Little Spoon Review: Kid-Friendly Meals for All Stages

As a parent of two young children, finding convenient and nutritious food can often feel unattainable. From breakfasts, snacks, lunches, snacks, dinners, and more snacks … my children always seem to be hungry. Meal planning and countless trips to the grocery store can be tedious and arduous, especially with youngsters setting the tone for unpredictability.

Fortunately, there are kids’ meal delivery services that can mitigate the ongoing quest for satiating my bottomless-bellied little ones. When I stumbled upon Little Spoon, my interest was piqued. Little Spoon is a meal service, with foods created for babies to big kids, with promises of healthful, fun-filled meals and snacks. 

I decided to give Little Spoon a try. I enlisted my 6-year-old and four-year-old and created a testing team. Read on to see how this service worked and whether it could satiate my picky eaters. 

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Covers a wide range of eating ages
• Robust menu 
• Informative printed catalog
• Reusable plates
• Plenty of dietary offerings
• Great customer support and Facebook community

Cons

• Ships every other week
• The plastic film can be difficult to peel off
• Some meals sell out

What Is Little Spoon?

Based in New York City, Little Spoon was founded by parents searching for convenient, healthful, natural foods without added preservatives or artificial fillers. The company focuses on crafting nutrient-dense meals for your baby to big kids, with meals arriving every two weeks. The service specializes in a wide range of foods for your child: “Babyblends” are baby purees; “biteables” are finger foods for your little one to practice that tricky pincer grasp; and “plates” are meals geared toward toddlers and bigger kids. Little Spoon also crafts nutritious smoothies for on-the-go snacking. All menu items incorporate hidden vegetables and superfoods to ensure your child gets optimal nutrients. 

How Does It Work

When my family and I were ready to try Little Spoon, we explored the Little Spoon homepage. I could easily navigate the site and loved viewing the various eating stage menus without signing up or inputting my credit card information. 

When I was ready to get started and choose my menu, Little Spoon began by asking me what stage I was interested in: babyblends, biteables, plates, or smoothies. I began by selecting plates, entering my email, and creating a password. I made a profile for each of my children, which included inputting their names and birthdates. From there, I could choose how many plates I wanted: four, six, nine, or 12. Meals ship every other week, so each shipment includes meals for two weeks. I found this confusing at first. For instance, the four-plate plan I selected was more like eight meals or four meals per week. After I understood the plans, I inputted my address and credit card information, and a delivery date was populated based on my address. Then, it was time for menu exploration. Each menu plan has numerous options, including filters for specific foods, allergens, and dietary needs. 

Once I selected my meals, I confirmed my order. I received a welcome email outlining how to store meals (in the fridge for 14 days or freezer for three months), heating options (microwave or oven), and an invitation to Little Spoon’s Facebook group called “Is This Normal?” which is a way to connect with other parents and ask experts any questions or concerns. The company also sent me a helpful email to alert me when the deadline to edit or change my meal plan was approaching. 

Once I’d finished placing my order, I explored my account settings, where I could create plans for multiple children, add on smoothies, view my current plan, as well as see upcoming orders up to four orders out. When I was ready to cancel my plan, it was easy to cancel in the account settings. 

Pricing

Little Spoon ships every other week, so every shipment contains two weeks’ worth of meals. The service offers four menu plans, and the more you order, the less the cost is per item. I could choose from four, six, nine, or 12 meals per week, but it’s more like eight, 12, 18, or 24 meals since each shipment arrives every two weeks. 

=Blends start at $2.96 per blend, and biteables and plates start at $5.83 per meal. I chose the four-plate plan (eight total plates) at $7.50 per plate. Shipping was an additional $9 for a total order of $69. For add-ons, smoothies start at $2.82 per smoothie; these can be added to your account at any time before your order is processed.

Meal Choices

Little Spoon is designed to feed your little one through various stages, from baby food to early finger foods and self-feeding, toddler and kids’ meals, and smoothies.

The babyblends are organized by six stages of blended foods from age 6 months up to 9 months and older. Blends are cold-pressed with organic ingredients. The earlier eating stages feature a single fruit or vegetable blended (think purple carrots or apples). As each eating stage progresses, more blends and ingredients are incorporated to introduce a wider array of textures and flavors, such as avocado, green apple, broccoli, spirulina, or ancient grain banana and coconut cream pie. The filters included the six eating stages and options to avoid coconut and wheat. 

The biteables, or early finger foods, are new for Little Spoon. The menu features eight options, including vegetarian, meat, and pasta entrées served alongside plenty of vegetables. Foods are served in small pieces for your child to practice self-led weaning. 

