Piccolo Launches Three Stock Sachets And Conducts Eating Study

Vegetable soup with a vegetable stock sachet.

In July, Piccolo exclusively launched three stock sachet lines in Boots stores and online — Tomato & Herb, Beef and Vegetable. These sachets are the first stock sachets launched with no added salt or sugar.

Launched in 2016, Piccolo is the UK’s fastest growing baby food company, focusing on nutritious food and family time. Piccolo makes healthy, and very tasty baby meals, cooking products and snacks to help you get the right balance every day.

Following the success of their Chicken, Beef and Vegetable stock cubes, the new powdered formats are designed to be more convenient for parents. At 10g each, the sachets are slightly bigger than the stock cube option, designed for larger meals.

Developing their existing organic cooking range – consisting of baby pastas, stir-in sauces and stock cubes designed specifically for babies (which launched last year), Piccolo sought to improve the already popular products and address the concerns of the increasing number of health-conscious parents, without compromising on the taste.

The brand also conducted some research on parents’ cooking habits pre, during and post lock-down.

The study, consisting of 424 UK mums and dads, revealed that:

  • 46% of parents found it tough finding time to prepare healthy meals, before lockdown.
  • 39% of parents said that they batch cook several meals for their little ones at a time.
  • Parents now feel much more confident in the kitchen.
  • 78% of those who said their cooking habits had changed said they’ll carry on cooking more once lockdown is lifted.

The impact of Covid on all aspects of our lives is evident – from sleeping to how we cook and feed our children.

Parents found cooking and feeding their little ones much easier during lockdown because they had more time to plan meals and cook — and, in turn, their babies were more open to trying new foods.

This is an extremely interesting change: what we’re seeing now is a return to more traditional, sustainable values with a huge increase in home cooking and shopping locally.

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“As a mum myself, I know I’ve found it challenging cooking three meals a day for my family during lockdown. We’ve seen that many parents have been enjoying cooking but also finding it difficult to come up with new ideas. We want to continue supporting parents as best we can in their efforts to cook at home, and encourage a more nutritious approach to feeding their little ones.

Like myself, lots of parents are becoming more aware of the importance of health from an early age – in fact, our recent study showed that 55% of our customers choose our cooking range because of its low salt and sugar content. The launch of our new stock sachet powder will really appeal to those looking for healthy options.

Cat Gazzoli, Founder of Piccolo

Drawing from Cat Gazzoli’s Mediterranean roots, Piccolo makes organic baby food, snacks and cooking ingredients packed with vegetables, fruit, herbs and spices to make it easy for parents to give their families a nutritious start in life and promote a lifetime of healthy eating. 

The Piccolo range was developed by co-founder, and infant nutritional expert, Alice Fotheringham. It spans smooth purees, suitable from four months; textured meals, suitable from 7 months; teething snacks; cooking sauces; stock cubes and formula milk.

At Piccolo, giving back and sustainable sourcing are core values of their business. They work with small producers at the heart of their sourcing decisions, with many of their organic ingredients planted and nurtured in independent family farms across the Mediterranean. 

Piccolo is also committed to giving 10% of profits to charities, supporting local families, and, over the last two years, have donated over 200,000 baby meals to families in need. They currently work with Little Village and City Harvest to help local families provide their children with the best start in life. 

Piccolo’s other products can be found in Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Asda, Coop, Boots, Morrisons, Ocado, Whole Foods Market and Planet Organic as well in many independent and online retailers — including their own temporary direct to consumer store, launched in response to Covid-19.

You can find out more about them on their website.