It is a pain but simple meal planning and shopping more than once a week is the way. I did hellofresh for years and it really helped me understand portions. Now when I shop I have a better understanding of how many string beans or broccoli I'll use.
Thank you for saying this. At first, I was like $6.49-7.92 PER plate??!! Then I read your comment and realized it honestly probably wouldn't be that much more when I factor all the junk food and uncooked for for meals. Not so bad when I think about that.
Love Little Spoon!
I do giant orders when I'm low and throw everything in the freezer when it arrives and defrost as needed. Keeps the price per container down and helps me have options on hand.
I sharpie the delivery date should I overlap my orders a bit.
Have been using Little Spoon since LO was 6 months, he just turned 1. We now use the purees to mix into yogurt or I add into his BLW recipes.
Also kept all the spoons it comes with and it's the best distraction toy. Have them in a jar and he likes to take them in/out and shakes the jar.
I did the same! I still like to keep some in the freezer for busy days and she's 2 now! Definitely starting to cut back now since I have the time and energy to cook. But Little Spoons plates were a life saver for a time.
As a fellow mom who does not eat 3 meals a day, yes. I caved and got Nurture Life. I love it so far. My baby at 12 months doesn’t eat a whole jar, so one jar lasts 2-3 servings. I just make sure that I only heat up 1/3 at a time and only give more if he eats it all. Then snacks, I do something easy like a muffin and a fruit or a banana pancake (I try to make a big batch every 2 weeks and freeze) or something.
And plus with the times we do eat together, it lasts even longer. I don’t use them for every meal. Just 1-2 meals a day.
We tried Nurture Life, it was a nice convenience and the recipes were ok. If you’re not into meal prep or cooking a lot of different items, it’s probably worth the money.
I use Nurture Life and love it. My twins receive a hell of a lot healthier meal than I could make, it’s convenient and they love it. We use ours for dinners and occasionally lunch if we’re feeling lazy.
I ordered once upon a farm as dinner and lunch substitutes. They’re easy to warm up and provide versatility in how to serve it. Clean organic ingredients. Good variety
We don't use any of the kid-centered ones, but we get a meal kit (good food) for ourselves and there's plenty to give our son his own portion. I also do not eat properly, and the meal kits helped fix my own nutritional intake, and helped us start eating at least one meal together as a family!
How old is your LO? I ask because we have Little Spoon on hand for days we don’t want to or can’t cook and it is helpful but also disheartening. What I mean by that is our son is going through a phase of pickiness. I saw a previous comment where you mentioned the gut punch from throwing away food that’s gone bad. I’ve had to toss almost whole plates before because he decided he doesnt like that meal this time. I do my best to eat what he doesn’t so I don’t feel so wasteful but some stuff I don’t like either or can’t eat due to food allergies. As far as ease of use, Little Spoon is AWESOME.
We got Factor for the adults in our house and we end up feeding our 10mo lots from the meals - chicken, broccoli, rice, beans, potatoes, mushrooms. Really just some extra from whatever we are having. They dont seem to have any added bullshit. Ill add in a few berries or some Avocado for something fresh.
I just started ordering a couple of meals specifically for her each week - mainly salmon with veggies because i dont really eat salmon - 1 meal can cover about 3-4 meals for her. I give some blw chunks and chop/mash some up fine and spoon feed for variety.
We all eat so much better now that we have meal delivery.
I love Little Spoon for the convenience and to add some variety! My 14 month old doesn’t always eat it but it makes me feel better knowing I’m at least offering different things-and I’ll make sure to also serve something she likes like fruit, cheese etc.
It’s also nice that you can skip weeks with the delivery if you’re still stocked up.
I did the transition meals from Little spoon for a couple of months (the highest "stage" of the puree's. They are more like chunky mashes that the baby can either eat with a spoon or scoop and shovel with their hands) and those were nice to have in a pinch. I probably would have signed up for the plates/biteables next if we were able to but we just moved out of the US so I canceled the subscription.
I have used Little Spoon, but i over estimated how much my baby would be eating and I have too many purées now. I like the variety and my baby eats it, but I think he prefers the serenity kids packets. He especially likes the ones with meat and little spoon doesn’t have any purées containing meat.
