It’s no secret that I am not a chef. I’ll admit that I don’t really enjoy cooking and the whole idea of meal planning totally stresses me out. I don’t have the best eating habits (often skipping breakfast, having a heavy meal for dinner, etc.) so making sure that my baby gets the nutrients that she needs without creating a full-out baby specific menu for the week felt impossible because I’m not even great at feeding myself! Even with the formula shortage, meal time felt easier before switching to solids! 😩
I felt overwhelmed when trying to come up with toddler-friendly meals, attempting to source ideas from Instagram and Pinterest. I found great ideas, but all of the shopping, prep, etc. was starting to feel like an all-consuming additional job to me.
As if the universe knew that I needed help, my blogger friend Jess Keys had partnered with Once Upon A Farm to share about their baby / toddler food products which are especially perfect for someone like me who isn’t culinarily inclined. I first began drafting this post last summer when Sophie was about a year old, but we’ve continued to keep our freezer stocked with these little pouches and I felt like since we’ve been using them for over 6 months it was time to share a post!
DETAILS
Everything that Once Upon A Farm makes seems to be jam-packed with healthy ingredients and flavor! There are many meal options to choose from which can be prepared and used in multiple ways. I love how clever and healthy these options are… makes me feel like I’m setting Sophie up for dietary success in her future.
We don’t have any allergies, but I have noticed that the food options seem to be very conscious of potential allergens. While that’s not something that necessarily affects our choices, I really appreciate the brand being cognizant of those who have to be so very careful with what they give to their littles.
Regarding the frozen pouch size (thinking of freezer storage / portion size) the pouches of frozen nibbles are no larger than an average sized snack bag of nuts. I find that the pouch portions did a pretty good job of providing filling enough meals on their own when first starting Sophie on solids (when her tummy size was much smaller), and as she has grown we just made additions to the pouch contents with items such as protein and rice, or even doubled up on pouches!
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15 [current] flavor options:
Sweet Potato, Mango & Coconut Milk with Chia Seed & Lucuma
Sweet Potato, Raspberry & Coconut Butter with Chia Seed & Cardamom
Mango, Carrot, Navy Bean & Coconut Butter with Turmeric
Quinoa, Banana, Spinach & Coconut Butter with Chia Seed
Butternut Squash, Quinoa, Banana & Coconut Butter with Cardamom
Pea, Zucchini & Basil with Hemp Seed & Avocado Oil
Black Bean, Red Pepper, Sweet Potato & Cilantro with Avocado Oil & Cumin
Quinoa, Cauliflower & Kale with Avocado Oil & Garlic
Broccoli, Pea & Navy Bean with Olive Oil & Mint
Carrot, Cauliflower & Hemp Seed with Sacha Inchi Oil & Turmeric
Quinoa, Pineapple, Cauliflower & Coconut Milk
Sweet Potato, Banana, Oats & Date
Blueberry, Strawberry, Oats & Date
Mango, Butternut Squash, Oats & Coconut Butter
Banana, Raspberry, Oats & Açaí
… and they’re always adding more!
WAYS TO PREPARE
Puréed
Cook according to package and blend up!
Mashed
Cook according to package and then smoosh everything with a fork!
Finger Foods
Cook according to package and cut any items that may be a bit too big for your little one (all pieces should already be the perfect size, but just keep an eye out for one-offs!).
In A Recipe
Cook according to package, toss with pasta, blend up into a sauce or with broth to make a soup, mix into muffin batter, top off rice, etc.
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I love that Once Upon A Farm offers Toddler Meal Plan suggestions on their blog as well (praise heavens)! You can find the first one here and the second installment here.
Since Sophie is a year old now we’re really only using these as finger foods, but will occasionally blend up a few of the meal pouches up as smoothies (specifically the ones including oats) or add them to recipes, but this is great to know for any of our future little ones that we can have them on-hand for purées or mash as we transition to solids!
Sophie’s favorites are:
Blueberry, Strawberry, Oats & Date
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Black Bean, Red Pepper, Sweet Potato & Cilantro with Avocado Oil & Cumin
WHERE TO GET THEM
There are currently two ways to get Once Upon a Farm frozen food pouches: (1) with a subscription directly through the vendor or (2) you can find a limited selection of pouches are available for purchase a la carte in the freezer section at Whole Foods.
If you opt for the subscription, you can get either 16 or 24 meal pouches (depending on how many you need) that can be scheduled to be delivered every 1, 2, 3 or 4 weeks! It’s super easy and you get to pick which pouch flavors you want and how many of each.
If picking the frozen pouches up at Whole Foods is more convenient for you, I recommend checking out Once Upon A Farm’s stockist store locator. You can also find their other products (puree / smoothie pouches) at Target and select grocery stores in their refrigerated section!
For the record, I would really like to get better about cooking food at home, but without the pressure of THE BABY NEEDS TO EAT RIGHT NOW. This product feels like a safety net that will be a resource to fall back on in those moments of “omg — I haven’t had the chance to cook anything, what am I going to feed Sophie?!”.
I will say that some of the flavors weren’t Sophie’s favorite right away (such as this pictured pouch with turmeric)… but sometimes when introducing new flavors and textures you have to offer them multiple times before little ones will take to them, occasionally in alternating preparations. Don’t give up!
I also recommend including a “safe food” that you know they’ll definitely eat when introducing new flavors / textures… just in case. I definitely don’t want to become a short order cook and only make what my baby wants to eat, but I also want to make sure that she gets some food in her belly so this is how we handle it in our house.
I hope this review is helpful for you if you’re in a similar spot!
Sending hugs —
xx, Natalie
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