This is a guest post by Cathy Blount. She blogs at A Life Less Sweet about avoiding HFCS and watching what her family eats while learning about food along the way.

Summer is long gone as is the outdoor growing season where I live, but I still wanted to write about gardening with kids.  I especially love gardening with my kids in the summertime, but gardening is something that can be a fun learning experience any time of year.

Why do it?

There are so many great reasons to garden – with or without kids.  I get great satisfaction and pleasure from nurturing seeds to plants.  The vegetables that I buy in the grocery store are often varieties that are prized for their ability to travel and store well rather than for their flavor.  I love that I can grow extra-tasty varieties of vegetables and berries that I can’t get in the grocery store.  I love that I can buy a pack of seeds for less than two dollars and reap a bucketful of good stuff to eat.  And I love what it does for my kids.  They get to learn firsthand where the food we eat comes from.  And, better yet, they are often more likely to try vegetables that they grow than vegetables that we buy from the store.  My son made peace with both tomatoes and onions this year thanks to our cherry tomato vine and green onions.

Seasonal gardening

When is a good time to get started gardening?  Anytime!  Snow will soon be flying where I am, but there are still plenty of gardening opportunities.  In fall and winter, take the time to prep your garden for the next growing season if you’re in a cold climate or plant cool weather crops like lettuce, carrots, cabbage, peas, and broccoli if you’re in a warmer climate.  I planted garlic outdoors recently in hopes of having heirloom garlic to harvest next summer.  And now I’ll move my gardening indoors.  If you have a sunny window, you can grow herbs indoor year round.  We’ll stick mainly to low-light loving house plants and bulbs.

Gardening with kids

Gardening with kids can be a magical experience.  What kid doesn’t love digging in the dirt?  Let a child plant a seed and watch it transform to a seedling and then to a recognizable plant.  It takes patience, but the payoff is big!

Some tips for successful gardening with kids.  First, give them a say in what is planted.  My kids’ two requests this year were carrots and sunflowers.  Into the garden they went!  Second, give them some gardening responsibility.  Watering, weeding, planting seeds, helping with harvesting – let them help you tend the garden.  Not only will they learn more about how a plant goes from seed to fruited plant, but you’ll have help!  Last, let them help decide how to use the fruits or your gardening labor.  For us, this meant that strawberries went straight into little tummies, and kohlrabi was eaten both raw (at my son’s request) and roasted (my preference).

There are so many teachable moments in gardening.  Even pests, the bane of every gardener, can lead to a learning experience.  We choose to garden organically and honestly have very few pests to deal with (most pests can’t deal with our winters), but my kids still learned plenty about slugs and earwigs this year.  They can learn about the different bugs and animals that like to munch on the garden, about beneficial bugs that gardeners want to keep around (ladybugs, anyone?), and about why and how you choose to treat your garden for pests.

We also compost, which is another great learning opportunity.   I love watching our kitchen and yard scraps transform to deep black, rich dirt over the course of a year.  We have a big compost pile that we maintain, but they sell small compost bins and tumblers or you can build a small compost bin that is appropriate for your space.  Maintained properly, smell and pests are not an issue.   My son, in particular, loves the fact that we recycle our kitchen scraps rather than throw them away, and it gives him insight into the workings of the natural world.  We talk about what our compost heap needs to decompose the way we want it to – brown material and green material, air, moisture, and bacteria.  I keep two piles going at a time – one that I actively put kitchen scraps into, and one that is curing, that is, making that slow transformation to finished, black compost.  Because of our cold weather here, composting can be slow, so it was actually thrilling to add my first load of finished compost to my raised bed this fall.

Afraid you’ll have a brown thumb?

Let me tell you, I am no expert at this gardening business, but I managed to grow carrots, kohlrabi, cabbage, broccoli, squash, green onions, potatoes, peas, green beans, lettuce, spinach, potatoes, strawberries, raspberries, tomatoes, and lots of herbs in my garden in northern Wyoming this summer.  Just think of what you could grow someplace where frost isn’t a constant threat!  I learn a little more each year.  The mistakes are as educational to my kids and me as the successes.

Get started, be diligent with watering and weeding, and watch what happens!

photo credit: 11950mike

The recent recall of over half billion eggs due to an outbreak of salmonella has everyone worried about the safety of eggs they buy from the store. There is quite a buzz in the media over this recall, which is once again being used to create a sense of panic so people sit up and pay attention to the so called breaking news! Sure, there is reason to be careful, but there are many ways you can protect your family without giving up on eggs completely. Eggs are a good source of complete protein especially useful for growing children.

Recently I connected with Mitch Kantor, Ph.D., who is the Executive Director of the Egg Nutrition Center (ENC). He provided answers to a few questions about egg nutrition via email:

Question: What is the benefit of including eggs in my toddler’s diet? At what age should I start?

