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CR Keep It Cleaner Toddler Tri-Veg Dinosaurs Pasta

Keep It Cleaner Toddler Tri-Veg Dinosaurs Pasta | Chewsday Review

There are so many pasta-bilities when it comes to choosing pasta for your kiddo. This week I’m back in the Keep It Cleaner catalogue reviewing their Toddler Tri-Veg Dinosaurs Pasta to see if it’s the real deal or an im-pasta (too much?!).

Ingredients

Positives

The sodium content of Keep It Cleaner (KIC) Toddler Tri-Veg Dinosaurs Pasta is low at 36mg/100g, but higher than regular pasta which is usually 5mg/100g or less.
At 3.2g/100g, the fibre content of this pasta is comparable to wheat-based pastas, which generally contain 3-4g fibre/100g. Pulse pastas contain roughly twice the fibre and are also a gluten-free option.
This pasta comes in different shapes and colours, which could be helpful to add variety for kiddos on a gluten-free diet. The colour might be challenging for some of our fussy kiddos right in the midst of the ‘beige stage’.

Negatives

Marketing

‘Made with vegetables – corn, spinach and beetroot’. Technically true, but for what claims to be a ‘tri-veg’ pasta, the vegetable content is disappointingly low. The corn in cornflour is counted as one of the three vegetables (seriously?!), with the other two being spinach and beetroot powder (making up only five percent of the product). Vegetable powders in such small amounts are used to colour food, but do not contribute to daily vegetable servings.
‘Real veggie pasta formed into dinosaur shapes to make lunch or dinner time colourful and fun’. There’s nothing wrong with serving food in different shapes or colours to increase variety, but it’s important that these types of ‘hidden veg’ foods aren’t replacing regular opportunities to learn to like actual vegetables.
‘Only 4 ingredients’. I assume this is trying to promote ‘simple’ as being ‘best’, but regular wheat pasta has only one ingredient, or two if you count water!
‘No artificial colours, flavours or preservatives; gluten, dairy and egg free’. True. But unless your child has an allergy or intolerance, there is no benefit to choosing gluten free pasta, or following a dairy or egg free diet.
‘Plant-based’. As opposed to meat-based pasta?! I’m confused!

Alternatives

This pasta is another option for gluten free kiddos, but I wouldn’t bother buying it just for the vegetable content. Pulse pastas, like this one from San Remo are a higher fibre, gluten free option in the same price range and some are made entirely from pulse flour (like chickpeas, lentils and borlotti beans).
If your child doesn’t require a gluten free diet, Vetta Smart Fibre Pasta in either penne or dinosaurs is a quarter of the price and contains twice the fibre.
If your family enjoys these dinosaurs, then continue to serve them up.
Remember that regular pasta is completely fine too!