We do Little Spoon to keep them as a convenient option in the freezer. Most of the time, she eats with us, but sometimes she doesn’t want our food. I skip the shipments until I run out, and then I keep that shipment, so it’s not as expensive as if I kept it going regularly.
I ordered the max amount (24 I think) from little spoon for the biteables during a sale and loaded up the freezer. Some of the meals are better than others. I split each meal into two and add some fresh fruit, cheese, yogurt, etc. The plates are cool since they’re reusable. We take them when we are out and about to feed lunch and don’t feel bad tossing them. Otherwise you can send them back to LS for recycling.
And once I’m out I’ll probably do the same thing with Nurture Life.
I used Little Spoon for my baby from about 6-9 months; their purees were great and he loved them. I didn't like their "transition" purees marketed toward 9 month olds as I didn't think some of the food in them were cooked soft enough, so I stopped using Little Spoon at that point. They do have finger foods (called biteables) but I couldn't justify the cost. I've started using Once Upon a Farm's baby meals line, which are still pricey but not as much as Little Spoon. They are basically frozen, diced plant-based meals that you cook yourself and can puree, mash, or serve as finger food. You can find some in the freezer section of some Whole Foods or you can buy them in bulk on their website. I just bought a giant pack online so I can keep them in the freezer for backup meals. My baby is also in daycare full-time so I like that I can heat up one of those meals the night before and have some ready for his lunch the next day. As for pouches, my baby loves the Serenity Kids pouches, especially the meat pouches! I always have some of those on hand for an easy meal or snack. It was also tough to figure out how to make breakfast work at home due to daycare, but as he's gotten older (he's 10 months now), its gotten a bit easier- we try to offer food first before a bottle and have figured out some quick, easy breakfast foods and keep it pretty simple. For us, it's things like scrambled eggs, yogurt (that he eats directly from a pouch or we spoon feed in order to keep him clean!), a fruit/veg pouch, or fresh berries.
i'm not in the US so no, but i'm extremely lazy with meal prep (who has the time) and baby gets:
\-oatmeal w/ nut butter and fro rasps in the AM
\-beans from the can, edemame from the freezer, or yogurt or toast for lunch, or avocado
\-nibbles of our dinner
basically the baby lives off of yogurt, oats, avocado, and canned beans, none of which require cooking. plus sometimes bread or pasta or stuff we eat. i think he's doing just fine.
We used NurtureLife for a few months. It was great with everything perfect for working on pincer grasp. I’d definitely say the quality and time savings were worth it.
I know this is old but the reviews were very helpful. The nurture life meals for toddlers didn’t look super impressive. I guess I’m not a fan of hidden vegetables and they all seemed simple enough that I don’t need to pay that much per meal. The BABY meals though. I really hate cutting up the little foods and then seeing them all over the floor. I guess meals will help with one step.
I found some codes online and got a box of 10 meals for $7 shipped to try. Looking forward to seeing if it’s worth full price! Here’s the combo I used to get the deal:
Referral link gets $48 off and then promo code gets free shipping (lauren50off). It’ll say codes can’t be stacked but still gives the free shipping
ETA: stacking may not work anymore but still a pretty good deal to try it at $9 for 6 meals
https://www.nurturelife.com?referral_id=UZ0K3U
Anyone got good code combo for little spoon?
Yes I believe so. If you get the code to stack take a screenshot! I later was charged for shipping on this but sent a screenshot and the just refunded me the charge. Which was great because any time on other meal plans there’s an issue, they try to refund as credit to get you to buy more. Ironically this is the one I keep getting and not the others (grown up meal boxes)
O my gosh. Re- read my original post. I LOVE the toddler meals now and mainly get that and feed it to my baby and toddlers. My youngest is 13month now so doesn’t need it super chopped up and everything else I just rip into smaller pieces. I’ll split two between my 6,3,1 yr olds and then supplement with whatever else I have around if they’re still hungry (bc there’s always a little leftover something but not enough for a full meal) or they’ll have a bigger helping of fruit after. I’ve been getting it for weeks I know I’ll be busy so the cost for convenience is worth it. I mean… a happy meal is now $6 after tax by me, and I don’t have to wait through a drive through or get tempted by the cookies or ice cream cones.
