Kiddylicious snacks - or should that be Familicious?! (review)

Pierre got very excited last week when he received an extra Christmas stocking with his name on and a little card from Kiddylicious.

Inside was a lovely selection of snacks that he couldn't wait to start chomping on - and he wasn't alone. Despite being 10 and 14, both Juliette and Sophie wanted to see what was on offer and joined in with the tasting too, showing that Kiddylicious doesn't just appeal to toddlers !

We started off with the Fruity Puffs, which look just like corn puff crisps (in other words, Wotsits) but have a slightly sweet flavour. We had strawberry and banana flavours which both went down well with the kids. Each 10g bag contains just 41 calories and 0.8g of fat so I'd be tempted to eat these myself. They are suitable for ages "7 months to grown ups" so I'm sure I'm not the only adult to say that ! They'd be great for toddlers who want to start feeding themselves and discover new textures.

Next, we tried the Banana Bites and Apple Crisps. I thought there wasn't much in each pack but apparently it corresponds to the equivalent of one banana or one apple's worth of fruit. They contain just fruit and palm oil (and a sprinkle of maltose for the apple ones) and count towards your five-a-day. They have a lovely fruity flavour and a nice texture that starts off crunchy then melts in your mouth. They're great for snacking or in lunch boxes but can also be used in baking, either put into cakes and muffins or on top as decoration.

We've tried the Yoghurty Melts before and really liked them and the Smoothie Melts are very similar.. They have a slightly chalky, light and crunchy texture like a less gooey version of honeycomb. We got two flavours - banana, mango & passion fruit and strawberry & banana, both of which got the Madhouse kids' unanimous seal of approval. The kids see these as sweets so I was pleasantly surprised to see that they are made with 100% fruit and also count towards your five-a-day. Each 6g bag (which sounds tiny but actally contains a reasonable amount, as you can see above) contains just 21 calories so these would be great for kids as a lunchbox-friendy treat, but also for adults watching their waistline.

The wafers weren't quite so popular because they have a slightly strange polystyrene-like texture and they're quite bland - without the colour, you'd be hard pressed to guess which flavour they are supposed to represent - but I could see them appealing to babies and toddlers. (They're suitable from 6 months +.) We tried the blueberry, banana and carrot ones and they all got a non-committal shrug - they're not horrible but don't really taste of anything much. They're made with rice flour and tapioca starch so they're gluten-free.

The tiny Gingerbread Buddies are very cute and I'm sure the shape would really appeal to toddlers. They're very slightly spicy as they're made with real ground ginger, and this put Juliette off, but the others loved them. The little 20g treat-sized bag contained seven mini biscuits which provides 107 calories and 4.4g of fat, of which 2g saturates, so they're healthier than many of the biscuity alternatives on the supermarket shelves.

Our first reaction to the Banana  Crispie Tiddlers was that they looked a bit weird but in the end, everyone loved them. They're basically jelly "sweets" made with fruit puree and juice (and no added sugar) that are packed with crispy rice - a rather disconcerting texture combination to begin with but it soon grew on us ! A 12g bag contains 40 calories and counts towards your 5-a-day.

Staying on the healthy "sweets" options, the Fruit Wiggles were hugely popular, rather like a healthier version of strawberry bootlaces. They are made with fruit puree and juice, citrus fibre to stop them sticking together, pectin to help them keep their shape and that's it. They count towards your 5-a-day, have no added sugar and are gluten free. Both the apple and tropical fruit varieties come in at under 40 calories a bag and we all agreed that they taste as good as sweets so they'd be a great simple swap if you're trying to cut down on the sugar in your kids' diet.

We initially all thought that Pierre would be the only one to like the Kiddylicious snacks, but in the end, the whole family loved them, even the grown-ups. (Maybe they should rebrand as Familicious ?!). It's great to find healthy snacks that taste so good, especially as they're lunchbox friendly.

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

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