Sprout

Organic baby food pouches are so last year! Since the healthy, squeezable packets of baby purees first caused a ripple on playgrounds in 2010, the baby pouch has quickly become the go-to baby food choice for mamas who want the best, but just don't have time to cook up their own purees.

Now, two of the first baby food pouch creators are setting their sites on tots who've moved beyond second and third stage purees. Both Sprout and Happy Baby are introducing heat-and-eat organic toddler meals this Spring, and lil ones everywhere should be rejoicing! Here's a quick rundown of what the two are serving up!

Happy Baby The company that brought us the first organic puffs and an organic Thanksgiving meal in a pouch is creating four HappyTot Toddler Meal Bowls ($3.19 each) packed with protein and vitamin A. Using 100 percent organic vegetables, whole grains, and meats, the HappyTot line includes combinations such as Chicken, Vegetable, and Quinoa, as well as the more familiar Vegetable Ravioli. Each cup-sized serving comes precooked in BPA-free packaging that only needs to be heated for a minute in the microwave before it's ready to eat.




Sprout Tyler Florence told us that he was considering opening a Sprout café where moms and babies could stock up on food for a few days, but now he's done one better. Sprout Organic Toddler Meals ($3.49 each) begin where the Food Network chef's baby purees end, continuing his tradition of combining great but unusual flavor concoctions that kids can't wolf down fast enough. The ready-to-microwave, BPA-free trays bring together veggies, fruits, legumes, spices, and meats for eight meals, such as Macaroni and Cheese With Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato and Apple Risotto With Turkey. So while you might not have a sitter so you can go out and enjoy the chef's Wayfare Tavern, your lil one can gobble up his recipes in the comfort of your own home.

Source: Flickr User CarbonNYC

Where's the eats? Once baby gets the OK to have more than breast milk or formula, fruit and veggie purees quickly become a household staple to satiate wee appetites. Some tots can consume quite a bit, so we've run the numbers on how much it costs.

• Gerber 1st Foods Applesauce — 16 (2.5-ounce tubs for $10.49) = 26 cents per ounce
• Plum Organics Just Fruit Apples — six (3.17-ounce pouches of $7.29) = 38 cents per ounce
• Ella's Kitchen Organic Baby Food Stage 1 Apples — seven (3.5-ounce pouches for $12.50) = 51 cents per ounce
• Sprout Organic Stage 1 Roasted Apples — 12 (3.5-ounce pouches for $12.99) = 30.9 cents per ounce
• Earth's Best 1st Foods Apples — 12 (2.5-ounce jars for $7.99) = 26.6 cents per ounce

Caring for baby can cost a bundle! Check out all our It Adds Up! coverage.

Table for three, and pull up a high chair please! Tyler Florence's ultimate dining experience will include a baby food option at his three Bay Area restaurants set to open this Summer and beyond. While the concepts of the celebrity chef's first (and subsequent) eateries — San Francisco's Wayfare Tavern, El Paseo in Mill Valley, and Rotisserie & Wine in Napa — are not tot-centric, Florence told us yesterday that he plans to have his own baby food, Sprout, available to parent patrons who bring in their children.

The father of three — Miles, 14, Hayden, 3, and Dorothy, 2 — launched his organic foods for the small set a year ago. Florence said that while most of his competitors "steam the entire fruit or vegetable with skin and seeds and then puree it," he uses techniques like roasting to caramelize produce and bring out the natural sugars. The result is delicious, pure food. It's the difference, he says, between a chef's approach and "those who create most baby foods — a food scientist and a marketing person." Florence's "lab" is his home kitchen, where he perfects all his appetizing entrees from roasted bananas and brown rice to pasta with lentil bolognese using fresh ingredients and a blender. And, while Florence is conscious that it is parents purchasing their children's food, Sprout pleases pint-sized palates. His daughter eats four to five pouches a day. To see what the future holds for the chef, read more