A little bit about us…
At Tot’s Pantry we believe that growing bodies and personalities thrive on well-balanced, healthy diets. We provide freshly-prepared delicious food for young children aged 1-4 years to enjoy.
Our meals are made fresh to order, just for your little ones.
Our Food Philosophy
A little bit about our meals…
At Tot’s Pantry, we have worked closely with our nutritionist to develop a set of standards to ensure that every recipe is perfectly balanced for your little ones.
Here are the minimum standards we have set for every Tot’s Pantry meal:
- At least one of five a day serving of vegetables – this is variable from child to child as it is based on the size of their palm. We believe that 40g (half an adults serve) achieves this for a 1-4 year old.
- Low in salt – we don’t add salt to any of our meals, however some of the ingredients we use (eg cheese) have salt added.
- No added sugar – this includes honey, malt and malt extracts.
- No additives or preservatives – none of the food we make, nor the ingredients we use have any additives or preservatives added.
- Contains a source of protein – each dish will have at least 5g protein per serve.
Our nutritionist used the following guidelines and sources to create our Tot’s Pantry rules:
- Food Standards Australia & New Zealand are the legal rules we have to follow and all of our meals conform to these standards, including any nutritional claims we make.
- Recommended Daily Intakes and Adequate Intakes are sourced from the Australian Government & Ministry of Health Nutrient Reference Values for Australia & New Zealand
- Ministry of Health food and health guidelines
Using this information we have broken down the daily requirements for the important energy nutrients into what a main meal should provide for a 1 – 4 year old as part of a healthy balanced diet.
A little bit about our team…
Our Chef
We are thrilled to have on our team the exceptionally talented and Masterchef winning, Tamarin Blackmur. She joined the team at Tot’s Pantry to develop recipe’s and achieve the Tot’s Pantry nutrition rules whilst producing delicious wholesome food that young children will enjoy. Food is her art and her passion and makes her happy.
Tamarin was born in South Africa and grew up on the Cape Coast in Knysna. From school she went on to study art and later backpacking where she ended up living in the UK. After a time, she moved onto Australia before moving to Ireland where she lived for 7 years. She is now enjoying life in NZ with her family around her. She is surrounded by children whether it be through family, friends or loved ones who all regularly challenge her in the kitchen with their ever changing demands and tastes!
It was while Tamarin was in Ireland that she decided to enter Masterchef. She said: "The experience will stay with me for life and I had so much fun! It was the icing on the cake to win and to then take advantage of the opportunities that followed."
Growing up I can always remember being surrounded by food at family gatherings and being introduced to all types of produce. Making the move to NZ was a big decision but I love the country and what it has to offer. The food culture & produce here is amazing and I’m always looking for new ideas and ingredients."
Our Nutritionist
Introducing our fantastic nutritionist: Davinia Goodes. She has joined Tot's Pantry to help ensure all our meals are well balanced, healthy servings. She's created the Tot's Pantry nutrition rules, which set out the minimum standards each meal has to achieve.
Davinia is a qualified Nutritionist with a Bachelor of Science in Human Nutrition. For the past 7 years she has worked in the food industry in new product development and she runs a Nutrition practice on Aucklands North Shore where she consults with her clients on nutrition and wellbeing. www.zestyfox.co.nz
She is expecting her own new arrival very soon and such, has a personal interest in childhood diet and nutrition to ensure she can give her baby exactly what it needs. This has meant that she has been ideally qualified to consult with Tot’s Pantry on the right ingredients and balance of nutrients in our recipes.
The Owner
I’m Catherine, I am mum to James (3 years) and Charlotte (nearly 2), and I am the owner of Tot's Pantry.
I grew up in a big family and I have always enjoyed preparing food and making meals, however it was only when I started weaning my son James that I became more interested in nutrition and what goes into our food.
After learning the basics I decided to find out more and I completed a course in Childhood Diet and Nutrition. I left the course feeling inspired and excited that I had a business idea… to start a company that would help busy parents provide freshly-prepared meals for their children.
Like all parents, I’ve had my ups and downs when feeding my children, and learned that there are some hard and fast rules for mealtimes - it quite often feels like psychological warfare across the dinner table!
I have started Tot’s Panty because I want to help parents to have more of the good days and to be able to cope better with the bad ones. It is important we persevere with our children at mealtimes, after all we want them to go grow up with a healthy attitude towards food and to have a diet that gives their bodies everything they need to grow and flourish.
My dream is for Tot’s Pantry to provide parents with the tools, the inspiration and (very importantly!) the meals to bring enjoyment and enthusiasm to dinner time.
