Do you have a little play kitchen or toy tea set for your toddler or young child to cook up and serve imaginary meals?
Did you find yourself frustrated as I was when you bought the huge box of play food to go along with the kitchen set only to discover that the toy foods overwhelmingly included unhealthy choices like boxed cereal, processed condiments, french fries, fast food boxes, and pasteurized milk cartons?
I don’t know about you, but I certainly didn’t want my children playing with these fake food toys as I felt it would establish an unhealthy subconscious memory in their minds.
In the end, I ended up throwing away over half the play food I had purchased keeping only the vegetables, fruits, eggs and chicken drumsticks!
Now there is no need to waste money on play food that you don’t want. You can get real food toys so that your children can role play basic cooking skills in a truly healthy way!
I was thrilled over the weekend to receive an email from a reader names Bess Taylor who recently turned her sewing hobby into a business.
She hand sews the most beautiful little healthy play food you’ve ever seen!  She even told me that her healthy fats play food set shown in the picture to the right was inspired by my post Five Fats You Must Have in Your Kitchen!
If you’ve been looking for safe, healthy toys for your children that promote the correct nutritional message into their little developing brains, these toys are worth checking out!
Just remember that these lovely toys are hand sewn so if you want them for a birthday or Christmas gift, order ahead of time to give Bess time to prepare your order!
To see the full line of BessMess toys, click here. She even has a little toy jug of raw milk for your child’s play refrigerator!
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Ikea sells these! One set has a cloth basket filled with fruit and veg, the other set has a soft cutting board, knife, bacon & egg breakfast & sandwich-type stuff. All fabric. I really hate plastic, so I got them for my childbirth classes for when I talk about nutrition. They are really reasonably priced too.
I have the IKEA sets as well. I have them in my waiting room for children to play with while they are waiting for their lesson. They LOVE them! One basket is full of fruits and the other is full of vegys! Yea!! (no junk food play sets….yuk)
While I’m on the subject…..has anyone noticed the overwhelming array of “character-based” toys on the market? What ever happened to the simple toys that sparked imaginative play?? (not just imaginative scenes based on an already existing character from a movie or tv show).
Suzanne
IKEA does not have a set of healthy fats toys like butter, coconut oil etc. These are very important.
This is great! A blow to the rotten food industry, which pushes toys of its poison products. A great invention for Real Food!
Those are awesome!! I just did a felt food exchange with some friends and it was so much work. I would be trilled to pay for some good felt food for my daughter! Thanks!
Yes, I hear you. Sewing is not on my list of things I do well or enjoy. I would much rather have someone who loves this sort of thing do it for me 🙂
I love this, thank you! I’m going to make my son a play jar of coconut oil to include in his wooden kitchen!
Love this! I did the same thing, tossing out the unmentionables :). I will definitely check her stuff out!
This is fantastic! I too was searching for more appropriate food sets. Ikea had some nice fruit and vegetable ones and we found some Plan toys wood ones with proteins. I also gave my daughter used bottles and jars from our pantry – honey, cottage cheese, raw butter etc. I love seeing talented people take the initiative and fill a gap in the market! Will definitely share this!
I sent a link for these toys to Sally Fallon Morell, President of the Weston A. Price Foundation, and she is going to order the healthy fats set for her grandson 🙂
This is too CUTE! I might get some for my 4-year-old sister for her birthday.
This is cute and informative! I remember my toys when I was a kid, too. I used to play restaurant with my sister.
Love it! We were given some wonderful wooden playfood sets, and they have real foods like veggies, fruit, and bread. They are attached by velcro and come with a special knife to slice them. They are made by ‘Melissa & Doug’. Ikea also has real food playsets, the foods are made of felt, which is a great alternative to potentially toxic plastics. My kiddos put their playfood in their mouths but I don’t have to worry about it.
We also have the Ikea food sets. I don’t think there’s any fake food in those. One of them is a sandwich set and includes sausage, cheese, and what looks to be whole grain bread … OK, so there’s a slice of white bread, too, but maybe we can pretend that’s GF rice/millet bread. 🙂