Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think that puches and jars of baby food are yuk!

74 replies

RubyBuckleberry · 29/04/2010 21:21

I was going to post this on another thread but thought it was hijacking so thought I should post it on a seperate thread.

It is a genuine question fuelled by my thinking I might be BU! I just hate the thought of what is in those pouches and jars, am convinced they add stuff to make it last ages - if not how does it last so long, and can't see how it is a good idea to feed them to a small baby. I was looking at them in the supermarket today and couldn't help but REALLY turn my nose up .

I am up for being re-educated .

AIBU?

OP posts:
VirginonRidiculous · 29/04/2010 22:53

I used HIPP and Plum with DS1 and now with DS2. I'm a crap cook when it comes to savoury but can cook a mean cake. I did try with home made purees but they made me want to puke and they tasted so plain. I then tried HIPP and Plum and DS1 couldn't get enough. When he could chew competently then pasta,rice dishes, roasts etc were a hit. He eats absolutely anything now and I think it's because he was introduced to so many tastes in his first year. DS2 is following in his footsteps. Wish I could have been a successful puree-er(?) but if it made me wretch I couldn't have inflicted it on the poor kiddies.

arabicabean · 29/04/2010 22:56

My baby loved his Plum Mango and Banana puree. It was rather delicious. What is there to turn one's nose up at an organic fruit puree?
It is a great convenience food for when you don't have a ripe mango and I am not above using it.My LO has freshly cooked organic food.

NiallOfTheNineHostages · 29/04/2010 23:13

SanctiMoanyArse, I think I know who you are! Great name!

I don't like the idea of pouches and jars but I do like to have a little "emergency bag" for my ds4 with a todder ready meal, a juice and a cereal bar in case we have to go out in a hurry. If we are planning to go out, I will replace the ready meal with something home-made, the juice with a sealed cup of fresh milk and I'm sorry but with four children, a job in which I work four days a week, a business I run from home for two days a week I don't have time to bake anything to replace the cereal bar!

sayithowitis · 30/04/2010 00:08

I don't see there is a problem with them. I don't know many people who use them exclusively. When mine were babies, I used the occasional jar if we were going to be out at a mealtime, simply because I knew that until opened, it was safe. I did not think it would always be safe to carry home made stuff for any length of time, particularly on hot days. As I didn't drive way back then, I was limited to what I could carry in a bag under the buggy, and be able to get it all, including child(ren) on the bus. Actually, when mine were really small, you could get powdered/granulated food that you just mixed with boiling water. Not marvellous, but certainly good when they only ate tiny amounts at a time.

Original poster
RubyBuckleberry · 30/04/2010 07:16

This all sounds fab - thanks for thoughts. I have a question though - why would a baby want a pouch full of the same stuff that you would puree??? What is in it that makes it taste nice? Or am I missing something?

OP posts:
tortoiseonthehalfshell · 30/04/2010 07:22

In my daughter's case it was texture - the commercial ones were smoother than I could ever get mine (unless, after blending, I also pushed them through sieves, and even then sometimes it wouldn't be smooth enough for Miss Princess Pants).

azazello · 30/04/2010 07:24

Ruby, my DD much preferred pouches/ jars of things I would cook probably because of the consistency. She very strongly objected if meals had either been pureed too much or too little. I then discovered blw when she was 9 months and stopped bothering with purees at all. Now nearly 3, eats everything no problems.

MmeLindt · 30/04/2010 07:32

The hygiene standards in the baby food industry is very strict. The manufacturers know that if there is even the slightest inkling of a scandal involving tainted products that their company is dead.

We parents tend to err on the safe side, so would be likely to boycott any product that was shown to have safety issues.

I used the jars for a while because the DC were not always hungry at the same time as we were, and they were convenient.

GoldenSnitch · 30/04/2010 08:03

Ruby, I think the thing with the pouches/jars for lots of people is a storage issue rather than taste.

I will be mashing and pureeing fruit and veg for DC2 once she starts weaning but I'll be buying pouches and jars for days out and long journeys because they've been made and packed in a protective atmosphere with less oxygen to stop them going bad quite as fast. That's why they have to be used so fast once opened as you've reintroduced the oxygen.

