Organic Baby Food.
My best friend and his wife just had their first child (say hello to Graeme, everyone!). I was starting to research what the best organic baby food brands are, and if any of you have had good or bad experiences with certain brands. I have about 4-6 months to get answers, but expect better from my fellow hounds. :))
Bostonbob3
Jan 03, 2007 08:41PM
Hi Graeme! Honestly, jarred baby food tastes bad. We used Earth's Best the most but I felt like I was just throwing out full jars. When I asked their pediatrician, she said, "Yeah, did you ever taste that stuff? It's terrible!" I don't know if this helps you but it was easy to make my own, just steam the veggies, mush and freeze/jar (I stored them in ice cube trays or boiled baby food jars). But, maybe this was specific to my kids because I see babies all the time downing Gerbers.
Permalink | Reply
Yeah, I suggest you get your friends a good book on making your own baby food -- I got my sister "Super Food Baby Book," which has all kinds of useful info not only for making baby food, but for planning and storing it, and for introducing new foods and other feeding techniques. My little neice is turning into quite the chowhound!
Permalink | Reply
Great idea, Ruth! I'm off to Amazon...
Permalink | Reply
I do a combination of making & buying. Whole Foods has Earth's Best on sale in case sizes, but it's best to make sure the baby is not allergic to any food 1st.
Some pediatricians will warn against making certain foods (carrots, beets) b/c they may contain high levels of nitrates. Have them talk to their pediatrician before feeding any food.
Chowser gives great advice to freeze in ice cube trays. Then just pop them out & store in freezer bags. They will thaw in the fridge overnight.
And to be honest, unless the family has asked you to research, they may not be too keen on your advice. I don't want to set people off here, but many new parents are very nervous & don't take well to others suggestions. Just my experience. Parents have information coming from so many different sources (their own parents, dr's, nurses, friends with & without kids), so even the most well meaning advice can hurt feelings.
As to the taste of baby foods, I have found that since I am used to salt, fat, sugar & spices, single foods taste very plain. To me, the worst tasting are the cereals that get mixed with either water, breast milk or formula.
Permalink | Reply
I agree Tall Sarah, but being the resident Chowhound among their friends, they asked me to do a little looking into the question.
Permalink | Reply
MY DIl makes her own. It's better. Get one of those "bullet" processors. Makes it fast. She buys good produce and fruit, cooks what needs to be cooked, blends it...baby loves it.
Permalink | Reply
So what do you think? That Super Baby Food book and a stick blender?
(I've already started to spoil the kid rotten. It only makes since that I turn him into a hound as soon as possible.)
Permalink | Reply
Not a stick blender but a mini food processor. They're fairly inexpensive and durable.
Permalink | Reply
I second the super baby food book. The recipes are all pretty easy, and there are all sorts of neat ideas for things like organic,home made play-dough, etc. Yes, the book and a mini-processor would be great.
And maybe a set of containers and a microwave sterilizer, though they may have one already for bottles.
Permalink | Reply
I would agree with the stick blender, less mess and you can then reuse it for making soups. A mini food processor (I think) would not as useful after the 4 months that you need it for. Plus, it takes up more space.
My son is now 11 months old and I have made pretty much all of his food for him. I actually got these really interesting food cube containers that have lids on them. This website has a picture of them - http://www.mypreciouskid.com/baby-foo...
Now I just use small microwavable containers, pop it in the microwave and serve. Easy and then you know exactly what they are eating.
If your friends are really not interested in making thier own, places like Whole Foods sells frozen cubes of baby food that is organic and apparently not too bad. Stay away from the jars, tried the green bean one once... scary stuff.
Permalink | Reply
I have a 3 yr old DS and a 13 month old DD. With both kids, I used Earth's Best jarred foods. My son loved them, so no problem, but my daughter wasn't fond of them, so I ended up making her most of her food and using jarred foods when we went out. I did the boxed dry rice, barley and oatmeal cereal, but would mix it with home cooked potatoes, peas, carrots, or broccoli. For fruits, she liked the EB ones, so I would use those and either feed them as is, or mix with a dry cereal for some texture. Also regular bananas, mashed when they are younger, then cut into small pieces for finger food later on.
