jars and sachets - MIL is disgusted

[Murphyslaw21]

Bit of a back story...

My house we bought before baby is very old, found out I was pregnant so did bedrooms, and living room. We have no heating or water, having run out of money we have had to put kitchen old hold.

House is warmed by a wood burner. Now my kitchen is disgusting. Mould, damp no water (outside tap only). We only use it as necessary. Pots and pans are washed in bucket with kettle water. Therefore I only give baby jars and sachets. Now I spend a fortune she has mango breakfast, porridge, roast dinners all fruit and veg. I wash her pots and sterilise them. I would not think of risking cooking as I'm not convinced pots and utensils are clean enough. We won't be doing kitchen until next year as we have to put in heating in this year. We don't have a dishwasher as no space for one.

My MIL has raised concerns and insults that it's because I can't be bothered to cook and that the jars are full of preservatives and additives. But I read them and they are 100% organic with nothing added. I'm so cross.

I give baby 3 good meals a day. I would love to cook but it's an awful kitchen. When we go out with her and I pull out a packet I get rolling eyes and sarcastic comments. The other day I said well buy me a kitchen then. And she moaned that I spent the money on doing bedrooms first. But my logic was baby needs a nice clean bedroom . We had been sleeping for six months on an air bed. Not fun whilst heavily pregnant.

I'm so angry but I'm wondering if the jars and sachets are bad.

Even if it was £2400 in a year it really isn't anything when the op can do her kitchen in 2017 anyway. I get the point but really it's a drop in the ocean and not worth making such a big thing out of

It's not crap at all. Many baby jars and pouches do have preservatives, they get round it by saying there aren't any artificial preservatives, which is true. The ones that don't have any preservatives are pasteurised at high temperature. Read about the impact of high temperature pasturisation on nutrients. Just vacuum sealing doesn't stop things going off. Stick a banana in an airtight container and see how long it lasts!

Could you find room for something like this?

www.johnstrand-mk.co.uk/duplicate-of-kitchens/mini-kitchen1/440/

It's a two bed with one living room down stairs. Lean too and access to kitchen through lean too. It's only little

The lean too needs removing and kitchen needs to be attached to property

Other than two sofas and a fridge in living room no space for anything else. Small area in front of tv for baby to play . Like I said baby unexpected otherwise would not bought place

Two seater sofa not two sofas

Also a halogen oven would be a great buy - you can do anything in it you can do in a real oven and use them as a mini dishwasher!

How does that work Brian?

definately get a slow cooker
and a hand blender.

do you have a neighbour or friend you can ask who would loam you a kitchen fir the day so you can batch cook some soups and stews, mince etc?

I think the idea if getting yourself a little hob and setting up a temp kitchen corner is a good idea.

with regards to stews it's alot of prep bit if you buy frozen onions and the ready prepared veg and cubed stewing steak you could cut most if it out and just bung it in a slow cooker. they are cheap in tesco and are brilliant. you can do whole chickens and joints of meat in them too. some shredded chicken mushed up with some microwaved veg and jacket potato. and use teh slow cooker then make a basic soup. prepared veg and frozen onions and some stock and blend with hand blender when it's done then add chicken.will do fir a couple of days after.

obviously it's not ideal but babies like to surprise us dint they

so massive congratulations on your miracle surprise baby

obviously jars and pouches for every meal aren't great. but you ate clearly doing the best you can and have your babies health and welfare at heart with not wanting to prepare food in an unclean area. you ate doing all anyone cab do.and try to make the best of it

I would love to see some pictures of teh finished house I bet it will be a lovely family home.

Weetabix and porridge are brilliant quick microwave food, and I happily give my dc porridge for tea not just breakfast. Microwave a jacket potato and turn into mash for DD, I am assuming you have a small fridge for milk?

Baked beans and scrambled egg with toast, or bread at a push, is another microwave tea.

Pouches and jars are fine, the only problem I have found is that they are too smooth really for when a baby needs to get used to lumps, and maybe not flavoursome enough. But Ella's Kitchen is better than most imo and I used the puree in porridge for a long time to get some more fruit in my dc.

I also used to give mine the little mini tins from Heinz, like ravioli and spaghetti hoops - but I'm sure there are some on here that would be aghast

Thanks Giles I really am doing the best and I think some people misses the point. I would hate to make baby Poorly

Oh and if you buy roasting bags, you can cook things like jacket potatoes in the slow cooker even if your using it fir something else. the bags keep it separate. so you could do say a chili, (use a jar sauce if it's easier) and wrap a potato up in foil place in roasting bag and bung in the slow cooker with the chilli.

And think long term. in a year or two you will have a lovely home and you can spend all day cooking then!

Is baby's bedroom downstairs then? Looks that way from your photo.

No leccey. It's got a door that goes out to a Flat roof . Lean too. It's totally unsafe and unusable. that door is a front door that previous owner stuck in .