Answer: A  primary function at the toddler  stage is growth ,  and the high quality protein in eggs is an excellent source of all the necessary amino acids  needed  to promote growth. In  addition , choline, a nutrient found in eggs  (and not found in abundance in many other food sources) , helps support the development of the memory center in the child’s rapidly growing brain.

Question: Are there any egg allergies I should be concerned about?

Answer: The American Academy of Pediatrics no longer recommends refraining from introducing eggs beyond 6 months of age. Although eggs are one of the more common food allergies, pediatricians are now suggesting introducing small amounts of known allergens into the diets of children who are suspected to have allergic reactions in order to develop a tolerance.

Question: What is the benefit of organic eggs vs. standard eggs?

Answer: Organic eggs are eggs that come from hens whose diets contain grain grown without pesticides. Nutritionally, there is no evidence to support a nutritional benefit of organic vs standard eggs.

Question: What is meant by “free range”, “antibiotics free” on the label?

Answer: Free range eggs means that the hens have access to the outdoors. Their diets are uncontrolled so the nutrient value of their eggs may vary.  The use of antibiotics in laying hens is not a standard practice in the egg industry. So, for the most part, almost all eggs in the food supply are antibiotic free.

Question: I have heard that eggs contain a lot of cholesterol. Is that true?

Answer: A  large egg contains  around  212 mg of cholesterol according to the USDA. Scientific evidence has shown that dietary cholesterol like that found in eggs does not raise blood cholesterol in most people. Our liver makes most of the cholesterol that travels in our blood and unless there is an abnormality, excess dietary cholesterol is excreted by our body , or used in various bodily processes .

Question: What is the best way of cooking eggs to preserve their nutritional value?

Answer: The best way to preserve nutrients in any food is to keep it refrigerated until ready to use and cook it for a short time in a minimum of water. Using the microwave to quickly cook an egg would be the best way to preserve the many healthy nutrients in an egg.

Do you have an egg-related question not answered above? Leave it in comments below. I will follow up with Dr Kantor and get it answered. Feel free to also share any other comments or opinions.

©2010 Littlestomaks.com

Can you imagine a breakfast cereal which you can customize based on your own unique tastes? Not happy with the amount of sugar in your favorite cereal? Would like to have more of your favorite yogurt covered raisins and less of the freeze-dried strawberries or blueberries? How about other exotic nuts, fruits and seeds not usually available in standard brands?

Well, now you can! If you live in Germany, UK, Netherlands check out mymuseli custom-mixed cereals! I just returned from a symposium on mass customization, a recent trend of producing custom-made products, where I heard this success story. I wanted to share it with you because cereal is such a common breakfast item everywhere.

You can select your personal favorite museli base, enhance it by adding a variety of flakes, and then choose from a very broad range of fruits, nuts and seeds. Over 75 ingredients are available, which can offer you 566 quadrillion mixes of museli -the question is, which one is yours! They claim certified organic quality ingredients, although the nutritional information about the mixed cereal seems to be missing.

The cereal aisle in a typical grocery supermarket is long and filled with a variety of brands and types of cereals. That is why the idea of custom mix cereal may sound strange, but it seems to have caught on in Europe. What do you think of this idea? Answer the quick poll question below.

©2010 Littlestomaks.com

It seems like there has been an increase in new quinoa products, or maybe it is because we now pay more attention to them on our shopping trips! We call it the unrecognized superfood. It does take a little getting used to and develop a taste for it. But there is no doubt about its exceptional nutritional value.

That is why we are glad to have stumbled upon yet another quinoa product from Ancient Harvest, this time in the form of flakes. You can use them as a hot breakfast cereal, which I have already tried twice this week. I added a few raisins and a spoon of honey to improve its taste. Quinoa flakes can also be used in pancakes or waffles, or as a coating for cooking fish or chicken.

Here is what we like about this product -

1. Made with 100% organic quinoa
2. Very easy to make a hot breakfast cereal, just like oatmeal
3. Rich in iron, phosphorus, thiamin (vitmain B1) and riboflavin (vitamin B2)
4. Gluten free, non GMO
5. No saturated fat or trans fat, no cholesterol, no added sugar
6. 2.4 g fiber, 4.3 g protein per serving
7. Quinoa is a low glycemic index grain and it contains many amino acids (building blocks of proteins)

Here is what we don’t like about this product -

1. Although easy to use, you really need to improve its taste as a hot breakfast cereal.

Overall, we are giving it a thumbs up. I think this is a great idea and we plan to make other recipes using this product!

Disclaimer – I have not received any sponsorship or free samples of product from Ancient Harvest Quinoa for writing this review. For complete nutritional information and other products, visit Quinoa Corporation.

