I love a good cauliflower cheese.
To be honest, I love most things involving cheese, but cauliflower cheese has a special place in my heart. The texture is amazing – the soft crunch of the cauliflower combined with the creamy sauce and the chewy cheese on top – it’s comforting, and hey, it’s mostly veg, right? So it must be healthy! 🤭
My bathroom scales say otherwise, but I digress…
It’s a brilliant side dish to most proper dinners, but I also found it really useful as a weaning food for my daughter. She absolutely loved the stuff, and if I mashed it up once it was cooked she could happily munch through bowls of it.
Now you might be thinking that’s all very well, but I’m not making a whole cauliflower cheese from scratch every time the kids get hungry.
That’s where my shortcut comes in.
Don’t Ignore the Frozen Stuff!
My fella’s Mum is a bit of a genius in the kitchen. On the one hand it’s amazing, because she makes us delicious food all the time, but on the other hand, it makes me feel like a total failure when it comes to cooking.
Except one day, when my youngest was still a toddler, my in laws came over for Sunday lunch, and among other things, I made them – and I quote:
“The best cauliflower cheese I’ve ever had”
Ha! Who’s a failure now?
But I had a secret. I didn’t make it at all. I used a bag of frozen cauliflower cheese from the freezer, the same stuff I fed my little girl (I’d warm it up first, I’m not a monster). I had no choice really. In the chaos of being a working parent of two small children I hadn’t got everything I needed when I went shopping, so I had to improvise.
All I did was microwave it, then stir a bit of grated cheddar into the mix. I then bunged it in the oven just long enough to get that golden top and it was done.
The fact that my mother in law couldn’t tell was mind blowing to me. The best cauliflower cheese she had ever had 😏
It was £1.99 a bag from Aldi, but who am I to argue with my mother in law?
Why It Works So Well For Kids
As I have hopefully demonstrated, with a bit of pimping out, the frozen stuff can work great for adults, but it’s even better for kids.
If you are someone who relies on those expensive Ella pouches because they feel easier, I get it. I used them with my son for a while.
They are slightly easier, but it’s minimal. However busy you are, you have time to microwave some frozen cauliflower cheese for 2 minutes and give it a quick mash, right? You can even use the potato masher – it takes seconds!
For the money it will save you it is 100% worth that tiny bit of extra effort. Do a batch and keep it in the fridge to make it even quicker.
I used to take it with me on days out too. Stick it in a little container and it’s fine to eat later when it’s cooled down. If there is somewhere to heat it up, even better. Plus, you’re not throwing away yet more endless packaging like you would be with food pouches.
And here’s something that will definitely get your attention: a lot of those kids food pouches lack the key nutrients they claim to provide. It’s true. The processing can strip out things like vitamin C, tests have shown very low iron levels, and some contain more sugar in a single pouch than a kid should have in a day.
So there you go. That’s my case for using frozen cauliflower cheese, whether for an adult or for the kids.
You can always add to it like I did if you want an upgrade. Experiment with different cheeses or make it spicy or something. But as a base, the frozen stuff is the way to go if you ask me.
So don’t turn your nose up at the frozen stuff – if it’s good enough for my mother in law, it’s good enough for you too 😂