This month we celebrate the first anniversary of the Food 4 Thought newsletter! Just think, a year ago many of your little babes were getting their first taste of solids. How the state of your carpets have probably changed since then… To thank all our loyal subscribers - and those of you who’ve only recently joined us - we are offering you the chance to win a fabulous family holiday in Austria worth £2000!.
This month, we’re also taking a closer look at the difference between chilled and frozen children’s meals and we give you some tips on how to survive grocery shopping with kids in tow . But first find out our latest news , including a sneaky beaky hint about our exciting new range of products to be launched in May. If you’re going on holiday for the Easter break, find out where to get our products while you’re away. Happy chocolate eating!
Best wishes,
Sally Preston
A busy mum making meals for other busy mums
All about us
It’s coming…
Be sure to look out for our next newsletter which will reveal a fantastically exciting new range of products that we’ll be launching in May. They’ve been a long time coming but we know that you and your kids will love them. And best of all they’ll help your kids get their five a day. Here are two little words that might give you a clue: Healthy + Snacks. Watch this space for more details….
Getting stocked up for Easter
If you’re planning on going away for the Easter holidays and are wondering where you can get Babylicious or Kiddylicious meals near your destination, there are a few options:
Use our store locator to find a stockist close to your holiday destination – that way you don’t have to try and transport it with you
If you’re going to be staying at your holiday spot before the Easter weekend, you could get product delivered to your destination. The last delivery will be Tuesday 3 April and remember you’ll need someone to sign for it and have a freezer to store it in
If you’re in Ireland for your holidays, you will find our products in Tesco Ireland stores.
Finally, remember that if you’re going to Centreparcs this Easter, your can buy our products on site. Happy holidays!
Home delivery shifting to Fridays
As of 13 April (the first Friday after Easter) deliveries will change from Tuesdays to Fridays and the minimum order will increase to £23.
We’re going to be at the Caring Parent Show in Kent
The Caring Parent Show is the premier baby show in Kent – and we’re going to be there! Held at the Kent Showgrounds, Detling, on 5 & 6 May, the show looks like it’ll be a great day out for the whole family with lots of activities for toddlers to enjoy. If you’re in the area, please pop down. Kids go free and tickets for adults are only £3. For more info, go to www.caringparent.co.uk
Detailed weaning advice on Netmums
Are you just starting on the weaning process? Or perhaps your happy baby has turned into a fussy toddler. Check out our in depth weaning guide on Netmums covering everything from how to get started to ideas for picky eaters with lots of other useful advice.
Send us pics of your mucky monsters
We love to see pictures of babies enjoying our meals. So if you have a picture of your little one tucking into our meals (no matter how messy they are), send it in to us and we’ll feature it on our fun pages www.babylicious.co.uk/Fun/tabid/76/Default.aspx. Just click the ‘send a picture’ link on the page and follow the instructions.
Your views on weaning
In our last newsletter, we ran a poll asking what age you weaned your baby. The results are in:
30.5% - 6 months or older
40.2% - 5 months
27.6% - 4 months
1.7% - 3 months or younger
Approximately a third of you followed the Department of Health’s guidelines and waited the full six months, but 70% of mums are still starting weaning before the recommended age. That said, given that the previous DoH advice was to start weaning at 4 months, there has definitely been a shift towards later weaning with the majority of respondents starting at 5 months. Whatever age you start, it’s important that you assess the needs of your baby and speak to your GP or health visitor if you’re unsure.
In the news – give us your views
Frozen vs chilled –
You may have noticed a growing number of chilled ready meals for kids in the supermarkets – anything from the supermarket’s own brand meals to those created by celebrities. They look enticing as they’re easier to see than those in the freezer section and they’re usually closer to fresh produce, giving the perception that they’re fresh. But before you start popping them into your trolley, consider these facts:
When you cook a meal at home, how long would you keep it in the fridge before it goes off? Certainly not longer than five days but typically not more than 48 hours.
Always look at the Use By date. If it is longer than 5 days from the day you are shopping, ask yourself – how?
Always check for artificial preservatives, high salt levels and antioxidants. These help prolong the shelf-life, but do you want to eat them?
Some chilled meals have sell by dates of up to three weeks from date of manufacture. How is that possible? Well, without going into too much science, some chilled ready meals may be pasteurised in the pack to give them a much longer shelf life. Pasturisation is a form of heat processing similar to sterilisation that is used for jars and cans. You only need to taste these sterilised products to know the effect this has on the quality of the food!
Freezing is the best way to stop deterioration of food. It locks in goodness immediately - nutrients, flavours, colours, everything. Listen to what those clever chaps at Bird’s Eye have to say on the subject. The longer food is left unfrozen, the more it gently decays and bugs with long words start to grow - nice.
Many people buy chilled meals and then put them in their freezers at home. This means you’re buying a product that has already started to deteriorate only to end up with a frozen product. Why not just buy frozen in the first place? We snap freeze all our products so that nutrients are locked in and there is no time for any nasty bugs to develop.
As we say ‘Food for Thought’!
“We are not knocking chilled food. I spent many years working in the M&S chilled ready meal departments producing excellent chilled food, but it is worth knowing the tricks of the trade that some companies use to extend the shelf life,” Sally Preston, founder of Babylicious.
The lighter side of parenting
Trolley troubles – how to grocery shop with kids in tow
Love it or hate it, grocery shopping is something we all have to do. With monotonous regularity. Ideally, we should all support our small local shops or farmer’s markets, where our children carry baskets and help us pick the freshest, seasonal produce. That’s a lovely idyll and for the average family may take place occasionally. But for most rushed mums, grocery shopping means a frantic trip to the supermarket with kids in tow. And that’s where the real fun begins.
