May 12, 2012 by Lauren
When we were asked to review the new menu at Frankie and Benny’s we definitely weren’t going to say no. On a Saturday afternoon we popped in to put the voucher to good use. We didn’t book a table and were a bit worried that we hadn’t, but being only 4.30pm there were still plenty of places to sit.
Category Reviews | Tags: eating out,family friendly,food,frankie and benny's,local review,new menu,review | No Comments
October 7, 2011 by Lauren
It’s getting very exciting over at Spud and Spike HQ! We have a lot of exciting things coming your way very soon…..EEEEP!
If you like Food, Decorations, Events, Gifts, Gadgets, COMPETITIONS, Secret Santa’s and lots more then The Wonderful Adventures of Spud and Spike is the place for the Christmas build up!
If you would like to be involved with Spud and Spike’s 12 Days of Christmas please don’t hesitate to contact us! It can be anything from including information about your product, donating a Competition prize or sending us samples to play with!
Category 12 Days of Christmas | Tags: 12 days of christmas,christmas guide,competitions,decorations,events,food,gifts | 1 Comment
August 19, 2011 by Lauren
When naming our child we never thought just how much his name would suit him. I will let you into a secret and tell you that Spike’s real name is Oliver. We have had many jokes about the musical and I often quote lines of it myself when he is flapping his arms for more food.
When Spike was born he took to breastfeeding like a duck to water. I was very lucky but then at 2 weeks got told to stop because that’s what was causing his problems. Naively I did as I was told. Another 4 weeks later I was told that he actually has Silent Reflux and was prescribed Gaviscon. Ever since he was born he has been a gannet. Recently he has been trying new foods and we have found ourselves saying “Oh Spike quite likes this……..Spike quite likes that.” In fact SPIKE JUST LIKES FOOD! We are yet to find something that he doesn’t like and he is at his most happy when he is stuffing his face so here is a little video for you to enjoy!
Category General | Tags: baby,bottle feeding,breast feeding,food,food glorious food,milk,oliver,weaning | No Comments
August 11, 2011 by Lauren
Category Competitions | Tags: axil,competition,coolfans,food,hot,toddler,win | No Comments
August 2, 2011 by Lauren
I tend to feed Spike shop bought baby food because I’m pretty lazy and can’t be bothered to spend hours every week making a huge mess of my kitchen by pureeing. Now that he is 7 months old and well and truly weaned I decided that we might try and let him eat what we eat. I was looking around for a small blender that would mush enough for one portion at a time without filling my whole dishwasher. (I strive for an easy life!)
When we were asked to review the Wean Machine we were thrilled. It looked like the perfect solution for quick easy meals.
When it arrived we were very impressed by the size of the Wean Machine. It is big enough to fit the perfect sized portion in and small enough to throw in a bag for feeding on the go. It comes with two different sized grills and a spoon that fits nicely inside the splash guard which means that it will stay clean and you won’t end up digging around at the bottom of a bag. You can also buy an accessory pack that contains two extra grills and a spoon.
We decided to start easy and mush a banana. I popped it into the Wean Machine and actually got quite excited as I saw it become the perfect consistency for Spike to eat! I always have problems mushing bananas down with a fork but the Wean Machine produced lump free banana without the need to add any milk. The thing that I absolutely loved about the Wean Machine is that there is no need to put the food into a bowl, it is a brilliant shape to spoon the food out directly saving time and washing up!
The Wean Machine is BPA, Phthalate and PVC Free. It can be easily sterilised and is “top-shelf dishwasher safe.” The instructions were easy to follow as it is pretty much self explanatory. I was very impressed with the “Squidgometer” list of suitable foods for the Wean Machine that can be found on the website.
The Wean Machine retails at £19.99 and the accessory pack retails for £4.99 which is well worth it for such a fantastic product. I was very impressed and it is going to save me time, money and washing up!
Category Reviews | Tags: baby,food,puree,ricer,wean machine,weaning | 3 Comments
July 13, 2011 by Lauren
To compliment the MAM Baby’s Bowl we were also sent the MAM Baby’s Fork and Spoon set. The ergonomic handles are great for self feeding and they are curved with a rubber grip making them extremely easy for little hands to hold.
Firstly, even though aimed at independent eating, I gave them a whirl whilst feeding Spike. Well there is no going back now! The curved handle makes it extremely easy to feed a baby as I didn’t have to bend my wrist at any odd angles to get the food in and they were very comfortable in my hand. The rubber grip meant that if any food got on to the handle it didn’t become slippery like I have found with other branded spoons. Whilst sorting his lunch, I gave Spike the fork to play with to see how it looked in his hand. He held it properly and was able to put the ‘food end’ in his mouth with ease. I’m sure if I let him experiment with self feeding that this cutlery set would give him a huge advantage. They are dishwasher safe up to 65° and BPA free. The part that the food touches is a much firmer plastic than soft tipped spoons so we haven’t encountered any food staining or colour fading.
