Ella's Kitchen (review)

It fills me with such pride that in six short months my Baby Boy has grown from this...

... to this...

... with nothing but the nourishment provided by my own body.

He has just cut his first two teeth and is well and truly ready for the adventure of weaning. Having worked so hard to give him the best possible start, I don't want to spoil it now by feeding him any old rubbish. I want to continue to give him the very best I can in terms of quality, variety and taste.

The Ella's Kitchen range of organic weaning foods ticks all my boxes. The company ethos of "an ethical outlook with a passionate core" sits well with my own values and the idea of a product that prioritises health and nutritional value but not at the expense of taste or convenience is exactly what I am looking for to introduce my baby to the exciting world of solid foods.

Ella's Kitchen have given me the following products to try:

stage 1 baby food

baby brekkie

baby cookies

smoothie fruits

As a vegetarian, I have struggled in the past to find much variety in convenience baby food. That is certainly no longer true with 10 varieties to choose from in the Ella's Kitchen stage 1 baby food range alone. Each of the 10 variations contains only organic pureed fruit and vegetables in some familiar and some most unusual combinations.  The purees are packaged in colourful, illustrated pouches that are easily identifiable and very appealing. The pouches are re-sealable and so easy to pop into a handbag or pocket for meals on the go.

I absolutely love this range of weaning food. I have had a little taste and they honestly do have a 'real food' feel, like you could have pureed it yourself. I am 100% satisfied with the quality and have complete faith in the nutritional content.  Convenience wise, I cannot fault it - but the most important question is, what does Baby Boy think of it? Here is the answer:

I have been using powdered baby cereal for the first meal of the day but most varieties give the instruction to 'mix with baby's usual milk'. For an exclusively breast fed baby, this sends me down a path I have no desire to tread, so, I mix with boiled water which immediately makes me feel that as breakfasts go, this one is nutritionally deficient. More often than not, my boiled water will still be a bit hot resulting in a rather unappetising, lumpy mess which then solidifies as it cools and sticks to the spoon like glue. I don't even want to think what it might do to the poor infant's digestive tract. 

The Ella's Kitchen baby brekkie in three fruity varieties mixed with rice and yoghurt have none of the disadvantages I have described. They do work out more expensive than the powdered cereals which must be a consideration when making a choice but I like to try and make superior products available to my children whenever possible. Once the baby is a little more adept with finger foods, I think a small portion of the brekkie served with toast would make a lovely start to the morning. Organic, smooth, convenient and appetising, but what was Baby Boy's verdict?

The baby cookies carry an age recommendation of 7 months so I shall be waiting a few more weeks before allowing the Boy to sample their delights (he might be slightly better equipped in the dental department to deal with them by then). 

The smoothie fruits are suitable for babies but Ella's kitchen urges caution in case of allergic reactions, in particular to kiwi fruit.

I gave a Smoothie Fruit pouch to my 2 year old daughter who was very interested in what her brother was eating. It can be a job to get her to eat fruit so I was delighted when she pronounced the Purple One to be "yummy". It did look so good that we ended up feeding some to the Baby Boy anyway, who enjoyed every spoonful. The 2 year old loved being able to suck it directly from the pouch. It is going to be a very easy, non wasteful way of ensuring that she is getting a good range of different fruits with all the nutritional advantages that offers.

In summary, I really wanted to be impressed by this range that seems to offer everything I want from a company and for my children. I was not disappointed. For this, and for the approval granted by two of  the most important people in my world, Ella's Kitchen have definitely earned a regular place in my weekly shopping trolley.