AS the mother of a toddler there are a few things I have to remind myself of daily. Things like: always check the washing machine before putting it on, never leave the house without wet wipes, and not even the most expensive screen protector is effective when your phone finds itself soaring from the sticky-fingered hands of a hooligan of a little boy. But possibly the most important of all is “Embrace the Mess”. Especially considering we went the baby led weaning route with our son. James is now a year and a half old, and a proper little foodie.
Since those first few blissful bites of roast potato at six months old, he’s been gobbling up pretty much whatever we give him to eat. It’s been brilliant. Overwhelmingly messy, but brilliant none-the-less. Dinner is a breeze because he eats what we eat, but as a work-from-home mom, I’ve found myself struggling with his lunches. While I can just grab whatever I find in the fridge and munch it at my desk, I can’t really give my toddler a handful of almonds and an uninspiring hard-boiled egg for lunch every day.
Until now, James has been really good with veggies (I say this while touching every piece of wood within reach, because I know that kids are completely unpredictable and one minute they’re eating like tiny gourmands, and the next it’s all chicken nuggets and Vienna sausages), so right now the hidden vegetables aren’t the biggest draw for me in this range – it’s the convenience and knowing that he’s getting all the goodness he needs with very little effort from me.
We started with the chicken and broccoli bake. He absolutely loved it. Almost all my pictures had motion blur as he shovelled forkfuls into his mouth, providing his own lunch time background music in the form of enthusiastic “mmmmmms”. I managed to pinch a mouthful too, for science, of course. And it was pretty tasty. An adult sneaking a portion of this might want to add a sprinkling of salt, but for young diners, it’s the perfect combination of tastiness and goodness.
The final dish James tried was the beef rump bites and root veg mash. It’s a fairly large portion of carrot, butternut and sweet potato mash, with a small portion of beef cubes in gravy. If your little one enjoys their meat, this one might be a little disappointing. Our serving had just five tiny cubes of beef in it, and I think with a few more, the dish would have been a bigger hit. That’s not to say that James didn’t enjoy it. He emptied his bowl and was a delightful orange mess by the end of it. But he’s used to a little more protein along with his veg.
I’m impressed that the meals have no added preservatives, flavourings or MSG, and are low in sodium. They also use free-range ingredients where possible. And when it comes to the hidden veg, your little one will just assume they’re gobbling up a perfectly normal garden variety lasagne, when they’re actually getting a good helping of butternut, cauliflower, carrot and tomato.
To explore the range and order your first taste, click here.
WORDS AND PICTURES: Terri Dunbar-Curran