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Comforts Apple Mango & Spinach Baby Food Puree Pouches (6 ct) Delivery or Pickup Near Me

Comforts Apple Mango & Spinach Baby Food Puree Pouches (6 ct) Delivery or Pickup Near Me - Instacart

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Guide to Safe Baby Food Pouches

1. White Leaf Provisions / 2. Cerebelly /  3. Once Upon a Farm 4. / Serenity Kids / 5. Holle

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Good Stuff

Okay Stuff

Bad Stuff

Sneaky Stuff

Baby food pouches are much easier to handle than jars of food, and both of my kids enjoyed them well into their preschool years. In addition, pouched baby food is probably more nutritious than jarred foods (more on this below).

But not all brands of pouched baby foods–even the organic ones–are Good Stuff. In fact, we found only four brands that we can definitively recommend, which we’ve listed above.

Read on to learn how to read pouched baby food labels, the concerning contaminants you won’t see on labels, and which brands are Okay Stuff if you aren’t able to find the Good Stuff.

My Favorite Baby Food Pouches

I’m partial to Holle baby food pouches because they are biodynamic, in addition to being organic, and because they are made in Europe, where there are limits set on heavy metals in baby food. You’ll read more about this brand below, under “The Good Stuff.”

The Problems with Baby Food Pouches

Baby food pouches offer convenience, and I think they also offer a solid option for nutritious food for babies and toddlers. But pouched baby foods aren’t without drawbacks and concerns.

  • The biggest issue with baby food sold in pouches rather than glass jars is that is that the plastic pouches can not be easily recycled. All of the brands we reviewed use the same basic materials for their pouches, which is a combination of BPA-free polypropylene and foil. Fortunately, polypropylene seems to be the safest type of plastic, but that fact that you can’t really recycle it is obviously a big problem.
  • There are other potential downsides to pouch-feeding, including that it may inhibit chewing and even normal speech development. That said, I wouldn’t worry too much about this as long as your child has ample opportunity to eat finger foods in a variety of textures.
  • The issue of heavy metals in baby foods–while not unique to pouched food–is hugely concerning, and we covered this in depth here. (The one sentence story is: In 2020, the Subcommittee on Economic & Consumer Policy reported that arsenic, lead, and cadmium were present at problematic levels in many brands of organic baby food. ) The big takeaway is to avoid rice-based baby food and anything with fruit juice concentrate, but we will also cover metal contamination in our review of the brands below.

The Upsides of Baby Food Pouches

Besides the convenience factor, pouched baby food has some advantages over traditional jarred baby food, including:

  • According to the companies that use them, plastic pouches better protect flavor and nutrients, and require lower, shorter heat times.
  • Pouches are free of BPA, whereas the lids of jarred food may contain BPA.
  • Pouches are roughly ten times lighter than classic glass jars, so they require that much less energy to produce and ship.
  • While pouches cannot be recycled, they use 75 percent less materials than traditional baby food containers.
A Non-Pouch Baby Food We Love

Amara is the only brand to freeze-dry whole, organic ingredients and then pulse them into powder to make baby food. Amara’s blends don’t use high heat processing, which also results in a lower-sugar final product.

Amara’s packets can be re-hydrated with water, breast milk, or formula, and it’s amazing to see them turn to a puree that retains the natural taste and texture of the whole ingredients.

All Amara suppliers must meet third-party federal requirements for heavy metals, and none of Amara’s blends contain rice.

We also love that Amara’s packets are lightweight, making them less of an environmental burden, and that they are more affordable than pouched baby food.

Check out Amara here

How We Ranked Baby Food Pouches

What follows is our ranking of baby food pouches–some are Good, some are Okay, and others should be avoided entirely, and you’ll find these in our Bad Stuff and Sneaky Stuff sections.

The Good Stuff brands are the ones that are not only organic and nutritionally superior, but also those that offer some form of independent testing or certification to prove that they are not contaminated with heavy metals.

The Okay Stuff category is home to the brands that we would basically feel fine feeding to our babies, especially if it wasn’t their sole source of food. These brands didn’t make the cut for Good Stuff because either they lack certifications or independent testing or because they contain non-whole food ingredients–such as fruit juice concentrate or some kind of “flavoring.”

