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Birds Eye Steamfresh Broccoli, Cauliflower and Carrot with Cheese Sauce | Chewsday Review

Did you know frozen vegetables are still just as nutritious as fresh veg? Let's find out if adding a cheese sauce changes that!

Ingredients

Positives

This product is essentially 55% vegetables (cauliflower, broccoli and carrot) and 45% cream and cheese sauce.
I’m surprised this doesn’t contain more salt to be honest. Sodium comes in at 230mg per 100g, which is within guidelines (aiming for less than 400mg per 100g). A 200g pouch is about half of a toddler’s daily sodium allowance. If your baby had a small amount (~50g) this would be about half of what I recommend for their daily sodium allowance from food.
Each steam bag is 200g and contains 3.2g of fibre, thanks to the vegetables.
This doesn’t contain any added sugar, so is well within guidelines.

Negatives

Convenience costs! This costs $6.50 for a 400g bag, which works out to be $16.25 per kg. This is more than double the cost of buying fresh or frozen broccoli, cauliflower or carrots. Birds Eye sells a 1kg bag of frozen cauliflower, broccoli and carrots for $6.50, so the cheese sauce and steam pouches add on an extra cost here. A cheaper alternative is Plate Up Frozen Cauliflower Bake, which is $6.60 for 800g ($8.25 per kg).
Thanks to the cream and cheese, saturated fat is just over recommendations at 4.2g per 100g. A milk-based cheese sauce, would likely contain less saturated fat. Both the Plate Up Frozen Cauliflower Bake and Coles Kitchen Cauliflower Cheese are higher in saturated fat, with 6g and 9.1g per 100g, respectively.
This product contains multiple layers of single use plastic (the outer bag and the steaming pouch), which isn’t great for the environment. Buying fresh produce is an easy way to reduce your single-plastic use.
This product is packed in Belgium, and ingredients come from “multiple origins”, so it’s safe to say we’re not supporting Aussie farmers.

Marketing

“No artificial colours or flavouring”. True, but as always this is pretty standard nowadays.
“1 steam bag = 1.5 serves of veg”. Technically they’ve rounded up from 1.46 “serves”, but that just doesn’t have the same ring to it. Just a reminder that a vegetable still counts as a vegetable, even if it’s been frozen or has a sauce added.
“Source of fibre”. Again true, but all fruits, vegetables and wholegrains are a source of fibre.

Alternatives

This is a convenient alternative to making your own cauliflower, broccoli and carrots with a cheese sauce. Nutritionally it compares fairly similarly to the homemade version, but might be higher in saturated fat depending how you make your cheese sauce.
Homemade will be cheaper, but if you’re prepared to pay for it, then this is a reasonable option. I’m a big fan of adding flavour to vegetables to make them more appealing, so this ticks the box for me. But if your children are in a “no sauce” phase, then this might not be a hit for your family.
If you’re buying this as a way to “tempt” or “trick” your child into eat more vegetables, I recommend joining Toddler Mealtimes or Family Mealtimes for more support.