If I'm totally honest I don't like cooking much. I do in theory but I don't think I'm very good at it. Plus, for me, it's a never ending job.
With five children, who seem to have vast appetites yet are amazingly fussy, it amounts to a lot of work. So when Little Dish, makers of fresh meals for children, asked if I would like to review some of their products I nearly bit their hand off.
Generally we all eat together but there are occasions when the bigger four are out so to have a meal already made to feed the little one seemed like heaven.
The only trouble was, would he think so too?
We don't have a microwave (the only family in the country according to my father although I'm sure that's not true) but it was a moment's work to take the meal out of the freezer and pop it out of its plastic carton into the oven. They are fresh and can be found in the chiller cabinet but can be frozen for up to a month too.
I did feel a pang of guilt, it didn't feel quite right doing that for a small child but a quick read of the packet put my mind at rest. The are 100% natural ingredients with no added salt or sugar.
However, were I to buy these from a supermarket the stamp proclaiming "Paediatric Dietician Approved" would probably have the opposite of the desired effect. I mean, was it just one paediatric dietician? Or a whole roomful of them?
The ingredients listed on the pack was helpful with everything there that you would expect to find in a vegetable lasagne if you had made it yourself.
But did my three-year-old like the meals?
Well, yes and no. I did say my children were fussy. He loved the butternut squash and chicken pie which was cheesy with lots of lovely chicken chunks. He didn't eat it all, the portions were a good size for him but someone with a bit more of a heartier appetite might need more.
In the interest of research I polished off his scraps and I have to report it was delicious. The cottage pie, however, was a disappointment and didn't go down well. It seemed a bit bland to me and my son wasn't too keen.
The fish pie was a hit with me but not with him, although I think this has more to do with his aversion to fish than to the dish but he really enjoyed the vegetable lasagne.
Other dishes in the range include mild chicken korma (which I think we might have to try), pasta with cheese, peas and broccoli trees and pasta bolognese,
I know these are all dishes that are easy to make from scratch but sometimes our inner domestic goddess goes missing. They're also not the cheapest way to feed your child, at £2.29 each but sometimes when life is busy and you can't cook for whatever reason, they are perfect.
Little Dish meals are available from Tesco and Ocado and there's also a stockist checker.