See what testers thought of Strong Roots’ new frozen food range for children, Little Roots

[JustineBMumsnet]

This is the feedback thread for the Mumsnet users who have been trying Strong Roots’ new children’s range, Little Roots, with their children.

Here’s what Strong Roots has to say: “Turn vegetable nay-sayers into vegetable yay-sayers with Little Roots. Made from the freshest vegetables, with no added nasties. Little Roots helps you give your family all the goodness they need to fuel their daily adventures.

With 3 veggies in every bite: they’re low in saturated fat, low in sugar, and all-importantly a great source of fibre. Best of all, they’ll be the tastiest little veg-bombs in your freezer and ready in just 14 minutes in the oven. Hungry tummies made happy fast.

We believe in great, plant-based food that makes life easier. Our passion for great food is rooted in working with the best producers from all over the world, and we care about the ingredients inside you and our recipes.

We’re very proud of our roots and every day they inspire us to bring the best tasting, best quality, and most responsible products to the world and you.”

More details on the individual products within the range can be found below:

Pea & Lemon Minis
Gloriously green inside, these pea-packed minis have a zingy lemon kick and a crunchy carrot and beetroot crumb for an added hit of colour.

Crunchy Corn & Carrot Chunks
An irresistible pairing of corn and carrot with a corn semolina crumb. We can guarantee you’ll be stealing them off your kids plates.

Sweet Potato & Butternut Nuggets
Butternut squash, parsnip, and sweet potato come together in all their naturally sweet glory to make these comforting nuggets, with a corn semolina crumb and just the slightest hint of cinnamon.

White Root Vegetable Bites (to be tested at a later date)
A combination of cauliflower, parsnip, and celeriac with a crunchy carrot crumb that’s so yummy you won’t believe how healthy they are.

Testers, please give your feedback by answering the questions below, as well as completing the short survey we’ve emailed you.

1. What were your overall thoughts on the Little Roots products you tried? What did you like about them?
2. Which qualities do or characteristics do you usually look for in food for your children? Do you think Little Roots fulfilled this for you?
3. Do you experience any challenges with getting your children to eat enough vegetables? Do you think Little Roots helped with this?
4. What kind of frozen food do you usually feed your children? How do Little Roots compare? Would you consider them a more adventurous option?

All who complete both pieces of feedback will be entered into a prize draw where one tester will win a £300 voucher for the store of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

Insight Terms and Conditions apply

[Kelloges030410]

Thanks for the opportunity to try these Strong Roots quick healthier snacks. I was only able to purchase two varieties myself due to one of the flavours being substituted for the same kind. The two we tried were pea and lemon and sweet potato and butternut. The packaging, ingredients and easy cooking was great. Unfortunately neither of my children liked either flavour. They thought they were tasteless and wouldn’t choose them again. They usually have a few frozen foods, frozen corn on the cob, mixed veg, pizza and burgers. However we add our own ingredients or homemade sauces to them too which improves the flavour. Even with a bit of sauce it didn’t improve the flavour. We look for good ingredients full of flavour however the flavour was lacking in this instance. I did try them myself and found them to be a bit bland too. Great idea but poor flavour for my children. Maybe better for toddlers.

[Annilack]

1. What were your overall thoughts on the Little Roots products you tried? What did you like about them?

I was pleasantly surprised by how well they went down with the children, they especially enjoyed the sweet potato and butternut.

1. Which qualities do or characteristics do you usually look for in food for your children? Do you think Little Roots fulfilled this for you?

Food that is quick to prepare but has plenty of nutritional value.

1. Do you experience any challenges with getting your children to eat enough vegetables? Do you think Little Roots helped with this?

My three year old is very awkward when it comes to vegetables, but he seemed to enjoy your sweet potato and butternut product.

1. What kind of frozen food do you usually feed your children? How do Little Roots compare? Would you consider them a more adventurous option?

We have the occasional pizza and chicken nuggets, I wouldn't usually go for a 'veg type' nugget but I was surprised how well they went down.

[PenelopeParallelogram]

1. What were your overall thoughts on the Little Roots products you tried? What did you like about them?
   

We were excited to find some healthy freezer items, and the flavours sounded good. We weren’t able to try the pea and lemon flavour due to stock levels. For the first meal, my son devoured them in one go, but has since refused them. I found them to be quite flavourless when I tried one.

