Girl Scout Cookies

[Guest nini]

Little Brownie Bakers

Consumer Affairs Department

P.O. Box CAMB

Battle Creek, MI 49016-1986

I really really miss girl scout cookies, and would eventually like to get my daughter involved in scouting, but not if I'm forced to help her sell gluten cookies.

I think we should start a letter writing campaign to get the company that makes the cookies to consider making gluten free versions of their best sellers. I know I would be very happy for that, how about you???? Think we can do it?

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[WGibs]

It is so funny that you would post this today. Just yesterday, I had an "oh, girl scout cookies" realization of something I would miss. Since going gluten-free a month ago, I have realized that I don't have to give up anything...to the point that I'm currently indulging myself a little more than before! But occasionally I'll think of something irreplaceable, and girl scout cookies was yesterday's.

Even just one variety would be great, and such a great way to be more inclusive for kiddos like your daughter! I'll write, and hope for the best!

[angel-jd1]

That is a very good idea. I remember right after my diagnosis, a little girlscout came knocking on my door to sell cookies. It broke my heart to turn her away! "Sorry sweetie, I can't eat your cookies" Gluten Free Girl Scout cookies would be awesome!

-Jessica

It is so funny that you would post this today. Just yesterday, I had an "oh, girl scout cookies" realization of something I would miss. Since going gluten-free a month ago, I have realized that I don't have to give up anything...to the point that I'm currently indulging myself a little more than before! But occasionally I'll think of something irreplaceable, and girl scout cookies was yesterday's.

Even just one variety would be great, and such a great way to be more inclusive for kiddos like your daughter! I'll write, and hope for the best!

[Guest nini]

here's my letter, feel free to copy and edit to suit your personal story

Little Brownie Bakers

Consumer Affairs Department

P.O. Box CAMB

Battle Creek, MI 49016-1986

1/21/06

To whom it may concern,

My five year old daughter and I both have Celiac disease and cannot have foods with Wheat, Barley, Rye or Oats (gluten) in them.

I was active in scouting as a young girl and would love to get my daughter involved, but not if we are forced to help sell cookies that contain gluten, without having gluten free options for us and the millions of people out there like us on a strict gluten free diet.

Celiac Disease is quickly becoming recognized as more common than ever thought before. More and more people are being diagnosed every day. Also there are many individuals who are recognizing that gluten is toxic for them and are choosing to eliminate it from their diet without a medical diagnosis.

Check out https://www.celiac.com for more information on the prevalence of Celiac disease and gluten intolerance, and the need for more mainstream products that have gluten free options.

We are asking for you to simply consider making some versions of your best selling cookies in a gluten free version for those of us on a medically necessary gluten free diet. Cookies are one of the easiest foods to convert to a gluten free recipe as well.

I understand that this would require a separate facility from the one that makes wheat containing cookies, and that suppliers would have to guarantee gluten free status. You could charge a little more for these gluten free cookies than the regular ones to offset those costs and I'm sure you would have a loyal and committed following of individuals who would gladly purchase these cookies every year.

I miss Girl Scout Cookies, and would have loved to expose my daughter to this valuable experience, but without a gluten free option, I'm afraid this is impossible.

Thank you in advance for your consideration in this matter.

Sincerely,

Nisla C. Whetstone

[jerseyangel]

Great idea Nini--you can count me in. I was a Girl Scout for many years and have such good memories. It would be so good to have one of the familiar cookies made gluten-free for us!

[Jnkmnky]

Hmmmm.... If gluten FULL Girlscout Cookies cost $7.00 a box... what do think they'll charge for a box of Gluten free cookies???? Dip Ktoos in melted chocolate with a drop or two of mint oil. There's your thin mint!!

[jkmunchkin]

Ok this is so random because I was also just thinking about 2 days ago how great it would be if I could still have a Samoa (not sure if that's how it's spelled but it's the one with the coconut). I'm definately gonna send an e-mail. Thanks for doing the research as to where we need to contact them.

[VydorScope]

Hmmmm.... If gluten FULL Girlscout Cookies cost $7.00 a box... what do think they'll charge for a box of Gluten free cookies???? Dip Ktoos in melted chocolate with a drop or two of mint oil. There's your thin mint!!

STOP TEMPTING ME TO SPEND $15 ON A BOX OF THEM! GRRR

[Jnkmnky]

STOP TEMPTING ME TO SPEND $15 ON A BOX OF THEM! GRRR

Are you in any Celiac support group? You could have a few folks order together... (get the money upfront- no, I don't have "trust issues"!) and order a bunch of the Kinnikinnick products together. Splitting the shipping charge between all of you. That could make it more reasonable. Do you know any other Celiacs??