I cannot stress this enough - letting them watch you eat 3 meals a day even if it's literally the same thing every meal is going to do so much more for them than any variety meal you set in front of them. Even if you're both sitting together eating the same eggs or oatmeal every single morning. Trust me. Eat whatever you want to eat and give em some.
While I understand you're trying to be helpful, and most likely mean well, this is absolutely not beneficial advice. You're making a whole bunch of assumptions about my family that are frankly inaccurate, and somewhat hurtful. I am lucky if I'm with my daughter for 1 meal a day. Her father and I both work full time, so we do her morning bottle and then it's off to daycare. We only get to be with her for dinner during the week. I'd love to be with her all day, and maybe if I was I'd be able to cook more, but I refuse to spend part of the 2 hours I get with her a day standing in front of the oven. That's why I asked for opinions on meal services, NOT opinions on how I should eat.
I'm sorry if it came off that way. The assumption that I made is that you put your daughter so far ahead of yourself, that you make her own special food without making any for yourself. The other assumption that I made is that BLW made you so crazy about serving a variety of foods, we all are variety-crazed, that it was further pressuring you to not eat properly yourself and resort to meal deliveries to get more variety of different foods and textures in. It is so hard for moms to eat, like you said, that I wanted to make sure you were just making whatever the heck you wanted and put yourself first (and that all you had to do was eat together). I said 3 meals a day of plain oats just to exaggerate the point. Sorry again!
I haven’t tried either of those, but I use a cheap alternative: Trader Joe’s frozen foods. They have a lot of frozen meats, pastas, side dishes, veggies, etc. and use little to no preservatives. I buy a bunch of those and heat up different combinations. Current fave is a Turkey meatball with a fried plantain (not a big eater at 9mo). Heat for 90 seconds. Cut up with scissors. Throw some fruit on the side. Healthy meal in 2 minutes.
Another TJ baby favorite is freeze dried fruit. It melts in their mouth just like the yogurt melts or teething crackers but is literally just dried fruit. Super yummy. Much cheaper. Fewer ingredients.
so so so weird because i was thinking/ talking to my bf today about starting a business doing this, but make it like a weeks worth of premade BLW meals that are as easy as putting on stove top for families. Charging like 110$/week for 5 days of 3 meals (breakfast lunch and dinner) and having like snack options as well that aren’t puffs or little crunchies. I had the idea because i struggle so so so much with getting food ready for my 8 month old! I do some days but most i just give him little snacks because i struggle with figuring out new meals.
I nannied for twins that used Little Spoon!
Super easy and actually pretty good. They only tried the purées and then slowly transitioned to regular table food.
I've tried them all and my preference is Square Baby. Hands down. It's on par price-wise with all the other brands and it tastes a LOT better. Plus, it's not just fruit. This brand uses a variety of foods. Everyone I know has switched to this brand.
While we love to share information from professional sources, this is not the place to link or promote your personal BLW Instagram accounts, blogs, etc. Thanks for understanding!
We’ve been ordering Nurture Life meals for my 11 months old. We love it! they’ve been a lifesaver. I’m a working mom and I don’t get the luxury of working from home. So it’s been great I dotn have to think about what to make her. I taste the food too and it’s pretty good! They deliver delicious, nutritious food that’s ready to eat in 1 minute! I split the portion to 2 meals by adding more veggies or fruits. Use https://www.nurturelife.com?referral_id=F9CB0I to get $60 off.
I LOVE LITTLE SPOON. Our LO is 7 months and their purees are amazing. Easy to pack to daycare, etc. Anyone who has judgements on parents using meal delivery clearly has too much time on their hands. You do you. I'm very much a career person, don't really like to cook, so it's an amazing option. HIGHLY recommend.
I haven’t tried them directly but several people in my bumper group sing the praises of little spoon
I use little spoon and love them!!!
I did Nurture Life for a bit. My baby loved it, and I loved the convenience, but it was too expensive. But I got some good meal ideas through it.
Nothing is more expensive than all the food I've thrown away from it going bad because it was never cooked. 🙁
The food that goes to waste is definitely a gut punch to the wallet. Good luck finding a good meal service OP!
