The Best Mama Snacks for Feeling UHHH-MAZING

Ok we’re letting you into the secret of motherhood survival! Created by mums for mums, the Franjo’s Kitchen range is all about feeling good. When you eat their biscuits, crackers or muesli, it’s like receiving a warm and delicious hug. Ahhhhh.

Whether you’re struggling to keep anything down while pregnant or worried about your milk supply, Franjo’s snacks make #mumlife that bit easier, and here at MD® HQ, we can’t get enough, with their cookies often disappearing within minutes of entering the office!

Founded by #bossmamas Francesca Woods and Johanna Clark (Jo is a naturopath and nutritionist), Franjo’s Kitchen is all about keeping mama STRONG, taking the term ‘superfood’ to another level. Not your typical business, the range combines naturopathy and nutrition to create a range of products with mama health and wellbeing in mind, using natural ingredients. GO the GOODNESS!

What started with two flavours of breastfeeding biscuits has now expanded to a delicious and functional product range that supports every stage of life – from pregnancy and breastfeeding through to toddlerhood and beyond. And yo, they have gluten-free options too.

So how can they help you up your mama game?

PREGNANCY RANGE

Growing a baby is magical. It’s also hard work. There’s the exhaustion, nausea, all-day sickness, indigestion and swollen feet, to name just a few delightful side effects. The pregnancy range helps with this by settling the tummy and nourishing mama and bump with a natural, healthy, super quick snack. Genius! The Belly Bump Crackers and Biscuits are amazing!

BREASTFEEDING RANGE

When you’re feeding, you need a wholesome snack that will lift your energy levels and support a healthy milk supply. If you can eat it with one hand while cradling your milk drunk bub with the other? Even better! The breastfeeding range is specifically formulated to support a healthy milk supply so both mama and bub can thrive, with the Tanker Topper Lactation Cookies, Muesli and Crackers available in a heap of flavours – biscuits for your boobs, crackers for your cans and muesli for your melons! Bahaha. 100% natural, these snacks actually nourish your body with vitamins, minerals and good fats.

TODDLER RANGE

You know the drill – your little one starts kinder and all of a sudden you’re launched into the world of lunchboxes. While you had grand plans to create Instagram-worthy lunchbox feasts, some days you wake up and realise all you’ve got on hand is a stale loaf of bread, some sad looking cheese and a few limp carrots. Life with young kids is crazy busy and it’s hard to get everything done between kinder drop-off and pick-up. Sometimes you just need to press the easy button. But finding a ready-made snack that isn’t packed with sugar and preservatives? Not so easy.

Which is where the kinder range comes in, helping nourish toddlers’ growing bodies with natural ingredients and none of the nasties for wholesome chia biccies for kids on the go. 100% natural, dairy free and egg free, they are suuuuuper healthy.

FAMILY RANGE

And then there is the family range where the whole fam-bam can enjoy a sweet biscuit that’s actually good for you. PREACH!!

“We believe that food should taste great and be full of natural ingredients that work with your body, not against it,” say Jo and Fran. “That’s why you’ll never see any additives, preservatives or refined sugar in our products. Only the best quality ingredients to help you live your best life.”

#BOSSMAMAS

We chat to Fran and Jo, the fierce mamas behind the brand…

How did Franjo’s Kitchen come about?

FRAN: Back in 2013, I was a corporate lawyer, and Jo, who was living in the same area at the time, was a naturopath. We had just had our first babies, and one morning out walking we stopped at the same traffic light. As mums do, we got talking and decided to continue the rest of the walk together. During the walk, I mentioned to Jo that I was having supply issues with my milk and had been frantically searching for lactation cookie recipes on Google to help boost my supply. Jo had just started up her own healthy biscuit company. And the rest is history!

What were the early days like?

FRAN: Franjo’s Kitchen was by no means an overnight success. There were long days of product trialling, testing batches, and endless driving around the Western suburbs of Melbourne delivering cookies to new mums. But we knew the potential, and never stopped pushing. During that time, we both went on to have second children (and third children, with Jo having twins), but still continued to grow the business. We worked countless hours around each other’s kitchen tables nursing newborns, entertaining toddlers and building a little empire.

What is the ethos behind the business?

JO: Despite the incredible growth, we are 100 per cent committed to staying true to our early beginnings, keeping Franjo’s Kitchen as a brand designed for mums and their families. We are big believers of functional food, and of providing support and nurture to mums.

You can check out their amazing range at franjoskitchen.com and follow them on Instagram at @franjoskitchen and on Facebook at @franjoskitchen.

You may also like The No.1 Thing You Need in your Pregnancy Arsenal and 13 Self Love Tips for New Mamas.