A Mother Is Feeding Her Baby Crickets And Says She Plans On Adding Worms, Grasshoppers And Ants To Her Baby’s Meals

Food writer Tiffany Leigh wrote a piece in which she said she is feeding her baby cricket products and plans to introduce other creatures such as worms, ants, and grasshoppers in the future.

Leigh explained that part of her motivation for adding crickets into meals was to save money.

“I decided to add crickets into mealtimes with my 18-month-old baby. To be honest, it was not only adventurousness that compelled me to do it but practicality, too — I wanted to cut down on our family’s grocery bill,” she explained.

Adding the cricket products into their eating habits has resulted in decreased food costs, Leigh noted.

“With a baby, our food costs have spiked to about $250 to $300 a week. To supplement the rising prices, I decided to get Cricket Puff snacks, Cricket Protein Powder, and Whole Roasted Crickets from Entomo Farms. Because I’ve started rotating these insects with more traditionally expensive proteins like beef, chicken, and pork, I’ve managed to cut my bill down to about $150 to $200 a week,” she wrote.

Leigh reported that her baby did not like whole roasted crickets, but the child did enjoy cheese puff snacks — according to the ingredients list, the snack contains cricket flour.

“During infancy, a child is particularly receptive to exploring a wide variety of foods — a strong argument for introducing insects early on and getting ahead of any negative stereotypes around eating bugs, such as being ‘scary’ or ‘inedible,'” pediatric dietician and nutritionist Venus Kalami noted, according to Insider. Kalami said that “there are plenty of nutritious ways to share edible insects in an age-appropriate way with babies.” She said “many insects are packed with key nutrients like high-quality protein, essential fatty acids, minerals like iron (some have more than beef) and zinc, vital B vitamins, and more.”

“In the future, I have plans to incorporate more edible insects into our meals, such as ants, grasshoppers, and worms, which Kalami said are a fantastic source of protein and other key nutrients that babies need, such as iron and zinc,” Leigh wrote.