Organic baby foods
 
Weaning your small baby can be both an exciting and stressful time.
All mums want their babies to eat well and without a fuss but with busy
lives and families to juggle, time for home-cooking and leisurely dining
is often squeezed out.
Ready-made baby foods are a convenience few mums can ignore for long
but with growing numbers of us now super concerned about exactly what
goes into these foods, we turned the spotlight onto the organic ranges
to see just what you get. They cost more but are they worth it - and is
there much difference between them?
What we tested
We tested one dish with chicken and one with banana from six organic
ranges and asked mums to evaluate the ingredients, the convenience and
the price, and then to record what the ultimate testers - the babies -
thought of the taste and texture.
Our testing panel
- Barbara with 10-month old Jeffrey
- Nicky with 10-month old Emilia
- Su with 5-month old Francesa
- Judy with 10-month old Finn
- Zoe with 7-month old Elliot
- Sam with 10-month old Harry
Before we began
All our mums were broadly in favour of organic foods for babies. Although
they did not all buy organic products for the entire family, most tried
to buy organic for the baby and felt this was particularly important for
the under ones. Two fed their babies predominantly home-cooked food -
either specially prepared for the baby or by liquidising what the rest
of the family was having. One had concerns about the preserving techniques
used for food in jars and worried that the materials used for lids could
affect the food.
What we found - Babyworld
verdict
We were impressed by the wide range of organic, ready-prepared baby foods
available and we were impressed by the extensive details given on almost
all baby food labels so it was quite clear what you were getting. It was
noticeable that organic products were more expensive, but not always massively
more, and all our mums agreed they were happy to pay out more for a higher
quality product.
However, once testing began the difference in smell, taste and texture
was extremely variable. Dried powder mixes worked well but were not always
very cost effective. Jars were all quick and easy to use but some really
smelt quite unpleasant and were unappetising even though the list of ingredients
looked ok. All mums were already familiar with ready-meals in jars and
dried powder form but were very impressed with the newer frozen baby-foods
which not all had seen before.
The frozen foods were unanimously voted the favourite and there was
very little dividing the two we tested. They are certainly significantly
more expensive but mums felt they were worth paying out for as you would
only need them for a limited period of time and they really helped you
feel you were doing the right thing for your baby - without the hassle
of home cooking!
Where to next
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