We are a family based business that has come about because of our frustrations with finding allergy friendly foods for members of our immediate family who have food sensitivities.

As a child in the 80’s with an extremely limited diet, Melanie missed out on many of the typical kiwi family favourites e.g. pies, macaroni cheese, pizza, fish & chips, spaghetti on toast, ice-cream and jelly. She had to take her own food to birthday parties and the contents of her lunchbox always looked very different to those of her fellow classmates. This meant she always felt and came across as ‘different’ – something that is often hard for child to understand and accept.

Things have improved as time has passed – compulsory food labelling was introduced, the general public are much more aware of food sensitivities, and the range of products available has increased significantly. These factors have all made it easier to live a more ‘normal’ life, yet when our eldest child was diagnosed with dairy, egg and soy allergies at 3 months of age we found ourselves in the position of again having to spend many hours at the shops scouring through products, reading the ingredients lists like detectives and treating anything that said “may contain traces” with extreme suspicion. Frustrated by the time spent to find new and interesting foods (or even pantry staples) and disappointed in the quality, flavour and texture of many allergy friendly alternatives, we asked ourselves ‘why can’t this be easier?’. After some time spent in both Europe and Australia we then said to ourselves ‘we know this can be easier!’.

We decided that one having a ‘one stop shop’ where you could find a range of allergy friendly pre-packaged foods and pantry staples was something that would make it easier to live with food sensitivities. Providing people with the equivalents of foods so many take for granted: chocolate biscuits, cheese, tinned spaghetti, packet soups, cake mixes, cereals and muesli bars to name just a few, and adding the convenience of delivering them right to their homes was something that we could do. As parents, we want our son to be able to sit with his mates and when they say “I love pizza” (or macaroni cheese or chocolate or…) have him able to reply “me too”. As people having to deal with food sensitivities on a daily basis, we want to be able to tell people there is somewhere they can go to find allergy friendly food hampers and sample boxes. We also want to provide allergy sufferers a place where they can get fresh ideas and find safe replacements for foods that they have had to forgo to keep themselves healthy.

Me Too Foods is that place.

Our hope is that we make the lives of those living with food sensitivities just that little bit easier, so that others don’t have to go through the struggles and frustrations we have had to go through. We would love to hear back from you as to how we can best serve your needs, so if there is anything you are looking for but can’t find, let us know!

 

Jon and Melanie