[ratladee]

What is the most natural, organic or least processed baby food on the market?

[OurSweetLabs]

Have you looked at Earth's Best?

[heatherbug]

Ive seen earths best and beech nut and as far as cereal those are the most natural i've found. i went with beech nut.

[emsketch]

I know Earth's Best is a good one, but also expensive! I plan on making my own this time around. Believe me, I am the farthest thing from a crunchy, do it yourself mom, but I want to save some money!

[ratladee]

I want to make my own baby food but the daycare won't let me bring it. They say it needs to be in a sealed container and so I'm looking for the next best thing.

[Thismamaisonherway]

I used Earth's Best, although I didn't compare it with too many other organic brands.

Good for you for doing organic! As soon as my oldest ( same will go with Gav) was off formula at a year old, he was on an all organic ( from baby food to milk, meats, etc.) diet until he was 3. I did sooo much research on organic food when I had E, I will have to dig out my old books and go through them again.

[ebony80]

im using organic baby food and will be making my own too

[*~*N*i*c*o*l*e*~*]

what about buying little glass jars and making your own and sealing it... its like the same process as when ppl make jam and seal it. that way u get to do what u want and are still following their rules

[D@mnedYankee]

Gerber's 1st foods are pretty basic...the ingredients literally say "veggie and water"
Also they're $.99 @ walmart

[ratladee]

What I don't understand is how the jars say "no preservatives" Yet they last a year.

Patrick gave me a great idea, buy the earths best jars, put my own food in it that corresponds to the label and if they ask about the popped top to just say I was checking it to make sure it wasn't rancid.

[D@mnedYankee]

to be honest I doubt they'll fall for it but good luck with that

[ratladee]

The ladies that work there think the whole thing is stupid as well. They said they got inspected and thats how the rule started. I doubt during the next inspection they will question it if they just see a bunch of regular baby food jars.

[VikingMamma]

Originally Posted by ratladee

What I don't understand is how the jars say "no preservatives" Yet they last a year.

Patrick gave me a great idea, buy the earths best jars, put my own food in it that corresponds to the label and if they ask about the popped top to just say I was checking it to make sure it wasn't rancid.

Canned goods are designed to last a lot longer than fresh produce.... That's why people would cook things down and can them before winter... So they could have food when everything was dead in the winter. You can have organic, all natural canned goods. Muir Glen tomatoes are a great example. As for making your own canned goods, I really wouldn't do it unless you have experience canning things. You can put Madison at risk for a lot of different health issues, primarily botulism. Gerber experts know what they are doing when it comes to canned baby food, so it's very unlikely that bacteria are present in their baby food products. Do you have a Whole Foods store near you? Or a Fresh market? They usually have a great variety of organic, sealed baby foods.... which unless the Gerber products say organic, they aren't. They could have used veggies treated with pesticides, etc.

[ratladee]

I don't think botulism is a risk with jars... I'm not making it to store it. I'm making it, putting it in there to store it and be eaten within 2 or 3 days from it being made.

I don't know how close a whole foods place is. I never knew that's how jarred things stayed fresh.... hmmm... Seems ok now that I know.

[VikingMamma]

Originally Posted by ratladee

I don't think botulism is a risk with jars... I'm not making it to store it. I'm making it, putting it in there to store it and be eaten within 2 or 3 days from it being made.

I don't know how close a whole foods place is. I never knew that's how jarred things stayed fresh.... hmmm... Seems ok now that I know.

Call me paranoid or whatever, but even just 2-3 days is plenty of time for bacteria to breed. But, that's just me. My in-laws think I'm crazy, well for a number of reasons... but one of them being that I'm a germaphobe big time.

[ratladee]

So you don't ever eat left overs I bet

[D@mnedYankee]

botulism is a BIG risk with canned and jarred foods done @ home w/o the proper equipment... one of the reasons they say to not buy a can that has a really bad dent in it (could of exposed the contents to bacteria)

[ratladee]

And then they would have to refridgerate it. ugh. wont work.

[VikingMamma]

hahah only if i know exactly how things were cooked, and how long its been in the refrigerator

[ratladee]

Grrr.... well I guess I have no choice, but to fit in their little box.