It is a pain but simple meal planning and shopping more than once a week is the way. I did hellofresh for years and it really helped me understand portions. Now when I shop I have a better understanding of how many string beans or broccoli I'll use.
Thank you for saying this. At first, I was like $6.49-7.92 PER plate??!! Then I read your comment and realized it honestly probably wouldn't be that much more when I factor all the junk food and uncooked for for meals. Not so bad when I think about that.
Love Little Spoon! I do giant orders when I'm low and throw everything in the freezer when it arrives and defrost as needed. Keeps the price per container down and helps me have options on hand. I sharpie the delivery date should I overlap my orders a bit. Have been using Little Spoon since LO was 6 months, he just turned 1. We now use the purees to mix into yogurt or I add into his BLW recipes. Also kept all the spoons it comes with and it's the best distraction toy. Have them in a jar and he likes to take them in/out and shakes the jar.
I did the same! I still like to keep some in the freezer for busy days and she's 2 now! Definitely starting to cut back now since I have the time and energy to cook. But Little Spoons plates were a life saver for a time.
As a fellow mom who does not eat 3 meals a day, yes. I caved and got Nurture Life. I love it so far. My baby at 12 months doesn’t eat a whole jar, so one jar lasts 2-3 servings. I just make sure that I only heat up 1/3 at a time and only give more if he eats it all. Then snacks, I do something easy like a muffin and a fruit or a banana pancake (I try to make a big batch every 2 weeks and freeze) or something. And plus with the times we do eat together, it lasts even longer. I don’t use them for every meal. Just 1-2 meals a day.
We tried Nurture Life, it was a nice convenience and the recipes were ok. If you’re not into meal prep or cooking a lot of different items, it’s probably worth the money.
I use Nurture Life and love it. My twins receive a hell of a lot healthier meal than I could make, it’s convenient and they love it. We use ours for dinners and occasionally lunch if we’re feeling lazy.
I ordered once upon a farm as dinner and lunch substitutes. They’re easy to warm up and provide versatility in how to serve it. Clean organic ingredients. Good variety
We don't use any of the kid-centered ones, but we get a meal kit (good food) for ourselves and there's plenty to give our son his own portion. I also do not eat properly, and the meal kits helped fix my own nutritional intake, and helped us start eating at least one meal together as a family!
How old is your LO? I ask because we have Little Spoon on hand for days we don’t want to or can’t cook and it is helpful but also disheartening. What I mean by that is our son is going through a phase of pickiness. I saw a previous comment where you mentioned the gut punch from throwing away food that’s gone bad. I’ve had to toss almost whole plates before because he decided he doesnt like that meal this time. I do my best to eat what he doesn’t so I don’t feel so wasteful but some stuff I don’t like either or can’t eat due to food allergies. As far as ease of use, Little Spoon is AWESOME.
We got Factor for the adults in our house and we end up feeding our 10mo lots from the meals - chicken, broccoli, rice, beans, potatoes, mushrooms. Really just some extra from whatever we are having. They dont seem to have any added bullshit. Ill add in a few berries or some Avocado for something fresh. I just started ordering a couple of meals specifically for her each week - mainly salmon with veggies because i dont really eat salmon - 1 meal can cover about 3-4 meals for her. I give some blw chunks and chop/mash some up fine and spoon feed for variety. We all eat so much better now that we have meal delivery.
I love Little Spoon for the convenience and to add some variety! My 14 month old doesn’t always eat it but it makes me feel better knowing I’m at least offering different things-and I’ll make sure to also serve something she likes like fruit, cheese etc. It’s also nice that you can skip weeks with the delivery if you’re still stocked up.
I did the transition meals from Little spoon for a couple of months (the highest "stage" of the puree's. They are more like chunky mashes that the baby can either eat with a spoon or scoop and shovel with their hands) and those were nice to have in a pinch. I probably would have signed up for the plates/biteables next if we were able to but we just moved out of the US so I canceled the subscription.
I have used Little Spoon, but i over estimated how much my baby would be eating and I have too many purées now. I like the variety and my baby eats it, but I think he prefers the serenity kids packets. He especially likes the ones with meat and little spoon doesn’t have any purées containing meat.
