My Round Up đż
Oh my goodness – 2025 has been absolutely full to bursting. When I look back over the last twelve months, I canât quite believe how much has unfolded. This is one of my favourite things to do at the end of the year: reflect on whatâs happened, soak up the wins (and the lessons), and say a big, huge, sincereâŻthank youâŻto all of you reading, following along, and supporting me along the way. Iâm also so thankful to the small handful of beautiful brands and people I get to work with too.
Well, the biggest thing for me this year wasâŚ
Launching my long-dreamed supplement range with Cytoplan!
This has been a dream of mine for many years, especially when I realised what a dire need there was for something that ticked the boxes for our littlest ones. One of the biggest moments of my entire career happened this year – the launch of my new supplement range with Cytoplan. This is something Iâve been dreaming about, researching, and quietly working towards forâŻquite literally years. To see it finally launch – and to see it so insanely receivedâŚhas been nothing short of incredible. The company I partnered with has been thrilled with the results, and hearing the feedback from so many families has made every late night, every careful decision, and every moment of doubt feel completely worth it.
If you havenât seen them yet, check them out here â Charlotteâs Vitamin Drops.
Charlotteâs Brand Work
I am very selective about who I work with, always, I only work with a very small number of brands, those I genuinely admire and believe in. This year, those partnerships with brands like Little Dish and Zebedees deepened even further and I so value withing with companies who listen, adapt and always strive to be doing the best. I am also so grateful to continue working with companies who feel like friends, not just âclients.â
Little Dish â Â
In 2025 I continued my partnership with Little Dish, helping them launch NDP (have you seen their Superstars?) which has been a phenomenal success and also continuing their ongoing charity efforts with The Felix Project. Little Dish itself has had one of their best years as more and more families discover their fresh kidsâ meals. Iâm thrilled my Little Dish Lasagnette meal is now available in all the supermarkets – thank you to everyone who has tried it and let me know how much their kids loved it. Little Dish have also won lots of awards this year including a Grocer Gold award for their brilliant ‘Buy ONE, Give ONE’ partnership with The Felix Project and innovation awards for their new Superstars chicken nuggets, which contain 50% less salt and have cauliflower blended into them (have you seen them yet?)
We have BIG plans together for 2026 so stay tuned to hear about those!
Here is what LD said about working with me:
âEveryone at Little Dish enjoys working with Charlotte. She is so knowledgeable about childrenâs nutrition, and what parents want to feed their little ones, and cares so much about the recipes she creates with us. She always goes the extra mile to help make our meals as healthyâŻandâŻdelicious as they can be and works seamlessly as part of the Little Dish team.â Dean Brown, Little Dish CEO.
Zebedees â Â
Iâve been working with Zebedees for years now, and itâs been incredible to see their impact grow. This year alone theyâve won some exciting awards (such as Health Hero Award at the Food Manufacture Excellence Awards and Overall Business of the Year award!)
and reached more children than ever with their balanced hot lunches. Catering to over 362 nurseries and delivering more than 1.7 million lunches, their reach has grown by 25% compared to last year. Even more impressive, 97% of nurseries report being happy with their service. This really shows the care and consistency they bring to every meal they serve and the feedback they receive is so wonderful.
Iâve loved being part of this journey, especially at a time when nursery food guidelines have finally changed and thereâs been so much conversation about what children are fed in early years settings. From speaking to many of you, and seeing the feedback Zebedees receive (their customer service really is second to none), itâs clear that those of you with little ones in a Zebedees-catered nursery are truly the lucky ones.
What Zebedees said about working with me:
âWorking with Charlotte has been invaluable. We have worked with her for over five years, and she has become a truly valued member of our team. Her guidance on the new EYFS nutrition standards has helped us ensure our meals meet the latest requirements while still keeping them enjoyable for the children. She consistently challenges us to improve our menus and to go above and beyond in creating meals that children enjoy, parents appreciate and nurseries love. Sheâs supportive, responsive and makes the whole process seamless.â
Veg Power â Â
I also partnered with Veg Power on a variety of projects aimed at getting more children and families across the UK eating fruit, vegetables and beansâŚa mission close to my own work and career. The energy and creativity of the Veg Power team are infectious, and itâs been a joy supporting their campaigns, speaking at their conferences and collaborating with other experts to get beans and veggies more accepted in UK families.
John Lewis â Â
This year I partnered with John Lewis to help support and speak at their All Things Baby event. This is hosted in the JL flagship store and is a place where parents can go to learn about feeding, sleeping, or looking after their babies as well as find out about the range of products available to them. I was lucky enough to have Waterstones also host my book sales and signing at the event too which was such a success. Iâm in talks to run more of these with the JL team next year too!
