June 2nd, 2011

Happy Baby Foods

With a name like Happy Baby, you expect big results, right?  Smiling, grinning wee ones, cramming organic goodness into their mouths and hopefully not into their noses, the cracks of their highchairs, or the even worse, on mommy’s shirt.

I was lucky enough to have Happy Baby send me a lovely sample of their products for my youngest child to try.  Being three-and-a-half and having a dairy allergy, sadly the products were mostly off limits to her.  But with the prospect of the infamous snack, I gave her a canister of the organic sweet potato puffs and she swiftly grabbed the entire thing and hauled it off to some corner of the house and ate half of it.

SCORE!

Sitting with a can of Happy Munchies (cheese and veggie flavor) I passed it to my oldest.  Nearly ten years old and a dainty thing, she kindly said “these aren’t bad but kind of taste like a you sucked all the flavor out of a cheese puff.”  I ate one and thought, for something relatively healthy, they weren’t that bad.  But I’m just an old mom who tends to like disgusting things on a regular basis, like coffee, spinach, and bleu cheese.

Thankfully, a friend came to my rescue.  She has an adorable little one who is not quite a year and who loves to eat.  And she’s got the thighs to prove it.

So we put the Happy Baby food to the Baby Zoe test, and it all got rave reviews from the happy baby.  She tried the Happy Munchies as well as Happy Melts, a strawberry yogurt snack.  My friend said, “Both were easy to break into pieces and melted in her mouth.  She loved them!”

The only other product she tried was the stage 3 Happy Baby Beef Stew.  It comes in a foil lined bag which may appear to save on the packaging, but according to my baby toting friend, was difficult because you had to have some container to put it in.  It can’t be resealed.  That said, baby Zoe still enjoyed it.

Overall, if you’re looking for a healthy and organic snack for your child, I suggest giving the Happy Baby brand a try.  You’ll be a happy mama knowing your feeding your baby good, wholesome, healthy foods.

If your kids are growing up despite your best attempts at keeping them cute little immobile babies, Happy Baby also has a line of frozen foods for your toddler and preschooler.  We were lucky enough to sample a few of those, which had to not only pass the test of my three-year old, but also her older siblings.

Each package is attractive, organic, and some even gluten-free.  The food inside is all very quick and easy, finger-food friendly, and not half bad.

We tested the Happy Baby Chicken Bites, Mac and Cheese Bites, Salmon Stix, and Veggie Tots.  Each one cooked very fast—only 8-10 minutes in the oven.  To me, a frequent server of 16-18 minute chicken nuggets, this was wonderful because it’s always nice to hear fewer “is it ready yet?” comments.

The Salmon Stix were the least favorite for us, but that’s probably due to the fact that no one in my family enjoys salmon.

The food that was the next up the winner ladder was the Veggie Tots, which I personally thought were good.  Anything that helps sneak in a veggie to my kids diet (which would be cereal, noodles, and rice, if they had the choice) is good.  However, my kids thought they were “weird.”

Next up was the Chicken Bites.  Don’t be fooled—they’re NOT chicken nuggets, even though they look like them.  They are balls of ground up chicken!  I remember having a young toddler and having to cut up chicken all the time.  What a brilliant alternative.  Two thumbs and wings up for this one.

Top of the winner’s block were the mac and cheese bites: little balls of mac and cheese, battered in something, and fried.  All that before it comes to you, who just has to stick them in the oven.  Tasty, handy, and seconds requested by my kids.

In general, I think Happy Baby has a good thing going.  Did they pass the test of picky children who have already acquired taste buds for fatty, salty, completely non-organic, gluten-full, veggie-free snacks?  To be honest, not really.  But for toddlers exploring new foods for the first time?  Perfect.