You are here
Home > Kidspiration > Aparna Pande of Kidstir Is Making Cooking Fun for Kids

Aparna Pande of Kidstir Is Making Cooking Fun for Kids

Moms, how many times have you been in the kitchen baking or cooking and your little ones requested to join you? Although the idea of cooking with your kids seems like fun, thoughts of chaos fill your mind. From giving them adequate instructions to the clean-up, the tasks can feel cumbersome. Kidstir is making the process of family cooking fun with their subscription boxes.

Small - image001What is the inspiration behind Kidstir?
My then 5 year old twins Zack and Xander were the inspiration behind Kidstir. I wanted them to grow up loving good food, just like my husband and I do. I am Indian and my husband is Hong Kong Chinese, and food places a joyous and healing role in both of our cultures. My boys also have severe food allergies, and it was important for me that they not fear food but instead feel empowered and confident around it.

What can be found in a Kidstir kit?
Our kits contain a fresh food shopping list, 3 step-by-step recipes, 3 kid-size tools and activities, 3 foodie education pages, and 3 fun learning filled games. All new subscribers receive 2 bonus years of FamilyFun, Parents or Rachael Ray Magazine, and prepaid 12 month subscribers also include a bonus cookbook binder so the little chef can build his or her own cookbook.

How do you come up with the themes and recipes for the Kidstir box?
I worked with my amazing teammates, the children’s cookbook author Deanna F. Cook and award-winning designer Katie Craig, to develop our kids cooking kits. We tested our kits with many kids and families. We also shared them with other experts. Our kits are parent, chef, educator, pediatrician, nutritionist and kid approved!

What are some of your favorite Kidstir recipes to cook with your kids?
Some of the most popular Kidstir recipes in my home are: Pizza Soup (a kid-friendly Pasta e Fagioli), Chocolate Lava Love (chocolate fondant), and Fish Food (an extraordinarily simple and delicious goldfish cracker). But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. My boys (and visiting friends) are always flipping through their Kidstir cookbook and asking to make one recipe or another!

What are some ways parents can teach their kids to eat healthier?
When you come to understand how amazing food is, you tend not to take it for granted. When parents have a positive connection with food, that helps kids develop a healthy relationship with it as well. Cooking is a fun way to talk, learn, touch, taste and explore food, and a wonderful activity to do together as a family. So many of our best memories are made in the kitchen!

Where do you see Kidstir in 5 years?
My goal is that a generation of kids will go off to college with their Kidstir cookbooks packed in their duffle bags. I would love to see young adults cooking real, healthy food that is simple yet also full of taste and sophistication. You can learn that at any age, and you can keep building on that at any age.

What advice would you give to a mom who wants to start her own subscription box?
Moms are brilliant and hard-working, so I know I don’t need to say something like do your research or figure out the business end of it. Of course they will do that. My advice is simply- push forward. It is so hard to step into the unknown. Just see that mountaintop and keep on striving. I have a k.d. lang quote posted on my desk that I look at often: “Even through the darkest phase be it thick or thin always someone marches brave here beneath my skin”.

Learn more and place your order at https://kidstir.com/.

One thought on “Aparna Pande of Kidstir Is Making Cooking Fun for Kids

Leave a Reply

Top