1. Which qualities do or characteristics do you usually look for in food for your children? Do you think Little Roots fulfilled this for you?
   

Convenience and suitable for healthy eating - this product fitted this criteria

1. Do you experience any challenges with getting your children to eat enough vegetables? Do you think Little Roots helped with this?
   

Yes - initially, yes, but they were later refused

1. What kind of frozen food do you usually feed your children? How do Little Roots compare? Would you consider them a more adventurous option?
   

Pasta, nuggets, pizza, chicken and veg.
Yes, possibly, but taste didn’t live up to description

[Subwaysalad]

1. What were your overall thoughts on the Little Roots products you tried? What did you like about them?

Both kids liked them however I agree with previous poster about not being hugely flavoursome, my 8 year old dipped his in bbq sauce and said they were nice but he wouldnt want them again, my 2 year old loved them however as she loves all types of veg and asked for more.

1. Which qualities do or characteristics do you usually look for in food for your children? Do you think Little Roots fulfilled this for you?

I look for things to be healthy and filling for my kids meals, I like how these are vegetable but in batter so the look of them almost "tricks" the kids into thinking they are a treat despite being healthy

1. Do you experience any challenges with getting your children to eat enough vegetables? Do you think Little Roots helped with this?

Not really both my kids love veg

1. What kind of frozen food do you usually feed your children? How do Little Roots compare? Would you consider them a more adventurous option?

Usually chicken nuggets, turkey dinosaurs, fish fingers etc but only as a treat maybe once a week or so. Little roots as explained above were a good option as they contain a lot of veg

[agnelcarol]

Loved these mini treats!! They were so easy to make and tasted delicious. What makes them better is that they are healthy too and little tummies in my homes absolutely loved it.
Check out my full review ->

[Intotheclouds]

1. What were your overall thoughts on the Little Roots products you tried? What did you like about them? I liked that there was a variety of flavours to choose from but they didn't have much flavour to them. My youngest loves sweetcorn so I thought the corn and carrot chunks would go down great but he said they tasted like cardboard and I couldn't argue with him when I tried them.
2. Which qualities do or characteristics do you usually look for in food for your children? Do you think Little Roots fulfilled this for you? Has high nutritional value but quick to prepare.
3. Do you experience any challenges with getting your children to eat enough vegetables? Do you think Little Roots helped with this? Yes I do but these didn't help at all. They actually made my youngest go off sweetcorn for a few weeks and that's his favourite food.
4. What kind of frozen food do you usually feed your children? How do Little Roots compare? Would you consider them a more adventurous option?

Pizza, nuggets, veggies. No they didn't have much flavour at all and my boys prefer to just eat the veggies as they normally do.

[Jamb16]

1. What were your overall thoughts on the Little Roots products you tried? What did you like about them? My children really enjoyed them and saw them as a treat dinner similar to McDonald’s. I liked the fact they were easy to make on days I don’t have the time or energy to make a proper dinner. I liked the vegetable content and thought it was a good healthier alternative to chicken nuggets, chips etc.
   
2. Which qualities do or characteristics do you usually look for in food for your children? Do you think Little Roots fulfilled this for you? Nutritious food with plenty of veg which doesn’t take too much preparation or cleaning up. Yes, it definitely fulfilled this criteria
   
3. Do you experience any challenges with getting your children to eat enough vegetables? Do you think Little Roots helped with this? Yes it definitely helped as they didn’t even realise it was vegetables really and encouraged them to eat some veg they normally don’t like
   
4. What kind of frozen food do you usually feed your children? How do Little Roots compare? Would you consider them a more adventurous option? I usually use chicken nuggets, chips, pizzas as a quick frozen food option on lazy days. I would definitely choose this in future as I felt it was healthier and more interesting variety of foods

[Jfw82]

1. What were your overall thoughts on the Little Roots products you tried? What did you like about them?

Simple to cook, a good way to get picky toddlers to have veg as didn't look like vegetables

1. Which qualities or characteristics do you usually look for in food for your children? Do you think Little Roots fulfilled this for you?

