Wildly Tasty: Plant-based meals for kids

Through her business Wildly Tasty, Louisa Mitchell makes and sells plant-based meals for children. Her pasta sauces, curries and tagines are homemade using high-quality vegetables, beans, chickpeas and lentils. They’re then frozen and couriered as a set of eight meals, which customers can keep in the freezer, ready to heat up in a few minutes.

Customers can choose their own selection of plant-based ready meals and buy a one-off box or sign up for a weekly or monthly subscription. The meals are sold online in recyclable, compostable or biodegradable packaging. “I make sure each Wildly Tasty recipe is packed with at least four veggies and I work with a nutritionist to ensure the recipes are nutritionally balanced. And everything is freshly made, even down to our curry paste,” says Louisa (pictured above in the green apron with her employee Tanya, husband David and friend Jamie at VegFest).

Before starting Wildly Tasty in 2022, Louisa worked as Head of Product and then Head of Vegan Recipe Development at the recipe box company Mindful Chef. “I was their first employee so I saw it grow tremendously. You can’t help but be inspired when you see what the founders have achieved.”

Louisa, 35, began her career at the ready meal company Charlie Bigham’s. Wildly Tasty is based in Surrey and is a Starling business customer.

Improving taste through food feedback

Louisa came up with the idea for Wildly Tasty two years ago, after having her second child. “As a mother of two under two, I found it very challenging to batch cook all the time. I longed for a healthy convenient option that was full of flavour, but I couldn’t find anything.”

While developing recipes for Wildly Tasty, she asked friends and friends’ children for feedback. She continues to do this with customers.

“I want to make sure we are creating a community where people feel they can ask us questions and give us feedback, which they often do on Instagram. As a small business, you can make changes very quickly - that’s the beauty of it,” she says.

Louisa runs the business full-time and works with a freelance designer and part-time partnerships and community manager. “Starting a business on your own can be quite lonely at times, so it’s really nice to have someone come in for a few days a week. I’ve also joined a number of groups and networks, such as Vegan Business Tribe and the Facebook group The FoodHUB by Bread & Jam, where a community of food and drink founders and experts in the industry post helpful tips and recent news.”

Developing plant-based meals for kids

Louisa started eating a plant-based diet five years ago. “When I helped develop the first vegan recipe box for Mindful Chef, I saw how easy it is to cook plant-based food. Before I did that, I’d struggled to be vegan because I thought I’d be missing out. But with the right ingredients and time to think about it, I was able to make really tasty, healthy recipes,” she says.

“With Wildly Tasty, we aren’t advocating for families to be vegan all the time, we’re just making it easier for them to have plant-based meals on a more regular basis.”

One of her goals this year is to develop new recipes. “I’d like to expand our range to offer savoury and sweet lunchbox offerings. I’d also like to introduce tofu and tempeh into the range, they’re really high in protein and can be really tasty in the right recipe.”

Business banking with Starling

Louisa first heard about Starling’s business accounts through a friend and fellow business owner. “Starling came out top wherever I looked,” she says.

“The app gives you a good breakdown of your spending, which is really helpful. It’s very easy to make payments and I like the safety messages that make you double check everything. The integration with Xero all functions really well and makes life that little bit easier when doing the business accounts”