Happy Baby Food

I try to make most all of The Boy's baby food. I love knowing what exactly goes into it, and best of all, its fun to make! Every now and then, though, I get a little behind on it, so that's why I was excited when I learned about HappyBaby Food's frozen meals. They take fresh,

organic food, steam it, and then flash freeze it into convenient cubes (similar to how you would freeze homemade baby food). Each box comes with 12 individual cubes, so that you can just pop out how many cubes you need, heat it, and then feed it to baby. The meals come in 8 different packages of 15 different varieties that include meat, grains, fruit, and vegetables. Their flavor

creations are very unique, too (Grrreat Greans, for example, has organic pears, spinach, mango, and DHA algal oil).

HappyBaby Food was nice enough to send me a variety pack of their baby foods, and let me know more about their company. They got their start when they noticed a need for more "homestyle" options for baby food. You either had to buy commercialized jarred food full of fillers and preservatives, or create your own, an option that isn't always possible when you're a busy parent. They are committed to providing families with the healthiest, most optimal nutrition possible, which is why you'll find only organic ingredients, DHA, pre and probiotics, as well as supergrains like Salba and Quinoa in their foods. Best of all, Happy Baby Foods was developed with the help of world renowned pediatrician, Dr. Sears!

I initially found HappyBaby Foods when I was googling probiotics and babies. I've been taking a daily probiotic for several years now, and when The Boy showed up, I increased my dosage so that it could be transferred to him through breastmilk. If you've never heard of probiotics, or don't really know what they do, here's a great description from Dr. Sears:

"...probiotics are a great way to make sure your baby's system has plenty of what I like to call "good bowel bugs." These healthful bacteria strengthen intestinal immune defenses by crowding out "bad" bacteria—like the kind that can bring on a bout of diarrhea. Probiotics also help prevent allergies. The gastrointestinal (GI) tract is the body's largest immune organ. The better you feed baby's GI tract, the better you feed baby's immune system."

HappyBellies cereals are the ONLY baby cereal with probiotic immune support and DHA. HappyBellies cereals are vegan, contain no dairy, soy, gluten, or wheat. And because they are organic, you can be sure they're free from pesticides, chemical fertilizers, and genetically

engineered ingredients. They come in three different varieties: organic brown rice, organic oatmeal, and organic multi-grain. Along with the cereals and frozen foods, they also make HappyPuffs, an organic, melt in your mouth finger food that comes in three varieties: apple, banana, and greens. The puffs contain 1/2 the sugars found in the leading brand puffs (Gerber and Beechnut). The containers hold 40% more than the competitors, and they are recyclable. They are a socially responsible company, as well. Their product containers are free from BPA, and they're always working to lighten their carbon footprint.

HappyBaby also carries a complete line of food for older kids, too (HappyMelts, HappyBites, and HappyTot).

What I thought:

I was initially drawn to HappyBaby when I discovered their HappyBellies cereals with probiotics. I firmly believe that probiotics have helped us avoid thrush (probiotics are great at eliminating overgrowths of yeast) and have contributed to The Boy's overall good health. The cereals taste great, and since they're made with organic grains, I am confident in feeding them to my son. I generally add a tablespoon to his purees to thicken them up, and he loves it! They come in resealable canisters, which I also love. Other organic cereals come in boxes that required me putting them into a resealable bag to keep them fresh. I really like the canisters. So convenient!

Since I was already accustomed to using my own homemade frozen cubes, the HappyBaby frozen purees were simple to use. I could see how, however, how someone with no experience with frozen baby food cubes might have a slight learning curve, though. The cubes, once thawed, sometimes separated a little, but that was easily fixed by mixing up the puree. The food tasted great, and tasted similar to my homemade stuff. My son enjoyed everything, but was not a big fan of the Easy Going Greens mixture, although he loved the Grrreat Greens with the added pear and mango. The website provides a brief explanation of the ingredients and what they're beneficial for, which was nice. They also offered serving suggestions. The cubes come in a plastic tray, and each serving is contained in it's own perforated pod which can be detached from the others. A plastic film covers each cube, so you can easily tear off only what you need. The cubes popped out easily, too.

We LOVED the HappyPuffs! I wasn't too sure about puffs in general (I was hesitant to do any

type of puff before he had teeth), but my son took an instant liking to them. He's learning how to feed himself, and the puffs are great practice. He loves grabbing the puffs and putting his whole hand into his mouth. He gets excited just seeing the puff bottle, and I know he loves the flavor. I also feel better knowing that they're made with organic ingredients and that they contain less sugars than the competitor brands.

Since my son is too young for the HappyBites, we passed those onto a friend of mine with a two year old and a four year old. I did love the fact that the HappyBites were made with real, healthy ingredients (Salmon stixs instead of unidentified white fish, for example).

Buy It!

Use the HappyBaby store locator to find a retailer near you.

Win It!

HappyBaby is offering one of my readers the chance to win all of the following items:

2 free trials for each of the five product lines

2 free trials for their marketing partner YoBaby Meals

1 FAQ on Probiotics & DHA

1 Nutrition Guide

HAPPYFAMILY: The Organic Guide to Baby's First 24 Months, co-authored by Dr. Sears

To Enter, simply visit HappyBaby and let me know which of their products you are most interested in. (This entry is mandatory and must be completed in order for the other entries to count).

For extra entries, you can do any and all of the following (be sure to leave a separate comment for each thing you do). Make sure that your email address is visable on your profile or include the address in your comment!

- Follow Family of the Cloth on Blogger

- Subscribe to Family of the Cloth via email or in a reader

- Subscribe to the HappyBaby Newsletter

- Take my button and post it to your blog (leave me a comment letting me know where it's posted)

- Follow me on twitter @FamilyofCloth

- Tweet the contest being sure to leave me the permalink of the tweet. All tweets must include a link to my twitter profile (using @FamilyofCloth). You may tweet once daily.

- Become a fan of Family of the Cloth on Facebook

- Become a fan of HappyFamily on Facebook

This giveaway will end December 13th at midnight (central time). Winner will be chosen via random.org, and will have 48 hours to respond to a notification email before a new winner is chosen. Family of the Cloth did not receive monetary compensation for this post, although HappyBaby did provide free samples of products. This did not influence our review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own.