Simple and healthy. This fulfilled it - a great different way to incorporate vegetables into their meals

1. Do you experience any challenges getting your children to eat vegetables? Do you think Little Roots helped with this? My 3yo can be picky for no good reasons and that these were more similar to the nuggets and chips he would like more of he was more inclined to try them
2. What kind of frozen food do you usually feed your children? How do Little Roots compare? Would you consider them a more adventurous option? My frozen foods tend to be my lazy and less healthy options so these add a better alternative

[Gbob63]

I think there really cute little snacks. Me, hubby’s and my 2 kids (4 and 9) had a taste testing I gave them 2 or each. Me and the hubby really likes the corn ones and the butter but swash ones. Really didn’t like the pea ones.
I asked both kids and none of them liked the pea ones but ate the other 2. They found them really tasty and perfect sizes. ...... until I told them it was actually made from veg. That went down like a lead balloon
I think these are a nice after noon snack to have with cucumber and carrot sticks
But also nice to go along side lunch or dinner with beans or a salad.
These was very quick and easy to cook
And I’m always looking to feed my kids more veg in hidden things so this defo dotted what I was looking for
We mostly have home cooked food in our house but if need be the frozen things they eat are fish finger, chicken nuggets and potato croquettes so these are a nice change

[notyourmummy]

1. What were your overall thoughts on the Little Roots products you tried? What did you like about them?

We liked the packaging and it was easy to see what they were, what was in them and who they were aimed at

1. Which qualities do or characteristics do you usually look for in food for your children? Do you think Little Roots fulfilled this for you?

I usually look for things that are visually appealing to children, that taste good and are nutritionally balanced. These products weren't especially visually appealing, but were well received and nutritionally balanced.

1. Do you experience any challenges with getting your children to eat enough vegetables? Do you think Little Roots helped with this?

My 9yo doesn't eat many vegetables, but would eat these if he didn't know what veg are in them. My 3yo loves vegetables and actually preferred "real vegetables" to these.

1. What kind of frozen food do you usually feed your children? How do Little Roots compare? Would you consider them a more adventurous option?

We have frozen veg and fruit for convenience around once a week, and occasionally frozen pizzas,nuggets,burgers etc. These seemed more nutritious than most frozen ready meals, and the flavours were definitely more adventurous.

[MotherOfCats]

1. What were your overall thoughts on the Little Roots products you tried? What did you like about them?

I liked the idea of a healthy nugget alternative but sadly my kids did not like the taste. They would eat the corn and carrot ones at a push, possibly a bit of the sweet potato ones and absolutely refused the pea ones.

1. Which qualities do or characteristics do you usually look for in food for your children? Do you think Little Roots fulfilled this for you?

I look for healthy, good quality ingredients that my children will enjoy. Sadly as my kids didn't like these at all, these products didnot fulfil my expectations.

1. Do you experience any challenges with getting your children to eat enough vegetables? Do you think Little Roots helped with this?

My kids generally eat veg pretty well bit didn't enjoy the taste of these nuggets. So no, these products didn't help.

1. What kind of frozen food do you usually feed your children? How do Little Roots compare? Would you consider them a more adventurous option?

We normally have chicken nuggets, peas, fish fingers, chips, mash, sweet potato chips. These nuggets are more unusual and adventurous, perhaps too much so as my children didn't want to eat them.

[AngelwingsPetlamb]

Thank you for the opportunity to try Little Roots products because it’s not a product we would normally purchase straight off, so it was great to try first.

1. What were your overall thoughts on the Little Roots products you tried?
   

I thought the products were good quality and well packaged.
They were an expensive way to eat vegetables but then again if kids are fussy you have to try everything you can.
We all found them a bit bland.

What did you like about them?
Cooked well, easy to serve, easy to control portion size, good quality products, good nutritional values.

1. Which qualities do or characteristics do you usually look for in food for your children?
   

Unprocessed, smaller portions, flexibility to be used at differen5 meal times.

Do you think Little Roots fulfilled this for you?
Yes

1. Do you experience any challenges with getting your children to eat enough vegetables?
   

Yes - they won’t eat them full stop

Do you think Little Roots helped with this?
Kind of - the sweet potato ones went down the best, carrot and corn were nibbled at and pea ones were refused outright due to colour, smell and taste.

