“#6 Avoid food products that contain more than five ingredients: The specific number you adopt is arbitrary, but the more ingredients in a packaged food, the more highly processed it probably is. Note: A long list of ingredients in a recipe is not the same thing; that’s fine.”
“#3 Avoid food products containing ingredients that no ordinary human would keep in his pantry. If you wouldn’t cook with them yourself, why let others use these ingredients to cook for you? …Whether or not any of these additives pose a proven hazard to your health, many of them haven’t been eaten by humans for very long, so they are best avoided.”
-Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual by Michael Pollan
So in my efforts to be more healthy I had to stop and think the last time I reached for those packaged baby biscuits, puffs etc.
“What the heck am I thinking? What is this stuff I am feeding my baby?”
When my babies are first starting to eat food, it is a no brainer. I try to mash up my own food for my baby in a food processor, etc. But buying baby food in a bottle is probably fine if time/convenience are an issue-which of course they always are. The ingredients list on bottled baby food is very short. It is usually just the particular food and water. You can buy organic if you are concerned about that.
But….
Once my babies hit a certain age they are all about wanting to self-feed. Cheerios become my best friend. Got to keep the baby happy, especially when we are on the go.
What is a health conscious Mom to do?
The people over at Gerber’s, Beech Nut etc are going to hate me for this, and maybe some of you will too if you don’t already, but I think the only thing you can do is make your own!
Now, let’s be clear about one thing. I have a huge Costco size box of Cheerios in my pantry. Everyone at church knows that as evidenced by the trail we leave behind us each Sunday. But I am trying to repent.
Probably the best thing to do is give your baby whole fresh foods, cut into small pieces to make sure that they don’t choke. You know the things to avoid-grapes, carrot sticks.
But these things are hard to use when you are travelling or attending church….
I am about to tell you what it is I recommend (keep reading) and the baby loves it! Problem is, so does everyone else, including Mom. Good luck keeping these hidden from everyone so that the baby actually gets to eat them!
Honestly, I think that the best thing to feed your “on the go baby” is just homemade bread with a little twist. Just add a little more flour after it raises the first time. Then roll out onto a cookie sheet. You can make breadsticks or if you roll them thinner, crackers or teething biscuits. Prick them with a fork and season them if you desire. I like butter because “everything is better with butter” and a little, very little salt and maybe some parmesan cheese. Cook them in a 325 oven for about 10 minutes (or a little longer for crackers). Cool and then store in an airtight container.
Easy! You are making this for your family anyway (or not) and so why not designate one loaf’s worth of bread as the baby’s? This is so amazingly simple!
Using your banana bread (carrot bread, etc) recipe supposedly works too -if you have one that is low in sugar that would be better. You just cut the leftovers into strips and cook on a lower heat until crispy. I haven’t tried this yet so I don’t know if it actually works. If you have a day to kill (ha, ha) you can do a google search on homemade baby food and it will give you a bunch of ideas.
And of course if I find some fantastic idea, I will share.
One Comment
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Jessica
Fitz is still letting us feed him baby food, thank goodness. I don’t make my own, surprise, surprise.
I do confess to feeding him puffs and the occassional teething biscuit, although, honestly, I never thought about those things as bad until I read this post. Are they really that bad?
