Think Outside the Jar: The Shift in Baby Food
When I was pregnant, my dad gave me the book Top 100 Baby Purees. It sounded like a lovely idea–make my precious, healthy baby the freshest, organic local food. Little did I know that when it came time for my daughter to start eating food, she wouldn’t even be slightly interested; the girl was obsessed with her bottle, but that’s a story for another day. The reality of the situation was that during the week, I had 2-4 hours a day with her, depending on her latest nap schedule. Yeah, I could do big batches on the weekend, but meal prepping for myself and my husband was already hard enough, and now my time was even more precious than ever before. The thought of spending any of that time making her food seemed less important. Not that what I feed her isn’t important, because it definitely is, but these days there are SO many options out there beyond your basic baby food, to help parents give their little ones a well-balanced and nutritious meal with little to no effort. The products below are meeting the needs of busy moms in a culture where they're more likely to be balancing parenting with work. In 2018, 71.5% of women with children under 18 were working or looking for work.
Regardless of your baby food requirements, there's a product to meet every need and schedule.
Béaba Babycook
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For those who want to make their own baby food, Beaba Babycook is a 4-in-1 baby food prep machine that can steam cook, blend, defrost, and reheat your baby’s food all within 5-15 minutes. Basically, it speeds up the process of making your own purees and all in this cute little machine that comes in colors sure to coordinate with your kitchen. Their Instagram consists of aesthetically pleasing overhead baby food shots, recipes, and relatable parent quotes. For just $149.99 your baby could be eating better than you in more time.
Side note/pro tip: They also make my daughter’s favorite spoons.
RaisedReal
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RaisedReal “Superfoods for tiny humans”, is a subscription service with baby-ready meals of flexible food. Think Daily Harvest for babies. Simply steam, and blend, mash or serve as finger food. Customizable for all stages. With a focus on personalization and convenience, this subscription is an excellent option for busier parents. Their Instagram is much more lifestyle-focused behind the scenes baby meal time, deconstructed meals (think vegetable beauty shots on colorful backgrounds), and unapologetic mom content and quotes using hashtag #realtalk.
little spoon
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Little Spoon is akin to the baby food you are probably most familiar with, but a subscription-based service, and complete with a ‘little spoon’. They tout ready-made fresh, organic meals blended for healthy development and curated for specific growth benefits at different stages.
Yumi
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Speaking to many mom’s dreams ♀️ “Homemade baby food without the homemaking.” Yumi is another subscription based meal plan service, with rotating menus for each eating stage. Their Instagram feed religiously cycles through color schemes alternating every 5-8 posts. Yumi also focusing on celebrating pregnant women on their feed from breastfeeding to tasteful maternity photos.
Plum Organics
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Plum Organics is your standard (for this day and age) baby food but in pouches (though they do have some bowls) and can be found at most major retailers. The pouch method has taken over the baby food scene and seems to be the most popular delivery method these days. They are convenient to pack and carry around and are easy for babies to feed themselves once they reach a certain age. While you can buy your own reusable/refillable pouches, I do see this changing sometime in the near future, as the pouches as they are now are very wasteful, and my kid can definitely down a few.
The baby food industry is projected to grow to 76 billion dollars in the U.S. by 2021. In such a competitive and saturated market we see four key factors that will aid in building a successful brand: relatability, transparency, convenience, and sustainability. Those values should be reflected on social and digital executions and be immediately apparent to prospective moms. Every single one of these brands brings levity to the relatable, challenging, frustrating moments of being a mother. Many of their relatable posts revolve around the idea of moms not having enough hours in the day. The last thing moms should have to do in their busy days to ensure that what they’re feeding their kid is the best they can do. Your brand should make that information easy, accessible, and apparent in all messaging. After all, we have hungry babies to feed and they have no time for brand deception.