home made puree v. shop bought

[MorrisZapp]

I've bought some organic pots (Plum, Ellas Kitchen) of puree for DS, although so far he's just had baby rice.

I do intend to make fresh food for him, but looking at the bought pots they look like tasty 'real' food, and the ingredients list states only thing in the pot is organic veg.

I was intending to use the pots to get him started then to make fresh when I have a better idea of what he likes, how much I need etc. But I must confess as a very undomestic type I'm tempted to lean more towards shop bought until he's eating what we're eating, which won't be too far away.

Does anybody have an opinion on shop bought organic puree vs home made? Or experience of these products? They look and sound tasty to me.

I think the shop bought fruit and veg purées are fine, the only thing that I wouldn't use constantly is the jars which are meals, I think they are fine on occasion but it's better to do your own and just mash it up otherwise you could struggle to get them onto 'real' food. DD still has shop bought fruit purée in her ready brek and she is nearly 8 months. Hope that isn't too babbled and makes sense!

I've not tried shop bought purees yet but I've found it really easy to make my own purees/mash at home. For example, when we've been making our own dinner (had haggis, mash and carrots last week) we made it without salt and mashed it up, spooning some for DD into little pots (the veg that is, not the haggis!) before then adding seasoning to the rest for us.

I also made pear and apple a few days ago, I think it maybe took 10 mins in total. Cut the fruit/veg into small pieces so they cook much quicker before mashing/pureeing and spooning into ice cube trays. I take out pots or cubes the night before and defrost in the fridge overnight so it's ready the next day. Dead quick, and little wastage.

I have a policy of using both. My experience is that the shop bought purees do taste fine, with good flavours of what's meant to be in them. There's a background flavour of processing, though which gives a "samey" feel to them all. I tend to find that what I make myself is lumpier / thicker than the stage that the manufacturers think we are at, but that they are maybe a bit more daring with the ingredients they will put in than I am! The baby, inevitably, shows a marked preference for the manufactured stuff, but I don't let this put me off. We're several months in, and I don't think I could tell you what she likes from one day to the next, I just give her the food and try not to worry if she eats it or not.

They are NOT tasty! Nor is home made pureed broccoli either...to an adult.

How old is he? I would be tempted to puree what you are having from the start - if you are not doing BLW. For example, pureed carrots if you are having them, add a bit of anything suitable. The sooner they start on the kind of food you eat as a family, the better IMO.

Obviously you would need to avoid cooking with salt - just add yours afterwards.

i didn't puree as such, but offered home mashed food to dd1. she refused the only shop one i tried her on (hipp organic) and having tasted it myself i couldn't blame her. If you're having eg a roast dinner you could perhaps just mash some roast spud and some carrots with a fork?

re the ella's kitchen stuff - i noticed that almost all seem a mix of fruit and veg together, and i would be a leetle bit concerned about this giving them a sweet tooth.

Agree with TheProvincialLady - just start pureeing your own meals (where suitable ) - using 'baby friendly' products is a load of marketing codswollop - and the expense of those jars/packets etc !! Fine occasionally if you are out and about but I saw no reason at all to use 'commercial' baby food. The sooner you get your child used to real food the better in my opinion - I know I wouldn't want to eat 'ready meals' myself so why would your baby?

If you have a steamer it's very easy. Butternut squash, sweet potato, carrot, cauliflower with some grated cheese added just after cooking, steamed apple & pear are all good first tastes. After steaming, just whack in food-processor or buy a cheap electric whisk. You can also whizz up spag bol, stew etc if you use lo-salt stock cubes. Asda sell weaning pots with lids so you can bung them in the freezer, I use blue for savoury, pink for sweet.

I'm not agin jars, the fruit ones can be very good & cheap compared with buying a fresh mango or blueberries. But look at the ingredients list & watch out for cheap bulking agents & the 'meal' ones do have a samey taste/smell.

If you're just looking for plain, individual fruit/veg purees then shop bought is fine.

I'd move onto proper food as soon as possible though - either mash up what you're having or if he's near 6 months give him finger foods from the start. I never bothered with purees, just gave whole vegetables and mashed stuff, porridge or yoghurt off a spoon. By 5-6 months most babies can deal with chewing and swallowing real food - it's when you wean quite early that they need to suck purees from a spoon.

I tend to use a lot of jars (hipp) and fruit/veg puree (usually plum baby ones) simply because i dont have the time to make my own babyfood. If iam having something for dinner that dd can have i mash it for her so she does get some home cooked food but if its something she cant have (she has allergies) or i dont have much time i give her a jar of babyfood.

She seems to be doing fine so i dont think theres anything wrong with jars of babyfood. If i had the time i would make my own though like i did for dd1 and ds.

I followed a trick from one of my baby food books: in the weekend I would puree a few vegetables, potatoes and some fruit from our weekly veggy box and then freeze them in ice cube containers. When frozen, you can transfer the cubes into separate freezer bags or boxes and then of course date and label them.

During the week, all I had to do around mealtime is pick a few cubes from the bags (e.g. two potato, one carrot) and warm up in the microwave. This also means you can adjust portions as your child gets older.

My issue with shop bought stuff is 1) it's expensive 2) she would never eat a full pot so a lot of waste 3) it tastes revolting and LO agreed and 4) environmentally it seemed like a lot of wasted packaging.

Those tiddy plastic pots are excellent to store purees and big enough for mushed up meals when a little older.

It's so much cheaper to use what food you already have in the home. Though I used to have some of those Plum ones when on hols for easiness sake and some fruit pouches cos' my youngest loved them.

I think in the last couple of years ready-made baby food has improved but it's not cheap and must cost £2.50 -£3.00 per day which is alot over a month when you are already buying food for the rest of your family.

And what the hell do they do to the chicken ready made mush that enables it to sit on a shelf for a few months without requiring being in a fridge?

i have wondered about that too pancakeflipper but dd eats the hipp one so im just hoping its not too bad for her!

The only thing with those ready prepared pots is they're exceptionally bland, so not great for introducing a baby to a range of different tastes.

I always thought i would only use jars as an absolute last resort (plus I had planned to do BLW but that kind of went out the window as he wanted to be spoonfed, though he loves finger foods as well). However I bought some to try when Sainsbury's had 1/3 off, and have found they are so convenient and easy. I haven't quite got into the habit of saving some of our dinner each night for DS the next day, and DH (who cooks more often than me as I am busy putting the baby to bed) keeps forgetting not to add salt. The jars are so handy when we get in from somewhere and DS wants a meal straight away, and he seems to like them. I'm going to try not to rely on them too much (DS is not even 7 months yet) but will continue to give them to him a couple of times a week, I'd say.