©2010 Littlestomaks.com

Greetings! There is no doubt that popular food brands have enormous appeal and influence, especially on children who are exposed to heavy marketing. Not a surprise therefore that even 3 year olds can recognize these brands. The bad news is that most of these brands offer sugary, salty and fatty junk foods, to which kids get hooked on early! Parents have to face this challenge as they try to encourage their children to develop healthy eating habits. Sounds familiar?

I started this week by suggesting that we need to have an offensive-defensive strategy for dealing with the attack of popular food brands. The idea is to create your family’s brand of food and nutrition by applying common branding techniques of identifying core values, developing a main message with a logo/slogan, promoting with friends and family and aggressively defending it with a few rules.

Another approach is to identify a few brands and products that resonate with your core values to support your battle against the not-so-healthy-but-otherwise-popular food brands. Association with these brands then becomes an extension of your personal brand.

This week, instead of the usual Five for Fridays, I want to share with you 5 of our favorite brands and why we like them. And no, I have not been paid to highlight them here; the idea here is to offer you a few suggestions as you try to discover what is important to you.

I would love to hear your comments! Feel free to share your favorite food brands and products.

Earth’s Best Organic

Earth’s Best, by far, is our most favorite brand! Our twins grew up on Earth’s Best fruit and vegetable purees, and they continue to love their organic toddler snacks such as Letter of the Day Cookies, Yogurt Rice Crisp Bars and Instant Oatmeal.

In researching Earth’s Best for this article, I found out – much to my surprise – that the company’s founders Ron and Arnie Koss are twins! Their vision of nurturing children with purest foods and growing those foods responsibly to promote a healthier earth resonates with our core values completely.

Earth’s Best brand now belongs to the Hain Celestial Group, Inc. who is responsible for bringing their toddler products to market, and of course, we are very thankful! Their product lineup ranges from infant formulas to baby’s first foods to toddler snacks and meals. They seem to be big on using Seasame Street characters as a marketing tool on their products. Honestly we are not too crazy about it! For us, the appeal is in their promise of organic quality and commitment to the environment.

For a complete list of their products and to learn about their history, visit Earth’s Best website.

Horizon Organic

We are a big fan of Horizon’s organic milk with DHA. We have had our twins on this milk ever since they started cow’s milk. At first, we were looking for an organic milk brand, but when we found Horizon’s milk with added DHA in our local supermarket, it was a no-brainer! DHA is known to support healthy brain and eye development in infants and toddlers. The source of DHA is from algae branded as life’s DHA from Martek Bioscience Corporation.

We believe that milk is an important source of nutrition for a growing child, unless there is the unfortunate situation of milk allergy. Selecting certified organic milk is better because it does not contain any antibiotics or growth hormones.

We are impressed by Horizon’s commitment to organic principles, compassion for their livestock and passion for the land. In my research, I found Horizon’s Standard of Care, which goes in great detail about their beliefs and management practices to support these beliefs. The integrity of this brand is impressive.

For a complete list of their products and company facts, visit Horizon Dairy website and Horizon Organic Facts.

Campbell’s Kids Soups

Campbell’s soups are a household name, no doubt, as you can tell by the prominent place they occupy in any grocery store. Our daughter enjoys Campbell’s kids soups with her favorite characters like Dora and Disney Princess. She loves to help Mom open a can and pour its contents in a saucepan for a quick meal. On a busy day, these ready-to-eat soups come in very handy! We are careful to read the labels because these soups can be high in salt, although Campbell’s is ahead of the curve in reducing the sodium content from its products.

We like Campbell’s as a brand, because they seem to really listen to their consumers while being sensitive to the economic difficulties. Clearly, their brand is positioned for the masses. Although their approach to healthful nutrition and environmental sustainability is incremental in our opinion, we do like their focus on affordable nutrition and continuous improvement. They have also figured out a great way to encourage consumers to prepare home cooked meals using their soups and recipes on the label. From that point of view,  we believe that Campbell’s has the potential to enable a move away from fast food and restaurant food toward home cooking at a very large scale.

Here is an interesting piece of trivia I found while researching their brand – they also produce their own seeds for tomato and peppers!

For a complete list of their products, visit Campbell’s Condensed Soups.

Cheerios

Although our twins are no longer that crazy about Cheerios, this cereal is a family favorite and occupies almost a permanent place on our cereal shelf. When they were younger, it was one of their favorite finger foods, especially when they needed to munch on something in the car!

Although there are many different types of products in the Cheerios family, we go for the plain standard Cheerios and Honey Nut Cheerios. We like the whole grain oats, low sugar and vitamins (particularly vitamin D) in this cereal. Recently, there has been some recent controversy about their claims around cholesterol and heart health, but we think it is more of a legal issue for them rather than a real concern with the product.

