Organic Food For Your Family

A Dedicated Mom's Dream for Your Homemade Family

by Mac Duffy

Theresa Kiene had the kind of career many women dream about, a successful and even glamorous career in television, but she gave it all up for a new dream: to create a new kind of baby food company - a bold move by anyone's standards, one that has now evolved into an endeavor that stands to transform how every member of the family can access proper nutrition in this country and, potentially, the world. Here's your opportunity to learn from a Mom who followed her instincts to take her family to new heights as she embraces her mission to inspire the Homemade Family.

Shortly after her first daughter was born, Theresa suddenly realized she was responsible for decisions that would help determine whether her daughter made smart food choices for life, and the last thing Theresa wanted to do was feed her baby food laced with harmful pesticides. "Unfortunately, the only baby food available was in jars and had a shelf life older than my baby! So, I gave the recipes that I had loved growing up a nutritional makeover, and to my great delight, my daughter loved them." Theresa then began to share the food with friends and family and soon realized that she wasn't the only parent looking for better food choices for their children. After her third daughter was born, Theresa found the task of finding time to make this nutritious food a big challenge, so she asked herself, "why can't I just buy what I'm making?" After realizing "there wasn't anything out there like this," her husband, Matt, was instrumental in assembling a network of food industry experts and developing a state of the art production facility to create Homemade Baby(R), a new food category for fresh-made 100% organic, kosher food for babies and toddlers.

Homemade Baby launched into stores in 2006 to immediate success in the refrigerated section of natural food stores. When Homemade Baby became aware of the number of "non-babies" consuming its products, Theresa was not surprised. "It had always been in our plan to graduate babies into the next stage, which is Homemade Kids," she says. "What we realized is that kids of all ages and adults were eating the food, so we decided to do a more inclusive line where we could span the ages between 2 and 102." Theresa refers to it as "ageless nutrition", a chance to bring the generations together with the creation of Homemade Family(R).

"The idea of Homemade Family is that it's a fresh organic snack for all ages," Theresa shares. "Most of the organic snacks (available now) are what's called "shelf-stabilized", meaning it's been processed in a way that gives the retailer a fairly long shelf life. What we're saying is that you can "grab and go" with a fresh organic snack."

Homemade Family truly embraces every family member's needs with tasty, organic items that have no added sugar or trans fats, featuring everything from healthy treats perfect for elementary kids lunch boxes to organic snacks for college kids between classes to pick-me-ups for adults who are fitness conscious and want something healthy that doesn't weigh them down. And, seniors really appreciate the portion sizes and the easy digestibility.

A Family Affair One of the most important aspects of Homemade Family is that it truly is a family creation. Everyone has their part. The Kiene's eldest daughter, Olivia (8), the very first Homemade Baby, inspired Theresa to "really delve into cooking, nutrition, and organics." "I really learned a tremendous amount and started cooking and feeding it to Olivia and my friends' children. It was a very organic way for this to evolve from my own love and concern for my daughter...Our middle daughter, Isabella (5), is a bundle of love. She's also the picky one. I actually value that a lot. If a new recipe passes muster with her, I know it will appeal to a broader group...Our youngest is Clara (3). She's the comic relief of the family. She loves our food and is a delightful poster child. She doesn't question any of it."

"We started selling (Homemade Baby) at the Farmer's Market at 6am in the morning. Olivia was learning how to make change while my younger kids were putting the Homemade Baby stickers on the lids. Although (the kids) didn't know how much we were struggling to get it out there, it was really a wonderful family time."

Even the Kiene family dog has inspired new possibilities. "Our dog, Norman, is a rescue dog...We feed Norman "Yummy Yammies" (he loves them) because it really makes his coat nice and shiny. Now with the pet food scare, I feel really good about feeding him this because I know how pure it is. I've had other people tell me they feed their dog our food and mix it with other things."

What's Next? "Obviously, we want to keep putting out more dishes in the Homemade Baby line as well as the Homemade Family line," Theresa says. "We believe very passionately in the mission of eating organic. Because of that, our hope is that Homemade Family becomes a lifestyle brand where people are choosing to be healthy at all ages and stages. I feel really rewarded that other people have found value in that. (We're) putting it in a form that makes it convenient for them to pick it up in a grocery store where they would normally pick up their yogurt or whatnot so that it fits into their lifestyle...Life is not going to slow down. It's only going to get busier. Health foods have got to become convenient in order for them to be used and eaten."

Homemade World Since day one, it's always been a part of the Kiene's mission statement to donate 10% of the food they make to charities that serve undernourished babies and families. Theresa also promotes a healthy family lifestyle by speaking nationwide about organic food and its preparation and publishes information on such topics as the value of choosing organics, reading labels and shopping for organics on a budget. Most recently, she met with State Assemblywoman, Karen Bass, to discuss her concerns for the environment, specifically, looking for more composting opportunities and subsidizing farmers to help survive the three-year transition required to convert conventional farms into certified pesticide free organic farms. The need is clear, she says. "Eating organic is an investment in our future, both for our children and our planet."

Take a moment and think about what your family is eating. Time constraints can thwart even the best of intentions, but there is hope. It's time to take back your family's health. Let Homemade Family show you the way.

For more information on Homemade Family and to express your support for new sources of organic foods for our families, please send an email to info@homemadebaby.com.