Are jars so bad ?

[JakesMum05]

I get the impression from other threads that the general thought on jars of baby food is negative.

I get from some that it's just because they don't like the smell/taste/consistency themselves but recently at my local clinic the health visitor seemed to try and deter me from jars and i was wondering if there is an actual reason, be it medical or nutritional, that suggests i shouldn't give it to my DS.

He has home made veg mix at lunch and baby porridge for breakfast, he only has jars for tea and they're organic.

I'd like to be able to give him our food but we eat late, his routine is perfect at night and we often eat stuff made out of jars, eg pasta sauce which i put in fresh mince. Also we don't eat organic and i don't have the finances or the time to cook meals from scratch with fresh organic veg everynight to give my 7 mo 2 tablespoons of it.

Any ideas re jars being bad. I want to do the best for my perfect boy.

Thank you in advance

Think it is just a case that home made is best, then jars and then packets.

When looking at jars go for ones that have the least number of ingrediants.

Partly cost, partly nutrition in that they often conatin fillers and salt or sugar also soem fo the ingredients may be lesss than ideal as thye may be processed (to ensure they have a long shelf life) or even mechanically reclaimed meat. tbh I don't think there is much wrong with using them occasionally at this stage. Could you cook veg /meat for his tea then keep a portion in the fridge to puree and warm as necessary the next day and put rest in freezer.

I don't think jars are bad - they aren't as 'good' (by which I mean nutritious and free from any additives or preservatives) as fresh, organic food that you make yourself but they're better than a lot of processed stuff you could feed him. And sometimes real life gets in the way of being a domestic goddess, slaving over a blender, pureeing organic brussel sprouts all day. So I think aiming for home made as often as possible but being realistic enough to realise that there are days when an organic jar is needed (for your sanity!) is the best approach! Don't make yourself feel guilty - you've got years and years of that ahead of you!!

This information might be useful when choosing jars:

The ingredients in any packaged food are listed in order, with the biggest ingredients first. So, look at the label for liquid ingredients. If there is a liquid listed first on the label, and then a thickener somewhere else in the list that you wouldn't find in your own kitchen, such as modified cornflour, rice starch, wheat starch, gelatine, carob gum, xantham gum, or just 'thickener', you have a jar of babyfood that does not offer 'optimum nutrition'.

Manufacturers are allowed to use certain additives in babyfood. Most of the following ingredients are either processing aids or 'improvers': Maltodextrin, Emulsifiers, Hydrogenated Vegetable Fat, Citric Acid, Caseinate, Calcium Carbonate and Demineralised Whey. They indicate that the food has been heavily, and in our view, unnecessarily processed.

Look at the label for sugar (sucrose), glucose (dextrose), lactose, fructose, maltose, meat extract, hydrolysed vegetable protein, yeast or yeast extracts, or 'flavourings' (natural or not). If it has any of these ingredients, it may have been over processed and as a result may have little real taste of its own. There is no such thing as a necessary flavouring for babies - they should only have real foods

Oh, and don't worry about feeling you have to ook your own homemade stuff from organic foods all the time either. Non organic food you make yourself if perfectly fine for your little one.

We didnt have a kitchen when I was weaning DS1 so it was organic baby food jars or nothing. i used to look very carefully at the ingredients and never bought anything with additives. Most of them were very nice, and I dont think it did him any harm although he is a bit fussier than DS 2 who just got a mashed up version of what we ate.

No. We used the Hipp or Cow & Gate Organic ones if we were going out. They're expensive. Couldn't afford them all the time.

god no
dd2 has them cold straight from cupboard when she has them ( few times a week)
of course dd1 never had jars, that's a second baby for you ( or for me)

My dd has a mixture of homecooked and jars. I keep veg and homemade sauces for her lunch the next day and it seems to work. I also make a load of meals for her and freeze them and at least I have something ready. She does have the Hipp organic jars or the Heinz organic ones.

I wouldnt worry about it - whatever suits as happy mum = happy baby!

thanks all so much. I'm still amazed by how helpful people on this site are.

I always check labels and actually put back some the other day becasue they had cornflour in.

I never actually thought of cooking meat and keeping some aside before putting our sauces in (how simple is that. And how simple am I !!)

Thanks again for the info and help and reduction of guilt.