For a complete list of their products, visit Cheerios.

Green Giant Frozen Vegetables

We usually keep our freezer stocked with several packages of Green Giant frozen vegetables. Although fresh produce is the best choice, the convenience of packaged frozen vegetable -  some ready to serve with a sauce – makes it easy to add veggies in your daily diet. We like the affordable diversity of different frozen vegetables from Green Giant. But we also try to limit our selection to some of their simpler products like peas, cauliflower, broccoli and mixed vegetables. Their rice pilaf is also one of our favorites.

As a brand, which is now a part of the giant General Mills, they seem to be able to retain their identity and maintain a connection with their roots in the Minnesota River Valley. We are also impressed by their commitment to sustainability. They are sponsoring an innovative project with The Nature Conservancy. It involves using a combination of native vegetation in infiltration ponds to collect the water runoff from the fields. It is then diverted to a bioreactor (trenches filled with woodchips) where the excess nitrogen is removed and land erosion controlled. This system will also create a habitat for wildlife. Sounds like an interesting idea; although it may take up to 10 years to see the results.

For a complete list of their products, visit The Green Giant.

Enjoy and share with us your favorite brands and products.

©2010 Littlestomaks.com

Disclaimer: We have not received any sponsorship or free products from these brands and companies for our review. Our opinions are based on personal use and publicly available information.

Happy Easter! It is Friday again, which means it is time for the usual Five for Fridays! Here are 5 food and nutrition related stories that caught my eye. Enjoy and let me know what you think.

New health bill will require restaurants to show calories on the menu

Chain restaurants with more than 20 outlets nationwide will be required to display nutrient content and calorie information on their menus according to Section 2572 of the recent healthcare bill. Similar rules will apply to vending machines. Menu labeling has been already in place in New York City for over an year with mixed results. Studies published last year, which I wrote about in a Five for Fridays, reported that doubts were emerging about the effectiveness of calorie labeling. What was more worrisome to me was the fact that some restaurants were actually “cheating” by posting lower calories than actually present in certain food items when tested! Clearly, this should not be allowed.

I think calorie labeling on restaurant menus is a good idea. Not only that,  there should also be other nutritional information available, particularly on salt, sugar and fat. It may take some time before consumers are fully aware of the risks of salty, sugary and fatty foods, but clearly in the long run it will help them make better decisions. The problem is that now it will require some sort of policing to ensure compliance with the law. Already there are problems with the National Organic Program (see below) due to constraints in budget and inspectors . These new requirements will undoubtedly create a new bureaucracy and another cat-and-mouse game will begin between food marketers and compliance officers. Hopefully it will become a self-policing system if consumers begin to vote with their wallets at these restaurants.

National Organic Program lacks teeth to enforce rules

You pay extra for certified organic products. You have the right to expect that they are genuine and that they do not contain pesticide residues. You do not expect non-organic products sold with the organic label. Yet, it is not an absolute guarantee! Now, wouldn’t that make you mad?

This is exactly how I felt when I read a report in the New York Times which exposed serious gaps in federal oversight of the organic food industry. Turns out that they don’t have enough inspectors to spot check organic products for pesticide residue (required by law) and that bogus organic products were allowed to be in the market for over 2 years before any action was taken. The excuse? Well, demand for organic products has grown so fast that the USDA’s National Organic Program can’t keep up with its enforcement responsibilities!

Finally, they are making a commitment to enforce spot testing for pesticide residues. They are getting more money and more people. The bureaucracy is ballooning but don’t expect it work perfectly. It never does. Meanwhile, don’t give up on organic products; just do your research and buy from a reputable brand.

Pepsico wants to trick your tongue by “designer salt”

Don’t give up on the potato chips! At least that is what Pepsico would like you to do just in case you are having second thoughts after reading about the evil sodium in their popular snacks. Recently they announced plans to cut sodium content by 25% by 2015, saturated fat and added sugar by 15% and 25% respectively by 2020. Sounds like the responsible thing to do, especially now that there is a bright spotlight on the link between processed food and obesity.

The solution, at least for sodium? A new “designer salt” which has crystals shaped and sized so that they dissolve fast on the tongue delivering a rapid salty sensation. While an innovative idea, which Pepsico is sure to market as a “breakthrough”, I think it is still a great example of incremental thinking. The problem is not with salt folks, it is the chips that we need to cut down on.

And 25% reduction is not going to make these products “healthier”! Consider Cheetos, which contain a whopping 290 mg of sodium per 1 oz serving. A 25% reduction (in 5 years) will bring it down to about 220, which is still very high. Too little, too late? What do you think?

Spinach leaves enrich their vitamin content sitting on the store shelf

Worried about picking up that box of baby spinach close to its expiration date? Well, believe it or not, you may be actually getting more value for your money compared to a box that did not sit on the store shelves for this long!