There are about 30 ready-to-heat plates for toddlers and kids. I could filter by intermediate or advanced eating stages and eight different dietary needs, such as gluten-, nut-, dairy-, and egg-free. Meals are populated on the page in a grid format featuring a photo of the classic teal plate with the meal components. Allergens are conveniently listed underneath each meal’s plate photo. Various meal setups focus primarily on lunches and dinners, although I did spot one or two breakfasts. The Plates offer quite a range. I observed pasta, nuggets, dumplings, tacos, pizza pockets, and egg dishes, all of which included hidden vegetables. 

Little Spoon also has 13 fresh, organic smoothies for healthy on-the-go snacking. Each smoothie comes in a colorful pouch and includes delectable blends, such as triple berry parfait with Greek yogurt and sweet potato carrot cake with flaxseed.

What We Tasted

• Chicken Super Nuggets: chicken and vegetable patties in panko breading with sweet potato carrot poppers and broccoli
• Mac and Three Cheese: mac and cheese with invisible butternut squash and carrots
• Three Cheese Egg Bites: egg bites with sweet potato and red bell pepper hash
• Mini Kale Turkey Meatballs: mini meatballs with roasted sweet potato cubes and zucchini
• Pizza Pocket: pizza pocket with cauliflower and Romanesco broccoli topped with shredded mozzarella cheese
• Mini Pancake Puffs: pancake puffs with hidden veggie chicken maple sausage and roasted sweet potato
• Broccoli Bites: broccoli bites with sweet potato carrot poppers, and green beans
• Chicken Pot Stickers: potstickers with brown rice and quinoa veggie stir-fry and edamame

Packaging

My Little Spoon meals arrived in a cardboard box with the tagline “healthy baby, toddler + kids’ food, delivered.” Upon opening the box, the inside flaps conveniently display a QR code for meal tips, an email for customer service, and recommendations on how to store your meals. The inside of the box has a thick denim insulation liner wrapped in plastic. Underneath the denim insulation is a colorful teal and white ice pack decorated with a print of playful animals on one side and instructions encouraging customers to reuse the ice packs on the other.

The teal meal plates are nestled snugly in between the insulation liner. There is another ice pack beneath the meals. There is also a colorful printed parent- and child-friendly catalog. The catalog was fun for our family to peruse. The printable contained an introduction to Little Spoon, information about the company’s mission statement, a partner feature from a child pediatrician, farm spotlights, FAQs, a “first ingredients tracker” list, bios about the team, meal suggestions, and tasting notes, plus a playful quiz and other games for kids to play. 

Each meal was packaged on a teal dishwasher-safe and BPA-free plate. The plate has a colorful paper sleeve insert that states the name of the meal on one side with accompanying food graphics and the type of diet, and the underside lists a brief description of the dish, nutrition facts, cooking instructions, ingredients, information for recycling and care, and customer service. The plate is sealed with a Freshlock seal that helps maintain freshness and assists with steaming the meal during the microwave cooking process. 

Little Spoon partners with Blue Jeans Go Green™ so denim insulation liners can be recycled and returned using a special program. The cardboard, paper meal sleeves, outer plastic liner of the gel packs, and plastic seal can all be recycled.

The Cooking Process

Little Spoon’s plates can be heated in two ways: The plates can be microwaved for 60 to 90 seconds, or you can put the food in an ovenproof dish and bake it in the oven at 425 F for about eight minutes.

To test the microwave method, we heated the chicken potstickers for 60 seconds. As the instructions state, the plastic seal bubbles, so we weren’t too surprised when we took the plate out. We let the dish sit for 30 seconds and then easily peeled off the seal. For the mac and cheese, we experimented with 90 seconds, and some of the cheese started to congeal. We found that 60 to 85 seconds is the sweet spot. 

For the oven method, we heated the pizza pocket and chicken nuggets in an oven-safe dish at 425 F for eight minutes. Most of the meals that we heated in the oven crisped up well. However, the pizza pocket and vegetables could have used a few extra minutes; the pizza pocket was soggy on one side. If I were to try this method again, I would have flipped the pizza pocket during cooking and added a few extra minutes. 

I tested both cooking methods, and each method was straightforward overall. Generally, I’d recommend microwaving pasta items, oven-cooking proteins and eggs, and adding two or three extra minutes to the oven cooking time.

Taste

After sampling our Little Spoon meals, we found the flavors, taste, and textures to be very good—especially the mains and proteins. Generally, we found the vegetables to be a bit plain and watery, and they could have benefited from some seasoning, such as a splash of olive oil and a sprinkle of salt. We also wished we had ordered condiments as we reached for ketchup, honey, soy sauce, and coconut aminos throughout our tasting experience. 

