Ella's Kitchen - not just for babies ! (review)

A few weeks ago, you may have noticed that we reviewed the new range of bath-time products from Paddy's Bathroom. As they are from the same founder as Ella's Kitchen (Ella and Paddy are his real life children !), I received an email asking if we'd like to review some of Ella's Kitchen's snacks too. I replied that the Madhouse kids are probably a bit too old now but the lovely PR lady replied that she still munched on them herself (which made me smile !) so she'd send us through some of the older toddler snacks to try out. 

Soon after, this lovely selection arrived. The kids got all excited at the idea of munching through loads of crisps and cookies and I secretly smiled, knowing that these were from Ella's Kitchen so they were healthier versions with no hidden nasties.

They unpacked everything, oohing and aahing at the Grab Me Melty Puffs, the Pick Me Melty Hoops, the Crunchy Rings, Wheels and Sticks and the Grip Me Baby Biscuits.

As Madhouse Daddy wasn't coming home for lunch, the kids begged to have an indoor picnic. It's a semi-regular event where I put out loads of nibbles (mini sandwiches, chopped up pizza, carrot sticks, olives, chopped up fruit, chorizo slices, cherry tomatoes ...). I agreed that we'd include a selection of the Ella's Kitchen sacks and Pierre was already having a sneaky nibble before half of the food was out !

Juliette loved the cheese and leeks flavour of the Crunchy Wheels and the fun shape.

Pierre prefered the softness of the Melty Puffs. Here he is trying out the tomatoes and leeks flavour but we were also very surprised to discover that we loved the strawberries and bananas flavour ones too. Fruity-flavoured crisps, who'd have thought it ?! I think these actually ended up being the ultimate favourites.

The parsnips and poppy seeds savoury biscuits weren't quite as popular because they were deemed a bit too hard, but as they are targetting babies and toddlers, experimenting with different textures is an important part of weaning. I nibbled on one and found it quite bland but that's presumably because they aren't packed with salt and sugar, unlike most grown-up snacks.

The tubs of Melty Hoops and the Baby Biscuits are more portable (the biscuits are individually wrapped) so they were put in out bag along with balls, skipping ropes and jumpers for a trip to the park. They were devoured amidst many appreciative hmmms, with the apple and ginger baby biscuits being a particular hit. I've put the rest in my handbag for snacks-on-the-go, safe in the knowledge that the individual wrappers will avoid getting crumbs everywhere.

I mentioned that the Melty Hoop tubs would be great for making into maracas with some rice, beans or pasta in them so when I came to recycle the box that the snacks had come in, I was pleased to see that I'm not the only with crafty ideas !

Ella's Kitchen's motto is "Good in every sense" so it's lovely to find a healthier alternative to fat, salt and additive-packed crisps and nibbles that the kids actually liked. I was surprised actually - while I loved the products when the Madhouse kids were toddlers, I thought that their taste buds would have been too corrupted by processed foods to enjoy them now, but I was proved wrong !

for more information : http://www.ellaskitchen.co.uk/

Disclosure : We received the products in order to write an honest review.