Kiddyum Frozen Meals!

What is Kiddyum?

Kiddyum are children’s ready meals that are proper meals packed full of flavours and textures for children to enjoy plus the promise of home made and healthy they feel like a brand you can trust – located in the freezers of Sainsbury’s, The Co-op or online at www.ocado.com or My Supermarket.

As a single mum of a 7 year old daughter, 4 year old son and 7 month old baby I was extremely glad to be able to be sent these 4 products as purpose to review as I have fussy children to feed, what I was sent was – Cheesy peasy, Cottage Pie, Chicken Curry and Fish and Veg Pie – there are 5 varieties the fifth variety I haven’t got is Macaroni cheese. With having children with different tastes and wants and being alone it’s always hard to find time to manage to spread between them all! I love cooking meals especially nutritious and filling although what I’m learning is that it isn’t always achievable and that’s ok.
Does anyone else have days where it’s a struggle to get a home-cooked dinner on the table? Let’s face it cooking for a family can be a tedious job especially when they complain “theirs looks better” or “they have more than me” or “I don’t want it” – well these perfectly sized portions are exactly the same! They aren’t part of your five a day which would’ve been cool but you can easily open a tin of beans or sweetcorn. I even tried then my 7 month old (recommended age is 1 to 4 although it actually suited all my childrens requirements) and she actually enjoyed it although the mash potato was too thick for her once mixed up she ate it pretty well. I did notice the ratio of potato to meat was higher although I assume that’s because the higher the percentage of meat the higher the cost and at the value of only £1.50 per box (at Sainsburys) that makes sense. The cost at Ocado is £2.15 although with that website online you get allsorts of offers such as 30% off your first order for just joining up plus free deliveries for a year.
They’re also made from natural ingredients and nothing else – just look at the ingredients on the back of the super colourful, perfect portion sized box. I absolutely love the design of them as they are so bright in their pretty designed packaging, easy to open, lovely to look at and child friendly! There’s even cute messages on the side giving it a personal feel. Their recipes are different and by a woman named Jayne – you can find out more about her and Kiddyum by reading this link. They are also on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook!

Four pro’s of frozen foods!

1. Can be cost effective:
We all know making meals yourself is cheaper and Kiddyum is averagely priced at £1.50 per 200g but you end up wasting money (and time) anyway if you’re making meals your child doesn’t want which ends up being fed to the bin! With frozen meals, vegetables etc you can freeze when there are offers on and use them at the time when are not easily available or highly priced.

2. Availability through out the year:
The best part that most of the people like about frozen foods is that you can enjoy them whenever so if you can’t be bothered to leave the house you can just grab it from the freezer! If you don’t want to cook BOOM it’s there.

3. Lesser kitchen mess:
No mess as no chopping and no cutting – frozen meals in a way keeps your kitchen clean. Like if you want to make a full on dinner there’s no need of washing, peeling and cutting potatoes.

4. Less Time Consuming:
If your kids are feeling hungry and you don’t have time to prepare a meal for them just open a packet of frozen food products, bake them or fry them and food is ready. Your kids are happy too!

Frozen food can sometimes get bad press but aside from the convenience factor, freezing actually locks in goodness and minimises waste plus all Kiddyum packaging is 99% recyclable and because it’s frozen they can use card trays for the meals, so no plastic containers which is an amazing idea for the environment – check the fight against plastic scheme to read against the latest move in the government crackdown on plastic, following the plastic microbeads ban hailed as one of the world’s strongest bans and the 5p plastic bag charge – which has led to 9 billion fewer bags distributed. It sits alongside the 25 Year Environment Plan commitment to eliminate avoidable plastic waste.

