Baby Gourmet Organic Baby Food

Starting solids is an exciting milestone, but from worries about what to start with to the potential for allergic reaction, it can be tough on parents. Once you've taken those first steps and introduced your little one to individual foods—important to help you pinpoint allergic reactions if they do happen—purees that combine fruit, veggies and other whole foods can help expand your baby's palate (not to mention they're super handy when you're on the go). If you're looking for a puree you can feel good about feeding your little one, there are some great organic options with clean ingredients lists, including Baby Gourmet Organic Baby Food.

Baby Gourmet offers a range of purees that get progressively more sophisticated for growing babies. The Simple Purees line, for six months and up, introduces baby to fruit and veggie medleys, and a couple even have meat in them. Once your baby is seven months, Creative Combos offers more complex flavour combinations. For babies eight months and up, Adventurous Eaters (a single puree—Old Fashioned Apple Crisp) adds flavourful cinnamon into the mix, while Baby Gourmet Plus purees feature fruit, vegetables, grains and yogurt in each blend. (There's also a Tasty Textures line for eight months and up, but neither our editors nor parent testers cared for these meals that are made with meats, and they all found the non-resealable pouch less convenient, so it did not meet our criteria for approval.)

Quality of Ingredients

We worked with registered dietitian Cara Rosenbloom to get her expert take on what's in Baby Gourmet's purees. She liked that all of the purees are free of any added salt, sugar and fat, as well as citric acid—a preservative that's a no-no in baby foods, according to Rosenbloom. Some of the foods contain ascorbic acid, but it's nothing to worry about—it's simply vitamin C. Given the clean ingredients lists made up of whole food ingredients, it was no surprise that all of our parent testers said they feel good about feeding these purees to their babies.

Taste and Texture

Our parent testers liked that Baby Gourmet Organic Baby Food purees are thick enough to dispense without drips, but have a smooth texture that goes down easily for little ones. And nearly all of our parent testers said their babies seemed eager to eat these baby foods. In our lab tests, we found that the first bit of food that comes out of puree pouches is often a bit thicker and darker in colour than the rest of the puree, even if you've given the food pouch a good shake before opening. This isn't anything to worry about, though—it's simply natural oxidization at work.

All but one of the wee taste testers who tried foods from the Simple Purees line seemed to enjoy the flavours. One mom even told us that her little guy would get excited as soon as he saw the package, and she started letting him choose which one he wanted to eat. In the Today's Parent Approved lab, we tried out the Orchard Apple, Carrot & Prune blend from this line and found it was quite nice, with a strong apple flavour. We were impressed that it wasn't overly runny, which can be the case with some purees.

The Creative Combos purees are meant to be more adventurous, but our editors weren't quite so impressed. We found vanilla was overpowering in the Roasted Squash & Fruit Medley, surprising as it doesn't have a particularly strong vanilla scent. Nonetheless, the majority of babies who tried Creative Combos purees were happy with the flavours, and our parent testers said both the taste and texture are appealing.

The Adventurous Eaters and Baby Gourmet Plus lines got approval across the board, with all parents saying their babies seemed eager to keep eating these foods. The Old Fashioned Apple Crisp—the only puree in the Adventurous Eaters line—is downright delicious, tasting and smelling just exactly like apple crisp, with a light texture from the oat flakes. All of our parent testers agree this puree has great texture and consistency, and their babies seemed happy with it. Meanwhile, the blend of foods in the Gourmet Plus line was also a hit with babies, and one parent even noticed that her daughter stayed full longer after eating this puree. In the lab, our editors tried out the Coconut, Kiwi & Mangosteen with Quinoa, and were impressed with the taste, texture and light banana scent.

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Portability and Ease of Use

All Baby Gourmet Organic Baby Food purees come in 128-mL pouches, but a few of the thicker, chunkier options don't come in a resealable pouch, so they're less ideal for eating on the go (unless your kiddo often eats a full pouch at a time). As for the resealable pouches, our parent testers said the caps were easy to open and the pouches felt sturdy, noting they wouldn’t break open if dropped or squashed in the diaper bag. Lids can be screwed back on and any uneaten portion stored in the fridge for 24 hours, although keeping leftovers may not be an option while on the road.

Feeding baby was easy, too. Our testers said these purees stayed on the spoon well when feeding their little ones, and parents who dispensed puree directly onto a spoon for feeding had no trouble with drips. Baby Gourmet purees can be served warm or at room temperature, but the pouches aren't microwave-safe, so you'll have to empty the puree into a dish for warming. (Unlike other puree pouches, Baby Gourmet doesn't suggest placing the pouch in warm water to warm the food.)

Ease of use was definitely a selling point for our parent testers, who gave Baby Gourmet Organic Baby Food an overall rating of very good. It's worth noting, however, that some parents were less enthusiastic with the waste—puree pouches are, unfortunately, not recyclable.

Value for Money

While Baby Gourmet Organic Baby Food is on the higher end of the price range for organic baby foods, about half of our parent testers felt these purees offer above average value for money. They like the ingredients, their babies like the flavours, and a few parents also said they felt good supporting a Canadian company.

FINAL WORD

Nearly all the parents who tested Baby Gourmet Organic Baby Food said these purees are worthy of the Today’s Parent Approved seal. Parents liked the wide range of organic ingredients and fruit and veggie combinations that help to expand baby’s palate, and most reported that their babies loved the flavours. In our lab tests, we liked that the caps don’t get messy and are easy to reseal, plus we found most of the purees we tried were tasty.