According to researchers at the USDA, spinach leaves exposed to store lighting conditions continuously over 9 days had a higher level of folate, vitamin C, K and E compared to those kept in the dark. This fascinating research was recently published in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry. The researchers reasoned that the spinach leaves continued their photosynthesis (a process by which plants produce sugars using sunlight and carbon dioxide) under the store light, which also produces these vitamins. When the same spinach leaves were stored in the dark, photosynthesis did not happen.

This is interesting for sure, but remember that the vitamin content of vegetables also depends on how you cook them. Steaming and microwaving is good; but eating raw fresh veggies is even better.

Teaching kids to eat healthy the French way

Offer preschoolers a 5 course meal, make sure they eat at the table and keep the parents out is the French recipe for getting kids to build lifelong healthy eating habits. I was fascinated to read the Nursery School Gourmets in a recent TIME magazine, which explained how seriously the city of Paris looks at the matter of school lunches.

Clearly, it is a well-structured, heavily funded state program unlike what we have in the United States. The daily menu is planned in advance for 2 months with no repetitions. Every meal includes an hors d’oeuvre, salad, main course, cheese plate and dessert (yum!). Soda and snack machines are banned. Parents are given suggestions for what to serve at dinner based on the day’s lunch menu. Discipline is intense and kids are trained to eat at the table and keep quiet.

Should we emulate the French model to solve our childhood obesity problem? The topic of school lunch is center stage these days, and Jamie Olivers’ Food Revolution is on prime time. The French model is yet another benchmark for us to consider. What do you think?

Enjoy and let me know what is on your mind.

Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons

©2010 Littlestomaks.com

I wanted to try these snacks from HappyBaby after I read Mothers of Invention, a story in the Wall Street Journal about Mom entrepreneurs. Plus, we had been getting similar snacks from Gerber like the fruit puffs and yogurt melts anyway, so this certified organic option had good appeal. I found them in our local Babies ‘R Us, but you can also find them  in Super Target and WinnDixie.

They taste quite good; even I couldn’t resist popping a few of these melts in my mouth!

Here is what we like about this product -

1. USDA certified organic
2. Contains live active cultures for digestive health
3. Contains 2X more protein than Gerber’s yogurt melts
4. Provides 13% vitamin D and 12% calcium for kids 1-4 year old. Gerber’s yogurt melts on the other hand contain no vitamin D and only 4% calcium
5. No saturated fat or trans fat, no cholesterol
6. Gluten free, no soy, no wheat

Here is what we don’t like about this product -

1. Slightly higher sodium than Gerber’s yogurt melts (don’t understand why!)
2. There is added sugar even though in small amounts
3. Very little fruit although the packaging prominently displays ripe strawberries! Don’t consider this a fruit substitute by any means, it has no fiber!
4. High cost. One trick I used was to mix a few melts in yoplait yogurt at snack time and offered it to my son! He loved the crunchy, quick melting texture with the otherwise soft fruity yogurt. You can also use plain yogurt.

Overall, we are very excited about this product. It can be a handy on-the-go snack. Give them a try and let us know your opinion.

Disclaimer – I have not received any sponsorship or free samples of product from Happy Baby for writing this review. For complete nutritional information and other products, visit HappyMelt’s website.

Photo Source: HappyBaby
©2010 Littlestomaks.com

I have been keeping an eye on quinoa products lately, particularly after we found the Ancient Harvest Quinoa Pasta recently. As a grain, quinoa has exceptionally high nutritional value, but it takes a while to develop a taste for it. You can try it in a recipe like our popular chicken with quinoa, or even serve as a side dish all by itself!

Pasta made from quinoa flour certainly is a novelty in my opinion. This way, kids can get to develop a taste for quinoa in a familiar form. We found this particular quinoa from Andean Dream in our local Whole Foods Market. What invited my interest was the fact that this pasta was made from a mix of organic quinoa flour and organic rice flour, unlike the corn flour used in the Ancient Harvest Quinoa.

Here is our short review – if you try this product, let us know how you like it.

Here is what we like about this product -

1. USDA certified organic
2. Gluten free
3. No saturated fat or trans fats, no cholesterol
4. 6 g protein per serving, 3 g fiber
5. Quinoa is rich in B vitamins and iron
6. Quinoa is low in glycemic index

Here is what we don’t like about this product -

1. Does not taste like pasta, more like a rice noodle

Overall, I think it is worth a try! It may work well in oriental recipes which use rice noodles!

