It's that time of year again, when the world's in a whirl over Thin Mints, Shortbreads, Peanut-Butter Sandwiches. Girl Scout Cookies are back on sale, and at an office or supermarket table or family event near you, you're going to be hit up to buy a box or ten.
Not to begrudge the Scouts their funds raised, or you your beloved chocolate mint treats, but have you looked over the nutritional information on those goodies? It's great that they're providing it now -- I remember struggling to find the fat content of these treats long before they were touted as being free of trans fats -- but it just reinforces what a minefield the omnipresent baked goods are for anybody with food allergies, or Celiac disease, or diabetes, or a weight problem, or sensitivity to food dyes, or a tendency to flip out when over-sugared. Or a cholesterol problem -- that "zero grams of trans fat" business is clearly of the "we can call less than .5 gram zero" variety, because many of the cookies contain partially hydrogenated oils. So if you eat half a box of Thin Mints at a time, sorry, you're getting trans fats. Also, fat.
If you have a child who can't eat wheat, Girl Scout Cookies are off limits entirely -- not a single variety is gluten-free. The blog Gluten Free Raleigh checked with the Girl Scouts and found that gluten-free recipes are being considered right along with all the other endless demands of nutritional malcontents. If peanuts are the problem, you'd probably know to leave Peanut Butter Patties and Peanut Butter Sandwiches off your order list, but you'll need to skip the Shortbreads and the Caramel deLites, too, since they're made on the same machinery. Half the cookies have milk as an ingredient, all of them have soy, and the coconut from the deLites also contaminates the Peanut Butter Patties.
Are kids on gluten- or soy-free diets bummed that they can sell Girl Scout Cookies but can't eat them? Do kids with peanut allergies feel funny peddling something that would be poison to them? Is the mass distribution of sugary baked goods even something that children should be involved with these days? I know the quickest way to be called a killjoy is to suggest that a great American food institution should be sacrificed to preserve the health of kids with dietary restrictions, whether it's a peanut-butter sandwich for lunch or a peanut-filled cookie at snack time. Still, given the number of health problems associated with the ingredients in cookies, from allergens to sugar to food colorings to fats, perhaps stuffing pantries full of cookie boxes once a year isn't what a responsible youth organization should be about.
Can't imagine what they'd replace it with, though. Girl Scout Carrots? Girl Scout Citrus? Not quite as fund-raisingly irresistible as Thin Mints, for sure.
Read More: Special Needs News | Site of the Day | Allergen-Free Fudge Sandwich Cookies
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I totally agree. I’ve been writing the girl scouts for years, telling them to get the hydrogenated fat out, at least. They don’t seem to care.
The problem is no one would pay what it would cost to bake cookies that meet ALL the guidelines suggested above. People got mad when cookies went to $2, $3, $4 a box. Girl Scout cookies were WAY worse nutritionally in the 80’s and into the 90’s when I sold them as a scout. The only flavor that our council currently sells that has dyes in them is the Dulce de Leche.
If you want to throw health into this, why are the Boy Scouts selling microwave popcorn? Why does Campfire sell candy? Why does my daughter’s school sell cookie dough? To raise money. Its easier to sell a product than ask for outright donations.
The Girl Scouts have the fall product sale, which is really not popular and not done by most troops I know, as it conflicts with school fundraising efforts.
Also, cookie sales are fully OPTIONAL, which means a girl with Celiac disease or a peanut allergy, or on the Feingold program does not have to sell cookies to get the rewards or the benefits of funds to the troops. They can participate in the activities about business and money and learn the skills. This is addressed in the literature given to the product leaders.
Girl scout cookies are a tradition that is meant to be enjoyed in moderation by intelligent adults and children supervised by intelligent adults. You do not need to eat half of a sleeve of thin mints at a time or allow your child to over-eat. Use some common sense. Too many sweet cherries or fresh plums will give you a stomach ache and diarrhea. Should they be banned? Of course not. Sweets eaten in moderation are not a poison but a treat. Don’t throw the good out with the bad in your zeal to create a utopian “risk-free world”. Teaching children (and adults) to make wise choices and use self control is part of parenting. A world without choices, risks and consequences, if even possible, would be completely boring.
