carrot puree ?

NatesLady1309

If you make your own baby food, what do you use for the carrot puree? As in baby cut carrots, regular carrots, organic, organic baby cut, etc? I had DH pick up some "baby cut" carrots last night (non-organic) to steam for DD. I already had them starting to steam when I read this on wholesomebabyfood.com (basically my go-to baby food making site).

Is it a good idea to use "baby carrots"?

?Baby? carrots are the product of modern technology and are specially formed by a machine that cuts them out from full sized older carrots. Some ?growers? add green food coloring at the ?stem? for further effect. One way to tell if a baby carrot is truly a baby carrot is to read its packaging. The common ?baby carrots? sold in the grocery store will actually say ?baby cut? carrots.

Baby cut carrots are cleansed in a solution that often contains chlorine so that they will not turn white while in the package. Skip these carrots and opt to peel and cut your own, especially if you will be making carrot baby food!

I then realized the ones I have totally have the green speck at the end that would be food coloring I guess, so they are probably also soaked in chlorine or something like it's saying. The ingredients list just said "carrots" though so IDK. Since I had already started steaming them I just used them anyway, figuring that I eat the stupid things and consider them healthy so they're surely good for her too. What do you guys think of this and what "type" of carrots do you use for baby's food?

jmccall79

If you read every ingredient of everything you ate...you'd never eat again!  Yes, I'm all about giving LO the best that I possibly can, but good grief what else are they going to scare us with?!  I'd say wash them and do what you're doing.  If the ingredients said just carrots, then I'd say they're "not" the "other" because they do have to list whatever may be in them.  For the record, if it's fresh fruit/veggies, I would've never looked at the ingredients.

NatesLady1309

jmccall79:

If you read every ingredient of everything you ate...you'd never eat again!

 

I'm with you on this. I do think though that it's possible there could be a VERY small amount of food coloring in them that they are not required to list because it's such a minute amount. But then again, if it's that small of an amount, I shouldn't be to worried about it. I actually didn't wash them since the bag said "ready to eat." Oops, oh well.

MollySm

I've heard that about baby carrots before, so in general I buy whole carrots, and plan on doing that for my kids.  I don't find it that hard to peel and chop them.  From the farmers market sometimes, but sometimes non-organic just in the big pack in the grocery store.  The people I work for buy baby carrots, and I find when steaming them for kids they don't get as soft.  

That being said, if we had a bag of baby carrots, I wouldn't throw them away.  One package isn't that big a deal.   

ssimon621

I used a bag of baby carrots from Whole Foods last week.  I'm not sure if they would do this to the organic carrots since they have strict guidelines for them, but I could be wrong.  Either way who knows what they use for the carrots that are in baby food jars, so I think it would still be fine.

If they are soaked in chlorine it's probably a small amount.  I'm sure it won't hurt them since babies are allowed in chlorine pools and probably injest small amounts when they go swimming.

harmonicbabe26

I use organic full sized carrots. I have known that about baby CUT carrots. It would be nice if they actually harvested tiny carrots like that wouldn't it?...

According to the Consumer Guide, carrots are not on the Dirty Dozen list so buying organic is a personal choice, which I chose to buy organic. But not baby cut.

pennyandandy

We usually get the bigger carrots that you peel anyways, because they are cheaper, I didn't even know about the reasons you listed, LOL. I find, like molly said, that they steam better, and I don't mind peeling them. I tried steaming the baby carrots once, and the puree came out kind of grainy and chunky.

jja0812

I have read about this, but I already had a preference for whole, unpeeled carrots anyway. To me, baby cut carrots are about convenience. Obviously there is a market for them, or they wouldn't keep making them, but it takes me like, 30 seconds to peel and cut a few carrots. They are fresher, juicier, and as an added bonus, I have a pile of peels to feed my compost heap :-)

kristin172429

I say use them this time, but avoid them in the future.  It takes 3 minutes to peel a whole bag of full size carrots.  I'm not down with the "solution" they "clean" them in.  I'll buy organic, conventional, or from local farms, but always whole.

And this might get me flamed, but yes, you should read the ingredients in the foods you eat.  Ignorance is not bliss.  Reading the ingredients gives you the information you need to be an informed consumer (pun intended).  Read the box/bag/can/jar - if you don't like what you see, find something better!  Maybe start with pasta sauce (if you buy it in a jar) - go check and see how many grams of sugar there are per serving.  Many have over 20 grams per serving! 

jmccall79

kristin172429:

And this might get me flamed, but yes, you should read the ingredients in the foods you eat.  Ignorance is not bliss.  

No flames!  I'm not completely ignorant when it comes to what I eat, but I'm not going to "obsess" over it either.  I do read what I feed LO...because of something my Pedi said about the meat combo baby foods.  I don't think "organic" or "natural" is feesible in all situations, so we as humans are going to eat "weird" things at times.  I'm 33 years old, and I've survived!  Am I saying that I'm going to expose Ian to things just for the Heck of it?  No!  Do I try to really watch what's in the food I'm feeding him? Absolutely!  But seriously, if you read the label on everything, and "they" say if you don't know what "it" is don't eat it...then seriously, you'd never eat again!

Lena122

I'm committed to giving DS the healthiest food I can for at least the first year. That means organic produce and as little preservatives as possible. So yes, I buy whole organic carrots.

I think I still have residual guilt about not being able to BF and this is my way of making up for it. Realistically he's had and will have some things that are not the healthiest for him before he's a year old. But I'm just determined to do what I can to provide him the healthiest I can until then.

HattieLove

I don't give DD baby cut carrots and I don't eat baby cut carrots. They're slimy and produced with chemicals. I don't really see why you wouldn't just go with regular carrots? 

I think Wholesome Baby Foods said everything I have to say. Carrots are the only ingredient listed because you never have to list cooking materials or pesticides in the ingredients. 

HattieLove

kristin172429:

I say use them this time, but avoid them in the future.  It takes 3 minutes to peel a whole bag of full size carrots.  I'm not down with the "solution" they "clean" them in.  I'll buy organic, conventional, or from local farms, but always whole.

And this might get me flamed, but yes, you should read the ingredients in the foods you eat.  Ignorance is not bliss.  Reading the ingredients gives you the information you need to be an informed consumer (pun intended).  Read the box/bag/can/jar - if you don't like what you see, find something better!  Maybe start with pasta sauce (if you buy it in a jar) - go check and see how many grams of sugar there are per serving.  Many have over 20 grams per serving! 

This x 100. I'm surprised people would choose ignorance over reading a few ingredients lists.