does REAL food take more energy?

[LoveMyGirls]

dd2 is 11mths old and as its been 6 yrs since i did all this with dd1 i was wondering what your opinion is on giving "proper" food? i have been giving her weetabix, bread, cheese, cucumber, tomates, fruit, biscuts etc but am still sticking to jars and yogurts for lunch and tea as i like to measure how much she has actually eaten rather than trying to work it out from how much is left in chewed up lumps on the floor (i know im being silly and its time to give her proper food the majority of the time) im a bit nervous about it and just need a few words of encouragement.

when my DS was 11 months he was definately eating what we ate - and I occasionally froze portions so I knew I'd got something in case what we were eating wasn't suitable.
But I used to do batches of pasta sauce (with veggies, maybe small pieces of chicken) and he'd have that with either chopped up spaghetti or pastini (little pasta stars), cous cous is a godsend it only takes 10 minutes to cook and you can mix it with fozen peas, sweetcorn. jacket potatoes with tuna chopped up, fish pie, cottage pie etc.
Personally unless she is only eating really small amounts I wouldn't bother fiddling with ice cube trays, just freeze a small portion in a freezer bag or small tupperware pot.
I didn't use jars much myself except when I was out and I think they can be quite bland. If you cook stuff yourself you can add herbs etc to make things more interesting and extend her palate.

i have done it, i've made something ready for tomorrow tea time

by the way - before bed she ate 9 oz milk, 1 weetabix and 2 yogurts. (she had tea at 3.45, half jar of lasagne and 2 yogurts)