I can’t believe I even took the time to read and comment on this. Being allergic to milk, I’ve missed out on plenty of things growing up such as pizza, ice cream, many cakes, etc… At birthday parties I was lucky to be able to eat anything. With that said, I never once thought it was “unfair” that other kids were eating them… you just get used to it and live life. Better to learn it as a kid than to think life is going to cater to everything different about you.
The commenter above, Marie, acts like the entire article is about how cookies are junk food. Most of the article is about how kids and adults with allergies, celiac, etc., don’t even have one variety to choose from. Marie, celiacs and people with peanut allergies don’t benefit from your insensitive complaints that moderation would be fine. I can’t have “just a little” gluten! I can’t have any! So there really isn’t one variety of the cookies I can even have in moderation. It’s not about moderation, it’s about the complete lack of even one option.
Jennifer, if you knew anything life with food restrictions you would know that you pay about the same for a box of cookies, around $3.50 or $4, you just get less cookies per box. There’s NO reason why the Girl Scouts cookie bakers can’t do the same thing, charge the standard price and put less cookies in the gluten-free, peanut-free, milk-free, soy-free variety. And it can all be the same one option, we only want one so we can still participate! Your suggestion that girls with celiac or allergies just don’t participate is essentially a suggestion that girls with food restrictions should be excluded and singled out. It should be on the Girl Scouts to create just ONE option that allows girls with common food restrictions to participate, it should not be on the girls to be left out.
selling girl scout cookies is traditional since the verry early 1900s, and one of the biggest reasons girl scouts still exist to this day. its not like people can really expect us to sell like celery sticks because they are healthy. see the biggest thing is we sell those cookies so get money to go to camp in the summer. and those ppl that dont like cookies just do not buy them guys! do not ruin it for the rest of the world please. cuz you are just taking away the choice of the ppl who love them and taking them away is not fair to the ppl who love them!
I hope Girl Scouts of the USA does choose a gluten-free recipe. Last year’s sugar-free cookie was discontinued (I suppose due to low sales) and our troop had several disappointed customers because of this. (And I haven’t met a Girl Scout who liked the replacement cookie!)
The gluten-free market is huge, and growing. I think we’d sell cases and cases of a gluten-free Girl Scout cookie.
(And, just a side note – while selling cookies is optional, in my council a troop can’t do any other fundraisers during the year unless it sells cookies first.)
Oh for cookies sake! Can’t believe I read this blog — but most comments were well worth the read! I am not going to repeat … the above comments — moderation, OPTIONAL, and the world does NOT revolve around those FEW people and blah blah blah … I am going to comment on PRICE – the PRICE is simply a DONATION – and the box of COOKIES is a small token THANK YOU for helping to support Girl Scouting …. if you DO NOT want the dang cookies – you have several options — just make a DONATION – MANY MANY folks do just that! OR give the box of cookies to .. the UPS man! or the RECEPTIONIST at your DOCTOR’s OFFICE! watch their faces light up! OR their is the GIFT OF CARING – for those who “can’t eat” “don’t want” or whatever – during cookie sales – GS troops offer the option of “purchasing a box of cookies and donating the box to the troop’s designated recipent!” — often the SOLDIERS, SOUP KITCHENS, SHELTERS, etc. Think of the smile you will be putting on the recipient’s face! It is “JUST” a box of cookies – and “JUST” a Girl Scout Troop trying to earn money to DO LEARN GO !!! Why must you feel compelled to spurt your personal issues to everyone!??? Life life and move on.
Keep the girl scout cookies just the way they are.If you want gluten free cookies go to a health food store. I know if they change the recipe I won’t buy the cookies anymore.
This all makes sense except for the issue of soy. Home cooks use wheat and, sometimes, peanuts when making cookies. But soy is NOT a necessary ingredient, and it is in EVERY cookie they make. Why not make the cookies available without soy? They’d be some of the only soy-free cookies on the market (and I know my family would buy boxes and boxes)…