My Stage 3 meals are perfect for independent little eaters (no cutting required) with lots of flavour to excite their tastebuds (but no extra salt or added sugar*)

Jayne xx

 

The meals

 

Chicken Curry and Rice – my children can be very difficult to feed different meals, it’s exhausting to try and find a variety of meals to do all the time without someone complaining however this works for them because it’s not overwhelming to look at and you can clearly see what’s in it plus has loads of veg! 10/10

Chicken and Vegetables in a gently spiced coconut curry sauce with rice INGREDIENTS: Water, Tomatoes (16%), British Chicken (13%), Onion (6%), Sweet Potato, Long Grain Rice, Coconut Milk (6%), Peas, Carrot, Rapeseed Oil, Tomato Paste, Cornflour, Garlic Purée, Ginger Purée, Coriander, Cumin, Ginger, Cinnamon, Black Pepper, Smoked Paprika, MustardPowder, Clove, Nutmeg, Pimento, Fennel, Cardamom, Spice Extract: Cassia. (Allergy advice: for allergens, see ingredients in bold).

 

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Cheesy Peasy Pasta – May of stole a spoonful to try and I love this myself oops! What is great about this as some frozen meals taste fake – these don’t! Great hit with my children as great choice and nutritious too so it’s so useful to keep in the freezer for when you get home late and need something quick. Microwave from frozen, perfect! 10/10.

Wholewheat Macaroni and Peas in a Cheesy White Sauce – INGREDIENTS: Semi Skimmed Cows’ Milk, Cooked Wholewheat Pasta (Durum WholewheatSemolina, Water), Mature Cheddar Cheese (Cows’ Milk) (8%), Peas (7%), Water, Fortified Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Leeks, Cornflour, Black Pepper. (Allergy advice: for allergens, including cereals containing gluten see ingredients in bold).

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Fish and Veg – would definitely recommend this! Making fish pie is such a fuss and here it all it in one swoop! Healthy and convenient. My eldest is very very fussy but they wolfed it down along with beans as a side

Pollock & Salmon in a white sauce with Vegetables, topped with a Cheesy Mash INGREDIENTS: Potato, British Whole Cows’ Milk, Water, Alaska Pollock (Theragra chalcogramma) (Fish) (5%), Pink Salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) (Fish) (4.5%), Carrot, Sweetcorn (3.5%), Cornflour, Leek (1.1%), Spinach (0.5%), Mature Cheddar Cheese (Cows’ Milk), Butter (Cows’ Milk), Bay, White Pepper, Parsley. (Allergy advice: for allergens see ingredients in bold).

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Cottage Pie – the baby loved it and my son loved it! These meals are just so cool to have in especially when the idea of spending a while preparing a dinner isn’t appealing – boom here is your tea or lunch! 9/10 (purely based on the fact there’s more potato than expected and my children aren’t as fussed by mash!)

Beef and Vegetables with Herbs, topped with a Cheesy Mash INGREDIENTS: Potato, Water, British Beef (13%), Onion (5%), Carrot (4.5%), Tomato (2.5%), Mature Cheddar Cheese (Cows’ Milk), Sweetcorn (2%), Peas (2%), Swede (2%), Tomato Paste, Cornflour, Butter (Cows’ Milk), Sage, Cinnamon, Black Pepper, Bay. (Allergy advice: for allergens, see ingredients in bold).

 

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These things matter to Kiddyum – their Kiddyfesto!

• All natural ingredients
• No added sugar / low salt
• No preservatives
• No GM ingredients
• No artificial colours/flavours
• Made in the UK
• Only British meat and dairy
• Only sustainable Fish
• Truly recyclable Packaging
• Frozen, locked in goodness.

Bright, versatile and easy!

End Result?

Well fed, happy children and for these up coming summer evenings when you get back late from an activity or just haven’t even gone shopping or you don’t feel like cooking this is the perfect option, it’s even the perfect thing for aunties, uncles, grandparents to have in the freezer when they get that unexpected knock on the door! I have a big family with nephews, siblings, parents, friends etc and a preschooler, a fussy child and a baby and they all don’t want to eat what the rest of the family is having and this is the perfect thing to quickly warm up for them. I tasted everything (obviously) and can vouch for how good it all looks and tastes. If your taste buds are accustomed to high salt then you may find the product lacking but remind yourself it is for 1-4 year olds and they are not built to consume salt in the quantities we do and don’t miss what they’ve never tasted. I love Kiddyum and will definitely be buying in the future.