No one prepares you for the sheer amount of effort it takes to meal prep not only for yourself but also your child. These tiny humans have big nutritional demands! Add on picky palates and trying to get your child to have a balanced meal (or snack), and the pressure can lead to you making a not-so-healthy choice that's convenient in the moment.
Yumi has become a popular option for parents looking for easy, nutritious snacks for their little ones. The brand focuses on real, whole food ingredients and balanced nutrition profiles to make for a sustaining and nutrient-dense choice. But it comes at a higher price point than other infant and kid snacks on the market, so is it truly worth it? We had a panel of parents and little ones — including yours truly — put the entire product line to the test. Here's our honest review of the brand and how it stacks up to the competition.
What is Yumi?
Yumi is an infant and toddler snack brand that offers an assortment of 100% USDA Organic and vegan products for little ones. The product line ranges from organic smoothie melts and meltable puffs to snack bars and breakfast bars. The recipes for the Yumi bars and puffs are free from milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts (aside from coconut), peanuts, wheat, soy and sesame, making them a school-friendly choice to pack for snack time. All of the products are kosher as well.
What happened to Yumi's baby food subscription service?
The brand used to offer an incredible baby food subscription service that included nutrient-dense blends and bites that catered to your child's age and development. Yumi has since paused that program to solely focus on its snack lines. I am hopeful that they will expand to baby food purees and complete meals again in the future, but for now the service is limited to just snack products. But a free copy of their Starting Solids guide for new parents navigating solids introduction for their infant is still available on their website.
Does Yumi test for heavy metals?
Heavy metals, namely arsenic and lead in particular, have gained a lot of attention in the baby food space after a congressional report came out a few years ago claiming that several top baby food brands are "tainted with dangerous levels of inorganic arsenic, lead, cadmium and mercury." Since then, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is leading a Closer to Zero initiative in an effort to reduce toxic elements in baby and kid food products.
Yumi has partnered with the Clean Label Project to test all of its products for over 400 different contaminants, including heavy metals and toxins. They also have a section on their website where you can enter a product lot code to get detailed information on their heavy metal testing and reporting.
Where can you purchase Yumi products?
You can purchase Yumi bars and melts directly on the brand's website and on Amazon. They are also available in a variety of stores including Target, Walmart, Wegman's, Whole Foods Market, Publix, Sprout's, Gelson's, Meijer, Harris Teeter, Raley's, and Erewhon.
Our Yumi baby food review
Name: Stefani Sassos, M.S., R.D.N., C.D.N.
Role: Registered Dietitian and Good Housekeeping Institute Nutrition Director
Why you should trust me: In addition to being a registered dietitian, I'm a mother to a 3.5-year-old girl and a 10-month-old baby boy. As a working mom, I'm constantly looking for time-saving solutions and have done extensive research on feeding my children balanced meals and snacks to expose them to a variety of nutrients and flavors. In my role at GH, I lead all testing and analysis on food and nutrition products, ranging from supplements to baby food to prepared meal delivery services. I have fed both my children Yumi products regularly as the primary expert tester for this evaluation, but our review also includes feedback from other GH+ parents across the nation who tested the products with their children throughout the year.
Smoothie Melts
Pricing starts at around $5 per bag.
Baby melts are a popular first finger food since they dissolve quickly and are designed to be easy for babies to pick up. Think of melts as a step before harder foods and puffs. Yumi's line of melts come in two flavors – Mango & Carrot or Strawberry & Kale, both of which are favorites of my 10-month-old who jumps for joy when he sees me opening the bag (and also my toddler who tries to sneak a few every now and then).
I appreciate that these are one of the few organic baby melt products on the market, and that they have a simple and high-quality ingredient list including an assortment of fruits and veggies. "As a parent, the ingredients list was something I can get behind and not feel like it was full of fake stuff," one parent said. Instead of yogurt which you'll find in many melts, the brand uses coconut cream which makes this choice dairy-free but still a good source of calcium.
The melts definitely dissolve quickly and appropriately, unlike some other harder and larger melts I have tried with my children. A mother on our tester panel added, "One thing that really set them apart was that they actually melt in your mouth! I have tried another common brand before and didn't feel comfortable actually giving it to my son because they didn't really melt very fast."
Most importantly, I've seen my son's pincer grasp truly develop while eating these over the last few months. The bag is resealable as well, making this a great snack for on-the-go (I'll take a bag with me to playdates or church). "The product is easy to travel with and not too messy," another parent said.
My only issue is the inconsistency in size – some melts are what I would consider a standard size, whereas others are teeny tiny. It's not like the pieces are broken, but rather were made much smaller. There are all appropriate sizes for my son to eat, but it's something to take note of. Overall, these have become a staple in our home since my son enjoys them and I can feel good about feeding him given the wholesome ingredient list.
Meltable Puffs
Pricing starts at around $5 per container.
Both my daughter and my son devour these puffs, which the brand designed for babies 8 months and up. They are definitely firmer than the melts from the brand, and based on my child's development I felt that he was more ready for this size and texture of puff around 9 or 10 months. I also serve him just a few at a time, since at this age he tends to want to grab more than he can actually chew.