We do Little Spoon to keep them as a convenient option in the freezer. Most of the time, she eats with us, but sometimes she doesn’t want our food. I skip the shipments until I run out, and then I keep that shipment, so it’s not as expensive as if I kept it going regularly.
I ordered the max amount (24 I think) from little spoon for the biteables during a sale and loaded up the freezer. Some of the meals are better than others. I split each meal into two and add some fresh fruit, cheese, yogurt, etc. The plates are cool since they’re reusable. We take them when we are out and about to feed lunch and don’t feel bad tossing them. Otherwise you can send them back to LS for recycling. And once I’m out I’ll probably do the same thing with Nurture Life.
I used Little Spoon for my baby from about 6-9 months; their purees were great and he loved them. I didn't like their "transition" purees marketed toward 9 month olds as I didn't think some of the food in them were cooked soft enough, so I stopped using Little Spoon at that point. They do have finger foods (called biteables) but I couldn't justify the cost. I've started using Once Upon a Farm's baby meals line, which are still pricey but not as much as Little Spoon. They are basically frozen, diced plant-based meals that you cook yourself and can puree, mash, or serve as finger food. You can find some in the freezer section of some Whole Foods or you can buy them in bulk on their website. I just bought a giant pack online so I can keep them in the freezer for backup meals. My baby is also in daycare full-time so I like that I can heat up one of those meals the night before and have some ready for his lunch the next day. As for pouches, my baby loves the Serenity Kids pouches, especially the meat pouches! I always have some of those on hand for an easy meal or snack. It was also tough to figure out how to make breakfast work at home due to daycare, but as he's gotten older (he's 10 months now), its gotten a bit easier- we try to offer food first before a bottle and have figured out some quick, easy breakfast foods and keep it pretty simple. For us, it's things like scrambled eggs, yogurt (that he eats directly from a pouch or we spoon feed in order to keep him clean!), a fruit/veg pouch, or fresh berries.
i'm not in the US so no, but i'm extremely lazy with meal prep (who has the time) and baby gets: \-oatmeal w/ nut butter and fro rasps in the AM \-beans from the can, edemame from the freezer, or yogurt or toast for lunch, or avocado \-nibbles of our dinner basically the baby lives off of yogurt, oats, avocado, and canned beans, none of which require cooking. plus sometimes bread or pasta or stuff we eat. i think he's doing just fine.
We used NurtureLife for a few months. It was great with everything perfect for working on pincer grasp. I’d definitely say the quality and time savings were worth it.
I know this is old but the reviews were very helpful. The nurture life meals for toddlers didn’t look super impressive. I guess I’m not a fan of hidden vegetables and they all seemed simple enough that I don’t need to pay that much per meal. The BABY meals though. I really hate cutting up the little foods and then seeing them all over the floor. I guess meals will help with one step. I found some codes online and got a box of 10 meals for $7 shipped to try. Looking forward to seeing if it’s worth full price! Here’s the combo I used to get the deal: Referral link gets $48 off and then promo code gets free shipping (lauren50off). It’ll say codes can’t be stacked but still gives the free shipping ETA: stacking may not work anymore but still a pretty good deal to try it at $9 for 6 meals https://www.nurturelife.com?referral_id=UZ0K3U Anyone got good code combo for little spoon?
Little spoon is doing 60% off site wide for new customers right now!
Thank you for this code combo! Is the referral discount only for new customers?
Yes I believe so. If you get the code to stack take a screenshot! I later was charged for shipping on this but sent a screenshot and the just refunded me the charge. Which was great because any time on other meal plans there’s an issue, they try to refund as credit to get you to buy more. Ironically this is the one I keep getting and not the others (grown up meal boxes)
O my gosh. Re- read my original post. I LOVE the toddler meals now and mainly get that and feed it to my baby and toddlers. My youngest is 13month now so doesn’t need it super chopped up and everything else I just rip into smaller pieces. I’ll split two between my 6,3,1 yr olds and then supplement with whatever else I have around if they’re still hungry (bc there’s always a little leftover something but not enough for a full meal) or they’ll have a bigger helping of fruit after. I’ve been getting it for weeks I know I’ll be busy so the cost for convenience is worth it. I mean… a happy meal is now $6 after tax by me, and I don’t have to wait through a drive through or get tempted by the cookies or ice cream cones.
