4 Recipe Ideas for Neocate that are “Just Right”

Do you remember the story of Goldilocks and the three bears? Of course you do. But if you don’t, this is the story about a little girl who, when faced with a number of options in various scenarios, always chose the option in the middle, the one that was “just right.” Wouldn’t it be great if every decision we made in life had a “just right” option, and didn’t involve angry bears?

Unfortunately, choosing a hypoallergenic formula can pose a challenge for some families. Let me explain what I mean. Over the years, we at Neocate have offered families lots of options of hypoallergenic formula. Families of children over one year can choose an unflavored formula, or they can choose a flavored formula. And we offer more than one flavor, we offer seven great flavors! Not only that, families can choose from formulas that are powders and others that are liquid, or ready-to-drink. So convenient! And finally, some of our formula options have added prebiotic fiber to help support gut health.

With all of those choices, especially all the tasty flavors, you’d think it would be easy to find the right formula, if not several that would work. Unfortunately, some children prefer a formula that’s mildly flavored and mildly sweetened. For them, especially some when transitioning from Neocate Syneo Infant around their first birthday, new flavors can seem strong. Young children may also not be ready for sweet beverages. On the other hand, they may find unflavored hypoallergenic formulas (we offer 3) a bit too plain or not quite sweet enough.

For years we’ve given parents and healthcare teams in this predicament guidance that, for these children, it may be best to try a mix of Neocate Junior, Unflavored and Neocate Junior, Vanilla. That mixture should give a nice middle-of-the road level of both flavor and sweetness. But we’ve never given more guidance than mixing them “half and half.” Until now.

I decided to sit down and really see if 50:50 was the right ratio. Through trial and error, I realized that wasn’t my favorite, but I did find the ratio of these two products that I think is “just right.” By that I mean it’s got a mild vanilla flavor and is mildly sweet, similar to vanilla-flavored dairy substitutes. You may prefer different levels of sweetness and vanilla than I do, but at least you can use these recipes as a starting point.

Neocate Splash + Neocate Junior

I was also curious what ratio might work well when mixing Neocate Splash, Unflavored and Neocate Junior, Vanilla. Because Neocate Splash, Unflavored is sweeter than the unflavored Neocate Junior powders, I wasn’t surprised that a 50:50 ratio was sweeter than I was looking for. But I was surprised to find that using mostly Splash gave the best flavor and sweetness. Here are the recipes I came up with:

Neocate Splash + Neocate Junior

You may be wondering how many cans of Neocate Junior, Vanilla you would need for every case of Neocate Splash, Unflavored. One can of Neocate Junior, Vanilla will give you about 55 level, unpacked scoops, and each case of Neocate Splash, Unflavored has 27 drink boxes. For the top recipe (1 drink box to 1 scoop) you’ll need 1 can of Neocate Junior to 2 cases of Splash. For the bottom recipe (1 drink box to 2 scoops), you’ll need 1 can of Neocate Junior per case of Neocate Splash.

While we’re talking about recipes, we know a lot of parents and healthcare professionals get creative when adding Neocate to the diet outside of using a bottle or cup. One of our latest recipes uses Neocate Junior with Prebiotics, Unflavored in a delicious veggie cake. This recipe was developed by a chef who’s also a registered dietitian, so you know it’s tasty! Watch her prepare this delicious recipe:

Let us know if you find these recipes helpful! What ratio tastes best to you or your loved one?

— Rob

Last updated January 24, 2019