Kiddies Kitchen

New Personalised lunchbox design now available - Flowers

2010-03-05T08:11:00.000-08:00

Our sister site http://www.lunchboxesetc.co.uk/ continues to grow and has recently added yet another design of personalised lunchbox to its range. In response to suggestions that the current designs weren't girly enough we have created the personlised flowers lunchbox:

You can select any of our plain plastic lunchboxes as the base for your personalised lunchbox (We're guessing pink will be a big seller....). To give you an idea of what the finish article looks like here is my son's robots lunchbox:

All our personalised designs are available to order exclusively from lunchboxesetc at the bargain sum of GBP12 plus P&P.

New Products - Ella's Kitchen Organic Snack Packs

2010-02-06T12:49:00.000-08:00

Have you ever eaten a pyramid of raisins? Now's your chance with Ella's Kitchen's new pack o snacks.

There are three great organic snack mixtures in the range and showing their usual gift for a name Ella's Kitchen have called them the chewy one, the crumbly one and the chompy one.

Each pyramid contains 5 individual snack packs which consist of a mix of dried fruit and nuts and other goodies.

The snacks are perfect for lunchboxes or just a snack at home. All can be bought on the Kiddies Kitchen website. The Chewy One is here, the Crumbly one here and the chompy one here

Is breast milk better than formula milk?

2010-01-19T13:32:00.000-08:00

Interesting little controversy reported on the telegraph site the other day about a new theory as to whether breast feeding is actually better for babies than formula milk. You can see the article here. I don't know what to make of it myself. Maybe there is something in it, maybe not. One thing is for sure the respective experts will all be giving their tuppence worth......if we see anything interesting you cn be sure that we will report it.

feeling guilty about neglecting the baby food blog

2010-01-19T13:18:00.000-08:00

Well, three months passes quickly doesn't it? In that time we have continued to add more baby food to the Kiddies Kitchen baby food delivery service website. Our new favourites are the Holle cereals ranges and, of course, humzingers fruit sticks (of which our kids can eat their own weight in one sitting).

Not only are all the holle cereals organic and biodynamic some are gluten free, and all are great as a a dairy free baby food base. Smooth and wholesome they will give your baby a great start in life

organic baby food - the times

2009-11-16T13:52:00.000-08:00

The time online posted an interesting article on organic baby food and the pros, and potential cons of ready made baby food. Of course I have to declare an interest as we sell all the major organic baby food brands, but it was nice to read an article that had a balanced view of some of the benefits of the closely regulated baby food market in the UK. You can read the article here

The one omission from the article was to add that you can buy organic baby food at supermarket prices from the kiddies kitchen baby food delivery service and have it delivered to your door!

Our current favourites include Organix, Plum baby and Ella's Kitchen Baby foods....check them out on www.kiddieskitchen.co.uk. For older kids why not check out our specialist lunchboxes site www.lunchboxesetc.co.uk.

Busy busy busy but not baby food blogging

2009-10-15T07:45:00.000-07:00

Its always this time of year when we get innundated by lunchbox orders on our sister site www.lunchboxesetc.co.uk and my good intentions about keeping the blogs up to date go out of the window! We've been noticing a real increase in the popularity of a packed lunch in these credit crunched times and all our lunch boxes are flying off the shelves. Now is also a great time to mention our new and totally unique personalised lunchboxes. These are our first "own brand" product line and we are extremely proud of them and the fantastic artwork that was produced for us by Sara our local designer. There are currently two designs to choose from and both can be seen on the lunchboxesetc.co.uk site.

Anyway our original online baby food store continues to grow with more new products being added each week. We are currently trying to reorganise the shop a little to make things easier to navigate so we have new formula milk, doidy cup and highchair categories accessible directly from the home page. Not forgetting our best-selling lilypadz reusable breastpads

We always welcome suggestions for new products that you want us to stock so feel free to leave a comment on the blog or even email us.

new personalised lunch boxes now available to order

2009-09-16T13:40:00.001-07:00

We've invested a great deal of time and effort in perfecting our new personalised lunch boxes so I hope you all like them as much as we do. Your child's name on their very own lunch box is a great way to make their packed lunch stand out from the crowds of other lunchboxes at school.

There are currently two designs both of which can be seen on the lunchboxesetc.co.uk website - the under-the-sea personalised lunch box and the outer-space personalised lunch box. Both designs are £11.99 plus p&p.