The mac and cheese was a crowd favorite. The dish had a nice flavor and was not overly cheesy, and I was impressed with the al dente noodles. The sauce was not the traditional creamy sauce due to the bits of butternut squash and carrots, but my kids didn’t seem to mind. Both of my children liked the dish and did not mention the hidden vegetables—a win! My daughter asked me to order this dish again.

When I bit into the chicken nuggets and saw green and orange flecks of vegetables in the nuggets, I was a bit worried. However, my tasting panel was OK with it. My daughter could spot the vegetables, but she was a fan. The chicken was tasty, tender, and flavorful, as were the sweet potato broccoli poppers. However, the side of plain broccoli was unseasoned and a little watery.

The chicken potstickers were juicy and flavorful, and we all enjoyed them. We did not order any sauces or condiments, so we dipped our potstickers in coconut aminos, which was extra tasty. The other elements of the plate were a bit plain. The edamame could have used a little seasoning or sea salt, and the quinoa would have benefited from a sauce. My daughter thought the quinoa was “too grainy.” However, the potstickers were a win, and overall the dish was quite colorful and full of vegetables. 

The pizza pocket was quite flavorful, and bravo to Little Spoon for incorporating broccoli, cauliflower, and Romanesco. The cheese melted, and the vegetables were good, but the entrée could have used a few extra minutes in the oven. Still, I was impressed with how Little Spoon snuck veggies into this dish.

While Little Spoon doesn’t offer a huge selection of breakfast plates, my crew loved the mini pancakes. They were fluffy and tiny—the perfect size for kids—and both children wanted more. The side of sausage and sweet potatoes were also approachable and well-liked. 

We microwaved the egg bites, which I wouldn’t recommend as they turned out watery and rubbery. However, we decided to reheat the egg bites in a skillet, and they quickly transformed into a delicious snack, crisping up on the outside but remaining airy inside. The savory bites had a cheesy finish and hints of fresh herbs. Unfortunately, my eaters did not like the sweet potato hash with the green and red peppers. I think the peppers were a bit much for my picky eaters.

All in all, we enjoyed the majority of our eight meals. The plates were healthful but satiating, and minus our desire to use condiments for proteins and add seasoning to vegetables, we enjoyed this kid-friendly service.

Who Should Use Little Spoon?

Little Spoon is designed for families with young children searching for easy-to-heat meals chock-full of nutrients. No matter the style of food—blends, finger foods, or plates—meals are wholesome and consist of organic produce and natural and healthy ingredients. 

Final Thoughts

After sampling and tasting Little Spoon, my team of testers agreed that we would absolutely order again. We all enjoyed the varied menu, kid-friendly meal components, and the diversity of ingredients. And as a parent, I appreciated the hidden superfoods, meal variety offerings, swift meal prep, and reusable, dishwasher-safe plates. Our household is excited to reorder our favorite dishes and experiment with new plates in the future.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are kids’ food delivery services cost-effective?

Every kids’ food delivery service is uniquely priced. A weekly budget will help determine what service best aligns with your wallet. Some meal services offer a flat price per meal or item, while others have a tiered model, so the more you order, the less the cost is per serving or meal. And plan on a little extra for shipping fees. While kids’ meal delivery companies may not save you money compared to grocery shopping, you most likely will save time and avoid the hassle of executing meals. Reaching for the fridge or freezer for a convenient, ready-to-heat meal can be a huge benefit that’s worth the cost. 

What are the benefits of using kids’ food delivery services?

There are many benefits when using a kids’ food delivery service. A meal plan can help cut down on meal planning and save time schlepping back and forth to the grocery store. Not to mention, if a kids’ meal service has ready-to-enjoy meals, you’ll save precious time making meals and cleaning up. A kids’ meal service may provide exposure to new foods that may not be on your radar. And many kids’ meal companies pack their meals with hidden vegetables and extra superfoods.

And if your kids don’t love the meal, you can blame it on someone else! No more picking on the grown-ups for a meal that doesn’t please your little one.

What is the best food to buy from kids’ food delivery services?

The best food to buy from kid’s food delivery services is entirely up to you and your household. Some families are looking for meals designed for a specific age or eating stage, while others are looking for ready-to-eat meals that are ready in minutes. Whatever the need, there are plenty of kids’ meal delivery options to meet your household’s needs. 

Do pediatricians recommend organic food for kids?

Pediatricians recommend babies and children incorporate fiber-rich fruits and vegetables into their diet for optimum brain and body health. While organic produce is a beneficial option, there is often a higher price point associated with organic foods. If purchasing organic foods doesn’t align with your budget or is out of reach, buying conventional produce with a rind or peel can help protect children from potential pesticides or contaminants. And rinsing your produce before consumption—whether organic or conventional—is always recommended.