Kids Cuisine

The odds were stacked pretty well against Amy’s Kitchen before I even opened the first box of the company’s new organic frozen kids meals. For one thing, two out of three of my kids have a distinct distrust of new foods. Those two girls also have an uncanny sense for knowing when something is organic or healthy, just so they can sneer at it. Personally, I am not a fan of frozen meals. I also had never tasted a frozen mac and cheese I would recommend. Despite the tough crowd, the three kids meals we tested performed admirably.

The first one the kids sampled was the Mac N’ Cheese meal. My oldest child, 5, thought she was smart. She declined the meal and opted for something else to eat. I split the meal between my twins, who just turned 2. When I saw the broccoli, I just knew it would bomb with my twin girl. She has a philosophical opposition to injecting anything green. Just for kicks, I mixed the broccoli right into her mac.

I also sampled a small bite of each item myself, and I was pretty astounded at how good the mac and cheese tasted. The broccoli also didn’t have that nasty frozen meal rubbery texture. The little apple bits were extremely tasty. The only thing that seemed frozen-then-nuked was the small focaccia bread (which, interestingly, my picky girl loved the most). The twins gobbled everything down so enthusiastically, my daughter asked if she could have the same thing.

On another occasion, I served the remaining two meals (Amy’s has three new kids meals). One is a Baked Ziti with broccoli, focaccia and apple crisp. The meal wasn’t spectacular, but it was pretty tasty. That’s especially true considering it’s gluten free, dairy free, cholesterol free, lactose free, vegan, and kosher. The quesadilla kids meal features Spanish rice, refried beans, broccoli, and a devoured chocolate cake sweetened with maple syrup.

For frozen kids meals, this new line of Amy’s Kitchen organic meals manages to balance healthy ingredients with taste and kid-appeal. These aren’t the most delicious meals you’ll feed your kids, but this is a great alternative for those busy nights when made-from-scratch just isn’t happening.