2009-09-11T01:58:00.001-07:00

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back to school and back to blogging

2009-09-08T06:16:00.001-07:00

Some of you know that I also run a website that just sells lunch boxes (www.lunchboxesetc.co.uk) and, not suprisingly it gets quite busy at this time of year with all the back to school excitement. This year the best selling lunchboxes have again been our (almost) unique plain plastic lunch boxes, although the new thermos coolfresh range of lunch bags and insulated lunch coolers have sold strongly. I think these appeal to older kids and grown ups as well given their relatively plain designs.

With the back to school rush now subsiding I'll once again be turning my attention to the baby food blog and hopefully coming up with some useful recipe suggestions in the near future as well as annoucing new products as and when they appear in our store. It occurs to me now that my own kids are getting older that the kiddies kitchen should not just be about food but that the kitchen table can be the scene for all kinds of food based science fun and look out for future blog piosts on the subject of kiddies kitchen science projects!

In the meantime there is one more new lunch box product to announce. Several month ago I blogged about our new personalised lunchboxes. Well the prototypes have been produced and have stood up to a bit of washing and throwing around so we are almost ready to launch them on www.lunchboxesetc.co.uk. All I need to do is take a couple of photos for the website and they will be available to order. Having seen the finished articles I can't wait to get them up on the site and I'm confident that they will make very popular additions to the site.

Our top 5 baby food purees

2009-08-04T13:20:00.000-07:00

Most babies are weaned at between 4 and 6 months. Current World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines recommend a full 6 months of breastfeeding before introducing solids, but many parents find that their babies are ready for a small amount of food before that time. Medical advice indicates that babies' digestive system is too immature to cope with solids before about 17 weeks but after that their appears to be little evidence of any benefit in delaying the introduction of solids (in developed countries).

So having waited until your baby is ready, what should you give them to eat? Our advice is to keep it simple; gradually introduce a range of pureed fruit and vegetables such as pear, carrot, green bean, sweet potato and parsnip. Once you have tried a range of single flavours you can start experimenting with interesting combinations - why not try pureed parsnip, apple and swede for example?

Try to use organic vegetables and fruit wherever possible. Parents in the UK may find that they are eligible for the government backed fresh start scheme which provides families with vouchers to redeem against the cost of fresh fruit and vegetables and it is certainly worth investigating whether you qualify for this scheme.

Another great tip is to steam and puree bulk quantities of fruit and vegetables at once and freeze them in ice-cube trays so that you can mix and match to create your recipes later on. A microwave is invaluable for quick defrosting. Listed below are our five favourite baby food purees suitable from 4-5 months of age:

Sweet potato, carrot and courgette puree

Sweet potato, swede and green bean puree

Mashed avocado and apple puree

Broccoli, pear and pea puree

Carrot, apple and parsnip puree

If you follow the advice above and freeze single flavour purees in ice cube trays then it is easy to experiment with these and other flavour combinations. As a rough guide 1kg of raw vegetables or fruit will produce around 25 frozen cubes when steam or boiled and then pureed.

After a month of combining fruits and vegetables in this way your baby will be ready to move on to more complex flavours including a little meat. We'll shortly publish our top five stage two weaning recipes as well! Good luck and get pureeing!

plain plastic lucnchboxes now in stock on lunchboxesetc.co.uk

2009-08-04T06:10:00.000-07:00

We set up our sister website www.lunchboxesetc.co.uk a couple of years ago now to sell lunch boxes, lunch bags and other packed lunch paraphernalia. One of the things we really wanted to do with the site was offer an alternative to the all-pervading licenced products that dominate the high street shops at this time of year. We were delighted to find a manufacturer in the UK that we could work with and have been stocking a range of simple plain plastic lunch boxes for well over a year now.

Anyway, the point of this post is to say that we now have new stock of navy blue plastic lunchboxes arriving in the next day or two so I have added this item to the site. You can follow this link straight to the plain plastic lunchboxes.

New Crocodile Creek plates, bowls and tumblers now in store

2009-07-25T04:10:00.000-07:00

We love Crocodile Creek's design style, and we already stock their fantastic PVC and lead free Lunch boxes on our sister website http://www.lunchboxesetc.co.uk/, so we have expanded our offering to include some really lovely melamine plate and bowl sets and equally brilliant tumbler sets that are perfect either for picnics or at the dinner table.

To begin with we are offering dinosaurs and garden bugs, which hopefully appeal to all of those toddlers out their.

Each style comes in a pack of 4 complementary designs and is attractively packaged to make a great gift. We like to keep things simple so each pack is £9.99 each.

You can check out the full range in the Kiddies Kitchen shop or online at http://www.kiddieskitchen.co.uk/.

