Cocoa Loco Saves the Day!

This week’s post is by Jenny Kales. Jenny is the author of her own blog at http://www.nut-freemom.blogspot.com/, where she writes about her experiences raising her two daughters, one of whom has life-threatening allergies, as well as about tips she hopes will help other parents in similar situations.

As the mother of two girls, one with a severe peanut and tree nut allergy, and one without any food allergies, I know how hard it is to find delicious and nutritious snacks to suit them both. And like all of us dealing with food allergies, I am all too aware of how hard it is to trust food labels, especially for snack foods or sweet treats. Labels list incomplete information that require a phone call to the company, or worse, they are made on equipment with peanuts or tree nuts. It’s confusing for me, so I know that for people who don’t deal with food allergies every day, reading food labels seems especially daunting.

I was reminded of this once again when my youngest daughter’s Girl Scout troop leader called me at home in a panic one day during a meeting. There is a Girl Scout with severe peanut and tree nut allergies in the troop and they weren’t sure what to serve her as a snack. They couldn’t reach her mother and were asking me if I thought a certain item that they had on hand was OK.

Now, I knew that the item in question did not have any allergy warnings on the package; however it was made in a facility that processed peanuts and tree nuts. There was no way I wanted to OK a food for another allergic child without their mother’s approval.

My oldest, food-allergic daughter overheard the conversation. “Mom,” she said. “What about Cocoa Loco? We just bought another box.” Yes! Because Enjoy Life Foods snacks are made in a dedicated nut-free facility, I never have to wonder or worry if they are safe.

Sure enough, we had an unopened box of Cocoa Loco from Enjoy Life in the pantry. Since we live only a block from the school, my daughter offered to walk it over to the meeting, so the Girl Scout could have a safe, nut-free snack.

My daughter reported back to me that the Girl Scout in question had a big smile on her face when she saw the snacks and knew she that could have them. The Girl Scout leaders said they would never be without a box of Enjoy Life snacks or cookies at future meetings. Best of all, my daughter felt like she had helped another nut-allergic child not feel “left out” as she sometimes has been herself.

The best part is that both of my kids love Enjoy Life Chewy On the Go Bars, Trail Mix and Granola. And I love spreading the word about Enjoy Life’s allergy-friendly foods, because then everyone has a safe snack when they want it!