Food company Little Dish, which was set up to provide handmade meals for toddlers, launched its first range of products last April.

The company is the brainchild of managing director Hillary Graves and John Stapleton, a co-founder of the New Covent Garden Food Company. It targets what they claim is the untapped toddler food market.

The company began by launching five adult-inspired dishes - fish pie, mild chicken korma, cottage pie, pasta bolognese and pasta with cheese, peas & broccoli - which are all priced at £2.29 to £2.49 for 200g. Each contains no added salt or sugar.

Graves and Stapleton created the dishes in consultation with a paediatric dietician to ensure toddlers get a balanced diet. They were also an attempt to introduce new flavours to children's palates.

"For mothers of toddlers,

nutritional balance is the most

important factor when it comes to feeding their kids - but taste is also really important," says Graves.

Wholesomeness is also high on the list of priorities at Little Dish.

"If you look at the ingredients list on our products it reads like a recipe book," says Graves.

The products are not organic, mainly because of cost and availability, but great care is taken when sourcing ingredients.

The Little Dish range, which now also includes sauces and fromage frais, has listings with Waitrose, Sainsbury's and Tesco.

The company is concerned that its location in chillers away from the baby aisle means some shoppers may not ever see it. But Graves says: "Half of our sales are repeat purchases - so when people find it, they really like it."

The company plans to launch new recipes as well as a range of snacks and lunchbox goodies this year.

These will include a range of wholewheat-coated 'bites' in chicken, fish and vegetable variants that can be eaten hot or cold. They will be accompanied by a pot of tomato sauce.