1. What kind of frozen food do you usually feed your children?
   

Fishfingers, Mini pizza, oven chips, potato courgettes

How do Little Roots compare?
Little Roots are really great nutritionally and a very healthy option

Would you consider them a more adventurous option?
No not really, they are just a way of trying to get veg into fussy kids who can spot a vegetable a mile away !

[Stujobohm]

1. What were your overall thoughts on the Little Roots products you tried? What did you like about them?
   

My husband and I enjoyed them but unfortunately my children didn’t.

1. Which qualities do or characteristics do you usually look for in food for your children? Do you think Little Roots fulfilled this for you?
   

I like healthy options, these would have been great if my children enjoyed the taste.

1. Do you experience any challenges with getting your children to eat enough vegetables? Do you think Little Roots helped with this?
   

My children normally try different foods and agin these would have been great if they had liked the flavours.

1. What kind of frozen food do you usually feed your children? How do Little Roots compare? Would you consider them a more adventurous option?
   

Mine normally eat frozen veg and sometimes we have frozen chips and chicken dippers, Birdseye.
They are more adventurous.

[Chicinwellies]

1. What were your overall thoughts on the Little Roots products you tried? What did you like about them?

I liked the idea of these and the girls were keen to try. They liked the pea and mint bites, with lemon squeezed on the top. I must admit I tried one and did find them extremely bland. The butternut versions were tasteless.

1. Which qualities do or characteristics do you usually look for in food for your children? Do you think Little Roots fulfilled this for you?

I look for healthy, good quality ingredients that ultimately taste nice. The girls were ambivalent to them, but I thought they were nutritious and saved me some effort.

1. Do you experience any challenges with getting your children to eat enough vegetables? Do you think Little Roots helped with this?

No, mine love veg.

1. What kind of frozen food do you usually feed your children? How do Little Roots compare? Would you consider them a more adventurous option?

These were an interesting alternative. We don't have a lot of frozen food unless Im defrosting batch cooking. Fish cakes are our main frozen go-to. Im not sure these are more adventurous.

[itsme]

1. What were your overall thoughts on the Little Roots products you tried? What did you like about them? The pea and lemon ones were tasty, as were the sweet potato and butternut squash ones but the sweet corn and carrot ones weren't as nice.
2. Which qualities do or characteristics do you usually look for in food for your children? Do you think Little Roots fulfilled this for you? I like variety so she is getting something different, these offer a good product as an alternative to meat or fish.
3. Do you experience any challenges with getting your children to eat enough vegetables? Do you think Little Roots helped with this? No challenges with my 7yo
4. What kind of frozen food do you usually feed your children? How do Little Roots compare? Would you consider them a more adventurous option? Usually we get fish fingers, chicken nuggets etc. The little roots I feel are a healthy alternative.

[racheltravel17]

Thanks so much for the opportunity to try these products - loving the photos, and wish I’d remembered to take photos before my kids ate them all!

1. What were your overall thoughts on the Little Roots products you tried? What did you like about them?
   

Really liked the products - good variety of flavours that were a bit unusual, plus they looked super tasty.

1. Which qualities do or characteristics do you usually look for in food for your children? Do you think Little Roots fulfilled this for you?
   

For my children, I look for a variety of products including different ingredients and textures so these really suit. Yes, I think this was fulfilled.

1. Do you experience any challenges with getting your children to eat enough vegetables? Do you think Little Roots helped with this?
   

No, I’m lucky that my children LOVE all kinds of vegetables both fresh and mixed with other things. These products were great for my children as snacks as well as a little lunch snack.

1. What kind of frozen food do you usually feed your children? How do Little Roots compare? Would you consider them a more adventurous option?
   

I would consider them as an adventurous option as they have unusual flavours. I think Little Roots is a great brand and gives a great variety for all families.

