Little Dish Tasting Workshop & New Recipes

On 7th June, i, along with some other bloggers, attended a Little Dish Tasting Workshop in London, hosted by CEO Hillary Graves and Consultant Dietician Lucy Jones. Little Dish was co-founded in 2006 by Hillary, after she spotted a gap in the market for producing a range of fresh and healthy ‘home-cooked’ meals for toddlers and young children made with only 100% natural ingredients. The company has gone from strength to strength since then and their range is now stocked nationwide with 100,000 little dishes being served across the UK every week.

Recent research commissioned by Little Dish of over 1,000 parents with children aged one to three, found that 76% of parents worry about whether their child is getting all the nutrition he or she needs in their meals. The results also showed that:

• 79% of parents are unsure on the recommended salt intake for children
• 40% are confused by nutritional guidelines on packaging
• 20% worry about what their other half feeds their children
• 82% are unsure of the recommended overall calorie intake to provide their children

As a parent myself, i have to say i agree with all of the above. The boys are approaching ages where they are growing rapidly and are very active so i know that they need lots of energy and nutrients as part of a healthy, balanced diet but i’m clueless as to how much or little they should be eating of everything. Riley will eat anything you put in front of him, but prefers to snack rather than eat a whole meal which can be incredibly frustrating when i’ve spent ages slaving over the cooker. Harry is a notoriously picky eater and i know that most children grow out of it by the age of 5, but that’s a long way off and as it stands at the moment he has a very limited diet, dislikes purees and refuses to be fed from a spoon. Suffice to say, mealtimes often leave me deflated and tearing my hair out.

Lucy Jones, expert in children’s nutrition and Little Dish ambassador, says: “It’s clear from the research that many parents are lacking confidence on the nutritional guidelines for feeding their little ones and it’s an issue that’s at the forefront of their minds. I’ve been working with Little Dish to further develop the brand’s nutritional profile in its chilled meals and ensuring each meal provides nutritional balance, in addition to great tastes and textures. This helps the Little Dish range to nurture young palates whilst providing peace of mind for mum and dad on days when they need a helping hand with feeding their children.”

Interestingly, Lucy also informed us that a child’s eating habits can often be linked to their emotional state, so a laidback baby will be more likely to eat anything, whereas an emotional and needy baby will be more likely to have fussy tendencies. Her top tips for reducing fussiness included getting children involved with the food prep, growing your own food in the garden, baking together, introducing reward charts and disguising fruits/vegetables in sauces or soups.

Little Dish have been working closely with nutritionist Lucy to ensure that their nutritional guidelines are best in class.

Lucy Jones says: “It has been really interesting for me to work with Little Dish to further develop its nutritional programme. This refresh was about further enhancing the already strong nutritional profile in their chilled meals and paying even more attention to not just nutrients but also tastes, textures and proportions which are all important to the development of young palates. Parents can rest assured that Little Dish provides meals that are well-balanced and that their children will love to eat.”

This month they relaunched their entire range of Little Dish meals and each recipe has been created in partnership with Lucy to ensure that they provide little ones from one year plus with the perfect balance of nutrition for a main meal. Every Little Dish meal provides 20-30% of a child’s daily calorie needs and 70% contain at least 2 portions of fruit and veg. The range is made from 100% natural ingredients and they never add salt or sugar.

There are now 13 Little Dish Meals to choose from, including:

• Fish Pie with Salmon & Pollock
• Mini Cheese Ravioli in a Tomato & Veg sauce
• Classic Beef Lasagne
• Alphabet Pasta Bolognaise
• Cottage Pie with Seven Veg
• Spaghetti with Mini Meatballs
• Mild Chicken Curry with Rice
• Chicken & Butternut Squash Pie
• Chicken & Veg Risotto
• (NEW) Creamy Tomato & Mascerpone Pasta
• (NEW) Pork & Apple Bites with Beans
• (NEW) British Lamb Hotpot
• (NEW) Fruity Lamb Tagine with Couscous

The British Lamb Hotpot is currently in stores with a special celebratory sleeve in anticipation of HRH Prince George’s first birthday on July 22nd , when he’ll be old enough to enjoy his first Little Dish.

During our time at the Little Dish Tasting Workshop, we were given the opportunity to participate in a blind taste test with some of the new Little Dish meals against competitor meals. And let me tell you, i was shocked, SHOCKED, by the competitor dishes which in my opinion all had a distinct lack of taste, smell, texture and quality. In fact, it was blatantly obvious from looks alone which was which and we all guessed correctly in each round.

What i loved about the Little Dish Meals is that they were just smaller versions of what mother’s, like me, would cook at home in our own kitchens. There’s no textured purees, piles of slop or mashed up ingredients, it’s just simple, honest, home-cooked food in ‘little people’ portions. They smelt divine, were packed full of flavour and tasted delicious.

Whats more, they can be ready to eat in three minutes. THREE! Perfect for mums with a busy lifestyle. They can also be cooked from frozen.

Little Dish is available from the chilled aisles of Tesco, Asda, Waitrose and online at Ocado, RRP £2.50

For more information, healthy recipes and fun for kids, visit www.littledish.co.uk

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