Now that she is 13 months, she no longer eats baby foods. If our food isn't "baby appropriate" (ie. too spicy, or fried), then I make her some rice with veggies - a handful of rice, a handful of frozen veggies and water, simmered until the rice is cooked to risotto consistency. To this I add some butter and a pinch of salt for seasoning. Sometimes I add some minced onion to the cooking water too. I also do rice with lentils - equal parts covered with water and cooked until mushy, adding more water if needed.
Permalink | Reply
I'd like to join the chorus of those suggesting you make your own baby food. Aside from being able to control what goes into the food, it is MUCH cheaper than buying jarred baby food, organic or otherwise.
Make the food in batches, freeze in ice cube trays, then transfer frozen cubes of food to a ziplock baggie and label it with the date made and contents and store in the freezer. Then, you can take out what you need when you need it.
Permalink | Reply
I strongly urge your friends to cook from scratch for their babies, from the first time they taste solids and on forever.
The jars, organic or not, are not as healthy, definitely not tasty, and in fact expensive. It's actually quite easy to cook several portions of meals ahead (see advice above and below). I remember using vermicelli pasta a lot initially, as it cooks inside a broth or soup very quickly and it's easy to swallow. Use all sorts of vegetables, a bit of chicken breast for flavor and protein, etc etc. , and then into the little blender or easier yet, they can use the immersion blender. Tell your friends, the old fashioned approach is by far the best!
Permalink | Reply
What a great thing you're doing for your friends, since they asked of course. Here's my 2 cents...take what you want to them.
My DD ate Earth's Best foods. Jarred baby food is pretty tasteless since it has no sugar or salt. Breast milk is really sweet. So any transition towards jarred baby food or homemade may be difficult at first for some babies. It's ok if babies want the sweet foods like fruits first. It can take up to 20 tries for a baby to enjoy a single food.
I used a mini processor whenever I made homemade baby food. It worked well. Fruits, cooked beans, sweet potatoes are the easiest. Carrots always gave me a hard time. I read somewhere that you have to use the regular sized carrots not the ones that are marketed as baby carrots. I gave up on that one, and my DD liked jarred carrots.
I think Earth's Best has the most variety in terms of flavors, like Pears and Mango, Summer Vegetable, and Garden Vegetable blends. And there's really nothing wrong with mixing the jarred stuff and homemade food to introduce your baby to a variety. It's a guessing game trying to figure out what the baby will enjoy. We were lucky enough that our DD enjoyed food in general and wasn't picky. Baby's nutrition will be supplied mostly by breast milk and/or formula till 12 months of age.
The Babies R Us store in our area sold Earth's Best variety packs cheaper than Whole Foods. But Whole Foods will put the stuff on sale every 4 months or so. That's when I stocked up. I saw Earth's Best sold at Costco recently. Don't know about the prices since our DD only eat table foods now.
Permalink | Reply
I made my own baby food for my son. Easy and so much better for a baby than anything you can buy in a jar. I would cook veggies to a softer state than what I would eat and process them with a little formula in a food mill. I would cook oatmeal or rice cereal and process that, and all fruits. He rarely ate any jarred food and when he did he wouldn't eat much. He's 12 now and eats better and healthier than most kids his age. He has loved eating ever since he started as a baby, and I am so glad for that.
Permalink | Reply
Just wanted to post a link to the book that I relied on the most...
http://www.amazon.com/Annabel-Karmels...
Permalink | Reply
Gosh, thanks everyone! Great comments each and every one of you. I can assure you that Graeme will be a hound and on this board in a few years, thanks to all of you.
Permalink | Reply
I don't know if this reply is too late but I would recommend looking at Sweetpea Baby Food (www.sweetpeababyfood.com). The baby food is organic and it comes in 1 ounce ice cube trays so you don't get all the waste that is associated with buying baby food jars. The baby food comes in 7 or 8 flavours that covers all your basics. Hope this helps.
Permalink | Reply
Your friends might like to go to www.freshbaby.com. It's a site about making your own baby food - I didn't buy their kit, but still found the site very helpful with suggestions for how to make food, what to feed when, etc. I get an email monthly from them with a suggestion for a fun food to feed your baby. One was quinoa which I now feed my son who can't tell the difference between that pasta and the flour one. I'm so psyched that he eats a "super" grain! My son is a toddler and doesn't "do" baby food any more. However, I found that making my own required much more organization than I ever possessed, so I just bought the jars.
Permalink | Reply