing food items. I hope we continue seeing more preservative and additive free options that are affordable come back in the supermarkets.
ReplyGrabbing your car keys and running for a bread ?? I can’t imagine doing so for a bread lol ! It’s nice to see that more and more allergy friendly products are being produced and put on the market.
I don’t agree with the statement that “A kid doesn’t want to eat a sourdough sandwich”. It depends on what type of bread you introduce to your kids. My kids grew up with 7 seeds, rustic bread and sourdough and they love it. It’s also quite easy and cheap to make sourdough bread yourself.
ReplyI haven’t seen this bread in the supermarket but will be looking for it now. I have been trying to avoid preservatives and additives for some time now and as highlighted in the article bread it difficult to find, or super expensive, without them so I don’t have it often.
ReplyThis is fantastic, finally a bread that is not full of nasty stuff. I will be going straight out to buy this. My son has ARFID and will only eat white bread, but it’s not terribly healthy. With this bread, at least I know that it is much healthier than the alternatives. Woohoo
ReplyI cant wait to give this bread a go (so far its always been sold out at my local woolies so it must be good). So good its suitable for those with allergies too. I think nowadays were all looking for cleaner options of ingredients in our foods so this is a step in the right direction.
ReplyI am glad more and more allergy friendly products are being produced and offered. I don’t agree with Bec’s statement that kids don’t like sourdough bread. My kids were introduced to sourdough and the most rustic and seeded breads from the time they started to eat bread, and they love it
ReplyOh I cannot wait to try this bread! We go through that much bread each week and I always feel so guilty with how much my kids have – not anymore! Would love to see them introduce other variants in the future – multigrain and gluten free would be superb!
ReplyThis is such a great product that I’m looking forward to trying! I’ve only been buying bread from bakeries the last few years because grocery store bread texture was so dense and unpleasant. But the hassle with bakery bread is I can’t get it everywhere! I’ll be really keen to give this a go
7:20 pm
Dorks are the in thing
4:18 pm
Loved it and can't wait to read another book in the series.
3:32 pm
mother and daughters reading delight.
9:05 pm
help my kids friends want to steal this book
1:17 pm
Next child loving it
1:25 pm
This was a great read my daughter couldn't put down!
10:34 am
funny and smart
10:47 am
finished already!
10:45 am
Easy read for young readers
10:10 am
Fun, entertaining and easy to read
4:56 pm
Dorks rule
7:20 pm
Dorks are the in thing
9:37 pm
A keeper
2:06 pm
A great series
I think it is the way the Dork Daires are written and presented that make it a hit with independent readers.
The font is large, the writing format used is dairy entries, making the book easy to put down or pick up as required, and there are lots of illustrations.
For parents with tween girls in particular, who are wanting to get their kids to read more,
the DORK DIARIES series is an excellent place to start.
9:13 am
Great read for kids
2:05 pm
Dork Diaries
7:38 am
It appeals to the kids
12:57 pm
It's a winner!
9:44 pm
Wants to read the whole series
3:58 pm
Daughter has shown much more interest in the series!
11:33 pm
Dork Diaries for the Win
8:49 am
not bad
8:03 pm
It is fun and interesting for young ones.
9:07 am
Fun for kids!
1:28 pm
fun book
2:10 pm
fun and interesting
1:05 pm
Great ready from start to finish
I loved that fact it is written in Dairy form as we were about to start a holiday dairy so it gave her amazing examples of how to write.
4:18 pm
Loved it and can't wait to read another book in the series.
3:32 pm
mother and daughters reading delight.
11:36 am
this series started my Daughters love of reading
from my Daughter, aged 12 :
This is number 9 in the Dork Diaries series about Nikki Maxwell, a girl who is comfortable with her individual teen dork-ness. Aimed at tween girls, this edition tells the story of Nikki and her dramas dealing with a bossy cameraman who is assigned to film her everyday life that is portrayed in her new reality TV program.
Compared with other books in this series, parts of this book seemed confusing or irrelevant, for example the weird events of Wednesday March 12 involving the crazy karate teacher.
Overall, I really did enjoy the book and still find the series funny
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