Remember how there were two Christopher Columbus movies? And two Alexander the Great movies (unfortunately, Oliver Stone played psycho chicken and drove Baz Luhrman's project off the road)? And two Capote movies? [the second one's coming soon.] If Hot New Ideas appearing simultaneously is the norm in Los Angeles, then no one but me will be surprised to learn that two parent-run companies have popped up within weeks of each other to deliver homemade organic gourmet baby food to your door.
Bohemian Baby's menu varies each week, so you can pick your own favorites or go with the chef's specials. BoBa emphasizes the milkman model, making twice-weekly deliveries to the refrigerated Bo Boxes they provide sell their subscribers.
Homemade Baby, on the other hand, wants you to come to them--to their Culver City "baby food tasting room" [" Wine TastingsÖ Happy HoursÖ Early Bird SpecialsÖ So why do adults always get to have all the fun?"]. They also ship overnight--UPS Ground in LA, and UPS Overnite for the rest of the country. And HoBa is kosher to boot, but otherwise, they seem remarkably similar, down to the apple/carrot/tofu puree they both offer. But then, apple/carrot/tofu puree IS the must-have baby food this season...
Bohemian-Baby.com works out to around $5 a jar (how big?) and HomemadeBaby.com is around $2 a 4oz. cup (available in 12-packs) [via urbanbaby]
Us, we just ground our own organic baby food. For a little while. Some other friends have the nanny make it, which seems very sensible to me. [But without a nannycam, how would you know if she's grinding kale or Pop-tarts?]
Good luck to those startups. If there is a market, take advantage of it. My son has been happy with my choice of the Earth's Best baby food. We're only at Stage One and I've tasted them all. Let me know if you've got any problems with Earth's Best. Stage Two is fast approaching.
We've done well with Earth's Best. The little one (now 16 months) especially likes the Pumpkin Pie one they have now.
I take a yam, peel it, boil it and blend it. presto. that seems to work and ends up costing $1.50/lb or 20 cents a jar.
Seems like these people were probably doing the SAME thing, then realized they could mark it up 20x and sell it. hey, whatever works.
My wife orders Homemade Baby's food. Per ounce, it is cheaper than Bohemian Baby's food. We've tried both company's foods for our son, and we feel we get more bang for our buck with Homemade Baby, and it tastes a heck of a lot better. I didn't like how I was forced to have all these weird start-up and redelivery costs with Bohemian Baby. We don't have to pay for shipping or any kind of delivery fee with Homemade Baby, shipping to our home is free every week.
I have to say that we love Bohemian Baby. The food is amazing, and you get so many choices! I looked the Homemade baby food, and there are only a few choices. I mean how much appale sauce can my baby eat? Bohemian Baby is awesome, beacuse they are constantly adding new choices and they are so sweet. I have to say that I have forgotten to leave my cooler out on more than one occasion, you know mommy brain, and they have never charged me a re-delivery fee. They are sweet and really easy to work with! My rec...Bo Baby all the way!
Wow. I went into Homemade Baby's store last week.
They rock.
They have a full kitchen and certified EVERYTHING!!! No offense to the Bohemian Baby fan but there isn't one certification listed on that site. It says organic but no certification of anything anywhere . . . makes mommies like me worry. Why would I pay that much for something that isn't even certified organic?
Anyway, the people at Homemadebaby.com are so great and friendly.
There is a window where you can watch a professional Cordon Bleu Chef at work!
I like them and their space (which is open all week every week). I know they don't charge for local delivery but I'll just stop by to get my food! Besides who wants to have another subscription you don't use?
Really, what more could you ask for?
I just stumbled acroos this blog, and read the comments and I had to take a second and write about my experience with Bohemian Baby. I have an adopted son, who came to me as a blessing. I am a single mom, and I do not make very much money. Because he was not mine by birth, I could not breast feed him, but I wanted to give him the best I could of everthing else. My friend told me about Bohemian Baby foods, and their delivery service. I live in Long Beach, and knew I was probably out of their delivery zone, and I was not sure if I could afford the service. I decided to call them anyway.. The owner was so kind to me when I told her my situation, and she asked if she could call me back. After about a half hour she called me back and said they would deliver to me with no extra charge and they would give me 50% off every order. I was SHOCKED! NOw to the food...its soooo...great! My little son, Zac LOVES it and I love knowing that I am giving him the best foods out there. I really feel connected to Bohemian Baby in a way I have never felt with a service before. They are just incredible people. The food choices are interesting and new and everything has always tasted great. They even came to my son's daycare to drop off food one day when I was at work and forgot to bring it! SERIOUSLY! NOw that is customer service...
Maybe there really is a baby food war!
Here is an interesting bit of info:
I was talking to another mom who told me she had read about some baby food delivery service in the NY times. It seems however the ENTIRE article is making fun of the businesses listed. The article is definitely an "only freaks in L.A." type article. The first L.A. business listed in the article is about celebrity ghost hunters if that gives you any idea - LOL!!!
Well got give it to Daddy Types - picks up all the stories first.
[whatever it is, there's been an awful lot of feeling-the-love-style comments here the last little while. -ed.]
Check out this link - OMG - there is a war . . .
[classic/sad/funny. My advice to company reps is to come forward and address their customers and potential customers as themselves. Mozzee/Nest and gDiapers are both good examples of entering the conversation rather than just trying to game it. -ed.]
Woah, only in LA do we have these organic baby food wars. My wife feeds our baby Homemade Baby food, it rocks for the most part. We tried Bohemian Baby's food, even though their prices are HIGHHIGHHIGH (like, try $3.50 per 5 ounce jar, NOT including expensive delivery fees and the cooler-pouch they make you buy). My wife and I thought Bohemian Baby's food tasted like gunk, so we ditched it and vowed to do better by our little one. So our baby eats some of Homemade Baby's food, and my wife and/or our nanny cooks the rest of the baby's organic foods. I frankly don't think these companies can make gobs of money, enough to stay in business for decades. I wish them all well, capitalism at its finest.
[vs what, HIGHHIGH? Home-delivered, homemade organic babyfood is not a necessity the way juice consultants are. Meanwhile, Ho Baby's tofu puree may taste like pumpkin pie, but it's still baby food. Food for babies. -ed.]
For anyone in the UK who wants baby food delivered to their door, try our website www.kiddieskitchen.co.uk. We not only sell organic baby food but also a huge range of feeding accessories, bottles, eco-nappies and so on