Can Babies Eat Veggie Straws?

Veggie straws are snacks, made from different types of vegetables. There are many types of veggie straws, many companies make them just like veggie chips. Veggie chips are usually produced from many types of root vegetables and leaf vegetables also, by frying, deep-frying, baking, dehydrating or simply by drying them.

Veggie straws, depending on the brand, are an extruded version of potato flour, sunflower oil and corn starch, pumped up usually with tomato purees, spinach powder, turmeric, sugar and salt. Mass produced varieties also contain food preservatives, color additives or monosodium glutamate. Homemade vegetable chips and straws are healthier.

Are Veggie Straws Healthy?

Vegetables are a good source of dietary fibers, vitamins and minerals, unfortunately, veggie straws have no nutritional value compared to fresh or cooked vegetables.  Veggie straws are not healthy for babies. There are some brands, which use more vegetables in their recipes, they try to make their products from organic vegetables, with no added artificial flavors or other harmful ingredients, but veggie straws are still not a good source of nutrients for your baby’s healthy development.

Some brands also contain less fat, but still, veggie straws are good only for playing and for learning how to grip and also to learn the coordination from hand to mouth. If you chose to give your baby veggies in another form, a more playful form, then it is better for you to prepare those foods.

Baked Veggie Chips

Ingredients: 1 medium beetroot, 1 medium zucchini, 1 large carrot, 1 small yam, 1 small turnip, ½ tsp sea salt, ½ tsp pepper.

Preheat the oven to 200 °C. Slice all the vegetables to uniformly thin slices and transfer them into a bowl, where you salt and pepper them. Put baking paper into a baking sheet and place the slices of vegetables, with minimal overlap. Bake for 10 minutes, then flip the slices, baking for another 10 minutes, until the veggies turn slightly brown. Remove from oven, let them cool and serve.