Disclaimer – I have not received any sponsorship or free samples of product from Andean Dream for writing this review. For complete nutritional information and other products, visit Andean Dream’s website.
©2010 Littlestomaks.com

We discovered the Plum Organics brand products recently. After trying their mish-mash fruit purees, which our twins liked a lot, we decided to check out these baked fruit and snack grain sticks. Once again, it was quite a hit and the pack of 12 “berry” fiddlesticks was gone in only a couple of days!

You can find them in Babies ‘R Us and Whole Foods.

Here is what we like about this product -

1. USDA certified organic
2. No saturated fat or trans fat
3. No cholesterol
4. Gluten free
5. Uses brown rice flour, tapioca flour, garbanzo bean flour
6. Only 40 calories in a serving of 2 sticks – good for portion control

Here is what we don’t like about this product -

1. Very little fruit, although the packaging is quite attractive with pictures of fruits and vegetables
2. There is added sugar even though in small amounts
3. No denying that this is processed food – yet, there aren’t any vitamins and minerals. Surprising because part of The Plum Promise according to the package is “always nutrient rich”. I would consider this simply as a fruity cookie!

We are still excited about this product because the twins loved it and because it can be a handy treat with a build in portion-control feature.

Disclaimer – I have not received any sponsorship or free samples of product from Plum Organics for writing this review. For complete nutritional information and other products, visit Plum Organic’s website.

Photo Source: Plum Organics
©2010 Littlestomaks.com

I learned about Plum Organics from The Mothers of Invention, a story about Mom entrepreneurs in a recent issue of the Wall Street Journal. I was so impressed that I decided to try their squeezable fruit purees with our twins. I found them in our local Babies ‘R Us, although they are also available in Whole Foods. They have a broader range of pureed products, including both fruits and vegetable purees for babies. Since we are not at the baby stage any more, I was happy to find the mish-mash line of products for toddlers. Still I ended up buying both the baby and tots products just to try them out.

Just like the Buddy Fruits I reviewed a few weeks ago, these fruit purees come in a squeezable pouch. It came in handy as a snack when my daughter woke up from her afternoon nap and stepped outside to play in the backyard!

Here is what we like about this product -

1. 100% fruit, no sugar added
2. USDA certified organic
3. Does not need to be refrigerated if unopened. After opening, you can keep the leftover in the fridge for 24 hours
4. 3 fruit options available – peach, banana, strawberry
5. The fruit and vegetable blend for babies comes in 6 varieties with blends from sweet potato, corn, apple, spinach, peas, pear, pumpkin, banana, mango, peach, apricot, and carrots. Even though they are targeted for babies, I think they will go well with toddlers too

Here is what we don’t like about this product -

1. Can be a little messy if the child squeezes the tube before putting the open top end in the mouth
2. High cost; 1 packet costs over a dollar. They happened to be on sale that day in Babies ‘R Us at $10 for 10

Overall, we are giving them a thumbs up despite the high cost. Hopefully, the cost will come down with new packaging innovations.

Disclaimer – I have not received any sponsorship or free samples of product from Plum Organics for writing this review. For complete nutritional information and other products, visit Plum Organic’s website.

©2010 Littlestomaks.com

A few weeks ago, we picked up this USDA certified organic kids cereal from our local supermarket since we wanted to offer something new to our twins. We were pleased to see that it became an instant hit with them. It goes well with milk as a breakfast cereal. At other times, they also like to munch on it as a crunchy snack.

Good taste aside, this product has a modest 8g of sugar per serving, decent amount of fiber, no saturated fat or trans fat, no cholesterol and a good mix of vitamins and minerals. It is based on organic whole wheat grain and rice flour, so not an option for those with gluten intolerance or allergy. I would have liked to see even lower sodium than the 105 mg per serving. I don’t understand why salt has to be added to a dry, sweet cereal.  Still, overall I am quite happy with the nutritional value of this product compared to many other popular kids cereals on the market.

Apart from being organic, we liked it because we are also a big supporter of Cascadian Farms (disclaimer: I have not received any sponsorship from them to say this!). This is because they do seem to embrace the core idea behind organic farming and not just work the system to get the USDA Organic stamp on their products. Its founder, Gene Kahn, goes a long way back to the original organic movement – enough to merit a detailed feature in Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma. Today, Cascadian Farms is a subsidiary of General Mills, and although surely Kahn has had to compromise on his ideals, his pragmatic pursuit of these ideals resonates with me a lot. I would love to find out more about Cascadian Farms firsthand.

One could argue that it is still processed food and that a large portion of the high cost is due to marketing and packaging. Point well taken, but cereal is a fact of every day life in America, clearly seen by the long aisles stocked with all kinds of cereals in a typical supermarket. It is not going anywhere anytime soon. So I would rather select something that resonates with me as a brand and provides good nutritional value.

Leave a comment if you found this review useful.