[fisharefriendsnotfood]

Sorry to put a damper on everyone's hopefullness and happiness and whimsicality, but I am a Girl Guide (I live in Canada, we sell cookies too). Selling cookies is the biggest fundraiser, and it brings in the most money out of any other fundraiser. Selling the cookies isn't hard, but it isn't incredibly easy either. Selling gluten-free cookies would be incredibly difficult, and in my case Girl Guides of Canada has to pay the extra money to manufacture the gluten-free cookies, and they wouldn't sell many cases of them, making it just not worth the extra money and effort. Girl Guides just doesn't have tons of extra money to throw around.

I sell the cookies, even though I've never tasted them, which in some cases poses a slight problem, like when people ask me, "well, are they good?" and I say, "yes, of course" or something without going into any detail. lol.

Nini, DEFINITELY sign your daughter up for Scouts. Girl Guides and Girl Scouts are both part of WAGGGS (World Assosiation of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts), and I can tell you it's an amazing program. I made new friends, I go camping, we used to make endless crafts when I was younger and now it's given me something to work for as I am almost finished the requirments for my Canada Cord. It's this huge award given to Guides when they're 14/15 years old if they finish the whole Pathfinder program, which I'm almost done and it looks really good on your university applications. It's really fun.

If you have any questions just ask!

-Jackie

[VydorScope]

Are you in any Celiac support group? You could have a few folks order together... (get the money upfront- no, I don't have "trust issues"!) and order a bunch of the Kinnikinnick products together. Splitting the shipping charge between all of you. That could make it more reasonable. Do you know any other Celiacs??

Just my son... Theres a teacher at his school with celiac disease, but I never remember which one, and she is not now regualr teacher so dont see her much...

[Guest nini]

Thanks for your input Jackie.

I don't seriously expect them to go out and start making a buttload of gluten free cookies, it's just an awareness thing more than anything. And I'm just a crazy woman with a craving! But I'm not going to give up hope that someday down the road there just may be gluten free girl scout cookies!

It's just one of those things that most people take for granted being able to buy and eat girl scout cookies every year when they do their sales drive, and I would like the company to at least be aware that there may be a large portion of their potential market that they are losing out on because they don't have a gluten free option. Even if they just had ONE flavor maybe the most popular one, you never ever know! Like I told my husband, the worst they can say is NO, so why not try?

[Rachel--24]

Wow Jackie, Girl Scouts sounds fun! I was never a scout....kinda seems like I missed out.

Nini,

Funny you should post this today cuz I just came home to a mother and daughter selling girl scout cookies. I had to turn them down.

[Guest nini]

Wow Jackie, Girl Scouts sounds fun! I was never a scout....kinda seems like I missed out.

Nini,

Funny you should post this today cuz I just came home to a mother and daughter selling girl scout cookies. I had to turn them down.

see Jackie! Rachel had to turn them down... That right there could've been a sale if they had gluten free versions!!!! LOL!

I'm just being rotten!

how many of us have had to turn them down because we can't eat them? this could be a huge untapped market for the Girl Scouts!!!!

[Rachel--24]

see Jackie! Rachel had to turn them down... That right there could've been a sale if they had gluten free versions!!!! LOL!

Yeah...when I got out of my car they asked me if I wanted to buy some cookies and I got all happy and said "I'd LOVE to...*BUT*....you don't have gluten free cookies so I can't". They looked very dissapointed. I think I faked them out....they thought they had a sale.

The Mom said "No...we don't have sugar-free and we don't have gluten-free." Apparantly they are losing sales from the diabetics too. SEE....girl scouts need to get on the ball if they wanna sell some cookies!!

[gf4life]

I was so upset about the Girl Scout cookies a few years ago! I was still on gluten for testing, but knew that I would be going gluten-free regardless of what the tests said...so when the Girl Scouts came by selling cookies I bought 5 boxes! They took my order, but they don't take the money until they deliver. I was so upset when they NEVER came back with my cookies! Oh well, that was my last chance. I never even saw any scouts around town selling them like I normally do.

Now my daughter (for the second year in a row) has brought home the flyer from school for the Girl Scout and she wants to join. The only thing that makes me hesitate is the whole cookie selling thing. It would just be torture to have them in the house and have to sell them, but never be able to eat them. Of course all of my daughter's customers would get their deliveries! I'd make sure of it! Still hesitating though...

[cmom]

I would also love a gluten-free GS cookie version but then you'd have to deal with the cross contamination thing. I work in an elementary school so I get hit up several times a year and I have to turn them down. Sometimes, I give in a buy my sons a box though.

[Becky6]

That would be great! I just had to turn down a little girl yesterday!!

[Guest nini]

I would also love a gluten-free GS cookie version but then you'd have to deal with the cross contamination thing.

That's why I mentioned in my letter that I knew they would need a separate facility and suppliers, SO... maybe someone somewhere will get the hint!