Yes it might be £20 a week now, but remember an 18 month old will need a lot more food than a 7 month old. Hence the cost of jar use will unfortunately double/ treble. Ie at 7 months mine would eat a few small spoons of porridge and 1/3 banana for breakfast. By 18 months it's a whole bowl of porridge and a whole banana. So that's 1/2-1 a jar now and 2-3 in a years time just for breakfast

I came on here because your OP made me smile and took me back nearly 50 years, when I fed my baby from jars and packets and MIL used to be critical, saying she could never afford that and it wasn't proper food. I smiled sweetly and opened another jar! Said "baby" is now almost 6 feet and has never had a day's illness in his life other than the odd cold.

Mind I am absolutely amazed at some of the posts. Dear god anyone would think you were feeding your baby crack cocaine! Of course she's not going to suffer ill effects from not have a baked potatoe (at 7 months) and chilli! Ok so the porridge maybe but I think you can get that it in a packet too - sort of flakes that you mix with formula.

My grandson who is 10 has been a fussy eater since he was about 1 and refuses all fruit and veg. SO he still has fruit pots (for aged 4 months!!!) as a way of getting some fruit in him. His sister aged 6 also likes them.

Carry on what you're doing OP and your LO will be fine.

What about a gas bbq?

You're doing the best you can under challenging circumstances.

When dd1 was born we were renovating our house and a kitchen refit that should have taken a couple of months turned into a year. Dd1 was weaned in a corner of the living room and we did baby led weaning so no purée or pouches but finger food from day one. I had an electric steamer, a microwave and a toaster for the first months. She ate steamed and raw veggies, fruit, toast, steamed fish, steamed rice, dairy (yoghurt, cheese), cold meat (ham, chicken), rice cakes..... I can't think of anything I would have given her that I couldn't have cooked under those conditions. She's 11 now so managed to survive somehow....

op - you made the right call doing bedrooms first.

mOuld is really bad news for little lungs. Better jars than mOuld!

And it shouldn't be £££ to organise a kitchenette.

If you don't already have fridge/freezer - I'd look into a cheap chest freezer. You can make a makeshift 'fridge' for milk/cheese etc in a cool box with reusable ice packs. However - a decent freezer lets you do economical things like buying veg mainly frozen, tucking away half a multibuy meat offer if it's too much to eat at once and having some 'homemade' food stashed to reheat another day.

I think fridges actually encourage processed food eating!

yy to previous posters who recommended roasting bags. You might like to also Google 'dump bags'. You store all the ingredients for a slow cooker stew in a freezer bag. Make up several at once and freeze them. Take them out night before to defrost. Then dump ingredients straight in slow cooker (or into roasting bag first for easy clean up). Like this - you only need to deal with the mess of cooking a couple of times a week.

Personally if the 2 rooms that are done are the bedrooms then I would all share one and set up a kitchen in the other. Fridge, tabletop hob, slow cooker. Job done, you can all eat normal food. Pots and pans washed in a plastic washing up bowel with kettle water are perfectly clean and fine to cook and feed baby with.

If it were short term then I'd probably do as you are doing now and use preprepared food for a month or so while waiting for the kitchen but it isn't and if you are talking about a year timescale then you really need to get properly set up.

Yes I would also suggest baby sleeping in your room and use baby room as dining and kitchen area for now

I am confused because the Op said she didn't have water in the house, only an outside tap, but she has a flushing WC.

This means that she must have both water and waste in the house . They can find where these run and plumb into them on the other wide of the wall to make a temporary kitchen , with at least cold water.

Also I am concerned how they keep clean with no hot water - a kettle is fine for a few days but no good for a couple of years .

Also it's very hard to dry clothing and bedding if you have no heating of any kind .

I assume that the washing machine in the garage is running on cold fill, if there is no heating or hot water in the house .

I have lived without a kitchen for several months ( with three young children ) when we were doing a project , so I'm how how how hard it is. That's why it's crucial to make proper plans for a temporary kitchen , you really can't go on living like this with a baby .

I have to say I'm suprised that a Hv thought that living conditions were good when there is no heating, hot or cold water, adequate cooking facilities or anywhere to dry clothes .

We had no proper kitchen when we moved into our house with a baby. We set up a microwave,kettle, toaster, camp stove and a mini oven thing. Maybe a slow cooker would be good ( I don't have one)? I Managed to make basic meals for family and baby. Could you set up a few things in sitting room or maybe a bedroom as you said those were done? Baby stays in your bedroom?
I'm not against good quality pre prepared baby food, they have a place but you do need to also introduce basic normal finger type things and meals also.
Also ask to use mil kitchen to do some batch cooking or ask her to prepare some meals that can be frozen and get yourself a mini fridge/freezer and plug it in anywhere you can.
Packets are expensive long term. Good luck with the house x

I know a family with a perfectly lovely kitchen whose DD exists almost entirely on jars etc and has survived to 18 months. That said she behind her peers in terms of eating habits (range of food eaten, use of cutlery etc) and I don't think the reliance on jars has helped.

At 7 months it is not the end of the world to be relying heavily on jars and pouches. However as you progress with weaning it'll do you all good to get a better make-shift kitchen set up to increase the range and quality in your diet.

One other thing to add - my DS decided one day (after months of tucking in happily) that he didn't like jars etc and now will not touch the damned things. Most babies develop some kind of fussy habits so it'll help to have a range of methods of food prep so you can cope when your baby becomes an independent minded small toddler!