Full Tank visits Boston!

Full Tank Foods recently attended the Natural Products Expo East in Boston, MA.  For those of you who aren’t that familiar with the natural products expos there are two main shows a year, one in the spring, on the west coast and one in fall, on the east coast. We attended both shows in 2008. Both were great networking tools and successful in getting our name out there. In Boston, we announced our product distribution expansion. For most of 2008, we have primarily been located in grocers on the west coast. Starting in October we are proud to announce that we have brought Full Tank to Pittsburgh and surrounding areas. At the show we had a booth and passersby had the opportunity to sample Full Tank Foods macaroni & cheese and pasta & red sauce veggie enriched entrees.

Jonathan and I ”manning” the booth at Natural Products Expo East 2008

Even though our products are geared toward 3-11 year olds, we can attest that adults love them just as much! Where else can you get one of your daily recommended servings of vegetables without altering the taste of kid friendly favorites?

Well…check back often because we have a few exciting announcements coming soon!

Kids and Vegetables

There is a story every day and numerous blog posts about getting kids to eat veggies.  I am struck by the number of suggestions, the blame game and the blatant naïveté about getting kids to eat veggies.   As an example, some suggest offering them repeatedly until they try it, or adding purees to common meals, or having the kids watch you eat them, or playing games with veggies.  Fine.  Others suggest the reason the kids don’t eat their veggies is because of bad parenting or laziness.  Still others have no clue about a child’s taste buds being different than that of an adult. 

 

As a parent of a child with autism, the suggestions and the blame game rub me wrong.   A lot of kids with autism have increased sensitivity to taste, smell, texture and even color. Veggies pretty much cover all of these senses!  For awhile there, my son wouldn’t go near veggies, no matter what I tried.   (That doesn’t make me a bad parent or lacking in creativity.)    Over time, his sensory diet increased and we were able to introduce veggies.  Just wish Full Tank was around during the early days!

Full Tank- Helping Parents Fuel Healthy Kids!

Why is it so hard to get kids to eat a healthy meal?This was a question John and Dr. Whitney Anderson asked themselves when their two children abandoned their healthy eating habits when they became toddlers. As a pediatrician, Dr. Anderson meets with thousands of parents whose kids won’t eat vegetables or drink enough water. For a variety of reasons, kids in our society learn to prefer unhealthy convenience foods.

 

The Andersons asked why? As a Six Sigma operations engineer, John outlined the probable root causes. Obviously taste is a major issue for kids. He knew how bitter tastes work and that it is possible to use chemistry to mask bitter tastes in many foods. Visual cues are also important, leading the Andersons to develop ways to enrich foods with vegetables without changing their color. Over time, they developed a library of techniques to address the various’ chemical, biological, social, and behavioral reasons why kids don’t like healthy foods. In fact, they have a whole library of patents to show for their early work in the field.

After a few years of research, the Andersons launched a line of healthy and practical frozen foods for kids. Their flagship product was a pasta that contained a large amount of carrot pureed into the red sauce. This proved to be a hit with parents and kids and they started selling to local elementary schools. After 2 years of refining recipes in the schools, the Andersons took the product retail at Whole Foods stores in the Pacific Northwest in late 2007.

In early 2008, Full Tank’s products will be available in most major metropolitan areas in the United States.

Full Tank’s mission is to help parents fuel healthy kids. Please check back often to find out about new products

Dr.Mommy’s Trial-

Quick Organic Meals for Kids – A Review

Dr.Mommy says, “With a family of 7 like ours we are always on the run.  I am always concerned about the foods that they eat and try to make sure they are as healthy as possible.  It’s not easy to find healthy foods that are quick to make and that kids will enjoy eating.

On my quest to find easy to make healthy foods that kids would love, I found a great company called Full Tank Foods .  This company was developed by Dr. Whitney Anderson, a pediatrician and her husband.  Their goal was to develop quick, easy healthy foods that kids would actually enjoy eating.  More importantly parents would love them because they were made with organic products and vitamins.  The products also needed to taste good to attract little ones.  So, I decided to put them to the test with my children.

Today we received our Full Tank Food Products via DHL.  They are delivered frozen and in very colorful packages.  We received macaroni and cheese, pizza fondue, pasta & red sauce and cheesy mashed potatoes in a pocket sandwiches.  The products are microwavable for quick meals, so of course that passed my test.  The products are all made from organic products and are excellent sources of Vitamin A and C another positive on my side.  But of course the true judges were my children.

I am happy to report that they LOVED the products. Not only were they easy to prepare, but of course the products passed my picky-eaters test.  The best part was that they were eating healthy and didn’t know that the foods were filled with vitamins as well.  I am very pleased with these wonderful products and hope that you will give them a try as well.

Be sure to visit Full Tank Foods today and get your products delivered to your home or find a local health food store that may carry them too.  There is a list of shops on their website that carry these wonderful products and a list of stores that will soon be carrying them as well.

Thank you to Full Tank Foods, for allowing my family to test your wonderful and delicious products, we will certainly be purchasing these products and keeping a full stock in our freezer. “