Ella's Kitchen - how bad are they?

[delilah88]

We've been using a few recently for convenience and DD quite likes them but [super-dense question her] I don't understand how they last for so long if they don't contain preservatives? There's a brekkie one that says it has 47% yoghurt -- but how could that work out of the fridge?

Could some bright spark tell me please, and if they're generally bad for baby or not.

[TempusFuckit]

As an occasional convenience there's nothing wrong with them - or any jar food.

It would be potentially more problematic if that was all you fed your baby. Because they're deliberately made to all taste identical, you are at risk of setting up an aversion to anything new (and if you only used the Ella's range, this would be a bigger risk as it's fairly limited meal-wise).

A friend's nearly-3-year-old will now only eat Ella's pouches for dinner. Must cost them a fortune ...

[Wheresmycaffeinedrip]

There fine if you use them as they are meant to be used. But as a pp just said too often and it can lead to problems accepting the natural variations in fresh food. The base ingredients of these things tend to be the same don't they? So even different flavours will contain many of the same things.

Home made is nearly always better obviously.

[ineedtogetoutmore]

My dc loved ellas kitchen food and when I first started weaning him, he much preferred that to the mush I was cooking for him. In the end I just gave him ellas kitchen all the the time for the first few week until I started finger foods and I'm not ashamed to admit it
[Grin]
Ps the foods last so long because theyre pasturised

[ineedtogetoutmore]

Meant to add my ds will eat anything too he isn't a fussy eater at all he's one and ate pesto pasta for lunch yesterday and curry the day before so I don't agree that they only make babies want to eat bland food long term

[OneLittleToddleTerror]

I remember reading a study saying that the jars and pouches lack micronutrients.

But obviously it's like takeaway. Fine in moderation. And tbh, even if you eat it everyday, you'll be fine!

However I do agree they taste rank. And PassTheCremeEggs some people do cook every meal. And we didn't do purees. When eating out, I didn't use the pouches either. DD just ate what we have.

[minipie]

I don't think they taste too bad, though not as nice as homemade. And they don't all taste identical either (agree though that none of them taste really really strong)

The heat treatment will destroy quite a bit of nutritional value. However so will cooking/freezing/microwaving to defrost any homemade food.

I use them when out, it's not as good nutritionally as purely home made but on the other hand it means she's getting exposure to more variety of foods.

I do think their purées are way smoother than homemade though, that's the main downside IMO.

[redwellybluewelly]

Just as an aside my 3yo adores them and we call them smoothies, she can't have dairy (makes her sick) and often when we're out and about and her friends are having milkshakes or icecreams they are a fantastic alternative which I can keep in my bag. I buy them on offers only due to cost - another call to find out where the reusable ones come from!

[debbie1412]

Dd has fresh fruit all day and a Ella's pouch for dinner. She's a healthy happy 9 month old baby. I relentlessly steamed puréed froze in pots for my first born. I just havnt got that time anymore. So far can not see any diff in their growth and development. Tbh as long as your not feeding them macdonalds and sweets. I'm sure it's fine x

[picnicfantasic]

To answer a couple of posters, I saw in the latest Jojo Maman Bebe catalogue that they sell the re-useable pouches along with a machine thingy to fill them

(nothing helpful to add re ella's pouches though)