Lucy's Friendly Foods

Ice Lollies (UK brands and why Tesco come out on top again)

As I mentioned, summer has suddenly arrived in the UK – at last, some might say! So thoughts turn to ice lollies, especially if you’re a child and especially if most ice creams are out of the question.

I know the girls will be hot and need cooling off when they get home from school today, so I spent ages looking around the frozen foods aisle in Tesco’s for suitable ice lollies (popsicles if you’re American). It was all rather depressing…. the ONLY ice lollies that I found which my girls could eat were some of the Tesco own brand range, including:

Tesco Rainbow Lollies
Tesco Valencia Orange Juice Lollies
Tesco Helter Skelter Lollies
Tesco Rocket Lollies

Out of ALL the other lollies I looked at they either contained milk protein, warned ‘may contain’ milk or ‘may contain’ nuts. The ‘may contain’ I understand as it’s a legal protection when the same production line is used for different products. But the “contains milk protein” tag – and I’m looking at you Del Monte 100% Juice – how on earth can a 100% fruit juice ice lolly contain milk protein? It’s been a while since I studied maths but my understanding of 100% means that there is nothing else in it?

So, ice lollies to avoid:

Ice lollies that contain milk protein or ‘may contain traces of milk’

Ice Lollies that may contain nuts

Obviously there are other brands out there that I didn’t come across today, and I will update this list.

UPDATE: Although not available in Tesco’s, the New Forest Ice Cream Brand is available in a lot of places where you might like to buy an ice lolly in the South of England. Of their ice lollies, the safe ones for us (no milk or nuts) are:-

Yeti Mountain (cola and lemonade flavour)
Super 5 (five fruit flavours)

The Chilly Billy Brand is also allergen free and is available in the following flavours from Nando’s and Goodness Direct as well as some smaller independent shops (although due to the natural quality of these lollies they are rather icy rather than sugary!)

apple and blackcurrant
apple and mango
apple and raspberry
apple and strawberry
orange and apples

UPDATE 2: Sainsbury’s also proved to be rather good at providing allergen-free ice lollies in their own brand range. The following were all suitable:-