You’ve just gotten home from a busy day and your kids are begging for brownies. Or the grand-parents need new ideas for edible activities with your little ones, but they’re no Wolfgang Puck. Food Stirs to the rescue! This brainchild of an LA momtrepreneur takes the muss and fuss out of cooking and leaves in the fun and made-from-scratch results.
photo credit: Foodstirs via facebook
The Scoop on the Stir
Foodstirs are the very definition of convenient, but without the bad-for-you ingredients of convenience food. Instead of opening a box mix, filled with unrecognizable ingredients, and an expiration date 6 years in the future, you get everything you need for a recipe delivered to your door in a darling package, complete with a pretty recipe card with step-by-step photographed instructions. It’s an all-natural, non-GMO Martha Stewart in a box—a dream come true for those of us without a culinary bone in our bodies.
The food crafting kits are designed for budding chefs ages 5-12. Choose from themed kits, or become a chef in training with a 3 kit series, where kits get delivered to your door monthly, so you can count on a fun cooking experience regularly! Plus, every kid adores getting mail, and opening up the pretty box is half the fun. Everything is packaged in a super cute way, so it feels like something really special.
photo credit: Foodstirs via facebook
What’s in the Box?
You’ll get all the dry ingredients you need to bake the sweet treat. No flour in the house? No baking soda? No problem! Everything comes easily labeled and separately packaged. Unlike your typical Duncan Hines-type mix, Foodstirs keeps the learning and exploration alive. Kids get to measure out each ingredient (don’t worry, there’s extra in each ingredient pouch in case of spills). You can make a math game out of the project to make it extra educational (one half plus one half equals one whole lot of fun).
A colorful and easy step-by-step sweet recipe card comes with the dry ingredients, with pictures that are easy for kids to follow. Plus, you’ll get specialty cooking tools and craft supplies (from wooden spoons to cookie cutters) to start building up your at home kitchen tool drawer.
photo credit: Elena Wurlitzer
As a bonus, you’ll also get a healthy dinner recipe card, for you and the kiddos to make something scrumptious for your main meal. You’ll get a reminder e-mail in advance, letting you know what ingredients you’ll need for both the sweet and savory recipe. And with less than 8 steps in each and every recipe, you’re sure to keep your mini-chef’s attention the entire time.
The Birth of A Recipe
Recipe labor is a lot easier than baby labor! But a lot of thought and energy goes into choosing the recipe that arrives at your door. Foodstirs works with a number of local LA chefs and nutritionists to create accessible and delicious recipes. But even before consulting these local food maestros, the first step is identifying a skill. The folks at Foodstirs want to make sure your kiddo is building a usable skill-set in the kitchen, from measuring to basting. A skill sheet is developed, and a recipe is perfected that incorporates that skill.
They even use Kid “Testirs” who make batch after batch of potential recipes until it’s perfect. Talk about an awesome after school gig. All that research means you’re sure to get an ideal recipe that your teeny taste-testers will have just as much fun making as they will eating.
photo credit: Elena Wurlitzer
Only in LA:
Foodstirs is the brainchild of Galit Laibow, a born-and-bred LA native. There is so much creative energy in LA, but Galit was having trouble harnessing her own creative mojo in the kitchen with her two daughters. As a busy working mom, it was tough to have it all together at the same time: a great recipe, the right ingredients, the tools. Galit created Foodstirs for parents with a hectic schedule who want that unplugged time with their kids. As Galit says: “Cooking something is so much more than creating something to eat. It’s about pride, empowerment, sharing, creativity, and most importantly spending quality time together as a family.”
photo credit: Foodstirs via facebook
Order Up
With options like the “Brownie Popsicle” and “Heart Tart” kits (or seasonal treats for holiday fun), you’re sure to get your kid begging to throw on an apron and help you get cooking. And once you’re in chef mode, you’ll be whipping up that healthy dinner recipe to go along with the delightful dessert. The hardest part of the process is waiting for the brownies to cool.
Foodstirs delivers the ingredients, recipe and fun straight to your home, so you can focus on the more important things in life: like helping your kids lick the batter bowl clean.
Individual kits start at $24.99, and 3 kit series (with an apron) starts at $89.99. You can find them online or at select local stores like Kidville.
Online: foodstirs.com
Are you and your family handy or hopeless in the kitchen? We’d love to hear about your go-to recipes and kitchen adventures in the comments below.
—Elena Wurlitzer
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