what baby food brand/jars do you find the best?

[juicychops]

At the moment i like the Heinz small tins

DD has a combination of home cooked foods (when I have got my arse in gear and stocked the freezer) combined with organic jars. I have found HiPP Organic and Organix to be the best, but have used organic Heinz, Cow & Gate even Boots!

His dozy father won't eat fruit or veg, which kind of explains why I didn't feed him what we ate all the time.

I am stocking up on the small fruit jars as IMO they taste fine, are great if you don't feel like forking out for nectarines and mangos out of season, and you can always mix them up with something else to add texture like rice or porridge. Haven't yet tried DD on a savory jar, but DS never ate them - which was actually a sympton of extreme fussiness, as there was lots of home cooked stuff he wouldn't eat either. Anyway, there is a good discussion in Penelope Leach about how nutritionally there is little difference between home made and jar food, the main difference is taste and texture - and convenience of course!

agree on pudding type jars, i use them quite often, easy and only for afters anyway. My theiry is (even as they get older) to get a good fresh meal down them once a day.

I mainly did my own, but bought Babylicious frozen baby food from Waitrose/Sainsburies and it was absolutely delicious. It also had good ingredients.

i passionatley HATE using jars.... they tase DISCUSTING!!!! no way would i wver eat food that tastes like that, and nor would i expect a child to...

all my homecooked baby food tastes good enough to eat and i would certainly eat it...

Have sampled most flavours / brands... in my opinions anything 'chicken' tastes the same
anything shephards pie / lasagne tastes the same (but still similar to the 'chicken')

the only 'baby' foods i dont mind are the 'heinz' pure fruits.... which are literally ONLY fruit and taste like the fruit they are...

dont mind mixing them with yoghurt / custard etc (in fact my 5 (yes five) year old charge STILL loves them with custard)

That said they are SOOOO expensive.... and the baby food companies use the 'poorer quality' battered bruised etc fruit / veg in their recipies, i would much rather use 'nice' fruit / vegies and make my own for a fraction of the cost!

In my opnion 'baby food' is for emerganices only...

also in my experinace the children who eat 'best' as toddlers are genreally the children who eat mainly home cooked food.... simp,y because the food tastes (IS) the same and gets lumpier!

where as anyone who could even suggest hipp orhanic lasagne even resembles the taste of lasagne must ahve no tatse buds at all!

I try to give homemade,and use jars only when we are out for the day,but I don't think that it makes that much difference.My ds1 got all the right stuff starting out,he's 5 now and so fussy he is really difficult to feed(no veg,apple the only fruit)He is hardly ever ill,though(touch wood).Dd got a similiar start,slightly more jars,and probably got sweets earlier,and she is a great eater,will try anything.It is just one more thing to feel guilty about,so don't!I do think the list of ingredients on the jars is a usefull guide i.e. avoiding any with added sugar,lots of fillers etc.

NannyL, good for you.

Next time you by yourself something creepy and meaty for your baby,remind yourself that there are particles of about 30 different chickens whizzed up in that jar.....

Agree nanny,thought those were pretty good in the few weeks when ds was at that stage.

hey, not a very helpful attitude now. Whatever happened to having your own choice?. Mine isn't ideal by any means but I never rub another man's rhubarb as the quote goes.

have to say i ditto nannyL. I had a jar of food in the car in case we got caught anywhere or something and I used a few when we were on holiday in France and out at restaurants. Felt awful feeding them to her though, the smell made me gag so I didn't feel good about her having to eat them on the odd occaision she did. I made and froze ice cube trays of stuff once a week.

have to say i ditto nannyL. I had a jar of food in the car in case we got caught anywhere or something and I used a few when we were on holiday in France and out at restaurants. Felt awful feeding them to her though, the smell made me gag so I didn't feel good about her having to eat them on the odd occaision she did. I made and froze ice cube trays of stuff once a week.

I don't want to start a debate about jar food but this is my bugbear right now because I do feel bad about feeding to DS - my head is elsewhere right now but he eats well and is happy.

Once life is settled then I will up the homefoods - not a tad defensive am I? (eek, I can hear myself, sorry!)

we used to buy Organix and Sainsburys ones. They dont contain as much bad ingridients as other ones, IMHO

Libb,nothing happened to having a choice. This is my choice-to avoid these products. (Whilst appreciating that your life is obviousyl pretty stressful at present. )

Never heard that saying about rubbing another man's rhubarb either. Sounds a little suggestive!

I make food for dd1 and dd2 at the weekend (not that dd1 eats it mind, but that is another thread ) but dd2 has more jars now I am back at work p/time. I don't have the time to make every meal homemade.

But I don't beat myself up about it, no they don't taste as nice as my food but they are v convenient.

To say they are full of shite and could poison your child or that they are bad is b@ll@cks quite frankly.

I used Hipp and organix occasionally, but tended to mash up some of our food instead.

I always wondered though, why is all baby food orange?

The small amount of purees I've done for DS2 have gone almost entirely uneaten. Then again, he hasn't had any jar food. He just eats grownup food, anything we're having, really. I don't like him having stuff that's too salty or sweet. Spices don't seem to bother him, though.

So there is an easy option other than tins, assuming you're eating reasonably well.

I have given bean 2 jars, I went for the ones which didn't have anything in them except veggies and water, think it was hipp organic.

They won't poison your kid,of course not,but my rule of thumb is not to expect anyone to eat what I won't and I wouldn't go for a 'creamy lamb dinner' (shudder). Those Heinz fruit and veg ones are nice though-the pumpkin and squash mixed with some potato,olive oil and Parmesan was excellent!

Hiya sorry to veer off the subject slightly but when my little girl (now 2) was first on solids there was a big thing on the news that said jars were dangerous because of some chemical used in the seal and that they'd be taken off the shelves and replaced by new seal however ive never noticed them go off the shelves or seen any that say they have new seals (which i'd assume they'd do) does anyone know what went on with this ive bene wondering for a while now and im pregnant with my second child so would like to find out.

I do give DS jars sometimes, sometimes I cook for him in batches. But as I am doing everything organic I does seem to be more expensive to do it myself. Sounds shocking I know, but its five pounds for two chicken breasts, never mind the other ingrediants. As I have next to no money atm it is testing my loyalty.

I recall this edodgy. All the more reason to steer clear eh? (although the way current scaremongering is going,no doubt we will shortly learn that cooking at home is detrimental to one's health... It's a bloody minefield eh?

Flossam,that is criminal. How about some cheaper and better cuts? By a whole chicken and roast that. Will last you a good long while and great value,even when organic.