Dear fellow parent,
Let’s have a little heart-to-heart.
Before you had children, you may have been a touch judgey about what kids ate. The nuggets, the Fruit Shoots, the prams that look like an explosion in a Pom Bears factory. Your little darling would wean on organic, pureed, beetroot, move onto avocado and their tastes would be so varied that by five they’d be slurping down a spicy pho.
Then you actually had a child and gave in to Fruit Shoots at the first drink-based meltdown.
Then you had a second and realised that you don’t mind if they eat ice-cream for breakfast so long as they’re eating something.
Ahem.
I still very much care about what my children eat but working full time and looking after a five-year-old and a toddler mean we’ve got stuck in a food rut.
Is a HelloFresh box for families the answer?
I was very happy to give it a whirl.
Night one: creamy rigatoni with garlicky greens and crème fraiche.
My five-year-old is going through a cheesy pasta faze - that’s been going on for about eight months - so I thought this a good place to start.
He practised his spelling homework while I ribboned a courgette at the kitchen table, and it felt like we were one of those families you read about. Spelling done (he aced it), he loved snipping chives with scissors, peeling shallots and garlic, and ripping apart mozzarella. The steps were easy to follow, and reading the recipe together meant we snuck in some maths and English practice without him noticing.
It tasted incredible and the portions were huge, so much so my husband had second and third helpings.
Kid rating: great.
Night two: spicy Cajun prawn risotto with lemon crumb and spring onion
Hands up, I didn’t realise this had a ‘very hot’ rating when I ordered it. However, we just used half (okay a quarter) of the spice mix provided and it worked well for us all, even the toddler. The five-year-old was surprisingly wild for the lemon crumb and said he’d happily eat this risotto every week for, ooh, ages. Portions were huge so there was enough for a leftovers lunch that my husband and I will fight over.
Kid rating: FIT.
Night three: sweet potato, ginger and garlic tofu stew with lime and spinach
You either love tofu or you’re wrong. My husband falls into the latter category so it’s not something we eat very often but this could be the dish that changes his mind and opens the kids’ minds to the wonder of plant-based protein.
My little boy loved tossing tofu in the spice mix and got stuck into the garlic peeling again, and the stew is an indulgent tasting but wholesome meal that I definitely wouldn’t have thought of myself.
Kid rating: Yum.
Final thoughts: my five-year-old enjoyed helping so much that, for the next box, I’m going to ask him to help pick recipes. My two-year-old’s favourite food is anything taken from her brother’s plate, so it’s a total win for us all.
Get 50% off your 1st box and 35% off your next 3 boxes at HelloFresh here.