Organic Baby Meals are Best

The heavy media focus on healthy eating for kids, driven in particular by Jamie Oliver, has done wonders for transforming school dinner menus across the UK. But what about our youngest of kids? Sure, breast is best in the early months but when you get to six months, the meal choices can be incredibly limited, particularly if you want to feed your baby wholesome organic meals. Most jars you find in the supermarket have been so heat treated that any nutrients they could contain have probably been vapourised away!

Home made fruit and vegetable purees portioned into ice trays are simple and easy to prepare at home, but its not long after that young babies start needing something more substantial and will be wanting to try new textures and new tastes.

Daunted by the lack of choice when I came to feed my baby daughter at six months, I did what a lot of mums do – I just cooked it all myself. Then after speaking to a lot of mums in similar positions, many of whom were getting ready to go back to work and so wouldn’t have the time to cook all day, I started to wonder whether I could cook baby meals for a living.

That was over eighteen months ago and six months ago after so much more work that I ever thought “So Baby” was born.

I wanted to create home-cooked meals using only the best locally sourced ingredients. I also only wanted to use 100% organic ingredients – not because it’s trendy to be organic but simply because organic ingredients taste better and are better for your baby.

Babies natural immunities and body systems are very immature and are much more vulnerable to toxins and pesticide residues. The only way to avoid these threats to your child’s health is to ensure they eat and drink organic, pesticide, additive and GM free ingredients.

Of all the food groups, fruit and vegetables have the highest pesticide residues and buying organic is the best way to avoid them. Organic milk differs from conventional milk because cows feed on organic pastures and hay have freedom to roam and don’t get fed prophylactic drugs and other unnatural treatments designed to maximise yields to unacceptable levels.

Organic meat and poultry animals are not routinely injected with growth hormones and antibiotics. The BSE scare came about as a result of feeding animals unnatural food stuffs.

Finally much of the fish available today is reared on a fish farm, where the fish are caged underwater and fed an unnatural diet and treated with pesticides to prevent the spread of disease in an enclosed space. Organic fish, especially organic salmon are reared in high-quality waters ands fed the same diet they get in the wild, without any artificial treatments.

I would argue that the little extra cost for organic ingredients is a price worth paying for its taste but most importantly peace of mind especially when we are feeding our little babies.

The menu of meals I developed also cover the key nutritional needs for young babies. The Butternut Squash & Orange Soup is crammed full of beta-carotenne- important in fighting disease; the Salmon & Vegetable pie is packed with Omega 3 fatty acids, which is really good brain food. The Chicken Casserole is full of energy giving protein and the Macaroni Cheese with spinach is a real calcium hit, supporting bone and teeth development.

So Baby meals are available from a range of delicatessens, organic stores and farm shops across Cheshire or can be delivered directly to your home nationwide. Each meals comes in a 180g tamper-proof recyclable pot and is frozen for convenience so they can be popped straight into the freezer and then microwaved for serving.

Sarah Dennison, Founder of Cheshire based So-Baby Organic Baby Meals.

To contact Sarah please call 07887 503486, or email info@so-baby.co.uk.

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