Lean Cuisine Gets Snackin’

DEBUTS NEW LINE OF SPRING ROLLS

Lean Cuisine, which made its mark in the “better for you” frozen meals segment, has branched out to frozen snacks with its new Lean Cuisine Spring Rolls. Nestle, which makes and markets the Lean Cuisine products, has even created a new tag line for the rollout—“keep snacking delicious.”

Nestle says that a recent survey shows that 74% of women snack in between lunch and dinner, but often they make bad choices which, in turn, lead to bad feelings. But these new Spring Rolls are each less than 200 calories per serving, so they offer a more healthful snack option

“We all have cravings at snack time, but there are so many boring choices out there,” says Christine Dahm, vice president of marketing, Lean Cuisine. “Snacking should be enjoyable and something we look forward to. And that’s why we’re introducing new Lean Cuisine Spring Rolls. They’re crispy, crunchy and they taste great—people will never believe snacking can be this delicious without the guilt.”

Lean Cuisine Spring Rolls sell for a suggested retail price of $3.59 and are available in three flavors: Garlic Chicken—white meat chicken, garlic, spinach, caramelized onions and Parmesan cheese; Thai-Style Chicken—white meat chicken, shredded cabbage, julienne yellow carrots and spicy red coconut curry; and Fajita-Style Chicken—white meat chipotle, corn, black beans, bell peppers and onions.

TFFG SAYS: This is a good fusion of two key trends: 1. The move toward healthier choices, in this case a product with a healthy protein (chicken) flavored with vegetables; and 2. The growing popularity of Asian foods, noted by the continued growth of restaurants featuring Asian cuisine and the popularity of such foods first made popular in Asian cultures, like sushi and soy products.

Lean Cuisine is also making some key information available on its LeanCusine.com website. In addition to a “Where To Buy” feature which helps shoppers locate Spring Rolls and other Lean Cuisine products in the nearest supermarket, the site offers wellness resources, including meal planning, lifestyle tips and advice.

Amy’s Kitchen 'Lightens Up'

NEW LIGHT AND LEAN MEALS CUT SODIUM, FAT LEVELS

Amy’s Kitchen has introduced a new line of “Light and Lean Meals.” Each of the four meals has fewer than 300 calories, 5 grams of fat, and 590 mg of sodium. Each meal is 8 ounces and sells for a suggested price of $4.89.

Amy’s says the Light and Lean Meals were created in response to consumer requests for meals that would fit their diet plans. Light and Lean Meals are organic, vegetarian, and made without use of trans fats or genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

The four Light and Lean Meals flavors are:



Light and Lean Spinach Lasagna has

just 250 calories and 5 grams of fat.

 Spinach Lasagna—Lasagna layered with ricotta, Parmesan and mozzarella cheeses, and organic spinach, then covered with Amy’s special tomato pasta sauce. Nutritional values are 250 calories, 5 g fat and 540 mg sodium.


Pasta & Veggies—Rotina pasta tossed in a light tomato sauce and tender shallots, organic asparagus, and broccoli florets. Nutritional values are 210 calories, 5 g fat and 470 mg sodium.

Soft Taco Fiesta—Two soft corn tortillas layered with brown rice, shredded vegetables, sweet corn, black beans and cheese, flavored with a blend of tomatillo and ranchero sauces. Nutritional values are 220 calories, 4.5 g fat, 560 mg sodium, and gluten-free.



Black Bean & Cheese Enchilada has

just 240 calories and is gluten-free.



Black Bean & Cheese Enchilada—A mixture of organic black beans, tofu, brown rice, vegetables and cheese tucked into a tortilla covered with tomatillo and ranchero sauces. Organic brown rice with carrots and sweet corn complete the meal. Nutritional values are 240 calories, 4.5 g fat, 480 mg sodium, and gluten-free.