The Bad Stuff and Sneaky Stuff brands are ones that we would not recommend buying, due to either sub-par ingredients or contamination concerns. It’s worth noting that my boys both grew up eating Sneaky Stuff pouches since none of the Good Stuff brands existing even five years ago!

There are also several brands from which that we could not obtain sufficient information to determine whether they contain concerning levels of heavy metals or not. These include Peter Rabbit Organics, Ella’s Kitchen, Trader Joe’s, and Whole Foods 365 pouches.

The Good Stuff

These pouches of baby food have always been tested for heavy metals, not just since the issue got so much attention. Cerebelly pouches are Clean Label Certified, and our team’s Dr. Hopkins has vetted this certification process as sufficiently robust.

Cerebelly’s founder is a neurosurgeon who casually also has her PhD, and these blends were developed to enhance brain development, with ingredients like maitake mushrooms and chlorella.

Holle is a new addition to this list, because we are now able to get it in the United States! Unlike the FDA, the EU sets standards for heavy metals in baby food.

We also love that Holle’s pouches are made with no purees or fruit juices–just whole fruits and veggies. Their are no additives or flours–grains include whole oat or spelt.

Finally, Holle is also made with ingredients that are not only organic but also biodynamic.

Biodynamic farms are built to integrate every living organism within the system to maximizing the health and vitality of the farm’s every aspect. A biodynamic farm aims to produce everything on the premises, including seeds, fertilizers, natural control agents for pests, and even the feed for livestock.

What makes the Once Upon a Farm blends unique is that they are cold pressed to lock in the nutrients. The high-pressure processing makes Once Upon a Farms superior to basically every brand in terms both nutrition and freshness.

Although these pouches need to be refrigerated, they are fine at room temp for four hours, so they still work on the go.

These fruit and veggie blends are made from organic, simple ingredients. They use whole produce and don’t add any sugar, even in the form of “fruit concentrate.”

Once Upon a Farm is Clean Label certified.

This line of Paleo-inspired baby food uses organic vegetables and grass-fed and pasture-raised meats. Serenity’s blends were designed to mimic the macro-nutrients found in breast milk, meaning they have a similar ratio of fats, proteins, and carbs.

All Serenity blends are free of hormones, antibiotics, GMO’s, gluten, fillers, grain, dairy, corn, allergens, eggs, and nuts. Serenity Kids is verified by the Clean Label Project, which means their products are tested for over 200 different contaminants, including heavy metals, glyphosate, agrochemicals, and plastics.  Use code GIMME15 for 15% off.

Also, Serenity Kids they will refund your money, no questions asked, if your kid doesn’t like the pouches you buy!

Buy now from Serenity Kids

White Leaf baby food pouches are even better than organic, because they’re also biodynamic.

When we asked the White Leaf owners about heavy metals in their baby food, we were relieved to received the following response: “I want to reassure you that we test annually for metals in all four baby food blends and I am happy to say that our results come in below the FDA limit that they set for rice cereal and apple juice.”

Choose from a range of fruit and veggie blends–all of which are free of concentrates and fillers. Use code GMTGS15 for 15% off.

Buy Now

The Okay Stuff

Gerber Organics pouches are okay if they contain just the fruit and veggies on the front of the package. But you need to label-read, because the Banana Smoothie flavor, for instance, contains banana concentrate rather than pure bananas, as well as “vanilla flavor” instead of just vanilla extract. I am giving Gerber enough points to bump their organic pouches to Okay Stuff because they were the cleanest brand in terms of heavy metal contamination in the 2020 Congressional Report.  For each of the specific heavy metals listed, the examples of Gerber ingredients’ metal levels appear relatively low compared to the other manufacturers.

Little Spoon Smoothie Pouches are new to the market and I like that they contain some nutritional powerhouses like tahini, chia seeds, and chickpeas. This is admittedly nit-picky, but I’m calling these Okay Stuff instead of Good Stuff because they use oat flour instead of actual oats in a few of their blaends, and because I can’t get any information on heavy metal testing.

The Bad Stuff

Gerber is maybe the only brand that makes a non-organic pouch, so I’m calling that Bad Stuff. (Note that Gerber organic pouches are actually Okay Stuff–see above!).

