How much nutritional value is there in baby food veggies?

Question

I know that eating fresh veggies is one of the best ways to get the full nutritional value from them... and steaming them is another good alternative.

Canned veggies lack a lot of nutritional value, but some would argue a little is better than no veggies at all...

My question, is where do baby food veggies rank on the scale of nutritional value? High or low... in the middle?

Answer 1

I think all premade baby food, organic or not, is terrible. It all has some type of preservative in it.

It's way cheaper to make your own anyways. All you need is a little food processor and some small tupperware type containers to store them in. You can freeze them as well in little ice cube trays and just heat up what you need!

I can usually make about ten 3 oz jars of carrots from a regular sized pack of fresh carrots from the grocery store (but I usually throw in some extra veggies, somethin my 8 month old doesn't realize!!)

Answer 2

From my understanding baby food is cooked at very high temperatures so it's sterile until they add vitamins and minerals. They would be high in nutritional value because of this but all taste and flavour is gone due the cooking methods.

I've only ever used these products for emergencies or on days out when I haven't had access to my own ingredients and stove.

There's something about mass produced baby food that just isn't right to me.

Answer 3

Usually one serving of a fruit or veggie.

Answer 4

Baby food veggies rank low on the nutritional scale, sorry. Though they're not as bad as some canned veggies (which have added salt or preservatives) many are fortified because in order for them to be shelf-stable enough to sit around for years, they're very processed. They have vitamin C added frequently, or vitamin A. Some have little to no nutritional value aside from calories. I know because I have a toddler myself and went through the disturbing sets of emotions that came when I'd look at the food label on the processed jarred stuff - they're basically a little jar or calories and carbs, especially fruit sugars, there's nothing left.

I think it's best to eat lightly steamed vegetables; I bought a vegetable steamer and I would steam sweet potatoes, corn, snow peas, etc. and then blend them together and give them to my baby fresh. The nutritional value was upheld, since it was extremely fresh. I could also control the quality of the vegetables that went in - I always use organic, top-notch fruits, veggies and grains for my little girl.