jars vs home cooked

[angel1000]

hey .. is it really that bad to give ds jars of babyfood? He is 8 months old and has been eating solids for 3 months. Problem is i have been cooking most of his food from scratch but this is become more difficult now. We do not have a freezer at moment as in process of looking for a new home so don't really want to buy one. \otherwise i would cook loads and freeze. i have been giving him Hipp organic and just wanted to know what other people think about this. i am feeling guilty..

some jars are better than others, some have water and thickeners in much larger quantities than food.. hipp are quite ok iirc..

also, some food does not need freezing

cottage cheese with avocado

banana

fruit & veg

can all be refrigerated, and keep for a day or two

or you can offer finger foods and bits off your plate to save cooking ! www.babyledweaning.com

breakfast can be toast or crumpet, or porride, lunch could be a variety of steamed veg, sandwiches or rice cakes and toppings, and dinner can be bits off your plate.

It depends really on your standards - mine are fairly low, and I consider scrambled egg on toast and a banana, or tuna, pasta and frozen peas, to be a perfectly adequate meal for a baby of 8 months old - hence I never used jars with ds2.

If, however, only organic vegetables and perfectly blended cassaroles will do, then time constraints will probably dictate you having to use jars at least some of the time.

To be honest, he is finger food age anyway - just make sure you don't cook with salt and give him what you eat. Chicken, vegetables and rice is fine, just scrape your cooking sauce off, and what is left on it will not hurt.

A few jars of baby food won't harm him.
To limit them, could you adjust your food so that he can eat the same as you, cut up small or mashed up?

thanks lulumama - yeah you're right - i give porridge or weetabix in morning and yoghurts. i get concerned about finger food but am trying more veg..tried pasta today but dp thought it was too hard still but i had read it was ok...i do give ds a lot of veg but was starting to increase jars as i do not cook much meat..

I was told that while there is nothing particularly bad about jars, they heat them to such a high temperature to ensure that they're bug-free that they do lose most of their nutritional value. Don't know if that's true. Anyone?

how much meat do you think ds should be having per week... i have been giving tinned mackeral with mashed potato and poach salmon for him but we do not really buy much meat

I fed all my three on jars most of the time, and they grew up all right! It's easier, especially if you are out and about. Do what works for you, don't feel guilty about making life easier,soon you wil be able to whizz up whatever you are having for your tea.

thanks mrsmerton - that makes me feel sooooooooooooooooo much better. we are out and about most days so it has been mainly at lunch time. dp and self used to eat fantastically well ( in fact dp was vegan) but things are so hectic now and without a bloody freezer....anyhow this advice is really helpful. I think i will really try and get back on track with annabel karmel but have a few jars in cupboard for lunches...however i can start on little sandwiches now can't i

IMO jars are gross and discusting!

have you actually tasted them?

I feed all babies i care for homemde food and will definitely do the same for my own! IMO childrne who eat jars are fussier as they move on to more adult food, where as children who eat proper food continue eating with less food fads (or at least they dont last so long etc!)

I LOVE the purees / 1st foods i make... they taste delciouse..... baby jars tatse gross IMO.... they all taste very similar and are bland and watery...

I wouldnt feed a baby anything i wouldnt eat myself (with the exception of baby rice) hence i would never choose to use jars.

Whilst im sure the occasionla jar wont harm them as a one off, chidlren fed wholey on jars may become a aneamic due to the fact they use such small amoutns of meat (probably to make it cheep ) that they cant get enough from them anyway...

home made food generally has more meat in it than jarred equivilents, and also doenst normally contain copiouse amounts of 'organic water' just nutruitouse delicouse real food!

i think the savoury ones are pointless, they are really rather nasty. sweet is ok but he might as well have a yoghurt or some stewed fruit with a bit of cream.

i did try bulk cooking and freezing but found that the amounts which actually got eaten were so small as to make it all a bit pointless. simple is good too.

pasta with butter/oil and a bit of grated cheese is easy, then some pear peeled and cut into quarters to chew on. white grapes from greece are rather nice at the moment too, just remember to cut in half first.