Typical supermarket antics include loud screaming, tantrums, flinging of food in or out of the trolley and running off – and that’s just the mums…. So how can you make shopping a slightly less fraught experience?
Be prepared. Have a steady supply of snacks in your bag. This keeps hands and mouths occupied.
Ensure potty trained children have been to the toilet before you start. There’s nothing quite like: ‘Mummy, I need to pee’ when you’re standing in the checkout queue with an overflowing trolley.
Make it a game. ‘Point to something green’ or ‘See who can find a cucumber first’. The art is coming up with on the spot diversions to prevent a potential meltdown. Anything goes – even: ‘Hey, I think I just saw a dinosaur down that aisle, let’s go see…’
Give them responsibility. ‘You’re in charge of holding mummy’s shopping list’ (expect it to be chewed or lost so possibly have a backup). Or ‘Help mummy push the trolley’ (this is good when you have one child who is slightly older and no longer enjoys sitting in the trolley with a younger squirming sibling). Never let a child under the age of two and half out of the trolley unless you’d like to spend the entire trip chasing after them.
Set expectations and rewards in advance: ‘If you are a good boy and help mummy, you can choose one special treat once we’re done’. And if they are good, congratulate them on their great behaviour.
If they have a tantrum, try to ignore the behaviour. Don’t give in and placate with a treat or you will simply be reinforcing the behaviour. If you get unfriendly looks from fellow shoppers, ignore. They either don’t have children or have forgotten what children are like. Mentally ram them with your trolley, while outwardly smile at them politely.
Know what you want to buy. Don’t enter a supermarket with kids without at least some idea of what you need. You will either come away with a million things you don’t need or forget all the essentials.
Checkout is always the most fraught time when kids get bored and irritable. Make a game out of getting them to name the items as you unpack them. It’s educational too.
If all else fails, order online!
Competition
We know that parents don’t often get time off. So we’re giving you the chance to do exactly that with our fabulous competition. You could win a one week all inclusive holiday in Austria for a family of four from Kinderhotels worth £2000!
Based in the beautiful Austrian Alps, Kinderhotels are designed with kids in mind. English-speaking childminders are available to look after children from as young as 7 days old and all guests get up to 60 hours a week of free baby and childcare. They also provide all the necessary baby equipment so you can travel light and provide nutritious, well balanced children’s meals. And while the kids are having fun playing in secure soft play areas and with age appropriate toys, you can relax next to a swimming pool, take a walk through amazing countryside or get in a round of golf. For more information on Kinderhotels go to www.kinderhotels.co.uk
To enter this amazing competition, simply recommend a friend to receive our Food 4 Thought newsletter. The competition closes on 31 December 2007 so feel free to send us friend’s names throughout the year.
Feedback
Congratulations to Amy Greatbanks of Norfolk, who won the Mother’s Day hamper from www.lovelula.com. Your hamper of gorgeous pampering goodies is on it’s way to you. We hope you had a very happy mother’s day.
Lynn Frewin of Surrey wrote in and asked us this: ‘My 18month old cannot eat a complete meal in one sitting, can I defrost and heat only half and save the other half for later?’
Thanks for the question Lynn. The best thing to do is to let the meal defrost overnight in the fridge. Scoop half of it out and heat that, saving the rest unheated in the fridge. Use the rest within 48 hours.
Angela Aughney of County Carlow, Ireland sent us this feedback: ‘I have contacted Tescos Ireland about your range. I gave my baby Babylicious which he loved. He now is 1 years old and needs lumpier and more whole food. Unfortunately Tesco only sold 2 of your range, and now for the past few months only sell 1, the pasta and broccoli. I have sent Tesco an email and telephoned. Being told the message would get passed onto the buyer. If I was in your shoes I would strongly go else where to get my product sold into the marketplace better. They obviously don't pay enough attention to the customers needs. The other stores in Ireland are Dunne Stores, Super Valu and Super Quinns. I feel very strongly about this, as your range is very nutritious for young children and very quick for the busy mums and dads to make. Knowing that there kids are getting a healthy balanced diet.’
Thanks for your comments Angela and thanks for getting in touch with Tesco. You’ll be pleased to know that we’ve just boosted our range of products in Ireland with the introduction of the Babylicious beef double pack and the introduction of the Kiddylicious Spaghetti Bolognaise. We are in constant talks with Tesco Ireland about our range and continually look for additional sales outlets. But please do keep on writing to your local Tesco or any other supermarket you shop in. It’s mum power that gets them listening and taking action!
Mrs Morgan from Essex gave us this great feedback after visiting our stand at the Baby Show, Excel: I bought several meals at the baby show for my 10 month old daughter who only eats pasta and rice and you asked me for my feedback and here it is-FANTASTIC!!!!!! I bought the Kiddylicious meals as she likes 'proper' food and I blitz them in my mini blender for a few seconds and she demolishes them every time-her current favourite is the hotpot which is great as she doesn't normally eat potato. I can't wait to try her on other dinners-thank you for making my meal times so much easier!!! I recommend you to all Mum's & Dad's, with or without fussy eaters!!!
That’s what we love. A success story.
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Best wishes,
We know that parents don’t often get time off. So we’re giving you the chance to do exactly that with our fabulous competition. You could win a one week all inclusive holiday in Austria for a family of four from Kinderhotels worth £2000!
