Do you cook for your baby/toddler?

[HyperMama]

My dd1 is 27 months and dd2 is 9 months. I cook for them all the time, try to buy everything organic etc. I normally freeze what I cook and give it to them within a month or so. (I can give dd1 what I cook for us but sometimes need to fall back on frozen stuff if we are having a curry or something)I have to cook once or twice every week to create some variety and I cook different meals for me and dh every day. I am just wondering if all this efford is for nothing as there is so much ornanic ready jars etc. around for babies and would like to ask for your advice if you think it is really worth cooking everything from sctratch. After all, I freeze what I cook anyway, it is not like I can give every meal fresh... i will start work soon so cooking will become a big chore... is it worth it???

well I think so. But then I hate jars. Even the organic ones are mainly water and they taste like crap. Expensive too.

I have two kids and work and cook a lot of stuff and freeze it.

I do a mixture of both, lots of batch cooking for the freezer and the odd jar. Jars are foul though, they stink, especially the cheese ones.

But I don't think they do any harm as such, but dh is a food snob and says if we don't eat ready meals, then neither will they. Which is balls really as they are not full of sugar and salt but I kind of see his point.

I usually cook DD a version of what we are having. From about 9 months she refused to be spoon fed so everything is like a mini buffet of finger food.

Agree about the jars, have you actually tasted them they are vile, bland and taste of cornflour (used to bulk them out).

I agree with Enid. I have never given either or my two jars. They are 4 years and 17 months and I work 3 days a week. But I do make life easy for myself by giving them the same food (inc. curry) as we have. I have had them both on family food since before they were one. OK to some extent I had to adapt our food when they were younger and I am still careful with salt but that does us no harm!

I really think if you did this it would make life easier for you and you wouldn't be forking out for jars. What sort of things do you normally eat? I must admit because of my working our menu is biased towards what can be frozen and reheated on work days.

Kids get what we have (dss 14 and dd 22mnths) and pretty much always have done. Dd was on to mashed up real food by about 9mnths. We dont do 'kids food' in our house (cept in emergencies) and anyway cant see dp fussing about cooking two dinners so they get the same as us. they are both try anything once kids anyway so thats good. Am planning crispyduck with pancakes at the w/end cos dss loves it and am sure dd will too. Come to think of it tho we havent had a curry in a while. Now that would be 3 meals tho 1 for dp (extra extra hot) 1 for me and dss (medium) and 1 for dd (mild) so maybe thats why .

forgot to say dd wouldnt touch jars with a bargepole as we tried her on one while campingwhen she was 7mnths. she ended up eating mince'n'totties with us.

I tried DD on fruit purees in France this summer (aged 13 months) because I was concerned about her fruit intake. She refused them - was much too busy trying to ensure she got plenty of the gorgeous fruit tarts and patisserie that was being served up every night.

I always batch cooked with the ice-cube trays when they first weaned, then everything we had but mashed.

Just didn't really occur to me to buy jars, tbh. I kind of agree with OO's DH and think if I don't eat ready meals, why would I feed them to my children? I just didn't like the idea of them, not to mention the smell.

Bozza I don't blame her - I'd be spitting out the purees if there was a pastry next to it!

Oddly enough I cooked more for DD2 than for DD1, although most of DD1's food was homemade too. I used to send their lunch in a little bag to the childminder

Freezing won't affect the nutritional quality, I'm pretty sure (wrote a piece on this ages agao and greatly to the commissioning editor's chagrin all the nutritionists told me this).

Still freeze a lot of DD1's after-school teas. And her packed lunches. In fact...

Wow, hats off to you lot. I hate cooking. I used jars to supplement 'real food' when DD was younger, but mostly just the simple purees - carrot/sweetcorn, sweet potato, fruit purees. She usually had fresh finger food alongside them, and has been eating same as us since she was about 12 months old. My rule of thumb was to taste them myself - if they were tasteless or horrible, didn't buy them again.

my kids (4 and 13 months) have pretty much the same as me as im on my own and its just easier.

plus why get them weaned onto horrid jars just to then have to introduce them to actual food ( cos lets face it what comes in a jar can never be considered food)

I give my 16 month old Kiddylicious (click on baby feeding then Kiddylicious) if dh and I are eating late/having something unsuitable for him. At the moment he's gone off them a bit because he'll only eat finger food, but I think they're very good quality and I'm happy for him to have them a couple of times a week. Otherwise he has what we have, including when we have curry, I just have as little sauce as possible for him and cover it in natural yoghurt.

LOL Caligula - she made a real pig of herself in France. Loved eating out in the evening and also the cafe scene. Just so long as we ensured her high chair was positioned suitably for people watching. Unfortunately she's getting to a more pigheaded stage just now....

Thats a good idea Bran. Mixing curry with yoghurt to tone it down a bit.

If I'm cooking Thai for eg I take out some chicken before adding spices then finish cooking it in coconut milk. Dd 21 months then has something that looks very like our food.

DD (15 months) eats exactly wat we eat most days - all freshly cooked with a selection of veg but sometimes I fall back on the odd dose of fishfingers and pasta etc.
She eats a freshly cooked meal at nursery every lunch time so i don't kick myself if i have to grab her something on the run on the evenings.
Plus she feeds herself now, refuses point blank to be fed by anyone else, so we are going through extremely messy mealtimes

I think it is definitely worth making home made food.

Most prepared foods are full of preservatives. reformed meats and the textures are all the same (like pastic food).

Thanks for all the great comments, just to let you know my dds both loved jar food, I used to give it to them if we were out and about. I did taste them and they do taste awful as they don't have any salt in it.. Actually i don't put any salt in what I cook for my dds, from what I read I have learned that it is particularly not good for under 1s. Anyway I think I will carry on cooking nice meals for them- and this involves sometimes taking a bit out of what I am cooking for us only to make a milder (ie no salt less herbs) version for the little ones.. Maybe sandwiches and finger food which they really don't have too much at the moment could release some of my cookiing load so thanks for all the suggestions!

Does anyone else avoid giving salt to their children?

I avoided it altogher (apart from what was in things like bread and cheese) under one and try to keep it to a minimum still. I never add salt to food but do use salty ingredients sometimes - soy sauce, stock etc.

I hate jars. I wouldn't dream of eating out of a jar so I wouldn't expect my children to like it either.

I think it sounds like you're doing really well. I always cook (or dh does) and we all have a love of good food.

BTW my baby loves Korma.

I avoid salt and just add a little after ds's portion has been taken out. It means dp and I end up eating less salt too.

I do think it's worth cooking for them for so many reasons. Read that book "The Food Our Children Eat" to be inspired to stick with it! However try to move towards a family meal for all, even though yo may have to adjust your own meals to suit the children.

Would you eat commercial babyfood? I think not.
Babyfood in jars is total crap I never feed my kids food I wouldn't eat myself.

I think it's worth it because jar food tastes foul - not a patch on home cooked food. Don't get me wrong - they are handy and I have used them but I think ds3 only ever had one or two. They just taste crap imo (you do taste it when you test for temp!) - much nicer to be testing teh temp of your own food!

Doesn't mean I don't give them the occasional fish finger