Next I let Spud loose on them. He usually eats with toddler cutlery with metal ends and we have often struggled with spoons being too flat and with forks not being sharp enough to actually prong any food. We gave him the Fork, which is really more of a Spork to try with Spaghetti Bolognese. This is his favourite meal so I was able to sneak some photos without distracting him and have him go on hunger strike out of protest. The Fork is curved in such a way that he was able to use it as a spoon and get a decent amount of food from the bowl to his mouth without it all falling off. He had a go at stabbing the mince and the fork prongs are pointed enough that it held the mince firmly until it was at its destination.
We gave him the Spoon to try with ice cream. Now Spud loves the taste of ice cream but not so much the temperature which explains his facial expressions in our photos! You will also see that we gave it to him in the MAM Baby’s Bowl. The recess in the bowl made it very easy for him to get the blueberries and at one point he had 5 on the spoon all of which successfully made it to his mouth! This is a first for Spud as usually they all roll off and along the table or onto the floor!
Overall yet another great MAM product. All three of us give this cutlery set a huge thumbs up and I can see us fighting over who gets to use it!
Category Reviews | Tags: baby,eating,food,MAM,toddler,weaning | 1 Comment
July 12, 2011 by Lauren
The absolutely amazing people at MAM heard that we were weaning Spike and sent us their brilliant “Baby Bowl” to use and review.
It’s aimed at 6 months plus and toddlers as it promotes self feeding so we used it for both Spud and Spike to really put it through it’s paces.
Its a 2 level bowl which means there is a lower level for food such as peas to fall into to aid the self feeder with using cutlery. Instead of Spud chasing his peas around the bowl they all fell nicely into the little dip and he had a much smaller space to chase them around. This is an absolutely brilliant idea as he gets quite frustrated at escaping vegetables. However it’s not really big enough for the amount that Spud eats in one sitting. (Spud wouldn’t let me take a photo of him using it so I re-enacted it for you!)
It has a re
movable suction ring to stick it to the table so we popped some finger food in and placed it in front of Spike. Unfortunately like most suction rings it didn’t stay put on the high chair tray. It was much better suckered on to the wooden table. Spike also found the recess very handy because his hand co-ordination isn’t the best and he ends up battering food around bowls before finally getting hold of it.
It also comes with a lid which is very secure. I put a load of baby food in and tipped it around like what might happen in the changing bag and it didn’t budge at all which is great to know because I’d rather not have orange mush floating around in my designer bag!
The bowl comes in three different colours, is dishwasher safe up to 65° and can be put in the microwave. Overall it is a great product and I love that the lid makes it portable, I struggled to find something big enough for Spud’s food but with a secure lid when he was younger. We will be doing a follow up review in a few months when Spike has started self feeding properly.
Category Reviews | Tags: baby,bowl,food,MAM,self feeding,toddler,weaning | No Comments
June 16, 2011 by Lauren
I never knew that getting a sticker could be that exciting to a two-year old. After watching a Supernanny episode at the weekend where their child was using food as a control mechanism I mentioned to the hubby that maybe we should try a reward chart for Spud at meal times as they often turn into arguments.
On Monday he was refusing his sweet and sour (he’s never been much of a rice fan) and I asked him if he wanted a sticker. His face lit up and he exclaimed “YEAH YEAH YEAH!” so I came back at him with “Well eat your dinner then.” WELL he absolutely wolfed it down! He was pulling faces as each mouthful was inserted but soon ate most of his dinner and was extremely excited when I gave him a gold star. We both sat together and made a plate shaped reward chart complete with Spud scribbles (which I am told is “seer-wee-al”) and a mummy drawn fork and spoon! Tuesday was his favourite dinner so of course he was ecstatic to also get a sticker with that.
Wednesday night we were able to put the opposite result into practice. After many attempts at bribing him with a sticker he still refused his food so he didn’t get the sticker. This was his reaction:
Poor little fella! Tonight we were back to a sticker being worth eating for and he got himself a shiny red star! For his dessert tonight he was very lucky to have one of my fairy cakes from yesterday which he thoroughly enjoyed!
It created a lot of mess but I heard lots of “mmmmmm, yummy, nice!” so was very pleased that I had impressed him, we went up to the bath covered in chocolate and being his usual cheeky self he managed to have me in stitches with this:
Category General | Tags: bribery,chart,dinner,food,reward,sticker,toddler,treat | No Comments
