Genuine question... Cook- in- Sauces, good or bad?

[Raggydoll]

I admit it (somewhat reluctantly) I use cook in sauces for bolognaise, curry, chilli, and well just about everything really. The thing is until recently it has only been for dh and I so the question regarding them being good or bad hadn't really crossed my mind. The question is are they appropiate for my ds (2.6) - his diet is very important to me and if I am 'poisoning' him with a jar or two of dolmio or the like then I want to know about it...

i doubt very much if you are poisoning him, you may be over loading his dear little kidneys with salt but then if he has a bag of crisps then that's just as bad. Maybe lay off the other salty foodstuffs on the day you are giving him a cook in sauce, you lazy baggage.

You aren't really a baggage or lazy, it's just my manner

they are very high in fat, salt and sugar generally speaking. Obviously different brands vary but they have a lot of unecessary additives in them.

pmsl suzywong

you are in fine fettle today

well, it depends really
do yo smoke around him? coz if you do, then the question is moot.

yes I am rather sharp this evening, and haven't had my medicinal beverage yet.

hmmm okay, he doesn't have crisps and i don't smoke, so thats good right .

I am a lazy baggage when it comes to food, to me browning chicken and adding sauce whilst microwaving rice is both 'cooking' and incredibably stressfull. Although I do have great aspirations of providing good wholesome homescooked food EVERYDAY, hence at least 3 bookshelves of cookery books and a great interest in food threads and the like... the thing is I just find it very stressful and the end result is usually disapointing too.

fat, salt and sugar... ok not too worried about the fat (ds is a rake) - salt bothers me though obviously. Have read the contents on the jars in my 'jar' cupboard it does seem some are better than others - hadn't read the tables with the salt on though...

doing that now.

'new coventgarden' do some good ones without additives..
or check the labels of the organic and 'free from' ranges.

thanks babyonboard. do you know where I can get the new covent garden ones from.

any other recommendations welcome... thanks

at cook in sauce for bolognaise

just use a tin of tomatoes

I use cook in sauces too raggydoll, but I usually use half a jar then chop up some fresh tomatoes and add water so the salt and sugar etc content isn't as high.
Making sauces from scratch is a pain!

There's no crap in \LINK{http://www.seedsofchange.co.uk/ra_where_to_buy.htm\SEEDS OF CHANGE} ORGANIC SAUCES.

My Italian mother who makes the most fantastic pasta sauces from scratch uses jars occasionally and swears that they taste great and need less cooking (Good bolognaise takes a couple of hours to cook).

Dolmio not a brilliant brand though - try a genuine Italian one like sacla. Seeds of change also quite good.

TBH tend to think jars are unneccessary when often all that's needed is a tin of tomatoes and good seasoning with pepper, herbs, garlic etc. Cost if nothing else makes jars seem silly. I make fresh tomato sauce at least once a week in a big batch and it's so easy and so multi-purposeful (is that a word?) makes a nonsense of buying jars. As for things like cheese sauce - it's not that hard to whisk up some fresh so you always know exactly what's going into your stomach.

However, will confess to using curry paste from a jar on occasion. I'm not perfect .