By Lorrie Baumann

Liza Huber, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Sage Spoonfuls, started her company in 2012 to make it easier for new parents to make their own baby food. “We don’t sell any of the actual food; we just give parents everything they need to make it themselves in a very easy way,” she said. “I wanted to provide parents a system that made it really easy.”

The company’s initial product line grew to include glass storage jars for the baby food its customers are making and then to reusable snack bags, meal plates designed especially for babies just learning to feed themselves and refillable squeezable pouches for semi-fluid foods like yogurt and applesauce. “We saw that our customer base was becoming very loyal,” Huber said. “They were asking the company to expand the line.”

Huber wrote an award-winning cookbook, “Sage Spoonfuls: Simple Recipes, Healthy Meals, Happy Babies,” that summed up the philosophy underlying the company and its products – that what parents should feed their young children is a variety of whole foods, and no complicated recipes are required. Lunch to accompany a child to day care or kindergarten can be as simple as a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a handful of grapes or carrots, she said. “My whole mantra is that it doesn’t need to be fancy; it just needs to be fresh,” she said. “Just include something fresh and whole with every meal.”

Her company makes that philosophy a little easier to follow with products like the Sage Spoonfuls Sili Elephant, a two-compartment meal plate made of food-grade silicone that keeps foods separate to please picky eaters. The compartments are ideally sized for toddler portions, and the height of the compartment walls provides a good edge for new finger feeders to use as an aid. “Sili Elephant has just two compartments – one for whatever’s easy and one for something that’s fresh,” Huber said. “Wonderful and complicated is great, but it doesn’t necessarily fit into everyone’s life…. It can be so easy, and it does a world of good over the course of time.”

The suction base keeps the plate from moving, which allows for more productive self feeding – and makes life a little less satisfying for the family dog who stations himself under the high chair. “The suction cup on the bottom is leaps and bounds stronger than any other on the market,” Huber said. “We designed it especially so that kids can’t pick it up and throw it.”

Sili Elephant retails for $19.99 and is one of the company’s top sellers. Another top seller is the Sage Squeezie – a reusable food pouch made from a patented design to portion and serve soft foods to children ranging from 4 months to 6 or 7 years old. “They’re great for baby food, toddler smoothies or yogurt blends,” Huber said. “They’re very eco-conscious. One can take the place of over 50 single-use pouches.” One whole side of the Sage Squeezie opens up, so it’s easy to fill and easy to clean, and it’s even dishwasher safe. “If it’s not dishwasher safe, what’s the point?” Huber said. “It’s like when a friend gives you a sweater, and it has to be dry-cleaned – you’re never going to wear it.” Sage Squeezie is free of BPA, lead phthalate and polyvinyl chloride and retails for $9.99 for a set of six. Each holds 7 ounces, and a see-through window marked with measurements makes portioning easy. It’s not microwaveable, but a dunk in a bowl of hot tap water will quickly warm up a full Sage Squeezie and the snack inside if Junior doesn’t like cold food. “Premake a ton of healthy smoothies and applesauce and then toss them into a freezer,” this experienced mom advises other moms who are packing lunches for their children to take along to school. “They become the freezer pack for the meal, and then it’s defrosted by lunchtime, so it’s like a two-in-one.”