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Original poster

jars? should I?

23 replies

mum2oliver · 14/07/2004 20:54

ALL my friends strarted with jars of baby food.I have started with fresh.Is it so bad to give jars now & again?
Wot else can you give when you are out shopping for the day & there is no facilities to heat up home made purees?
Restaurants wont heat up the food will they? (due to food hygiene regulations)
I really would prefere not to give jars.

OP posts:

Twiglett · 14/07/2004 20:56

message withdrawn

prettycandles · 14/07/2004 21:08

Nothing wrong with jars now and then. Especially when your young prince decides he doesn't want to eat - it's less distressing to throw out something you didn't make.

I started with fresh, but generally had jars to hand. Favourite makes: Oraganix for the 'younger' jars and Hipp Organic or Heinz Organic for the 'older' jars. I still keep some jars in the cupboard, because my two (3 and 18m) like them for puddings and they're convenient.

Some restaurants will heat the jar as long as it isn't unsealed. Anyway, make life easier for yourself and wean your ds on room-temperature food, then you don't need to worry either about heating when you're out nor about scalding his mouth.

Another convenience of room-temperature food is that you can freeze home-made food in the jars or tubs, with the lids off until frozen, and take them out with you in the knowledge that they will have defrosted by mealtime, if you time it right.

You can use washed-out jars to carry home-made food around, or you can buy little tupperwares (make sure they are water-proof!) or baby bowls with lids (ditto!).

acnebride · 14/07/2004 21:12

this is based on only having started giving solids 6 weeks ago! so ignore or wait for me to change in a few weeks...

i stopped agonizing about jars when my ds spent 3 weeks being unenthusiastic about homemade stuff and absolutely loved his first jar. once he had 'got the point' he was happy with either - i give homemade usually once a day and feel ok about that. i do use organic jars to assuage guilt.

i don't worry about temperature much - when out i either mash a banana because easy to transport, or take a tommy tippee pot with a lid with some puree in (jar or whatever)and give at room temp. do what you feel best about.

hercules · 14/07/2004 21:15

DD (9 months) loves organixjars and eats far far more than if I give her homemade.

kalex · 14/07/2004 21:20

T gave dd jars, none for Ds, have not noticed any difference in likes and dislikes, they both like the same.

AND they both hate my macroni chesse, but love Heinz

Original poster

mum2oliver · 14/07/2004 21:26

Iv been told that you must heat up the veg or fruit puree to over 63oc to kill the bacteria?
Is this true?
Is it really ok to give it when it has been in my bag for a couple of hours on a hot summers day?
I thought that becteria grows if food is at a temperature above 8oc and below 63oc.
Thanx.x

OP posts:

moominmama86 · 14/07/2004 21:27

If you don't want to give jars, don't.

But tbh there's nothing wrong with them really and they are v convenient sometimes. Ds refused every damn thing I cooked for him from about 7 months and has only just started eating homemade again, so we've got through a lot of jars! Decent brands are Organix, Hipp and Heinz Organic - not normal Heinz as they're like dogfood, imo! And ds doesn't know that food can be served hot... so we've never worried too much about heating although most places will give you hot water to sit the jar in.

moominmama86 · 14/07/2004 21:31

Well, unless you're going to be carrying a thermometer around with you it's going to be a bit hit-and-miss anyway... Jars will be sterile so you wouldn't have to worry about bacteria growing in an unopened jar even on a warm day.

mummyintexas · 14/07/2004 21:33

My dd refuses anything from a jar (in a way a good thing as I'm forced to make my own...) so we do as prettycandles suggested and take it out of the freezer in the morning and take it with us - normally it's defrosted and is room temp by the time lunch comes around. Most places will heat up a home made pot in the microwave - if you can, do accompany it and make sure they don't put it in for too long (two reasons 1. it'll destroy all the lovely vitamins in your food and 2. it'll be so hot you'll have to wait 30 mins to feed it). Getting them used to room temp food is very useful.

I use old yoghurt pots (which have lids as opposed to foil seals) which I can then throw away - so only have to transport spoon home.

