Unless you make your own baby food, you have probably seen the plethora of baby food on the market today. The choices can be overwhelming, there are so many brands and varieties at our disposal. We mostly feed our baby the Earth’s Best organic baby food, but when we can’t find it we turn to the Gerber Nature Select brand.
Our ten month old baby is eating the “3rd foods”, and some of the Gerber 3rd Foods Nature Select varieties have been quite soupy and hard to feed. One of the flavors that I am thrilled with is the Nature Select Mixed Vegetables & Beef, which is labeled as a “Nutritious Dinner”.
It comes in a 6 ounce glass jar with the metal lid that features the pop up safety button. The label pictures sliced beef, chunks of carrots and peas. The stage 3 foods are for babies who are crawling, and I prefer not to give these to a baby until they are at least nine months old.
Although the Gerber Nature Select baby food is not made with organic ingredients, it does state that it is all natural and is minimally processed with no artificial ingredients. Sometimes I think I could eat healthier if I ate only baby food! Oh how I wish adult food were made that healthy.
The ingredients as of this writing (taken from my jar) include carrots, water, tomato puree, beef, rice flour, green split peas, onion powder and dried parsley. The food has more flavor than the 1st and 2nd baby foods, but older babies don’t need food as bland as their digestive systems can handle more at this age.
When I stuck the baby spoon into the jar I was pleased to see it stand straight up, this is a very thick baby food, and as such it was much easier to feed. No spills and messes to clean up! My granddaughter ate the entire 6 ounces in about 6 minutes, she really liked this flavor.
The contents contained small pieces of carrots and peas that were thoroughly cooked and soft, so they were easy for a baby to chew. Our baby does have four top and four bottom teeth (middle front), so she basically gums her food. Because of this texture is very important and I like the texture of the Gerber Mixed Vegetables & Beef Nature Select dinner.
According to the back label on my jar, just one serving provides 5 grams of protein and has 130 calories and 4 grams of fat (0 grams of those unhealthy trans fats). It provides 15% protein, 6% calcium, 6% iron, 15% zinc, and 310% vitamin A. This seems like a very healthy baby food and I am pleased to recommend it.