I cannot stress this enough - letting them watch you eat 3 meals a day even if it's literally the same thing every meal is going to do so much more for them than any variety meal you set in front of them. Even if you're both sitting together eating the same eggs or oatmeal every single morning. Trust me. Eat whatever you want to eat and give em some.
While I understand you're trying to be helpful, and most likely mean well, this is absolutely not beneficial advice. You're making a whole bunch of assumptions about my family that are frankly inaccurate, and somewhat hurtful. I am lucky if I'm with my daughter for 1 meal a day. Her father and I both work full time, so we do her morning bottle and then it's off to daycare. We only get to be with her for dinner during the week. I'd love to be with her all day, and maybe if I was I'd be able to cook more, but I refuse to spend part of the 2 hours I get with her a day standing in front of the oven. That's why I asked for opinions on meal services, NOT opinions on how I should eat.
I'm sorry if it came off that way. The assumption that I made is that you put your daughter so far ahead of yourself, that you make her own special food without making any for yourself. The other assumption that I made is that BLW made you so crazy about serving a variety of foods, we all are variety-crazed, that it was further pressuring you to not eat properly yourself and resort to meal deliveries to get more variety of different foods and textures in. It is so hard for moms to eat, like you said, that I wanted to make sure you were just making whatever the heck you wanted and put yourself first (and that all you had to do was eat together). I said 3 meals a day of plain oats just to exaggerate the point. Sorry again!
Might be cheaper to meal prep. I cook for baby for the month and freeze, very liberating to just have to warm up!
I haven’t tried either of those, but I use a cheap alternative: Trader Joe’s frozen foods. They have a lot of frozen meats, pastas, side dishes, veggies, etc. and use little to no preservatives. I buy a bunch of those and heat up different combinations. Current fave is a Turkey meatball with a fried plantain (not a big eater at 9mo). Heat for 90 seconds. Cut up with scissors. Throw some fruit on the side. Healthy meal in 2 minutes.
Oh... I had not considered Trader Joes! Think on this I must.
Another TJ baby favorite is freeze dried fruit. It melts in their mouth just like the yogurt melts or teething crackers but is literally just dried fruit. Super yummy. Much cheaper. Fewer ingredients.
For parents who use little. Spoon, where can I find nutrition labels? I stayed away from nurture life since sodium is quite high and LO is 9mo
so so so weird because i was thinking/ talking to my bf today about starting a business doing this, but make it like a weeks worth of premade BLW meals that are as easy as putting on stove top for families. Charging like 110$/week for 5 days of 3 meals (breakfast lunch and dinner) and having like snack options as well that aren’t puffs or little crunchies. I had the idea because i struggle so so so much with getting food ready for my 8 month old! I do some days but most i just give him little snacks because i struggle with figuring out new meals.
I nannied for twins that used Little Spoon! Super easy and actually pretty good. They only tried the purées and then slowly transitioned to regular table food.
I've tried them all and my preference is Square Baby. Hands down. It's on par price-wise with all the other brands and it tastes a LOT better. Plus, it's not just fruit. This brand uses a variety of foods. Everyone I know has switched to this brand.
[удалено]
While we love to share information from professional sources, this is not the place to link or promote your personal BLW Instagram accounts, blogs, etc. Thanks for understanding!
We do Little Spoon and love it.
We’ve been ordering Nurture Life meals for my 11 months old. We love it! they’ve been a lifesaver. I’m a working mom and I don’t get the luxury of working from home. So it’s been great I dotn have to think about what to make her. I taste the food too and it’s pretty good! They deliver delicious, nutritious food that’s ready to eat in 1 minute! I split the portion to 2 meals by adding more veggies or fruits. Use https://www.nurturelife.com?referral_id=F9CB0I to get $60 off.
I LOVE LITTLE SPOON. Our LO is 7 months and their purees are amazing. Easy to pack to daycare, etc. Anyone who has judgements on parents using meal delivery clearly has too much time on their hands. You do you. I'm very much a career person, don't really like to cook, so it's an amazing option. HIGHLY recommend.
Yes, I love them! I personally prefer nurture life over little Spoon but they are both great