GoGo squeeZ has a few organic options, even those contain concentrates in place of real fruits. Some of their blends even contain cane sugar, and they make no claims about purity from heavy metals. They also contain rice flour, natural flavors, and pea protein isolate. This brand is the worst of every brand we reviewed.

The Sneaky Stuff

Beech-Nut went organic six years ago, and they make some nutritious blends that contain just mixed fruits and vegetables. Unfortunately, the 2021 Congressional Report revealed that Beech-Nut continued to use ingredients after internal testing found them to have very high levels of a variety of heavy metals, including arsenic, lead, and cadmium.

Earth’s Best‘s parent company, Hain, was called out in the 2021 Congressional Report for setting its own dangerously high heavy metal internal standards, and then routinely accepting ingredients that surpassed these standards. In addition, even their simplest flavors (pears, for instance) are fortified with all sorts of stuff, including zinc sulfate, and citric acid.

HappyBABY, under the parent company Nuture, makes pouches that contain nutritious blends of vegetables and grains, and high quality proteins like wild Alaskan salmon. I would like to give them credit for testing for mercury, but the 2021 Congressional Report revealed that their test data shows finished food products with as much as 10 ppb of this neurotoxic (the recommendation is that it should not exceed 5 ppb). Nuture is also called out in the report for claiming that they used a standard of 50 ppb for lead, and then later submitting test documents showing that their standard was actually of 100 ppb.

Noka isn’t marketed for babies, but a lot of you asked about this brand. Noka is organic and I love that their pouches are hearty with things like nut butters included. Unfortunately, Noka pouches contain non-whole-food ingredients, like brown rice protein, natural flavors, and sunflower lecithin.

Plum Organics refused to comply when asked to submit heavy metal testing data to the Subcommittee on Economic and Consumer Policy in 2019, which makes them default Sneaky Stuff. Plum claims that they “responded quickly to their questions and never refused anything requested of us.” Also, it’s a little sneaky that the “grains” in these blends are actually grain flours (i.e., millet flour, oat flour, etc.) Some of Plum’s other toddler snacks contain sugar. (Note that Plum is owned by Campbell.)

Parent’s Choice is another brand that didn’t cooperate with the investigation into heavy metals in 2019. A 2021 lawsuit claims that “The Subcommittee found [Parent’s Choice’s] lack of transparency greatly concerning, fearing that they might be obscuring the presence of higher levels of toxic heavy metals in their baby food products than their competitors’ products.”

Sprout Foods faces a class suit in the state of California, USA, for “negligent, reckless, and/or intentional practice of misrepresenting and failing to fully disclose the presence of dangerous substances in its baby foods.”

Baby food: ✔Gerber ✔Nutrition ✔Baby ✔Nestle

It's amazing, but baby food is a little over 150 years old. No, before that, of course, children were also fed, but not in the same way as today. Modern mothers, if necessary, can replace breast milk with a similar analogue in composition and safely diversify the children's menu. We are talking about mixtures and complementary foods from jars and bags, which, with their appearance, changed the centuries-old diet. And before that, they didn’t feed babies with anything!

In ancient Greece, as a first food, children were given liquid barley stew, to which in Sparta they added bull's blood so that the boys would grow up to be real warriors.

Mammal

I would not want to make it an absolute custom to feed children food so that they do not scream for nothing, but there is something in it. At least the mouth is busy for a while. Well, if mother's milk. But not everyone was lucky. So the she-wolf raised Romulus and Remus, according to this myth. And the ancient Greek gods, starting with the main one, Zeus, grew up on the milk of goats, although they also claimed the breasts of mother goddesses.

In the Middle Ages, baby bottles were made of leather and wood. At the beginning of the 19th century, they began to produce porcelain teats with leather or suede teats.

In different countries at different times, milk from almost all animals capable of producing it was used, that is, for the benefit of baby food. The babies left without mother's milk were fed by goats and cows, sheep and camels, llamas and donkeys.

It is not documented, but the story that one of the children of Charles Darwin was fed with donkey milk has not yet been forgotten. Apparently, the English naturalist made a natural selection - he chose a donkey as a wet nurse, believing that her milk is closest in composition to human milk.

