Healthy Baby Bites

In a world where parents have as many stroller options as they do car choices, it’s no surprise that a new generation of baby food has exploded onto the scene. Today, there are palate-pleasing, healthy frozen meals for babies and toddlers, exotic child-friendly ingredients substituted for traditional items and clever pouches that make eating fun, eco-friendly and delicious. Some of our favorites are listed below. To find some more kid-friendly treats, visit our Foodie Mom blog by clicking the following link: Foodie Mom.

First-Class Frozen Baby Foods

Happy Family Brands makes frozen meals in cube form for six- and nine-plus-month-olds. The company uses organic free-range chicken, screens for nitrates in its vegetables and adds DHA (an Omega-3 fatty acid essential for brain and eye development) to many of its products. Selections have ethnic flavor profiles, like Baby Dahl.

Peas of Mind Puffet products appeal to picky kids 12 months and older who shun vegetables. The all-natural handheld meals come in Eat Your Greens (broccoli and spinach) and Carrot Risotto (carrots and sweet potatoes) and are ready in two minutes in the microwave. The company’s newest product, Veggie Wedgies, are gluten-free, baked crispy French fries made with broccoli, cauliflower, carrots or apples.

Petite Select uses distinctive ingredients like Glatt kosher and organic meats and offers a culinary taste of ‘around the world’ flavors for babies. The result is organic, kosher, flash-frozen meals in BPA-free plastic and biodegradable paper tubs. They include Pasta Bolognese made with whole-wheat pasta and Mango Jambo, a medley of mangoes, pears, bananas and Amaranth grain.

Tastybaby uses entertaining product names like Corn in the USA, Bollywood Baby and Mama Mia and features organic ingredients such as butternut squash, quinoa pasta, sage and Parmesan cheese in its line of frozen baby and toddler food, available in stages 1-3.

PREMIUM Baby-Food Pouches

Ella’s Kitchen blends pasteurized organic fruits and/or vegetables in convenient squeeze pouches. The Stage One baby food creations were designed and named by kids and include Carrot, Apple & Parsnip or Sweet Potato, Pumpkin Apple & Blueberries, plus Smoothie Fruits for toddlers, such as The Yellow One (a mix of bananas, apples, mangoes and apricot).

Materne was the first to launch pouch packaging in the applesauce category in the U.S., with its no-sugar-added Apple Apple GoGo Squeez in 2008 creating a new (and fun) way to eat applesauce.

Peter Rabbit Organics' all-organic fruit purées are available in BPA-free, 3.5-ounce pouches, with flavors like Apple & Grape and Mango, Orange & Banana. They contain a large percentage of locally sourced fruits from the Northwest in pouches that are the largest-size available, making them suitable for toddler-age children. You can find them in Starbucks stores nationwide.

Plum Organics produces its organic baby and toddler foods in BPA-safe pouches. The newest product, Training Meals, offers chunky textures and bold flavor profiles to babies ages eight months and up, training their palates for their next stages in life.

Sprout Organic Baby Food, co-founded by Max MacKenzie and celebrity chef Tyler Florence, offers babies a menu of roasted fruits and vegetables, including Peach Rice Pudding made with whole grain brown rice and organic spices such as cardamom and nutmeg, and Yukon Gold potatoes and summer squash with Parmesan cheese—all in food-safe BPA-free pouches that help to preserve the flavors and integrity of the food. It stands out from its competitors by roasting and baking its fruits and vegetables as well as offering re-sealable pouches that close with a zipper-type seal.

Smarter Baby Food Snacks

Clif Bar, maker of organic energy and protein bars, has extended its line to include Clif ZBaR, the first on-the-go USDA-certified-organic whole grain energy snack bar specifically for kids. Originally created for ‘tweens’ ages six-12, they have become popular with the three-and-up set.

Nature’s Select Food Group has introduced Smart Cookie, a cookie that disguises fruits and vegetables, such as squash, carrots, cauliflower and beets, in a favorite snack. The Yellow Mellow is a chocolate chip cookie made with corn, cauliflower, squash and applesauce.

Plum Organics Plum Tots Fiddlesticks are gluten-free snack alternatives made with a blend of organic brown rice, tapioca and garbanzo bean flour and real fruits and vegetables. These soft-baked snacks dissolve into small bites and are easy to hold and chew for toddlers.

Revolution Food offers kid-friendly varieties with playful names and packaging such as Grammy Sammy, a 100 percent whole grain, soft-baked graham snack filled with yogurt. —Nicole Denis and Denise Shoukas

1 comment

Jonathan Cornish Interesting read