Durable Pouches, Healthy Toddler Food

From packaging to locally-sourced ingredients, these companies are turning baby food into a sophisticated, high-brow gourmet food business sector. The result is a bevy of beautiful, portable packages, most of which are BPA-free, that are great for travel since they are light and have caps that enable moms and dads to reseal pouches. Among the variety, each has a special quality, from tarte flavors, to mini cookies, to low-sugar content. While most are fruit purees, we’ve added one variety of kefir yogurt that is tasty enough to lure parents too.

Peter Rabbit products are 100% organic with a cap that is big enough to avoid the danger of toddlers swallowing by mistake. The 3.5-ounce pouches are made of puree and fruit juice, and have no added salt, sugar or artificial flavors. Though they have 15-19 grams of sugar, they also have two grams of fiber and some vitamin C. Available at Whole Foods for about $1.79 each and at Amazon.com for a 10-pack, they come in three flavors: Strawberry & Banana, Mango, Banana & Orange, and Apple & Grape. The latter was our favorite because it is slightly tart and at just 80 calories, mommy might want to steal one for herself during the post-baby weight loss phase.

Revolution Foods is the full-service socially responsible healthy toddler food line. And we aren’t surprised, because it’s a Nest Collective company. Nest, which recently bought another baby food line, Plum Organics, is run by a small committed group of health food industry veterans, including one woman that ran CLIF bar.

In addition to giving 3% of the profits to the school lunch business, it won our approval because it offers healthy sweet cookie snacks, fruit purees and wheat pop chips. The Organic Jammy Sammy sandwich bars are, like the rest of the products, organic, and come in flavors including Blueberries & Oatmeal, and Cocoa Graham & Banana. At about 120 calories each and sweetened with cane juice and agave, these corn syrup-free cookies are great for snack time, whether you are 3 or 30! As for the purees, dubbed Mashups, while the flavors include tropical and grape, the berry is the best because it isn’t sweet or tarte. For savory snacks, the PopAlongs are multi-grain, wheat-free chips that come in plain, cheese and cinnamon. Priced $2.99 – $4.99, they are sold at at Toys “R” Us, Babies “R” Us, select Whole Foods, Wegmans, Fairway, Amazon.com, and Drugstore.com.

Lifeway’s Kefir yogurt snacks are great because they taste good thanks to cane juice, and are a halfway point between the ultra-low glycemic products and those with corn syrup. Just slightly tarte, the product proves it hasn’t been taken far from its roots as a European diet staple. In berry, orange and lime, we love them all and during the post-holiday season weight loss kick, these make for a great low calorie breakfast or afternoon snack, on the go or parked at your desk.

GoGoSqueez offers Kosher apple sauce in portable packages. No BS, nothing added, but great flavors. Available in plain apple, cinnamon, strawberry, banana and peach, which is our favorite, these have just 60 calories and 13 grams of sugar. Click here to find a retailer near you.

Happy Tot has Whole Foods written all over it. Every trend that exists in the green or health food market, from gluten-free to BPA-free packaging, they’ve got it covered. Also a woman-owned business, the line is different not for its expansive collection of products, from puffs to frozen meals (salmon sticks!) to purees, nor for its fruit and vegetable offerings, but for its inclusion of a budding super grain: Salba. Said to have innate omega fatty acids, the inclusion of salba means those parents wishing to give their kids omega supplements can kill two birds with one stone. Click here for a complete list of retailers.

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