The latest trend in convenience food for parents is baby food pouches. They are made to look like the most favorite fruits and vegetables, with a resealable top for on-the-go moms and dads. Pouches are also microwavable, which makes heating them up quick and easy! They come in single packs or cases of 24 depending on your needs. However, they do come with their fair share of downsides:
- Often contain excess sugar, salt, and preservatives. Baby food pouches are generally easier to prepare for parents because the baby can feed on the go and parents don’t have to worry about them choking on any large chunks. However, without being able to measure out the amount of food they are feeding their child, parents who use baby food pouches may be overfeeding their children too much sugar and preservatives.
- No room for variety Baby food pouches have a wide variety of flavors available like sweet potato apple or peaches and blueberries. However, not all flavors are created equal and some parents who bought this variety may complain of the lack of variety they received.
- Narrow range in nutritional content The nutrition and fiber content of baby food pouches varies greatly from brand to brand, making it difficult for parents to ensure what their child is getting daily even when they opt for a meal plan using baby food pouches.
- No way to know what your child is getting If a parent uses one pouch per day, there is no way for them to decide how much “juice” the pouch contains and how different brands differ in terms of nutritional content.
- Expensive When bought in bulk, baby food pouches can be expensive. However, there are smaller boxes of baby food that can be bought in cheaper prizes at discount stores. Parents who have to give much more time to prepare meals for their kids may opt for cheaper boxes which they can buy in bulk.
- Less variety in taste If parents are buying only one or two pa ces per day, they’ll have to rely on the limited types of pouches available in the market. This makes their children eat the same flavors everyday which may eventually become boring for the kids.
- Lack of information Many parents who use baby food pouches complained that they were surprised by how much sugar was added even though they bought them to promote better eating habits for their young kids. They were also not able to find out much about the nutritional content of the baby food pouches.
- Less cost effective Another disadvantage of baby food pouches is that they add up a lot of costs for parents which may not be as economical as parents would want them to be. More so, the small sized packs would only last a few days and might run up expensive bills.
Of course with time, we can see that these disadvantages are being addressed by various food companies who are competing in this small yet lucrative market. Some companies have even added information on their product packaging, allowing parents to compare and determine which one they think is likely to do best in their kids’ diets.
