Am I right to be shocked that...

[WhenLifeGivesYouLemonsx]

A woman in the supermarket the other day had her toddler with her, must've been about 3 years old and she filled her entire trolley full of baby jars (cleared the shelf) and I overheard her say to her boyfriend "this should all last for a week if she has 3 of them a day"

Surely this is just... not right?! I am probably being judgmental here but how long does it take to cook a meal, maybe a spag bol or sausages and mash? Them jars taste like shit as well. When I gave one to my son when he was first weaned and we was out visiting family, it smelt of sick & even he spat it out

I overheard her say to her boyfriend "this should all last for a week if she has 3 of them a day"

How'd you know he was her boyfriend? Just interested to know.

If it's for the toddler and no reason for it apart from they can't be bothered to make meals then yes I would judge and think lazy parenting. It doesn't take five minutes to put a meal together If you are pushed for time.

Everyone on here saying there's probably another baby at home (unlikely as wouldn't you all be shopping together??) or the child has autism etc. Maybe the parents are just lazy shits??? Who knows.

'How'd you know he was her boyfriend? Just interested to know.'

Exactly

How do you even know it was her dc

Maybe she meant as snacks?

Why judge, it’s not of your business?

I know several children with sn’s who would only eat one type of food and baby food is often the only thing they will eat. When you have a child like this you need to stock up when you can because if they stop making it your child could starve.

Must be a small supermarket if 21 jars 'cleared the shelves'. Our supermarket has most of an aisle full.

Your suggestion of sausage or mince in Spag Bol are hardly healthy so maybe try to look at your own families meals if you think that's much of a better alternative.

You never know people's circumstances.

Yes it's judgemental. It's not unusual for your immediate thought to be related to your own personal experience though rather than considering options you haven't experienced e.g. for an adult, someone with a disability, for a visitor and they don't know better etc.

I remember being concerned by a young couple beside me in the supermarket talking about feeding their newborn an older baby formula with babyfood added so it'd sleep through the night without feeding. They were clear in what they were discussing so it didn't seem like there were alternative explanations.

You said, "Them jars", instead of, "Those jars", so would one expect you to know anything? I certainly wouldn't.

Maybe she is buying them for her sister, who is doing the baby-food diet for a new year weight loss program.

Maybe she supports someone with a young baby that lives in a Hostel with no cooking facilities?

Fair enough OP that you can’t stop the judgmental thoughts popping into your head, but you don’t need to start a whole thread about it. I know you want others to share in your feelings but you know fine well the truth is that you don’t know anything about a person’s life from one overheard comment. And I am certain you’ve had many moments of your own where you would be horrified if a stranger judged your entire life based on that moment.

We bought an assortment of jars for various different baby ages yesterday and I'm sure the checkout assistant had a little judge, but they're actually for a very poorly dog whom we are desperately trying to get to eat!

He was obviously her boyfriend if she is the sort of person to use baby jars! People like that don't have husbands
In fairness, the child could have a range of different eating issues which is why she had to buy jars. She could be going on holiday to somewhere where the the child wouldn't eat the food. It could be for a younger child. Who knows?!

You should've seen my trolley when I didn't have a kitchen for 6 weeks 😂

An avg size 3 yr old child would need to eat (a lot) more calories than 3 jars/day.

Any number of reasons, the child may have swallowing problems,sensory issues, it might be for a younger child ,my son has severe autism and learning disabilities he eats a lot of noodles and cheese s squares, obviously it's not ideal , but it's either that or he won't eat.

300-360 kcal/day in 3 jars/day.

1/3 of what a 3 yr old needs.

Maybe they were all fave puddings?

'Them jars' ' we was out'

Glass houses and stones.

My youngest child looked completely normal but had severe oral and motor dyspraxia resulting in huge difficulty eating lumpy food, sometimes even age 2/3 he had jars of baby food for convenience/ ease especially if he'd just come out of hospital ( lots of admissions) and we were all knackered and I had 2 older children as well.
It's not visible but was a real issue for us for a few years and after having a blue child who's choking then sometimes I just wanted to feed him without worry and I could never blend home cooked food as smooth as shop bought.
This condition is actually not uncommon either.

My friend has a 4 year old who will only eat jars of baby food. She desperately wants him to eat 'normal' food. He won't even eat food she's made and pureed. He'd go without food before eating normal food.

He has developmental delays. Some children have sensory issues. I imagine most typically developing 3 year olds wouldn't touch bland pureed baby food once they tasted proper food

The thing is OP, even if we discount all the other perfectly likely scenarios above that other posters have given as to why they were buying baby food, the whole premise that if they were intending to feed them to their toddler because they are just lazy is unsound. There is a whole advertising and marketing onslaught dedicated to making us think we need things we really don't and using quite frankly manipulative tactics to achieve that end; and one arm of that onslaught is companies which manufacture baby food trying to convince us that the best, healthiest, most nutritionally sound way of feeding your weaned baby is with their foods which have been specially nutritionally tailored to a baby's needs. Parents who feed jarred foods are not lazy, neglectful, disgusting parents - just parents who want the best for their baby like most others. That's why they're buying the food, they think it's needed and probably have nobody in their lives to say, "hey, look, you know that making your own fish pie / vegetable stew / fruit compote and mashing it up is just as good or better, yeah?"

So, don't judge.

YANBU. jars are disgusting but I got my arse handed to me on a plate for saying this on MN a few yeas ago

YANBU. jars are disgusting

In fairness, bland mashed up mixtures of anything with very little seasoning are pretty disgusting to an adult palate, whether jarred or homemade. The total ingredients in a jar of Cow and Gate “Chicken Sunday Lunch” are listed as: peas, potato, chicken, carrot, sweetcorn, cornstarch, rapeseed oil - so pretty much exactly what would be in a homemade version and hardly Satan’s slurry.

We are all judgmental. Nobody is perfect! Maybe I was being judgmental but I suppose that's what comes into my head. I know it is not right to think that way.
I agree with this, although I don't think judging is a 'right' or 'wrong' way of thinking, we make judgments automatically, it's not something we can usually consciously help doing.