Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Really, Gerber?

So, the boys have been transitioning to solid food. Their first experience with really runny rice cereal happened in Delhi. We started with rice cereal because it's readily available in Delhi, and easy on the digestive system, plus, it allows the kids to practice taking food from a spoon and swallowing, which took some work.

Then, when we went to France, our dear host Françoise had already purchased several "petits pots" (read baby food in a jar, but it sounds so much better and more sophisticated in French), and so we started the boys with artichokes. Cedric loved the artichokes, but Ezra was not impressed. So, we tried him on carrots and sweet potatoes, which he liked, but then the next day his skin broke out in a rash (more about that in a later post), so we got him off of carrots. Then, when we went to the US we tried more sweet potatoes, peas, green beans and squash before trying fruits (bananas, peaches and pears). Both boys are great eaters, with the exception of Ezra's aforementioned dislike of artichokes and Cedric's dislike of peas. Everything has been going well. They are taking bigger spoonfuls, and not pushing the food out of their mouths.


But, here's my problem. I had the best of intentions to use only homemade puree with organic vegetables raised by Norwegian bachelor farmers (so their pure, mostly, right?); but with our busy travel schedule, and being away from my own kitchen, I've resorted to buying the baby food in the jars. We purchased about 10 packs of Gerber organic food. The following is a list of the ingredients in the organic pears:
Ingredients
ORGANIC PEARS, WATER, TUNA OIL (SOURCE OF DHA), ASCORBIC ACID (VITAMIN C), GELATIN, CHOLINE BITARTRATE, ALPHA TOCOPHERYL ACETATE (VITAMIN E)

Here is a list of the ingredients in the non-organic pears:
Ingredients
PEARS, PEAR PUREE (WATER, PEAR PUREE CONCENTRATE), ASCORBIC ACID (VITAMIN C), CITRIC ACID

You see the problem? Why does the organic type contain more additives than the non-organic type? Anybody have any insight on this one? 

5 comments:

  1. Just buy organic pears and make a puree :)A lot better and yummier :P

    ReplyDelete
  2. That's the plan, as soon as we stop traveling!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Try other organic brands...the BIG guys like Gerber tend to bend the rules a bit. I worked in the organic industry for years and know that it is better to stick with the mom and pop brands as they truly care about the grass roots organics. The big companies just want to be in "the market". Good luck with the food!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. We made nearly all our own baby food for that very reason. And I was too tired to read the labels....the baby bullet was great for us...we'd make batches and freeze to use throughout the week. It was also more fun to help them discover new foods that way. Good luck.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Gerber sucks! I have made all of our food except when travelling. The organic baby food pouches taste better than the jars and travel better. The best brands we have found are : Earth's best (jars and cereal), Ella's Kitchen, Plum Organics and Happy Baby. Also, we are eating a lot of fresh fruit using the Munchkin Teething Feeder, which is super easy to travel with. And finally I also feed R&B avocados while travelling because it's so easy to mash. Just some ideas. Good luck!

    ReplyDelete