[sharond101]

1. What were your overall thoughts on the Little Roots products you tried? What did you like about them? I liked the packaging and the claims of being healthy and natural.The flavours sounded nice and they looked appealing to evenfussy children.
2. Which qualities do or characteristics do you usually look for in food for your children? Do you think Little Roots fulfilled this for you? I look for natural foods as far as possible with added fruit and or vegetables. I want low sugar and something appetising. These criteria were met.
3. Do you experience any challenges with getting your children to eat enough vegetables? Do you think Little Roots helped with this? My kids are fussy with vegetables. They would have baked beans with every meal but moan about most others. They tolerated Little Roots but said they didn't like the taste so much after eating 2 and didn't want anymore. I think the nugget novelty had worn off.They particularly disliked the pea variety! I tasted them and found them rather cardboard like, bland and a funny texture.
4. What kind of frozen food do you usually feed your children? How do Little Roots compare? Would you consider them a more adventurous option? We normally cook from scratch and freeze however a cheat night would be chicken nuggets and chips. Sadly they would prefer chicken nuggets to Little Roots and I don't believe they would be keen to eat them again.

[Hk24498]

1. What were your overall thoughts on the Little Roots products you tried? What did you like about them?

I thought all three flavours were delicious! My little boy thought they were okay. And did eat them except the pea ones - I think he was confused by the green colour inside what he thought was a nugget!

1. Which qualities do or characteristics do you usually look for in food for your children? Do you think Little Roots fulfilled this for you?

Convienent and healthy are the main things. The product did fulfil this to a certain extent in that they were a way to get some veg into my fussy child, but I don't think they are the most healthy option as the outer crumb felt a bit greasy.They are very quick and convenient though.

1. Do you experience any challenges with getting your children to eat enough vegetables? Do you think Little Roots helped with this?

Yes, he is hit and miss with veg, and they did help- he thought they were nuggets! He did enjoy the sweetcorn and the sweet potato ones but the pea ones not so much.

1. What kind of frozen food do you usually feed your children? How do Little Roots compare? Would you consider them a more adventurous option?

A mix of home made foods like bolognese and chilli with veg, and then dinners like nuggets and fish fingers when I need something quick and easy. I think I would use them as a side dish and I would also have them myself! However, I wouldn't buy them again at the £3 per box price- it would be way too expensive for me. At £1.50 a box I would ddefinitely but them regularly. I would say the branding is slightly off if they are going to be aimed at children - it was tough finding them, they were on the top shelf in the freezer section in the vegetarian section. I think a lot of vegetarians would buy them (I was a vegi for 20 years so think I can say that!), but not sure you would look at them if you were looking for something specifically for your child, or something for the whole family. I think if the idea is to aim them at the while family they should be in the vegtable section and the box clearly showing that they are to be enjoyed by everyone, including toddlers, maybe clearer that they are low salt (are they?!) as that is something I like to see on a packet if I am looking for something for my child. The boxes did look lovely though!

Thank you for letting us test this product- it was fun!

[BristolMum96]

@mnhq I have emailed 4 times now regarding this product test and no replies to update me on my problem and query.

[FancifulFeathers]

1. What were your overall thoughts on the Little Roots products you tried? What did you like about them?
   

First we tried the pea and lemon, we weren’t fans of this one, I think more than anything, the colour was off putting for the children. We all loved the other 2 flavours and found them great as part of a meal or a snack.

1. Which qualities do or characteristics do you usually look for in food for your children? Do you think Little Roots fulfilled this for you?
   

I like items that don’t take long to cook for lunch or evening meal. My youngest likes to hold his food so these were perfect.

1. Do you experience any challenges with getting your children to eat enough vegetables? Do you think Little Roots helped with this?
   

My children most definitely don’t eat enough vegetables most days so Little Roots would be a great easy way of getting veg in. Not every day is a day to blitz a ton of veg to sneak into meals and Little Roots would provide that convenience!

1. What kind of frozen food do you usually feed your children? How do Little Roots compare? Would you consider them a more adventurous option?
   

They eat a lot of chicken nuggets, fish fingers, and I would love to swap some of those meals for Little Roots. I wouldn’t call it adventurous but most definitely widens the options at meal times, I’d buy them again!

[duggerlugs]

1.What were your overall thoughts on the Little Roots products you tried? What did you like about them?
I liked the concept of them to try and introduce different vegetables into my daughter's diet and something for a quick night dinner or lunch.

1. Which qualities do or characteristics do you usually look for in food for your children? Do you think Little Roots fulfilled this for you?
   

I liked the idea of multiple veg in a nugget as an alternative to chicken or potato.
Yes Little Roots fulfilled the concept but my little girl wasn't so keen on taste. I didnt mind them but wouldn't purchase for myself.