Drink, children

AG Venetsianov “A nurse with a child” • source: wikimedia.org / СС BY

Children were deprived of mother's milk not always by nature. Sometimes women themselves refused to feed their offspring. The poor were hindered by work, the rich by whims. In the Middle Ages, it was believed that breastfeeding distracted the mother from the birth of other children, and in modern times - from secular life. A woman of a noble family had to give birth to as many children as possible, and any other woman could feed them. This approach led to the fact that in Europe and Russia, wealthy mothers gave newborns to nurses. In France, this tradition was most common. In the second half of the 18th century, the first agencies for hiring wet nurses appeared in Paris.

Paris, 1845.

The authorities united four such agencies into a municipal nursing office, which protected their rights and guaranteed their wages. The bureau survived the French Revolution and closed in 1876. But then dry milk formula was already invented and distributed throughout Europe.

Milk replacement

Henri Nestlé , founder of the Nestlé company • source: wikimedia.org / CC BY

The loss of a stable income for a breadwinner is due to science. Since the beginning of the 19th century, European scientists have been trying to invent a scientifically based alternative to mother's milk. And the necessary conditions for this gradually developed: they learned how to preserve and disinfect products, and in 1855 the Englishman Grimweid invented powdered milk. But, if not for Henri Nestle, all these discoveries might have existed on their own.

Henri Nestlé's Milk Flour
source: blick.ch / СС BY

Nestlé's problem of baby food affected Nestlé after the birth of his first child, who was not suitable for mother's milk, and progressive at that time parents did not want to feed cows. A certified pharmacist and pharmacy owner in a Swiss town in 1867 made a mixture of powdered cow's milk, wheat flour and sugar, which he called "Henri Nestlé's Milk Flour". Diluted with water, it became the world's first artificial baby food.

Poster “It is useful for children”, A. Dobrov (1958) • source: materinstvo.ru / CC BY

Post passed

The duration of breastfeeding in pre-revolutionary Russia was established by the church and amounted to three strictest fasts (only Great and Assumption were taken into account ). These terms were not strictly related to age and depended on the time of birth. If a child was born during Great Lent, they were fed from Dormition to Dormition; if after the Dormition Fast (the Great was considered the first, the Dormition Fast was the second, the Great again was the third), then they were fed until almost two years old and were weaned only before the Dormition Fast.

Mixture and only

Martinus van der Hagen ,
founder of Nutricia • source: wikimedia.org / SS BY

well-fed. The last option is a consequence of a considerable amount of sugar in the first mixtures. This was taken into account by the Dutchman Martinus van der Hagen, who in 1896 invented his own method of drying milk in a bakery.

Its milk formula contained significantly less flour and sugar than that of its main competitor, and therefore received the approval of the then doctors and, largely thanks to them, became popular. Thus began the history of Nutricia. In the US, they also appreciated the charm of a new way to feed hungry children. The production of baby food was put on stream by Clapp's Baby Food and Beech-Nut.

source: artinvestment.ru / CC BY

Russia was still a few decades before the opening of its own production of baby dry mixes "Malyutka", on which a good part of Soviet toddlers will then grow. And exactly one hundred years before that, in 1872, “milk flour” began to be sold in St. Petersburg, and then throughout the country, the agent of the Nestlé company, Alexander Wenzel. The merchant advertised a new product in the newspapers of that time: a girl, satisfied with life and the taste of milk flour, joyfully licks her finger next to a source of full pleasure - a can of mixture at a price of 1 ruble 10 kopecks. But not everyone was appreciated and not immediately. And even more so where the press was not able to read.

The old fashioned way

The final weaning from breast milk in pre-revolutionary Russia took place in the period from one to two or three years and was expressed in the change of the nickname "sidun" to "hodun". Often it happened "for berries", that is, in the summer months, when berries and fruits ripened, which were given to children "to calm down" - as a consolation.

The farther from the capitals, the less was not only dry mixes, but also knowledge about them. Children continued to be fed by other women for money or thanks, they were given diluted animal milk and they began to supplement them very early. Usually liquid boiled porridges. In Europe - oatmeal, in Asia - rice, in Russia - semolina and semolina. In pre-revolutionary Russia, in addition to cereals, a child already six months old usually knew the taste of potatoes, onions, cucumbers, including pickles.

Some Soviet pediatricians, and after them mothers and grandmothers of that time, believed that it would be good for children to taste salty milk after sweet milk. So often two-three-month-old babies were given to suck on a chicken bone, a crust of black bread, pickles or lard.

