Business Creates Fresh Foods for Finicky Kids

Parenting is no easy task. From the moment a child is born and even before, there are seemingly endless decisions to be made – cloth diapers or regular, breast or bottle, to work or stay home and on and on. Though each decision is important, few are as crucial to many parents as the nutrition their child receives.

When area resident Agatha Achindu began researching baby foods for her son in 2004, she was not satisfied with the options she found on the store shelves and their seemingly long shelf-lives – two to three years in most cases.

As a new mother, Achindu said she couldn’t fathom feeding her child food that could be older than he was. A cooking enthusiast, she decided to make her own baby food from fresh ingredients and began sharing her tasty homemade creations with friends and colleagues.   

“I love fresh food. That’s an understatement,” said Achindu, adding that she ignited her passion for cooking as a child in Africa, where her family prepared fresh foods daily.

“All food was perishable, the refrigerator was for water,” she said. “I’m so used to eating fresh, real food, I can’t eat anything that’s not.”

Achindu’s hobby quickly grew into a cooking circle of about 300 mothers who prepared food in batches. In 2006, this former IT professional and her husband poured their heart, soul and life savings into what is now Yummy Spoonfuls baby food. Achindu's new title is CYO - Chief Yummy Officer and she credits her husband with much of their success. 

"I'm fortunate to have a dream and someone who supports that dream so much," she said. 

But Achindu is quick to point out that the company is not just another jarred baby food business. They use only fresh, certified organic ingredients and buy locally whenever possible. Twenty-five varieties of food are made at their Woodstock plant and all are gluten free, dairy free and contain no preservatives or added sugars. Instead, the ingredient list reads like something in a gourmet restaurant – olive oil, lentils, herbs, spices and fresh vegetables.

“We don’t make baby food. We make food, and just puree it for babies,” Achindu said.

The shelf life of Yummy Spoonfuls products is just six months and foods and are kept frozen. Locally, it’s available at  off Hembree Road in Roswell. It will also be available this summer when the Whole Foods opens in East Cobb. Additionally, the line is available for purchase on Amazon. To maintain the quality and freshness of the food, all online purchases are made to order.

Achindu, who often hosts child nutrition classes and attends farmers markets in Roswell, practices what she preaches when it comes to healthy eating. This working mother still finds time to feed her family fresh, homemade food, and says her son, now six, has never eaten anything from a can.

“To me, this is normal. This is how I grew up, this is my culture,” she said.