Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Weaning

Find weaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Weaning forum. Use our child development calendar for more information.

Original poster

QUICK SURVEY, home made or jars?

75 replies

lucykate · 10/11/2005 20:44

don't want to start a big debate but am just interested to know how other mums go about this.

am about to start weaning ds, he's 24 weeks tomorrow. have obligingly waited until now following the new guidelines (dd was weaned at 16 weeks, as she was born when guidelines said 4 months, not 6 - funny how the guidelines change at about the same time as they increase maternity leave ever so slightly , but thats another debate!)

OP posts:
MamaG · 10/11/2005 20:46

I made loads of home made stuff and froze it...then neither of my 2 would eat it! So they had jars & packets!

Little beasts

tillykins · 10/11/2005 20:46

both!
Made lots of mushed up vegetables, then I would mix in some from jars or powders (and I got the organic ones to make myself feel good )

I thought it would give him lots of variety
He's two now and all he eats is cheese, bread, fruit and yoghurt so that didn't work!

NotQuiteCockney · 10/11/2005 20:47

If you wait until 26 weeks (6 months), you can skip purees entirely, and just give finger foods. If you want to do purees, do them yourself. Personally, I wouldn't eat food that sat in a jar on the shelf for months, would you?

(The weaning guidelines change happening at the same time as the maternity leave change isn't a coincidence, I don't think.)

hermykne · 10/11/2005 20:48

homemade, froze it and it was so economically as i got so much out of ,say, a carrot and parsnip

Rhubarb · 10/11/2005 20:49

Jars are disgusting! Wouldn't eat it myself so wouldn't make my kids eat it. You can get, so I've heard, pureed veg from Sainsbury's that is pure veg. I started mine off on simple pureed veg, then when they got a bit older I would mix a little, then they just got mashed up whatever we were having.

Jars are ok for emergencies, but in France they put salt in them all as they believe it develops the baby's taste buds!

dizzymama · 10/11/2005 20:50

At the start homemade it all but as soon as I went back to work a few jars crept in! Btw have you ever tasted the jar stuff? blleeuurrgghh!! It is bland beyond belief, I've always thought the homemade stuff tastes better (but this is just my opinion!)Dd eats both quite willingly!

moondog · 10/11/2005 20:50

No coincidence. Govt. never made a big thing of the (long known) 6 month weaning thing as,until maternity leave was extended,they would have been hounded about advocating weaning at this stage,yet getting women back to work two months earlier.
It was nonsensical.

Did a few jars of fruit and veg (no meat though-yuck!) but mostly just mashed up what we had and gave him an awful lot of natural yoghurt and bananas.

Chandra · 10/11/2005 21:04

Home made, big difference by far, as long as you are willing to devote an evening a week to cook and freeze food for all the week.

We found that cooking was not that difficult and was definitively cheaper, it also allowed us to have a clear idea about what DS was really eating. We followed GF's book of weaning (hold your horses! the weaning book is really good as it has a program to introduce ingredients one by one and the recipes for the later months are so nice that we still cook some of them)

But DS also had some jars for a period (when he was about 14m old), having said that, most jars are truly discusting and I can say that the worse offenders were so bad that even my dogs refused to eat them, but Heinz makes a range (Mummy's own? or something of the sort?) that tastes very good, not sure about nutritional values though, and about how much do they follow the guidelines for the introduction of food but being DS more than a year old when he had the first, I thought that wont be such an issue.

expatinscotland · 10/11/2005 21:06

I did both.

Gobbledigook · 10/11/2005 21:06

I did 99% homemade with mine - used the odd organic fruit puree when out but otherwise made it. Jars taste rank imo - I wouldn't eat it so why inflict it on my poor baby?!

Very easy to make up big batches adn freeze - I had the whole bottom drawer of the fridge full of cubes of all different fruit and veg and later bolognese etc. Dead easy to then mix with cous cous or pasta or potatoes.

Psychobabble · 10/11/2005 21:08

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

JoolsToo · 10/11/2005 21:08

when they first went onto solids it was jars all the way, after that chips with everything

starandsnowshaker · 10/11/2005 21:08

dd doesnt like jars but likes packets but mostley at the mo she has soup for lunch and something else i make at night. only really do packets when im out

Gobbledigook · 10/11/2005 21:09

Jools, no wonder I'm....er....never ill...?????

DissLocated · 10/11/2005 21:16

Both. Organic jars though to make me feel better!

Original poster
lucykate · 10/11/2005 21:20

can you get sausage roll flavour in a jar?

OP posts:
auntymandy · 10/11/2005 21:21

mixed..I did both!
Jars are quick if in a hurry and easy to take out

CarolinaMoon · 10/11/2005 21:21

no jars so far with ds (12m), just good home cookin' all the way.

Jars are sooooo expensive and I find it really hard to believe they contain an accurate representation of e.g. sweet n' sour chicken or whatever they claim. They are spookily long-lasting as well.

freezing cubes of food or sharing your own is easy enough (although a bit of a pita on holiday, admittedly).

expatinscotland · 10/11/2005 21:23

Jars are easy if you're out. That's about the only time I used them. Used that finger foods cookbook A LOT, though. Still do, for snacks. Or make them up - like cheese on oatcakes.

bobbybob · 10/11/2005 21:35

I hated throwing away a jar if it was rejected - all that money and the glass jar and everything (even though I recycle).

Then I started cooking root veggies in the microwave and mashing them up with a little water. Brilliant, and you can eat them too.

DelGirl · 10/11/2005 21:44

I do both and like everyone else, buy the organic stuff. I do think some of the fruit jars work out slightly cheaper and obviously less hassle but I still do my own too.

I think doing both provides a bit more variety as I can't necessarily give dd what I have (and there is only me) all the time. I'm a bit last minute as far as that's concerned.

Roobie · 10/11/2005 21:48

Only just starting to venture beyond the single fruit and veg with 7 mo ds and so far have been making up Annabel Karmel recipes. I'm sure I will sneak the odd jar in now and again but for the moment I am in the first flush of enthusiam for home-made.

monstersmummy · 10/11/2005 21:49

DS1 was 100% jars
DS2 is mostly home made but i buy jars of the things i could never make for him. especially things that we as a family don't eat. I also buy mums own pureed meats coz i can't chop it up small enough(hes 7 months)

Its really no bother doing homemade, u can freeze a huge batch all at once and thats it for ages and ages!

doormat · 10/11/2005 21:51

both depending on time really

sweetkitty · 10/11/2005 21:52

Started with homecooking with the ice cubes why? Tried a few jars DD having none of it and don't blame her, have you tasted the jars they are all the same orange colour and taste of cornflour, the meat ones only have about 8% meat in them as well, not to mention the smell.

As my DD is a little madam she decided she wanted to eat herself so we were quickly onto finger foods.

Still use the fruit puree ones though for flavouring plain yoghurt etc figure it's better than Petit Filous.

Swipe left for the next trending thread