Also - disposable bibs are great for flights / hotels - dreadfully wasteful but good to use 10 times a year.

prettycandles · 14/07/2004 21:35

Taking frozen purees in the expectation that they would be melted by lunchtime was my standard way of 'eating out' with both my babies. I would also take the day's food out of the freezer and leave it to defrost in the fridge until suppertime. I only ever heated food up for a meal if I hadn't planned ahead properly and got food ready earlier. I also put leftovers in the fridge and fed them the following day straight from the fridge (actually, I only did that after a couple of months on solids). Ds was never ill, dd had a bout of gastro at 9m - but as she was eating the same food as ds by then and he wasn't ill, I doubt it was caused by their food.

That's my experience, but you have to find what you're comfortable with.

prettycandles · 14/07/2004 21:37

Oh I sound awfull! I did also cook fresh foood for them, honestly!

clary · 15/07/2004 13:47

Like others here I never heated up purees (don't own a microwave except the kids' toy one, which I once offered in all seriousness to a visiting friend to heat up her baby's meal!! lol (well I had just given birth to no 3) so room temp food seemed fine. After all, you don't heat up eg mashed banana do you? But good point re bacteria on a hot day. If you're worried you could use a cool bag and those ice pack things. But TBH I never bothered and mine all seem quite healthy.

CountessDracula · 15/07/2004 13:49

dd used to have home made purees at home and organic jars when out and about. I think it's a matter of personal preference but I can't see that jars are that bad really - though obv fresh food on a regular basis has to be better

Twiglett · 15/07/2004 13:52

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poppyseed · 15/07/2004 14:00

I always fed ours homemade when at home but to be on the safe side I bought good quality organic stuff in jars and got places to re heat them when we were out. I found that very few places would reheat my home made stuff and worried about the reheating they were prepared to offer (hot water) with respect to bacteria etc. Even then I questioned the hygiene of people reheating my baby's food as I handed the jar over....Why is there so much variation with reheating? Some places offer a microwave for you to use and others you have to struggle with hot water which imo is more of a safety hazard if you have older children too sitting on a poxy table with you too!!! Sorry - I love to rant about this, and the cleanliness of high chairs they leave for you to use!!

bundle · 15/07/2004 14:03

made most of ours, including when we went out - just popped a couple of ice cubes of something into a tight-lidded container and asked to use the microwave wherever we were. or else took something easy like an avocado/banana. very rarely used jars. they're all orange. and full of malodextrin (sp)

florenceuk · 15/07/2004 15:32

I used to take a cool bag and ice packs. However I would have preferred to be able to give jars, but DS very stubborn and refused all except those which were sweet. Penelope Leach points out that nutritionally jars are actually fine, it is more the taste and texture that are the issue. Home made purees do taste better to me, and obviously to DS as well! In extremis we relied on yoghurts and fruit purees, + bread/rice cakes.

jane313 · 16/07/2004 10:19

Jars are the only thing you can use if you are going away for a night or more when they are babies. Unless you are self catering/staying with a friend and want to take a blender with you. I rarely bothered heating up the jars when we were out.

I didn't stick with organic and tried most brands. Some of the organix fruit ones smelled really nice and Boots own brand, I wanted to eat the salmon and dill one. Others just smelled like baby food but luckily my son eats most stuff.

Hulababy · 16/07/2004 10:20

DD loved the Boots ones - they had a great range of flavours

maisystar · 16/07/2004 10:28

ds had jars from 4 to 9 months then progrssed to fingerfood meals. i couldn't cook (was student before pg!!) and just never got the hang of purreeing etc. once ds was 1 he just ate the sme as me(had learnt how to cook by then).

he's 3 1/2 now and will eat anything and everything.

Galaxy · 16/07/2004 11:06

message withdrawn

mummytojames · 16/07/2004 12:09

sorry havent read all the threads but i cant see a problem to give them a jar when your out i do and it breaks up the monotimy (sp?) of the same types of food because they use stuff i wouldnt have a clue where to start

codswallop · 16/07/2004 12:10

oh m2o give them what ever you like!
this phase is soooo short that you will blink and it will be over

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