New thermos insulated lunchbags - perfect for keeping a bottle or snack cool

2009-06-30T05:58:00.000-07:00

New in on our sister lunchboxesetc lunchboxes webshop area whole range of new insulated lunchboxes from Thermos. I thought we'd link to them because they look great for using as a bottle bag or snack bag for a day out. I particularly like the bowling bag style ones in pink, blue or black.

Thermos lunchboxes are great for a packed lunch as well an as you can see from the picture these are more than sophisticated enough for the office nevermind school.

If you add a mini thermos ice-pack as well they will keep everything chilled for more than three hours even on day like today when its 30 degrees in the shade!

New Products - Ella's Kitchen Stage 3 organic baby food

2009-06-26T13:13:00.000-07:00

Here we are again, more lovely new products from Ella's Kitchen: the eagerly awaited stage 3 recipes are here at Kiddies Kitchen. Arriving in our warehouse on Monday and now added to the website at only £2.20 each we're sure that these will be just as popular as the original Ella's Kitchen smoothies, first baby foods and the recent stage two baby meals.

All Ella's Kitchen food is certified organic by the soil association and all follow their rigorous no added junk policy. We'll be adding all the detailed product information and ingredients to our Ella's Kitchen product info page in due course ( as soon as I get my hands on them!).

There are four recipes to choose from and you can find them on both our Ella's Kitchen baby food shop pages or our stage 3 weaning foods pages

motherease nappies - new and second hand at Kiddies Kitchen

2009-06-08T13:53:00.000-07:00

Personally we've been using motherease nappies on our sons for the last 5 years. They are one brand of cloth nappy that I always recommend to customers in the kiddies Kitchen shop both for their ease of use and longevity as well as their potential resale value. We have recently had quite a few second hand motherease nappies come through handmedowns (our second hand baby goods agency) and there are still several virtually new ones in the shop.

However, if you are not within striking distance of our shop in tavistock you can always buy motherease nappies from our real nappy website www.nappyrush.co.uk.

Don't forget to buy the waterproof breathable wraps as well!

Humzingers fruit stix

2009-06-04T03:48:00.000-07:00

Humzingers, in case you haven't ever seen them, are 100% dried fruit sticks perfect for lunchboxes, picnics, days out, or even to eat at home. Made from only dried fruit and with no added sugars these fruit bars are a healthy alternative to chocolate, crisps or biscuits and each bar is equivalent to 1 of your recommended 5 a day fruit and veg portions.

We have had some supply difficulties in recent weeks (mainly keeping up with demand) but I'm glad to say that we have now got good stock levels and will again be sending humzingers to hungry children all over the world (if you parents order them). Apparently, judging by the recent spate of orders from the Channel Islands you can't get humzingers there any more, but rest assured we are happy to dispatch a little parcel of goodies to you from this side of the water....

Humzingers come in boxes of 10 bars, there are two flavour selections: Humzingers Orchard fruits (used to be "orginal" flavour) and Humzingers Summer Fruits. Details of each can be found in the shop section of the Kiddies Kitchen baby food website.

out and about with a toddler - hot meals to go with a thermos funtainer

2009-06-01T13:27:00.000-07:00

The hot weather over the weekend has caused us to indulge in a couple of long days at the beach. The trouble is always that we (by that I mean our kids) want to eat long before or after any local cafe's are serving or just can't drag themselves away from the beach.

Luckily we have a couple of hot food flasks from Thermos that are ideal for taking a sustaining hot meal out with us so that they can eat in situ without having to leave the beach. These food flasks from thermos will keep soup or stews hot for up to 5 hours and are ideal for days out or for a packed lunch if your kids' school dinners aren't up to scratch.

You can buy a selection of thermos food flasks from http://www.kiddieskitchen.co.uk/ or our sister website http://www.lunchboxesetc.co.uk/.

Food Standards Agency publishes new caffeine advice for pregant women

2009-04-30T02:27:00.001-07:00

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has issued new advice to pregant women lowerng their recommended limit for the daily intake of caffeine.

The new limit is 200mg per day, down from the previous recommended limit of 300mg. Caffeine is present in coffee, tea, chocolate, some soft drinks and certain medicines. The new 200mg limit is equivalent to roughly 2 mugs of coffee per day.

The FSA took action after new research undertaken on the agency's behalf by Leicester and Leeds Universities indicated that too mush caffeine might result in a baby with low birth weight (which may in turn increase the risk of some health conditions for the baby in later life), or could possibly result in spontaneous miscarriage.

The FSA sought to reassure pregnant women who had been following the previous advice, saying that the risks were likely to be very low and they should simply reduce their intake to the new recommended level. Any pregant women still concerned are advised to consult their midwife or GP.

