Why do some people seem so against feeding their LO's food from jars?

[GwarchodwrPlant]

Is their something wrong with them? Will I be harming DS by giving him food that is 80% jar?

I started off BLW but most of the time I don't have enough variety in my own diet or enough money to afford a wide range of foods to offer DS a healthy balanced diet so the healthier option would be to give him jars, no?

I guess what I really want to know is will DS suffer if he has jars some of the time or at times I don't have the right stuff in for him?

[liahgen]

You may find as ds gets older and needs more food, jars will get expensive quickly.

Fruit, veg and dairy products are not that expensive. Small amount of meat etc. How old is your ds?

[GwarchodwrPlant]

He's 10mths old. Thing is he's going through a phase of ot eating much fruit or veg although he loves meat. He's sensitive to tomato based sauces and I feel like I am running out of ideas for finger foods. Toast and sandwiches get really boring.

Any ideas please?

[MovingOutOfBlighty]

Have you tried the stuff in those things?!! Ack!!

I didn't give my DD or DS any jars, not because I was virtuous but because I have never recovered from being given Heinz Baby Jamaican Jerk Pork as a Baby Shower dare.

The Spag Bol is also like eating wierd mush. I didn't give 2 hoots about if it was healthy or not, I couldn't bear taste testing it myself to see if it was too hot!

[sazlocks]

hmm - not sure about that really. Jars are probably ok in moderation but not sure really as have never used them apart from a couple of times.
To be honest (and hoping I don't sound patronising cos I really am not meaning to) you sound more like you could do with a basic cookbook or a few cheap recipes as jars are not going to be the answer for ever and they are probably going to work out more expensive than cooking basic stuff from scratch. Thinking about stuff like beans on toast, tuna or cheese sandwiches, macaroni cheese, vegetable and bean stew etc

[GwarchodwrPlant]

I'm actually quite fond of the taste (particularly pasta cabonara followed by the fruit duo)

[AitchTwoOh]

me personally, i think it's weird that they have such long shelf lives and yet still claim to be full of vits etc. that would be my main objection to them, apart from the smell. but if they are, as they do claim, just purees etc then you're probably right. but maybe you could just use frozen veg, we get through a LOT of frozen peas here when i'm skint. (like now )

dd2 tonight had fish fingers and peas and potatoes, she's eleven months. what kind of food do you eat?

[AitchTwoOh]

there are a lot of finger food ideas on www.babyledweaning.com but tbh if you're eating okay then he should be alright with that. if you panic, steam him some more veggies in the micro, it's the work of three minutes.

[sazlocks]

x posted with your second message.
scrambled egg with cheese
rissotto with veg
meatballs

there are sme good recipes for finger foods on the BLW blog

[liahgen]

at 10 mths he can eat loads of different things. Omellets (sp) can be made quickly and easily with some cheese and a bit of milk.

Rice pudding is filling and you can puree some red fruit and add it

Risotto is always nice for littlies cos it's sticky and easy to eat, My lo used to love my very easy tomato and courgette risotto. Easy to change tomato for cheese,

Pasta is also not expensive, (value pasta) with a cheese, bacon, or ham like sauce if he doesn't get on with tomato.

[GwarchodwrPlant]

I'm a great cook, really I am I can cook fab traditional meals and I usually love to try different things. I'm really proud of DS as he loves to try anything and isn't afraid of strong tasting foods like mature cheese or garlic sauces it's just that I'm so bored of cooking and I'm just being lazy.

[AitchTwoOh]

and for lunch she had halved pitta breads with grated carrot and cheese inside. wet the outside of the pita (keeps it soft) and toast with the open side up.

[fishie]

gw i think they do not taste nice. my mum claims that the sweet ones are better than the savoury but i am not convinced.

[MovingOutOfBlighty]

Gw, in which case, dust off your mincer and nuke some of those lovely traditional meals you cook. (Please could you send some our way too...I am quite lazy as well!)

[MyCatsABiggerBastardThanYours]

I think that they are fine but not all the time. With DD I used them about 30 - 40% of the time for a while (had PND and struggled with everything and I found these quite useful and stress free). I only bought organic and she always had home food at some point in the day (fruit, veg sticks, bread etc). She now eats fruit and veg and is a healthy happy 3.8yr old.

DS just starting on solids and he is having mainly home cooked fruit and veg but with the odd jar (organic again) thrown in when I';v run out of time and ideas.

TBH though, I think I will give DS more home cooked because all you have to do is wizz it up in a mini processor and there you have it. Simple really (and as AitcTwhOh says - nothing wrong with frozen veg and fruit)

[iwantitnow]

Jars doesn't give sufficient protein as well as tasting/smelling vile

[angelene]

I found that jars were useful for a short period of time once DD was used to fruit and veg but before she was ready to eat what we were eating. I used to give her a bit of a meat-based thing from a jar along with fresh veg and spuds.

But then I didn't do, or had never even heard of, BLW.

[AitchTwoOh]

oh god i know the feeling of just not being arsed to cook... it's such a bind sometimes. i tend to go mad one day and have four things on to put in the freezer. i've just had a bit of a sesh so we've got some tomato sauces in there that i'll use for pizza and for pasta, some spag bols, some mince for mince and tatties. plus i alsways keep fish fingers in the freezer, and salmon (that's super-quick steamed in the micro), some chicken goujon type things etc. along with frozen peas, sweetcorn and edamame for quick veg.

something like noodles, edamame (soy beans) and salmon with some teryaki sauce is the work of minutes. although watch the salt for that day.

[AitchTwoOh]

(in case you think i'm meat mad, there are zillions of carrots and an onion in the mince and celery, carrot and onion in the bol. the tom sauce is just onion, garlic and bacon and a truckload of olive oil.)

[Helen31]

I like cooking to a point, but so long as it doesn't take too much time or effort - I can strongly recommend this book, which has lots of quick and tasty recipes which I'm sure you could easily adapt to suit a 10month old.

www.amazon.co.uk/101-One-pot-Dishes-Tried-tested/dp/0563522917/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=b&tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21 ooks&qid=1247779811&sr=8-1

[Helen31]

Oh, and I think the answer to your question is a) expense, b) scepticism about jar/can food (which is not that well-founded as they are very good methods for preserving, so far as I know) and c) for some, I think there is a perceived virtue in slaving over a hot food processor. But I think d) knowing exactly what's gone into the food is probably a major one for many.

[MrsMerryHenry]

I gave DS 2 puddings from jars. Nothing more. I hardly ever buy ready meals for myself so carried the same principle into food for him. In fact, he mostly ate the same food as us - I just stopped cooking with salt for a few months and we got used to the taste - and were much healthier for it, I'm sure!

[AitchTwoOh]

you don't need a food processor to feed a ten month old. a baby can feed itself easily by that stage. if you look at hipp organic jars they last until two years from now... i don't think that it's unduly sceptical to think that there might be some vit loss going on there.

[puffylovett]

Aitch how on EARTH did your DD2 get to be eleven months, she was only born the other week !!! has it really been that long since a was an avid blwer....

[SolidGoldBrass]

The organic ones are OK - well my DS had plenty of them and is now nearly 5, thriving and eats pretty much anything. I used them a fair bit as we were out and about a lot when he was weaning (including 3 camping trips) - the great thing with jars is that you don;t need to keep them refrigerated.
Mind you I once got caught out, staying out longer than I had meant to, and the only babyfood I could find was non-organic Heinz which a) smelt far more vile than the usual stuff and b) DS didn;t think much of at all.

[AitchTwoOh]

i KNOW. it is impossible. i feel like i looked away and she fell through a hole in the space time continuum.