We’ve been doing some reviewing for Birds Eye and are trying some of their new yummy products at the moment! I particularly liked the sound of the rice infusions and the baked fish! I love how fish and vegetables don’t lose any of their goodness or taste when frozen!

Birds Eye Rice Fusions are a delicious combination long grain rice, vegetables, herbs and spices, Birds Eye Rice Fusions contain no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives and they cook in the microwave in just three minutes. Prices are from £1.79, which makes them not just tasty and handy but also pretty inexpensive. You could actually have the rice as a meal on it’s own but I think it’s great with something like the Baked to Perfection fish range. The range includes Pink Salmon Fillets with a sweet chilli and ginger sauce and Cod Fillets with olive oil, rosemary & tomato sauce and offers the finest, freshest fish fillets and seafood perfectly complemented with mouth-watering sauces. The dishes can be made in under 5 minutes in the microwave so that’s a whole meal in under 10 minutes! 

Other new products from the famous range include perfect Saturday night take away style food and for a treat why not?! Chicken Popstars are just the sort of thing my little’n’s enjoy and of course why not serve them with some peas! It’s definitely peas that we all think of when we think Birds Eye after all!

Talking of Birds Eye peas, in order to educate children on where their food comes from, Birds Eye has teamed up with National Schools Partnership to give away hundreds of thousands of pea seeds to primary schools across the country and we’ve been sent our very own mini pea garden too! Over the summer term up to 3,500 schools will be taking part in the ‘Grow Your Own’ education programme, which will see Birds Eye and National Schools Partnership provide downloadable lesson plans and activities, interactive whiteboard games and video content about growing plants, life cycles and healthy eating. They will also give away 30,000 packs of pea seeds to teach children where their favourite teatime meals come from by taking peas back to their roots and growing them from scratch.

We really enjoyed planting ours and it couldn’t have been simpler!

Now we’ve just got to wait for our own peas to grow!

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

– British kids given pea seeds to teach them about vegetables –

Birds Eye is giving away hundreds of thousands of pea seeds to primary schools across the country following new research revealing a startling lack of knowledge among children about how their food ends up on the dinner table.

To encourage healthy eating and educate children on the origins of their food, the leading frozen food brand has teamed up with National Schools Partnership to launch The Great Food Journey (www.thegreatfoodjourney.com) – a programme developed by education experts to teach children where their food comes from and about the nutritional benefits of peas.

The initiative follows a study of children aged five to eleven which found that almost one in ten (nine per cent) think that pasta is a vegetable, while seven per cent believe that frozen peas grow in the freezer. Over a quarter of children (26 per cent) are still unsure of the recommended quantity of fruit and vegetables to eat each day, and five per cent have never eaten any green vegetables.

Over the summer term up to 3,500 schools will be taking part in the ‘Grow Your Own’ education programme, which will see Birds Eye and National Schools Partnership provide downloadable lesson plans and activities, interactive whiteboard games and video content about growing plants, life cycles and healthy eating. They will also give away 30,000 packs of pea seeds to teach children where their favourite teatime meals come from by taking peas back to their roots and growing them from scratch..

Birds Eye is the leading premium producer of peas in the UK and has been growing peas for more than 65 years. Their dedicated team of fieldsmen not only walk the pea fields every day to make sure they are just right but also ensure the peas are frozen just 2 ½ hours after they are picked to make them as sweet and nutritious as possible.

Kinjal Patel at Birds Eye said: “By teaming up with National Schools Partnership we’re able to teach children about the origins of their food and help educate them from an early age on how important it is to eat well and attain the vital nutrients we need for a healthy mind and body.  The Great Food Journey campaign will help reach thousands of pupils nationwide to encourage a new generation to love their greens.”

Mark Fawcett, Chief Executive at National Schools Partnership says: “The Great Food Journey programme brings to life the journey of food from farm to fork in a fun, engaging and educationally robust way. We are really excited to be building on previous success and helping more pupils and families learn about where their food comes from and the features of a healthy balanced diet.”

TOPLINE FINDINGS FROM THE STUDY

• Children were best able to identify carrots (99 per cent), peas (98 per cent) and sweetcorn (97 per cent), though the study showed that many were unable to identify other vegetables with one in five (20 per cent) unable to recognise an onion and over two-thirds (68 per cent) unable to identify turnip
• One in five children (17 per cent) have yet to grow a plant at school or at home
• Girls perform better when it comes to identifying common vegetables, eat more greens and have a better understanding on the importance of their five-a-day with three quarters (76 per cent) clear on the recommended daily amount
• Children in Scotland have the greatest understanding of where their food comes from with a massive 94 per cent correctly identifying where frozen peas originate

• Yorkshire kids are the most aware of the nutritional benefits of fruit and vegetables with almost four in five children (79 per cent) recommending five portions a day

I have not been paid to write this post but I was sent some vouchers to try the new range and sent the mini pea garden to plant.