Stuff I've made at home, even with the same ingredients wouldn't last as long out of a fridge and I'd be concerned about feeding it to my baby after a few hours in my bag on a hot day. A pouch of puree would be much more convenient - and safer.

frakkinnuts · 30/04/2010 08:13

You can actually get some really yummy fruit pouches. I eat them...

wanders off to sample Carrefour's yummy organic babyfood compotes

smallorange · 30/04/2010 08:20

I found the ultra smooth consistency was good when I started to wean, and they were handy ip until 8-9 months when she demanded the food we were having.

Still use the fruit purees mixed with yoghurt etc.

Nothing wrong with jars, all pure mushed up stuff although DD3 prefers my cooking now (God help her)

LittleMrsHappy · 30/04/2010 08:24

No jars or pouches here (cries hysterically) ds2 ant ave them due to allergies.

No easier life for me (cries yet again)

LittleMrsHappy · 30/04/2010 08:25

cccccccc my cccccccccccc is broken

susiey · 30/04/2010 08:40

we did a mixture of baby food and home meade
on holiday or out always baby food
at home they just had what we had. excepr when our lovely friend would add babyliscous frozen cubes to her order for us and then they would have that on the days where we were having something unfriendly to baby tastes.

One thing I always use is fruit from pouches and pots ( I love fruitapura) becuase I can't bear the labour (peeling chopping etc)involved for the small amount of apple puree a bag of apples produces!

smallorange · 30/04/2010 08:55

I always burnt apple purée so in the end just thought fuck it and bought a load of jars.

Bubbaluv · 30/04/2010 09:06

My 1yo loves to eat the dog's food and will even give his own poo a good chewing if he can get his hands on it, so everything is relative really.

porcamiseria · 30/04/2010 09:23

if you dont like them, dont use them. simple

scottishmummy · 30/04/2010 09:36

so dont buy them if they give you the heave ho.plenty people use them and like them

ella kitchen and plum are v good

made my own baby food and used ella and plum too.for convenience and they were v good quality

Miggsie · 30/04/2010 09:40

DD never ate the stuff from jars, so I didn't have a dilemma. Pureed up loads of stuff then started her on mashed up whatever we had. Pureeing the stuff isn't that necessary after a while, a bit of texture is a good thing.

ChristianaTheSeventh · 30/04/2010 09:41

Message withdrawn

Original poster
RubyBuckleberry · 30/04/2010 09:44

thanks for all the posts - loving stories about babies trying to eat their own poo - i read a funny anecdote about sterilising until the mum turned round to see baby munching on the pram wheel and makes sense about the balance argument, and journeys etc, i hadn't realised about the texture thing either.

obviously good point porcamiseria - i don't have to use them. i was looking at them in the supermarket yesterday and wondering about how they made them etc and was thinking about how they got them to stay fresh with all the vitamins etc...

OP posts:
scottishmummy · 30/04/2010 09:46

i dont expect shop bought to be same as homemade

if want homemade style puree,i will make it
if i want convenience and spontaneity of buying a sachet i buy plum

isthatporridgeinyourzone · 30/04/2010 12:14

I puree all my own Gregg's sausage rolls.

porcamiseria · 30/04/2010 12:21

Ruby, I I am not hugely precious but for some reason I also balked at jars. I eat all my own food fresh, so why not my baby?. I am in NO WAY critical as dont think it does any harm, but if I would not want to eat pureeed food thats been on a the shelf for 2 months, why would my baby. when I have DC2 O might change this stance I am sure.....

The Italians went BLEUGHHHH at the Ella Kitchen! I was embarrassed!!!! pureed parsnip and apple went down baaaad

runnybottom · 30/04/2010 12:31

Plum pouches full of sugar?

I've got one in front of me "Squash & Sweet potato" it contains; Organic butternut squash, organic carrots, organic sweet potato, water, organic quinoa flakes"

What on earth is there to complain about there?

Reeks of snobbish one-up-mum-ship to me.