Fresh and natural Little Dish is recipe for success
Little Dish, is a range of fresh food meals for toddlers and young children with an impressively small ingredients list. The company pride themselves on their no-nonsense approach to providing delicious food, free from added salt and sugar, and anything else that looks like a chemical equation.
Hillary Graves and John Stapleton, are the brains behind the company. Hillary says: “Little Dish has been created to give mums a truly healthy alternative to home cooking so they can feel good about feeding their child.
“Making sure your children eat good, nutritious food is a priority for parents, but it’s
not always easy to cook a diverse, well balanced menu every night of the week, especially if both parents are working.
“We provide a convenient solution, without the guilt, for those days when you run out of time or are just not up for cooking.”
The hand prepared recipes are created with the help and guidance of a paediatric dietician and made with 100 per cent natural ingredients. It all sounds so perfect we wondered if children would think so too.
Chopsy Baby, got hold of some of the Little Dish, recipes and tried them out on some of the most discerning toddler pallets we could find.
Sid, Emma and James, all at varying degrees of one and two years of age tested out the:
Pasta with Cheese, Peas and Broccoli Trees
Fish Pie
Chicken and Butternut Squash Pie
Cottage Pie
Fromage Frais: Blueberry and Vanilla, Raspberry and Apple, Strawberry and Vanilla, Peach and Apricot.
Sid’s mum Jen says: “I tested the Little Dish food whilst Bristol had the winter weather and getting to the shops was almost impossible with the snow.
I was really impressed with the food. I had a forkful of each dish, and it tasted like the kind of healthy food that my mum’s generation used to make for their kids, but these days we don’t always have time to prepare for our children.
It was fantastic knowing that my child was getting a good quality hot lunch or dinner and it was pretty much eaten straight up without objection from Sir.
The food had a good taste and you could tell there was no added salt. When microwaving the food it did not go hard or rubbery which was really impressive. It isn’t just another microwave ready meal”.
Emma’s mum Kate says: “Emma really enjoyed her Little Dish food. Her favourite was the Fromage Frais, which made the perfect little dessert to the dinner.
I have real trouble getting her to eat vegetables that are not mashed up and hidden within other foodstuff on her plate, but she actually really enjoyed the little broccoli trees. Why she can’t eat it when I make it I have no idea. She ate these dishes without hassle, even though it is similar to recipes I have made myself to Annabel Karmel, standards and have been disposed of on the floor”.
James’s mum Helen says: “James doesn’t do fish in any form, and even the Little Dish Fish Pie would not persuade him. He did eat the other dishes though and I thought they were good quality fresh dishes and so much better than all the jars of baby and tubs of stuff you can buy off of the shelf not the chiller. I will buy some of these meals for my son when I shop, and keep them in the freezer for when dinner gets burnt or stolen by the dog or when I get home late from work.”
Chopsy Baby also loves: The animal images and graphic art on the packages. We also liked that the packaging is twice recyclable. The colour-in activities on the reverse side of the cardboard packaging can be filled in by the kids and kept for fridge art, or added to the recycling box when finished. The plastic tubs also make fantastic bath time boats and paint mixing tubs.
Little Dish is available from Waitrose, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Ocado and prices range from £1.79 for the Fromage Frais to £1.99 for the cooking Sauces to £2.49 for the Meals.