Dd was given almost all home cooked stuff.....now she turns her little nose up at jars and won't eat them This is proving to be a real PITA.

I think a combination of both is the best

i always have some jars in cupboard and one in my changing bag for stand by. takes pressure off. i probably only use about one jar per week.. have always thought jars smelled gross and nothing like the food they are meant to be. However, this week i bought a mushroom risotto jar from the boots organic range and it smelled divine - i wanted to tuck into it myself!

imo/e there is always something to feel guilty about when you are a parent.

My DD is 10 months old. She has a combination of finger food like sandwiches, breadsticks, pasta, vveggies like carrots & broccoli & peas.

She has yoghurts and the organix fruit pots for puddings.

I gave her mainly jars or home made pureed veg (but not meals iyswim) when she was eating purees as it was easier and there was less waste (although they arent cheap).

At 8 months you'd be surprised how much they can begin to feed themselves if you dont mind the mess.

sorry, i didnt answer your question

Jars are fine, so is homemade. Sooner you get them on to your food though things become easier.

don't beat yourself up if you give the occasional jar of baby food. As a nanny I have had the time to produce healthy homemade food for the babies I have looked after. When I became a mother my standards slipped slightly though ds prefers homemade if I've been too busy I give him lots of healthy finger food.

we have jars everyso often and those organix porridge long life pots.
They are great to have in as a stand by.
I go for a mass freeze every so often and have a mix and match style of meal preparation for DD, a cube/ pot of this and a cube / pot of that!! But there is nothing like the convienience of a jar.
DD has recently woolfed down the hipp cheesey pasta and tomato mozerella and spaghetti

how long will you be without a freezer? i don't get this thing with jars as a stand by. we have pasta and pesto as stand by if you like, or beans on toast, or a cheese sandwich.

Or a banana

nannyl - thanks for your comments but i must say that i realise homecooked food is way better but the whole point of this thread is about lack of time and well generally feeling too exhausted to cook meals from scratch every single day whilst i am without a freezer..if i could i would give ds organic homecooked meals from morning to night but at moment that is difficult. Before i had children i would never have dreamed of giving bought babyfood - as you say, but the reality of being a mother is very different. We never eat convience so i think i will just start to give ds what we eat - ie - shephards pie, veggies & rice, but i will give the occasional jar as i am out so much during the day. Plum babyfood actually tastes good - not so sure about the rest.

sorry but you asked...

and it was just a few months, maybe a year ago, that babyfoods (Hipp especially) were reviewed by the which magazine who concluded that if you used exclusively babyfoods the child would become malnourished and aneamic
In fact the organic ones were even worse at not providing enough iron

At 8 months they can eat almost anything and in a matter of weeks they can have just about anything except whole nuts.... so personaly id do a cereal breakfast, sandwiches / finger food / jacket potatoes in microwave etc for lunch and a bit of whatever you have for tea... and should you choose something extreamly spicy / salty then use a jar!

well folks - today we started with a kiwi,banana smoothie followed by toast & cottage cheese and for lunch we had fresh organic turkey with brocolli ( including finger food broccoli which went everywhere!!) and finished with the turkey/ brocolli combo with some lentils!! So feeling a lot less guilty and have decided that i am going to keep the jars for emergencies only. I think it was nannyl that convinced me - i guess i knew this all along. Just going to have to keep going and find the energy from somewhere

i weaned on home made organic, and still make all wee one food. imo nutritious, cost effective, i know what it contains. Freze and date in batches, and send into nursery for wee one

Wahoo

feel like i ahve achieved something today!

so pleased to ehre your child will be enjoying real food

(was in tesco today and walking past a cow and gate demonstration.... i was looking, the demonstrater said do you have children, i said "no im a nanny", and she said would you like some coupons.... i very soon told her (nicely of course) that i only feed children proper food, you could even give it to me for free and i still wouldnt feed it to the children... so she tried to give my some baby porridge instead and i declined that offer as well