Podcast Power
Series 2 of my podcast How to Feed with Charlotte Stirling-Reed launched this year, and what an extraordinary season itâs been.
One unforgettable highlight wasâŻinterviewing the Mayor of London, discussing the future of childrenâs health, access to nutritious food, and how we can better support families across the city of London and beyond.
The podcast also received anâŻaward nomination, which was such a surreal moment. I created it to foster honest, evidence-based conversations that parents can have in their spotify How to Feed Charlotte Stirling-Reed (and ear)âŚso this recognition has meant the world.
Iâm so thrilled with this series and if you havenât listened to it yet, now is the time to give it a go! Iâve also written a little round up of my learnings on it on social media too!
Supporting national change: Government work
My role in shaping national conversations around early years nutrition grew significantly in 2025.
This year, I contributed to:
- National early years nutrition guidelines
- Work onâŻschool food standards in the UK
- Speaking onâŻbreakfast clubâŻinitiatives from the UK Government
- Broader governmental concepts designed to support families
And in early 2026, Iâll be able to share details about another projectâŻIâve been working on quietly behind the scenes on this similar topic.
This kind of policy-level work is something I feel more motivated than ever to continue.
TV, Media & Panorama
Media-wise, 2025 was huge.
Some standout moments:
- MyâŻfirst appearance onâŻThis Morning
- A powerful feature and support given toâŻBBC Panoramaâs The Truth about Baby Food, which has already helped spark meaningful discussions and tangible changes about baby food quality and safety
- Interviews across the UK highlighting the importance of evidence-based guidance for parents
The Panorama project, in particular, felt like a real moment something Iâm incredibly proud of.
A new addition on the bookshelf
I canât believe Iâm saying this but this year I also launchedâŻmy fourth book – The Ultimate Weaning and Toddler CookbookâŻ- which of course was another highlight of this year. This book adds so many new recipes, ideas, and bits of inspiration for babies, toddlers and whole families.
Even though my kitchen is still being renovated (chaos!), I canât wait to get back to cooking everything from this book again. These recipes feel like safe, dependable favourites that families can truly rely on.
A new Substack community
This year, I also launched myâŻnew Substack, which has quickly become one of my favourite places to share deeper thoughts, guidance, and behind-the-scenes discussions about parenthood, feeding, family nutrition and everything in between.
My hope is to continue building this into a genuine community hub a warm, informative, supportive space where parents can learn, connect and feel reassured.
Substack paid community is a big priority for 2026, and I canât wait to grow it even more and offer really supportive conversations for parents on there.
Strengthening the team behind the work
One of the most grounding things to happen this year has been strengthening my team building a secure, supportive group of people who make everything possible.
A huge, heartfelt thank you to:
- Katarina Martinez-Thomas⯖ an absolute rock for my workâŚshe could probably run SR Nutrition if she needed to đ
- Cordelia Woodward⯖ whoâs just started working with me and whose support and dedication have been invaluable. Sheâs super creative and the sweetest person youâll ever meet.
- Bev James Management, who continue to support me with so much of my brand work.
- Sokada – my brilliant website team, who bring my online world to life with creativity and care and are ALWAYS there in my crisis momentsÂ
Having such solid support around me has changed everything – giving me the freedom to create, dream bigger, and work more sustainably. But getting this right is also a huge priority for next year tooâŚwatch this space for team news!
Looking ahead to 2026
Weâre stepping into a very exciting year.
Hereâs a little glimpse of whatâs coming:
- A major community project launching early in the year
- A new brand project/duct that could be a game-changer for the baby food worldâŚ
- A new project helping nurseriesâŚwatch this space
- Continued work on school food and nursery food guidance, generally
- More information and advice on my supplement rangeâŚplus potentially some news hereâŚ
- Exploring Substack content and community building on here, including my newsletter
- And – once the new kitchen is finally done – lots more recipe development and showing you around my kitchen and building on new branding from a very beautiful new location.
2026 already feels full of possibility. Iâm so glad youâll be here to join me for it!
A Final Thank You
To every single person who has listened, followed, messaged, cooked along, bought the book, supported the supplement launch, or simply been part of this journeyâŚthank you.
To my team, my agents, my collaborators, and the brands I work with who I admire so deeply thank you for trusting me, supporting me, and believing in this mission of mine!
2025 has been huge.
2026 is going to be even bigger.
And Iâm so grateful to be walking into it with all of you.
With lots of love,
Charlotte đ