The new advice follows a study of 2,500 women in the UK which suggested that caffeine intake may be associated with an increased risk of foetal growth restriction. Tea was found to be the major source of caffeine for the pregnant women in the study.

new products- an updated children's food flask from thermos

2009-04-21T12:54:00.000-07:00

Way back when, 3 years ago infact, when I started Kiddies Kitchen one of the very first products that we stocked was the thermos funtainer food flask. This child-sized wide-necked food flask, was, we thought, the perfect answer to the thorny prioblem of how to take out homemade baby food with us on day trips. It fits into a changing bag and will keep food hot for about 5 hours.

And it worked brilliantly for us and for hundreds of other parents aswell judging by the number we sold through our baby food website and shop in Tavistock. Since then this product has been recommended in the BBC good food magazine and the independent newspaper to name but two.

We were excited to hear from thermos that they were introducing a new version of this product earlier this year and we are delighted to now have our hands on it.

Introducing the foogo food flask which is now available on our sister website lunchboxesetc.co.uk. Once again, despite the name this is a brilliantly practical compact thermos falsk that is ideal for hot packed lunches of for homemade snacks. It can keep food hot for 5 hours or cold for 7 and is 100% BPA free. Check back soon and we'll have the new thermnos foogo BPA free insulated sippy cups aswell!

New products - burroughs frozen baby food

2009-04-20T13:25:00.000-07:00

We were approached by Tom Burroughs shortly after he launched his new frozen organic baby food company. As soon as we tasted some of his recipes we were eager to stock his products and they are now available on the site. To begin with we are offering a sampler hamper containing at least one of each of the delicious recipes Tom has devised for babies aged 6 months or more. You can read more about the hamper on our frozen baby food pages at the Kiddies Kitchen organic baby food site.

Tom's range of baby food is a great complement to our existing ranges from Truuly Scrumptious, Miniscoff and Juniorganics. Frozen baby food is not heated to the very high levels that jarred food is (no pasteurisation is required) thus leaving both texture and taste more like thast of homecooked baby food. Tyrit once and you'll never go back!

Great kids lunchboxes at our sister site

2009-03-04T08:00:00.000-08:00

Forgive me one plug for our sister site http://www.lunchboxesetc.co.uk but I had to share these great soft crocodile creek lunchboxes. 9 designs to choose from and each is a sure fire winner!

ella's Kitchen Stage 2 baby food - now in stock!

2009-01-15T14:00:00.000-08:00

It's been a long wait but the new stage two baby foods from Ella's Kitchen are now arriving on our shelves and have been added to the website and are now available to order online. Now you can buy Ella's Kitchen Stage 2 organic baby food even if you don't want to shop at tescos!

See the new range on the Kiddies Kitchen Ella's Kitchen Baby food pages.

kiddies kitchen baby food delivery service on TV!

2009-01-15T02:36:00.000-08:00

Fame at last! We were delighted and suprised when our local ITV news programme phoned and asked to come and film in the Kiddies Kitchen shop. Anyway it took them a few weeks to air the piece but it went out a week or so ago and I have managed to put the interesting bits together in a little web video that you watch below:

You can see from the video some of our more unusual baby food ranges, such as the m'organics baby pasta meal kits which are fast becoming a bit of a favourite with our customers! Not to mention the frozen baby food from truuuly scrumptious, juniorganics, and miniscoff all of which are available for home delivery via our website.

Play food arrives at Kiddies Kitchen - Just in time for Xmas

2008-12-17T13:46:00.000-08:00

We have a holistic approach to food and children at Kiddies Kitchen. That means, not only ensuring that our baby food and toddler food are the best there is, but engendering a healthy attitiude to food in the widest sense by encouraging food play and cookery in children of all ages. For that reason we are delighted to add a range of wooden play food and accessories to the website. We are delighted to offer a fruit stall, wooden paly cooker and stove, weighing scales and a very groovy cash register with more to follow in the new year.

Order on line by 22nd December for guaranteed delivery for Christmas (UK only).

New toddler tableware in stock now!

2008-12-04T06:18:00.000-08:00

We love the melamine animal plates in cow and dog design that we have had in store for several months so much that we have now added several more children's animal plate sets to our range.

We have added a penguin plate and bowl set, a monkey plate and bowl set and a horse plate and bowl set. All the set are only £9.99 for a three piece set: plate (approx 7in in diameter), bowl (about 4 in diameter) and a spoon.

All the items are made in very high quality thick melamine which is dishwasher safe. Our boys would not let go of their new penguin plates for about two hours and have never eaten more at each mealtime!