TFFG SAYS: Credit to Amy’s Kitchen for tackling that old bugaboo of frozen foods—too much sodium. Amy’s has also kept the calorie and fat levels in check with these products without compromising taste and texture. A frozen meal for almost $5 is a bit high, but reasonable nutritional values and the bonus of being gluten-free make these products a solid value.

One Up, One Down in Organic Baby Foods

YUMMY SPOONFULS EXPANDS, PETITE PALATE FOLDS

The emerging organic frozen baby food market lost one player and gained another in 2010. Yummy Spoonfuls, launched a few years ago in Marietta, Ga., by Agatha Achindu, has expanded from the South to several key markets in the Northeast. Sadly, Petite Palate, an early player in the category, has gone out of business.

Yummy Spoonfuls is now available in the New York area in Dean & Deluca food stores and Food Emporium supermarkets and through Haddon House, a New Jersey food distributor. Yummy Spoonfuls also exhibited for the first time at the Natural Products Expo East in Boston in October.



Butternut Squash is one of the

Stage 1 "Creamy Yummy"

products from Yummy Spoonfulls.



Achindu says 2010 was “an incredible year for Yummy Spoonfuls. Going to Boston in October for Expo East took us to a whole new level. The product is really catching on in the Northeast, and that’s a huge market for us. My hope is that Yummy Spoonfuls can support parents in giving children the best start in life.”

Achindu started the company in 2006 when she was expecting her first child. She began to explore healthy baby food options and found that baby foods labeled “organic” had expiration dates of up to two years. She notes this meant that in many cases, babies were eating food items that were older than they were.

So she created the Yummy Spoonfuls line of 23 all-organic products. The products are divided into three phases: Creamy Yummy (Stage 1), Mushy Yummy (Stage 2) and Chunky Yummy (Stage 3).

Creamy Yummy is designed for babies age 6 to 9 months. The consistency of the Creamy Yummy products is soft in texture and gentle on babies’ immature digestive systems. Product offerings include peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, papaya, broccoli and pears. Mushy Yummy is for infants age 9 to 12 months and features a more eclectic pairing of foods for a baby’s developing palate. The combinations include potato and broccoli, carrot and parsnip, sweet potato and broccoli, and blueberry and millet cereal, among others. Chunky Yummy is for children age 12 months and older and includes flavors like lentil and carrot porridge and a rice medley.


Sweet Potato Broccoli is a "Mushy Yummy"

(Stage 2) item for infants 9 to 12 months.


Petite Palate was also launched in 2006 by Lisa Beels, a personal chef, and Christine Naylor, a cookbook publicist. The business did well for the first two years and was just one of a handful of frozen food products to get space in Zabar’s on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Its distribution included Amazon.com and about 100 food stores and supermarkets in the Northeast and Midwest. However, plans for expansion—they were hoping to raise $2.5 million to $5 million—were thwarted when the economy when sour and potential investors backed off.

Petite Palate folded in October 2010. Beels told the New York Times in a story about start-up companies that have gone out of business that she and Naylor should have been more open to producing shelf-stable products along with their frozen organic line of baby foods. “It took us a long time to acknowledge that and by then we were in debt and couldn’t support the company,” she told the Times.

Beels has since launched Haute Palate, a personal chef business.

TFFG SAYS: I have fond memories of working with Lisa and Christine when I was editor of Frozen Food Age. I was invited to an event held in Lisa’s high-rise condo tower on the West Side of Manhattan where she and Christine were gathering potential investors. The event was originally planned for the rooftop garden of the building, but high winds forced the event to be moved to her apartment on a very high floor, which commanded amazing views of the Hudson River to the west and Manhattan to the north. It was great to see this trained chef and young mom in action. It was quite an event with her two kids, husband and the family cat all on hand along with Christine and her husband and the potential investors, other guests and press (me).

She was right about the need to expand the product line as two of the early players in the frozen organic baby food category, Happy Baby and Tasty Baby, have done just that, and another start-up, Plum Organics, was acquired by the Nest Collective which, according to Nutrition Business Journal, plans to amass a suite of healthy, organic and nutritional products for kids.