©2009 Littlestomaks.com

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We picked up these Organic crackers from our local WholeFoods store a couple of weeks ago, almost purely by chance! We liked them so much that we made another trip this weekend to bring a few different types and decided to write a quick review.

These crackers are crisp, without any saturated or trans fats, no cholesterol and very little sodium. They taste great, which means it is possible to deliver good taste without a lot of fat and salt. There is 2% iron in each serving of 4 crackers, which contain 70 calories, out of which 30 are from fat. It is not a good source of vitamins or calcium, so you should not treat it as a nutritional supplement. However, if you decide to enjoy them with cheese or peanut butter, you can certainly enhance their nutritional value!

The complete ingredient list shows that these crackers are made from expeller pressed organic oils (sunflower, safflower, soybean and canola oils). Expeller pressing is a mechanical method of extracting oils from seeds by applying pressure in a simple screw type of a machine. It is not necessarily a very efficient method since it cannot remove all of the oils, but it is considered to produce more pure and unrefined oils since no solvents are used. Cold pressing is considered to be even better; that is when the friction heating of expeller pressing does not result in temperatures above 120 °F, but it is not always possible. These unrefined oils retain their aroma, flavors and nutrients, although they may not always have a long shelf-life.

Since the ingredient list does not show any partially hydrogenated oils, the front of the box claim of No Trans Fat is likely reliable.

These crackers are made from organic wheat flour, so not an option if you or your child has gluten sensitivity or allergy.

You can find them in your local supermarket or buy online from the Health Valley website.

©2009 Littlestomaks.com

I really wanted to get a USDA certified Organic Turkey for Thanksgiving this year. My shopping experience over the weekend, however, left me with a feeling of great dissatisfaction. I have written about the “sticker shock” when buying organic; I got to experience it first-hand myself this time. And it was quite a shock.

We all know the benefits of selecting organic foods since they are produced without the use of chemicals, fertilizers and pesticides, and in the case of meat and poultry, raised on organic feed and without any antibiotics or growth hormones. Wouldn’t it be nice, I thought, to set a nice trend each Thanksgiving by going organic for the whole turkey? Not only would it be a healthy thing to do, we could also talk about it with our guests over the dinner table. I knew I was going against my own advice for buying organic on a budget – that is of not buying organic animal products – still, I thought Thanksgiving is a special occasion. After all, it can’t be all that bad. Little did I know; I was in for a rude awakening and a tough lesson in the dynamics of supply and demand.

My first visit was to a local Publix Supermarket store next to an upscale outdoor Mall. Predictably, it was stocked quite well with both frozen and fresh turkeys. I was familiar with the Butterball brand. I also saw a good range of the Publix brand with a simple label prominently displaying “Grade A USDA inspected”. After walking through several aisles, I asked one of the store associates if they carried “organic” turkeys. He didn’t know so he went on to ask the manager in the meat department. The manager came out and walked me to another section where they had a few “all natural”, “never frozen” turkeys. I repeated myself, “I need an organic turkey, not all natural”. So this time, as if trying to make a special effort, he takes me to the frozen section and shows me a couple of “all kosher” turkeys. It did not carry the USDA certified organic seal; I pointed that to him – as if to drive the point home – that his turkeys were not organic after all!

I decided to give up and call Fresh Market, which is kind of a poor substitute for Whole Foods Market in our area. “Nope, we don’t carry organic turkeys, we only have natural”, was what I was politely told over the phone. At least it saved me a trip! But still, I didn’t have a turkey, and I was beginning to get worried. At this point, my wife told me to just give it up and go for what every other “normal” person does for Thanksgiving. That is go ahead and buy the popular Butterball brand. “Oh well, maybe next year”, I told myself.

A second visit to another Publix right in our neighborhood, was when I got the sticker shock. Even though, I was not looking for an organic turkey anymore, I did find two – I am not kidding, just two – turkeys with the USDA organic seal in a section otherwise overflowing with Butterballs and Publix brand turkeys. Obvisouly, there aren’t too many people looking for organic turkeys these days. Anyway, check out the difference in price – the organic turkeys were about 3 – 5 times more expensive than the regular turkeys! Isn’t that something? Unbelievable!

The more pragmatic side of me took over after the sticker shock, so I came home with a Butterball.

Later I did a quick search on the internet to see if this made sense. Here is what I found:

• Willie Bird Organic Turkey from Williams-Sonoma (shipped overnight) – $6.7 – $7.3/lb depending on the weight; available now only for Christmas delivery!
• Organic Free Range Thanksgiving Turkey from Lobel’s – $6.5/lb (too late for Thanksgiving delivery)

Now the $4.99/lb does not look so bad. Still, it is outside my budget.

What about you? Did you get an organic turkey this Thanksgiving?

