Homemade baby food in trend
How brands can help parents cook for the little ones
Parents put homemade food first when it comes to their little ones. Nine out of ten mothers and fathers prefer home creations to ready-made alternatives from the supermarket - a challenge for manufacturers of baby and toddler food. Mintel's new report on baby food shows: In addition to ready-made foods, products that support parents in cooking their own food are promising. Quality and naturalness are the number one issues.
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Designing colorful menus for babies and toddlers
Our Mintel data show: Parents are committed to a balanced diet: 94 percent think it's important that their babies and toddlers eat a colorful selection of vegetables and fruits of different colors. Brands can build even more strongly on this need for balance and variety: After all, who manages to conjure up a whole rainbow on the plate all the time?
For example, Alete produces pre-cut, freeze-dried vegetables as a healthy snack that adds variety to the diet. The brand focuses on vegetables that are not typically part of toddler meals.
Clever supplementation of complementary foods
A full 42 percent of parents have a guilty conscience if they don't cook for their children themselves - on the other hand, many also often lack the time and leisure to get into the kitchen. Brands can make the cooking process easier and faster by replacing or supplementing some steps. The löwenzahn organics brand produces a beef broth that can be used, for example, to refine vegetable mash, sauces or soups.
So it stays with the homemade food and parents save valuable time. The manufacturer promotes the broth as a valuable supplement to complementary food from the eighth month, which contains valuable nutrients such as collagen, amino acids and minerals.
Cooking sets for a shared family experience
The vast majority of parents say they enjoy cooking for their kids. But what if everyday life gets in the way? 63 percent of parents who cook at home are looking for ways to speed up the cooking process. At the same time, more than three-quarters of parents (76 percent) want more quality time with their offspring. The Mintel report shows that cooking sets designed for parents to cook with their children are an area that baby and toddler food manufacturers have yet to adequately address.
The American brand Raddish Kids provides families with new cooking boxes every month, with easy-to-follow recipes that make cooking a fun experience for the whole family. This not only improves the little ones' cooking skills, but also raises awareness of a balanced diet at an early age.
A guilty conscience is a thing of the past
The Mintel report shows that there is no need to feel guilty. The range of healthy, nutrient-rich alternatives and supplements to complementary foods is growing, and a healthy mix of homemade and prepared baby and toddler foods can take the pressure off overworked parents in particular. Companies will be particularly successful if they don't underestimate the need for home-cooked food and support parents with clever solutions for cooking for their little ones.
Note: This article has been translated using a computer system without human intervention. LUMITOS offers these automatic translations to present a wider range of current news. Since this article has been translated with automatic translation, it is possible that it contains errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. The original article in German can be found here.
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