It was considered normal to feed him cabbage soup and sauerkraut. Even earlier, they gave "zhevka" - a cloth with wrapped chewed bread, sometimes soaked in sweetened water, kvass or home brew. However, this idea - to occupy a child's mouth with a rag with dubious contents from the point of view of hygiene and pediatrics - was adopted from Europe. It’s just that in our country she stayed longer than in her “homeland”.

And so, when the rag was already taken out of the mouth, but they were not yet invited to the common table, and the children continued to be indignant, they had to somehow get out. More precisely, twist gauze with chopped vegetables and fruits so that they give all their juices for the benefit of children's health. By the way, they just started to take care of him. Enlightened minds have finally traced the connection between what children eat and how long they live without suffering from disease.

Until the beginning of the 20th century in Russia, a horn hollowed out of a cow's horn was used as a pacifier. The contents were knocked out of it and a groove was made at the end for pulling on the "tit" - the nipple of the cow's udder, which was soaked in milk, vegetable oil, sugar and honey water.

And from a can is simpler

source: wipo.int / SS BY

By that time (1870), Henri Nestle had released a novelty - condensed milk. It was invented back in 1856 by American Gail Borden, but it was Henri Nestle and his company who made condensed milk a popular children's treat. True, the doctors were unhappy: few followed the recommendation to dilute condensed milk with water in a ratio of 1 to 10 and only then give it to children.

They ate condensed milk with spoons, sometimes with jars. And this, of course, led to rapid weight gain. Doctors insisted: it is better to feed children with vegetables and fruits. But twisting the gauze is already pretty tired. And then there were jars.

Children and their nutrition were not treated with much trepidation, not only in the dark times of the Middle Ages, but also in the century before last. We already heard something about hygiene and even visited doctors, but, of course, there was no special children's menu. On the contrary, children in even the poorest families of the 19th century were fed what was worse.

Daniel Frank Gerber
founder of the Gerber Company
source: wikimedia.org / SS BY

Michigan manufacturer Daniel Gerber established the first large-scale production of canned food for children. It was again a matter of personal interest—the need for special nutrition for Sally's daughter. Gerber's wife learned how to make vegetable, fruit and meat puree for a sick child, and then convinced her husband to start mass production.

In 1928, baby food from Gerber Foods went on the market. It is still there.

Dairy kitchens and non-dairy rivers

Children in our country also wanted to eat. Especially those who lacked scarce imported food. In the 1920s, dairy kitchens appeared, where milk mixtures, fermented milk products, cottage cheese were made from fresh products, and juices and mashed potatoes were made from fruits and vegetables.

In the 1950s, mass production of baby food began in the Soviet Union: canned juices and purees, powdered milk mixtures, cereals and kissels. Since then, for several decades, dairy kitchens did not prepare food, but simply gave out jars and bags.

In the 1950s, complementary foods were started as early as 2-4 months, and if the child is bottle-fed, then even earlier. And this is not only a Soviet trend.

In the first edition of the well-known book on the upbringing of children by the American doctor Spock (1946), there is this passage:

“Many doctors now recommend giving meat from 2-6 months. Meat for a small child is either turned in a meat grinder several times, or rubbed through a sieve, or rubbed on a grater. Therefore, it is easy for a child to eat it, even while he has no teeth.”

Toddlers of the 1970s owe a lot, if not to everything, to these dairy kitchens, dry mixes "Malyutka", and also to the canned food of the Odessa Cannery and the Moscow Poultry Plant. It was fashionable to eat from jars, boxes and tubes, because the main characters of that time, the astronauts, ate like that.

The glass feeding bottle was patented in 1841 by Charles Windshiel of Massachusetts.

Approximate scheme of complementary feeding "in Soviet style" according to the recommendations of the Ministry of Health 1976 years

  • 1 month - fruit juices
  • 1.5 months - applesauce (grated apple)
  • 3.5 months — cottage cheese (from dairy cuisine)
  • 4 months - egg yolk
  • 4.5 months - vegetable puree
  • 7 months - meat

As for today's children, the whole world industry and the conviction, supported by the opinion of pediatricians, that they need special nutrition, work for them. And now there is such an abundance on the children's table that even an adult will envy. Formulas for artificial feeding of infants are produced highly and partially adapted, that is, close in composition to breast milk, and also casein, medicinal, with thickeners and lactose-free, where whey is replaced by no less nutritious soy protein.