In terms of flavor, they are not sweet by any means and a bit on the blander side. I'm always surprised though that my kids like them as much as they do, since the flavor profile is definitely more veggie-forward than other puffs. "My daughter loved these and kept asking for more," another parent said. They are lightly dusted in what appears to be a produce powder as well, which can leave a bit of residue on the kid's hands after eating them. The container itself is a fun shape that holds up well in my diaper bag too. "I love that the container is resealable and reusable, and that the lid actually stays on," one dad noted.
Given concerns with arsenic in rice-based products, I like that these puffs from Yumi are a rice-free alternative made with organic sorghum flour and organic cassava flour instead. Most importantly, they have no artificial flavors or added sugar. The puffs are made with high oleic sunflower oil which is considered a seed oil, but does have a higher concentration of healthy monounsaturated fats than standard sunflower oil.
The puffs feature a blend of produce – it's likely a small amount in the grand scheme of things, but I appreciate that there is a little extra nutrition in them. Most importantly, they are fortified with choline, an important nutrient for brain development that is found in foods like fish, eggs, liver and lean meats. If you have a picky eater on your hands, it can be tough to meet their choline needs if they aren't eating these foods, so this is a great solution. The puffs also include iron, another nutrient that may be hard to get in your child's diet.
Snack Bars
Pricing starts at around $1.50 per bar.
Most kids' bars (and even adult protein bars for that matter) on the market are more comparable to a candy bar than anything else. But a bar can be the perfect on-the-go snack for kids, and this option from Yumi has a lot going for it. It's the perfect size for toddlers at 70 calories, comes in kid-friendly flavors that my daughter has never said no to and is packed with a ton of supercharged nutrients. "All of my kids (ages 8, 6, 4 and 3) loved them," a parent on our tester panel raved.
The base is organic oat flour, organic date paste and organic coconut oil, and the filling is packed with a blend of fruits and veggies. The brand uses organic fruit juice for color instead of artificial dyes, and fortifies the bar with a vitamin and mineral blend featuring vitamin C and zinc which can be very beneficial in supporting a healthy immune system. "I like how many nutrients are packed in it and it still tastes good," one mom said.
Flavors include Blueberry & Purple Carrot, Apple Cinnamon & Squash, Mango & Kale and Strawberry & Rhubarb. Mango & Kale was a popular flavor, with one parent adding, "I loved the flavor and my 2.5 year old kept asking for these instead of the bars that we usually get. They have a great nutrition profile." While these softer bars don't completely fall apart, they can be prone to crumbling.
Super Breakfast Bars
Pricing starts at around $1.50 per bar.
My daughter went through a no-breakfast phase, where the only thing I could get her to eat was a bar or some crackers in the car on the way to school (and even that was a fight). It's not ideal, but I felt anything was better than nothing before she headed into the school day. Yumi's Super Breakfast Bar came in clutch on those occasions. Think of it as an essentially supercharged and larger version of their original snack bar. It has 120 calories as opposed to 70 in the traditional bar making it a more substantial snack, as well as including more nutrients and veggies. "I think the portion size is great for a kid," one parent said.
Parents agreed that the ingredients were a standout and made the bar much healthier than others on the shelf. "I really liked the ingredients in these bars and especially that they are school-safe and nut-free! I have such a hard time finding dry snacks for my son's lunch that don't contain nuts and aren't covered in chocolate chips," one parent said. Another mom said that her oldest child does not like vegetables, but appreciated that "these bars sneak fruits and vegetables into the ingredients that you cannot taste. I didn’t even tell him what the ingredients were and he seemed to like this bar so that is a win in my opinion."
The bar has a substantial 7 grams of fiber, which helps to keep my toddler regular (but be sure to serve this bar with water so the fiber can digest properly). Given that it is so high-fiber, I wouldn't recommend more than one or two a day for most kids. Though the bar has no added sugar, it does have natural sweetness from dates. Keep in mind that this bar also uses high oleic sunflower oil. The texture of the bar is soft but it doesn't crumble all over, and holds it shape a bit better than the traditional snack bar from the brand. "Great texture. Best in comparison to other fruit bars. Not overly sweet," one parent said.
Yumi pros and cons
Pros
- Assortment of snacks for infants and toddlers
- All products are USDA Organic and Certified Gluten-Free
- Nutritionally-balanced offerings
- Kid-friendly flavors
- Products are verified by the Clean Label Project
- Items can be purchased online and in stores nationwide
Cons
- No baby food purees or meals
- Expensive
Bottom line: Is Yumi worth it?
Yumi bars and melts come at a premium, but you're paying for top-notch ingredients that are completely organic and plant-based. Not only did my children and our tiny testers devour the snacks, but it's something that parents felt good about feeding their littles. Since the snacks are free from most major allergens, it's a great option for packing in school lunches and snack boxes. I'm hopeful that the brand will expand its product line to include baby food purees and other products to support new parents and infants.
Stefani (she/her) is a registered dietitian, a NASM-certified personal trainer and the director of the Good Housekeeping Institute Nutrition Lab, where she handles all nutrition-related content, testing and evaluation. She holds a bachelor’s degree in nutritional sciences from Pennsylvania State University and a master’s degree in clinical nutrition from NYU. She is also Good Housekeeping’s on-staff fitness and exercise expert. Stefani is dedicated to providing readers with evidence-based content to encourage informed food choices and healthy living. She is an avid CrossFitter and a passionate home cook who loves spending time with her big fit Greek family.
