Things I Love: Frozen Dinners

OK, well, maybe not those Salisbury steak ones with the mac and cheese that comes out of it’s little container in one big blob. But generally speaking, hot food that is ready when I’m hungry, I likey.

So, I was pretty excited when Happy Baby foods contacted me to try out some of their food. OK, not ME, but Lydia! I remember seeing their food when Lydia started solids and always wanted to try it. (keep reading…there’s something in it for you, too!)

It just looks yummy! I even want to eat it. The whole idea of their frozen organic meals is pureed food in little “ice cube trays”.  You pop out a few of them, throw them in the microwave and have a gourmet meal for your little baby. Isn’t that great? You can mix and match them even for fun “recipes”! Or add them to fresh food like avocados or bananas. (Oh, and listen to some of the names of the food: Yes Peas & Thank You Carrots, Gobble Gobble & Paradise Puree and Smarter Squash & Wiser Apple! I love it!)

I pureed all of Lydia’s baby food, but having some of this already done for me would have been great. Especially the meat, because I hated giving Lydia meat from a jar. And I certainly didn’t want to cook it and puree it for her. Yuck.

The best part about their food is the good-for-you-ness of it! Everything is organic, allergen friendly and 100% natural ingredients. Plus they give back to Project Peanut Butter to help feed starving kids in Malawi. This is the kind of stuff I like. Not just a new bucket-of-sodium-high-fructose-corn-syrup-filled-kids’ meal with a skateboarding cartoon character on the front—but a company that is really trying to help kids—here and in other countries.

OK. Now onto the taste test. No, we didn’t taste the baby food. We moved straight to the toddler food called Happy Bites!

The whole premise of these meals are the “secret veggies”. So, let’s see, we tried the mac & cheese patties (I know, sounds gross), salmon sticks, veggie tots and the breakfast pocket—all with hidden veggies inside. Plus, they each come with a sauce to dip.

Right now Lydia is eating (non-organic, Wal-Mart brand) tater tots and dipping it in Cheetah Sauce. Which looks and tastes like macaroni-and-cheese cheese but is made from sweet potatoes and butternut squash. Good idea, right? (You can buy the sauces by themselves and I am really a fan of these!)

Lydia is kinda picky in that she doesn’t eat much meat. So, she didn’t really get into the fish sticks. But I tasted them and I thought it was kinda good. She didn’t like the veggie tots either, but I kinda liked those, too. They were like giant tater tots but with a few veggies inside. I wasn’t with her when she ate the mac/cheese but she *did* eat it, so that’s good. However, she LOVED the breakfast pocket!

The only negatives to the food is the cooking directions. Every time I followed the directions, something went wrong. The veggie tots were cold in the middle after I followed the directions. The Cheetah sauce was so overcooked it had a burn mark on the container. And there were no specific instructions like “place on a cookie sheet” or “remove lid”, etc. I’m all about following the directions, so this was kinda frustrating.

The verdict: For frozen food, these were good. I like tots and sticks for toddlers. It makes it easy (and attractive) to eat. And dipping it? The best thing ever! I just love the idea of the sauces being made from pureed veggies. I will definitely be buying the sauces again. And I’ll probably keep a few of the other meals on hand for those days when Asa is crying, Lydia is whining and I’m tired. It’s good to know that even a frozen food can be healthy for my kids!

And hey, Happy Baby Food is so nice they are giving you a coupon! Yes, YOU! Just click here and get $1 off any of their food! (Which by the way, also includes infant cereal with DHA and probiotics. How cool is that?) So click and print away. If you try the food out, let me know! I’d love to hear what you and your kiddos thought about it. Don’t forget to click around Happy Baby’s website, there are some old newsletters you can read with lots of good info and a contest to be on the front of Dr. Sear’s new book about baby food!

Thanks, Happy Baby! You made me happy!

(and one more thing…check out diaper diaries for more fun product reviews and other things people love!)