This organic instant oatmeal from Earth’s Best is my daughter’s favorite. We buy it online from Earth’s Best website, where a box of 10 pouches is (total weight 15.1 oz) is listed at $5.19. Each pouch delivers 170 calories, only 20 of which are from fat. We also like the fact that it is USDA certified organic. Look at all the “green” boxes in the table above (“green” is good!) – there is a quite a good amount of minerals and vitamins in each serving. The only negative is that the sugar content is high (there is no daily value for sugar; however according to my estimates, the total daily amount should be less than 95g). There is lots of fiber and protein. We sometimes add a little milk to give an extra boost of calcium and protein.

Compare it to Quaker Instant Oatmeal (Maple and Brown Sugar). Quaker’s product has about the same serving size, calories and fat content. It is higher in sodium (270 mg), sugar (13g); lower in fiber (3g) and it does not contain as many vitamins and minerals. Plus it is not organic.

Quaker’s organic instant oatmeal is listed at $6.59 on their online store. Again it is high in sodium (95g), sugar (12g); lower in fiber (3g) and does not contain as many vitamins and minerals. Plus, according to their website, it is in limited distribution.

All in all, we give the Earth’s Best instant oatmeal a big thumbs up!

What is your toddler’s favorite breakfast food?

There is no doubt that organic food costs more. Now that the times are tough, you are probably watching your budget more carefully. Even if you have not completely switched to buying conventional foods, you are already thinking about making some trade-offs. In this post, I want to offer some ideas that can help you maintain a high proportion of “organic” in your shopping.

But why does it cost so much more?

It is quite normal to get a sticker shock in the organic aisles because organic food can cost anywhere from 20 to 100% more than a similar non-organic conventional food. The main reasons are that organic farming is more labor intensive, yields are low and there has not been any increase in the acreage used for organic farming, therefore, supplies are low. Conventional farming, on the other hand, benefits from subsidies and high yields from the use of agrochemicals and pesticides.

So what can you do? Here are five ideas.

Go organic for fresh produce

Fresh produce such as vegetables and fruits is probably the best return on your organic dollars. You can be sure that they are grown using organic methods and are free of chemicals and pesticides. They retain most of their natural flavor and vitamins. Not only will you save money by not buying processed foods, you will also control what you make out of them using your favorite recipes. You can keep them fresh longer by using this product (called E.G.G, I have not tried it, but it should work), or by following some simple advice on this website.

Cut down on package food and snacks

Food processors must buy expensive organic raw materials to make products that can be certified organic. Add to that high energy and transportation costs, and the net result is that these products are more costly to produce. The manufacturers need to maintain their profit margin, so they pass on the added cost to you, usually by decreasing the package weight. So you get less for your money.

You can find creative ways of making healthy snacks yourself without having to buy packaged foods. Use fruits, yogurt, nuts, peanut butter, crackers or other stuff lying around in your pantry. You can get many ideas from the web; one that I found interesting was a list of ten healthy sustainable snacks . And here is another.

Invest in a breadmaker

A loaf of organic wheat bread can cost you an extra dollar, if not more, over regular bread. The price of organic bread has gone up quite a lot in recent days mainly due to the rise in the price of organic grain. And as with other processed foods, breadmaking takes up energy, packaging and transportation. You can get a decent breadmaker from Amazon.com for less than $100. On a rough estimate, it can pay itself back in less than one year for a family of four (2 loaves of bread per week). Plus you can try out different grains and flavors.

Cut down on animal products and frozen foods

Milk, eggs and yogurt aside, you may consider taking a closer look at meats, frozen foods, and meat-containing processed foods, and limit their purchase. Animals need to be fed organic feed before foods based on animal products can be certified organic. Supply of such feed – organic soy and corn mostly – is very tight and demand very high; so they are very expensive. You could buy fresh or farm-raised fish rather than poultry, beef or pork. Fish can be expensive; however it has much better nutritional value compared to other meats anyway. There is some confusion whether fish is organic or not , so do your research before you make up your mind. You may also look for vegetarian sources of protein if you decide to cut down on meat.

I have never been a fan of frozen food. I don’t experience the same flavor and taste as a freshly prepared meal, however, I do understand the convenience factor. Still, all the processing, storage, transportation and stocking up in a freezer consumes a lot of expensive energy. Organic or not, frozen food is an expensive proposition.

Buy in bulk, buy store brands

Shopping at Sam’s Club, Costco or your local warehouse store can help you save money since you buy in bulk. All you have to do is to figure out your storage problem! Wal-Mart is another option; you can now find Gerber’s organic foods in many varieties in the baby section. Store brands at Whole Foods or similar stores can also help you save money. You can get a list of other not-so-well-known private label companies offering organic food on The Organic Pages Online. You can probably order online from their websites.

What do you think? Have you tried something else that has worked for you better? I welcome your comments!