[RiceGuy]

I think it's no coincidence that thoughts of girl scout cookies are on the brain, as this is that time of year.

Samoas...oh boy, those little cookies taste good! More than good actually. Being off of refined sugar, I haven't had anything like that in a long time. Being healthier is better than a good cookie, but yeah I'd love to be able to have such things once in awhile too.

Now, if they simply had a great cookie that happened to be gluten-free, that would be cool. Nobody refuses a good cookie if it doesn't have gluten. The folks that buy these things aren't thinking of their health at the time anyway lol.

[GlutenFreeAl]

This is so funny that I came across this post because just yesterday I was talking to my friend's mom who has been a girl-scout leader for about 2 decades, and she was telling me that every single year, she has at least 1 girl in her troop with a gluten intolerance and she has to be super careful when planning meals.

There have to be a ton of girl scouts in the same boat!

I don't expect the whole world to cater to our special diets or anything, but think of those poor little girls who can't even try their own cookies! What a bummer!

Maybe we could get another company that already manufacturers gluten free cookies to join forces with the girl scouts? Like Nature's Path! Those Envirokids Gluten Free Animal Cookies are pretty darned tasty...

[Guest nini]

This is so funny that I came across this post because just yesterday I was talking to my friend's mom who has been a girl-scout leader for about 2 decades, and she was telling me that every single year, she has at least 1 girl in her troop with a gluten intolerance and she has to be super careful when planning meals.

There have to be a ton of girl scouts in the same boat!

I don't expect the whole world to cater to our special diets or anything, but think of those poor little girls who can't even try their own cookies! What a bummer!

Maybe we could get another company that already manufacturers gluten free cookies to join forces with the girl scouts? Like Nature's Path! Those Envirokids Gluten Free Animal Cookies are pretty darned tasty...

hey now, there's an idea!~ or Pamela's... or better yet Kinnickinick, can you imagine Kinnickinick making gluten free versions of Thin Mints and the Shortbread ones for the Girl Scouts???!!! That would be awesome!

[fisharefriendsnotfood]

see Jackie! Rachel had to turn them down... That right there could've been a sale if they had gluten free versions!!!! LOL!

I'm just being rotten!

how many of us have had to turn them down because we can't eat them? this could be a huge untapped market for the Girl Scouts!!!!

I see what you're saying. I wasn't mad or anything, I was just saying it's pretty unlikely they will make them. Remember, the main focus of Scouts/Guides isn't cookies, so it's not like we have a 'market'. Well, you're right, the worst they could say is no so you could give it a try.

Aww, Rachel, don't worry that you weren't a Scout - you could always volenteer as a leader!

-Jackie

Now my daughter (for the second year in a row) has brought home the flyer from school for the Girl Scout and she wants to join. The only thing that makes me hesitate is the whole cookie selling thing. It would just be torture to have them in the house and have to sell them, but never be able to eat them. Of course all of my daughter's customers would get their deliveries! I'd make sure of it! Still hesitating though...

Don't take this as rude or anything, but not letting your daughter be a girl scout just because of the cookies is kind of silly. In my Girl Guide unit, all we have to sell is one case (12 boxes). If you want to sell more, you can, but you don't have to. We only to do it twice a year. It's not so torturous. Trust me. I sell them.

-Jackie

[Guest nini]

I see what you're saying. I wasn't mad or anything, I was just saying it's pretty unlikely they will make them. Remember, the main focus of Scouts/Guides isn't cookies, so it's not like we have a 'market'. Well, you're right, the worst they could say is no so you could give it a try.

-Jackie

I didn't think you were mad, you had a good point! I just wonder how many potential sales they lose for their fundraisers because they don't have gluten free cookies! I'm sure not everyone tells the Girl Scout that is selling them the reason they said no was because of gluten... more than likely they don't say anything! LOL! I can just see me telling the girl at the grocery store booth that is set up selling cookies, "I'm sorry hon but since you don't have gluten free cookies I can't buy them!" BUWHAHAHAHAHA! More likely I would say simply "no thanks"...

[WGibs]

I'm thinking of it more for the little girls, too. I agree that teaming up with a gluten-free cookie maker would be the way to go -- might even be mutually beneficial if Kinnikinnick or whoever got to put "Crafted by Kinikinnick's Gluten-Free Bakery" or something like that, so that they would get their name out, too.

It might be even better, though, if they added a cookie that was "naturally" gluten-free that mainstream cookie eaters would also like -- like a chocolate chip macaroon or something. That way more than just celiacs would buy them. Much as I really want a thin mint or a tagalong!

Oh, and GlutenFreeAl -- I LOVE those Envirokidz Animal Cookies! I just got my first box. What is it about those things? They are really odd, and not at all like normal animal cracker, but I find them addictive.