I remember as a child meals called KidCusine. Does anyone remember those? They are still around!!! The food was like plasticy hockey pucks and tasteless and FULL of sodium They did have cute little prizes though. A prize for finishing the meal! I digress. Long story short, I was running around trying to get Bay something for dinner as it was a late night and I ran to the store for milk. I knew that our good ol' standby of Annie's 'MacCheese' as Giraffe calls it would take just a little too long. I grabbed some terrible LeanCusine's for us and set out to find something for Giraffe.
KidFresh comes in a lovely green colored box with ZERO characters on the packaging! Hooray! ( On a side note: Could someone please tell Earth's Best that not every child watches Sesame? I know some kids do but we don't and its amazing how little time it takes for a toddler to say Elmo after hearing it once. )
I have to say that I saw the word all natural in BIG LETTERS and that is honestly what made me pick it up. Mac and Cheese was the second thing I saw. Upon reading further it also has hidden veggies! Carrots to be exact. I quickly perused the packaging and noted it contained no food dyes or HFCS, was pretty moderate in sodium and fats. They had me at all natural.
There is a lot of debate out there about hiding vegetables from your kids. I admit, I have to do it a lot of the time as my son just won't eat them. We are vegetarians, imagine how it makes me feel when he just won't try a mushroom or kale. He needs the nutrition so I don't feel guilty about hiding them. Often I will include the whole veggie or fruit on the plate so he can see it, and usually refuse it. Ah toddlers.
These lovely convenient little meals do come at a price, $3.49 A splurge and only to be used in toddler meltdown emergencies. The portion was big enough for two meals for him ( he's a little eater). Click here to download a coupon for $1 off. Note, the coupon cannot be doubled. I know, boooo!
INGREDIENTS: Pasta (Durum Wheat Semolina), Water, Cheeses (Cheddar, Monterey Jack And Part-skim Mozzarella [Part-skim Milk, Cheese Culture, Salt, Calcium Chloride, Chymosin, Cheese Enzyme, Annato Color, Cellulose]), Cream (Cream, Milk), Carrots, Canola Oil, Skim Milk Powder, Corn Starch, Sea Salt, Natural Flavor (Maltodextrin, Whey Solids, Natural Cheese Flavor, Disodium Phosphate, Salt)
Contains: Wheat, Milk
There is a lot of debate out there about hiding vegetables from your kids. I admit, I have to do it a lot of the time as my son just won't eat them. We are vegetarians, imagine how it makes me feel when he just won't try a mushroom or kale. He needs the nutrition so I don't feel guilty about hiding them. Often I will include the whole veggie or fruit on the plate so he can see it, and usually refuse it. Ah toddlers.
These lovely convenient little meals do come at a price, $3.49 A splurge and only to be used in toddler meltdown emergencies. The portion was big enough for two meals for him ( he's a little eater). Click here to download a coupon for $1 off. Note, the coupon cannot be doubled. I know, boooo! Got home and was sad to find plastic packaging and decided to sit down and write them an email. Went to their website and discovered their packaging is BPA and phthalate free!
Giraffe loved the wagon wheel shaped pasta and cheesey sauce. Very toddler friendly. There isn't a ton of cheesey sauce but it spreads evenly over the pasta. It tasted like real cheese and milk was used to create the product unlike many other mac and cheeses.
The company also carries other meals including Muy Cheesy Quesadillas, Easy Cheesy Ravioli, Rainbow Rice Chicken, Spaghetti Loops Bolognese, and Totally Twisted Pasta and Meatballs.
I will say that I would definitely purchase this again if we were in dire straights. Giraffe loved it and went to bed with a full belly.