1. Do you experience any challenges with getting your children to eat enough vegetables? Do you think Little Roots helped with this? My daughter doesn't like bits that are different in good...ie she would stop eating something when a pea is in fishcake yet would eat plain fishcake and peas separately. She likes certain veg and won't entertain broccoli. Unfortunately the veg in these is what she eats already so this just gives variety of choice.
   
2. What kind of frozen food do you usually feed your children? How do Little Roots compare? Would you consider them a more adventurous option?
   

She will eat waffles, nuggets, chips? Fishfingers and fishcakes if we do have frozen food. I'd say they are on a par with what's available except for the pea ones. Supermarkets have food now with hidden veg in so for the price little roots would be too expensive for little gain for our family in terms of enjoyment and additional veg. I guess there are families it will suit better.

[bertdynamite]

1. The whole family was pleasantly surprised by how nice these tasted. We tried all the flavours and they were much nicer than we'd imagined. The pea and lemon ones were a little disappointing as we couldn't taste any lemon.

1. I try to choose things that appear healthy. I liked the fact that there was no added salt and the fact that they were vegetarian.

1. The family is pretty good about eating vegetables, but it's always good to get more info a meal.

1. My daughter, who is vegetarian, will have something from the freezer when we are having a roast etc. Normally she would have something like a veggie burger, vegetarian sausages etc and I think the little bites will be a good alternative occasionally. I don't think they seem adventurous to someone who normally eats veggie burgers.

[mumsbe]

. What were your overall thoughts on the Little Roots products you tried? What did you like about them?
I really liked that they look like nuggart s as my son is autistic and loves chicken nuggart s so at least I could get him to try them. the flavours were great

1. Which qualities do or characteristics do you usually look for in food for your children? Do you think Little Roots fulfilled this for you?

quality taste and good for the kids so yes it did.

1. Do you experience any challenges with getting your children to eat enough vegetables? Do you think Little Roots helped with this?

yes I said my son is autistic so putting the veg in a nuggart is a great idea.

1. What kind of frozen food do you usually feed your children? How do Little Roots compare? Would you consider them a more adventurous option?

I give the kids fish fingers and chicken nuggart s that's frozen. the little roots were great combinations and something different for the kids. yes I would defiantly try any other combinations and I really liked them all.

[slithytoveisascientist]

1. What were your overall thoughts on the Little Roots products you tried? What did you like about them?
   

I thought they were very overpriced for the quantity you get. I liked the concept and the packaging, however my 5 year old wasn’t keen. She doesn’t really eat pre-prepped frozen food barring peas or fish fingers so it may have just been too big a departure from the norm for her, but she didn’t like the flavours. We tried the sweet potato nuggets and the corn/carrot chunks.

1. Which qualities do or characteristics do you usually look for in food for your children? Do you think Little Roots fulfilled this for you?
   

I look for healthy food which is easy to prepare, that they enjoy and can be part of preparing. In theory this ticked 3 of those boxes however the preparation element is minimal.
Good for me but not what appeals to my kids.

1. Do you experience any challenges with getting your children to eat enough vegetables? Do you think Little Roots helped with this?
   

No and no. Maybe these are a better product for children who don’t like veg.

1. What kind of frozen food do you usually feed your children? How do Little Roots compare? Would you consider them a more adventurous option?
   

Definitely more adventurous and more expensive! I would say that because they are more aimed at children I’m less likely to buy them. Other frozen products I buy such as peas and fishfingers appeal to the whole family. Other frozen products I buy include chopped raw veg, ice cream and berries.

[Cuckoolu]

1. What were your overall thoughts on the Little Roots products you tried? What did you like about them?
   

For me a little bit plain & heavy on the breadcrumbs but the kids liked them.

1. Which qualities do or characteristics do you usually look for in food for your children? Do you think Little Roots fulfilled this for you?
   

Healthy, vegan & quick to prepare - so yes fairly fulfilled.

1. Do you experience any challenges with getting your children to eat enough vegetables? Do you think Little Roots helped with this?
   

No my kids love veg

1. What kind of frozen food do you usually feed your children? How do Little Roots compare? Would you consider them a more adventurous option?
   

Frozen food if it’s veggie burgers/sausages little roots a bit more nuggety but felt like a treat for them.