The menu of undergrowths of the 21st century includes n-component purees, an unthinkable variety of cereals and a whole line of sour-milk pleasure in bright packages. Only they still find a reason to scream how much in vain. But at least not from hunger.

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Nutrition and education - Healthy Russia

Eva Punch

Psychologists say that grown-up children love pasta with sausages because their mother fed them, which means that the food seems tasty, healthy and safe. Artificially formed eating habit.

Such reasoning upsets me. My own observations show that no matter how hard parents try and care about the quality nutrition of their child, all the same - all children love pasta with sausages and fried potatoes with ketchup. Like other dishes with a primitive but bright taste.

Just as a child in infancy will reach for the red of all the offered toys, so at the table he will choose the simplest and brightest. The order of flavors in ascending order of complexity is: sweet, salty, sour, spicy, bitter.

All children love sweets and prefer sweets to borscht and cutlets, the next stage is salty and smoked meats. After healthy, but insipid children's meat "mashed potatoes" and soufflé, all children fall in love with smoked sausage, sausages and marinades. Many parents are familiar with this stage, when the child declares that he wants not a candy, but a pickled cucumber, not a cake, but a barbecue (and it is possible without bread).

Children are most often conservative , afraid to try new foods, but with great pleasure they try familiar food, only cooked in a different way - not steamed potatoes, but fried, not chicken broth, but baked chicken legs with a golden crust. This is fatty, fried - it is still bright and crispy. Much more interesting than pale boiled.

For many, gastronomic education ends at this stage. A child who has grown up to fried potatoes and other chips has chosen the most delicious for himself and does not want to move further, why. Unless he discovers the world of sauces, with which you can pour over everything insipid and healthy, making it bright and tasty.

Just as Deniska Korablev decided to eat semolina porridge with horseradish, so today's children - and then adults - are ready to eat the simplest food, the main thing is to have more ketchup or mayonnaise. Fast food uses this eating habit to the fullest , masking the lack of taste of frozen stale food with bright sauces, fried crust and flavorings.

Some parents will give up at this stage. He doesn’t want porridge, but he wants sausages - well, that’s good, the main thing is not to remain hungry. Other parents will try and expand the range of children's menu.

Some will go down the slippery path of decorating dishes: fly agaric from tomatoes, rabbits from boiled eggs, sandwiches with redcurrant “eyes”, roses and butterflies from boiled sausage, and so on. The danger here is that the process of eating turns into a game , but the assortment just does not expand. The child still does not want anything new, but only waits for new decorations in familiar food.

My daughter does not eat fish well. A heavy heritage of gray fishcakes from kindergarten, plus a rusty herring tail. He loves meat, cutlets in breadcrumbs too, he loves smoked sausage in general, but he doesn’t eat fish and that’s all. So I took a different path, starting to cook fish so that it looked like the meat she loved.

The fish smells like fish - this is her first argument. I choose salmon, which is bright, red, and has practically no specific fishy smell. I also smoke fish in the oven on alder shavings. Smoked fish reminds a little of smoked sausage, which, of course, comforts and adds flavor.

I bread the fish in breadcrumbs and fry until golden crisp. The crunch is also comforting. I also buy tuna in the form of large steaks and just quickly fry for a minute on each side or grill. Tuna is a very "meaty" fish - both in color and texture.

I add a little bit of fish to my daughter's usual and favorite dishes. And little by little she gets used to her taste, forgets her rejection. The same with mushrooms, with cereals unfamiliar to her (corn, pearl barley, couscous).

Focusing on the well-established tastes of my daughter, I try to enrich them . The child loves pea soup, I will offer both bean and lentil soup, cooked with the same additives, using similar technologies.

When she gets used to the beans and loves them, I can start cooking beans differently, and then even offer green beans, which my daughter used to reject. He loves baked chicken - I will suggest roasted duck or turkey.

Development of eating habits is similar to any other educational and educational process. It is not enough to teach a child the alphabet to develop a love and skill for reading. If a child likes to read only about Dunno, you should not stop there (“well, at least he reads something!”), But you need to offer and offer. First, something close in spirit, in form, with illustrations by the same artist.

Learn more