ok so who gives jars?

[wizadora]

ok so im a WOHM and really struggle to find time to cook so tend to guiltily give jarred food to my 9m dd.i give savoury jars with fresh fruit and yoghurt for afters and try to make the odd bit of veg for finger food or toast or pasta etc but i feel like a failing mum because i would love to make all these amazing dishes! i did spend one day making up loads of veg/cauli cheese/courgette gratin you name it i made it.but i tbh i havent really used much of it as im paranoid that i didnt make it right ie i boiled the veg then realised i shouldve steamed it for more nutrients etc, i dont want to give her food poisoning etc because im paranoid as some contain chicken etc and i dont want to reheat it for being paranoid.god im neurotic!! ive posted a few times about various things to do with this and people tell me to give her what i eat.i do give the odd bit but tbh we dont eat until late and when we do its usually crap or unsuitable for dd but again this is due to being busy etc.are jars really that awful? ok so i know they are.
i would love to give her more fresh meat but for example if we were to have steak how could we give it to dd? in chunks? or what?
im a 1st time mummy.can you tell?

you make proper meals for the rest of the family? maybe just make a bit extra and serve it up for your dd the next day? can she eat lunch with you? is she at nursery/cm?

as long as what you make isn't high in salt she can have what you're having pretty much.

chill chill chill..............

my dd only ate jars until she was 1 when I stopped them entirely and gave her our food.

I work full time and have hectic life, we just freeze what ever we have, cook veg whatever way you like, freeze meat and dont worry about food poisoning.

As long as you reheat the meat to a high temp and allow to cool before you give it too her, it will be fine. We also eat late so we sit with dd at tea time and have a cup o tea or snack with her as she has tea.
Once you stock pile the freezer you will be fine.
Give her finger food on an evening, fresh fruit and veg, pasta etc

Jars are fine, it was a personal decision for my dd to come off them. we still give her the odd one if we are out and about,

I dont think we should give our children jars all the time, but thats just my opinion.

HI,
if you want some good ideas i found annabel karmels book on 100 great purees really good , it gives recipes for 6mths -12 months, some on mn hate her but like you I'M a 1st time mum and a bit nervous.I work ft with a 7mth old and just do a big cook in a freeze for later in the week,its really easy and i feel its better than jars - nothing wrong with jars, but imho not all of the time.
good luck

We didnt have a kitchen for several months when DS1 was small so it was jars or nothing, he looks all right to me

I used jars a lot bot hthe Hipp organic and Cow & Gate organic are really nice. I knew I'd be doing a certain amount of campi g trips and out-all-day with DS when he was little so I let him have jars sometimes at home so I could get an idea of which ones he liked in case we were ever stuck somewhere. Otherise I just liquidised whatever I cooked for myself, froze it, fed it to him, etc.
He's 2.8 now and fine and eats just about everything.

I ihave a few jars lurking in the cupboards for emergencies or picnics and I can't be a**ed to sort anything out for the baby

there are worse things

Wizard, I wouldn't worry too much, firstly CHILL over the steaming/boiling thing. Whatever you cook from fresh will have far more vitamins than a jar (ok, that's not based on my scientific analysis of jars vs purees but just on pure prejudice but it FEELS true!)

Second, you are fine to reheat stuff once. If you cook it, cover it quickly, chill or freeze it and then reheat it then you will NOT give her food poisoning. The problem is reheating several times, especially if when you reheat it each time you don't get it boiling hot just warm.

And finally you can give a 9 month old pretty much anything you eat providing it is not full of salt or nasties. Steak for eg, just cut her off a slice, fry it well and let her mash it in her fist.

Check out this blog for brilliant ideas about what you can give your baby off your own plate.

Jars are not awful btw, DS had them when we were out and about on occasion, but they are bloody expensive, weirdly bland, and make the transition to "proper" food more of a shock for the baby.

My main reason for not giving DS jars more often is nothing to do with nutrition but because they taste minging to me and I don't give my DS anything I wouldn't want to eat myself.

I do at the moment as I got so sick of spending hours making lovely food and ds refusing to eat it. He wolfs down any jarred food I give him. Am planning to start mixing home made with jarred in the hope he'll eat my food again. Babies are such monkeys, I swear he knows how much I love to cook and is doing it to spite me

I mix and match home food and jars as I'm not very confident about giving them meat until they're older. I think if you're careful, jars can give tastes that otherwise they might not have access to. I suppose its more home food than jars though

If you want prepared baby food, try Babylicious (www.babylicious.co.uk) - it's frozen in cubes and it tastes and smells like homemade food. And you can always just use them as a base and then add other bits - like tiny pasta or cous cous to add more texture if needed.

sounds like you need to sort your whole diet out if what you and dh are eating is 'crap'.

post your weeks meals and we will 'baby' them for you

Yes jars give them tastes they may not have access to

like wet stamp glue

and mouldy veg

If you keep your jars you can mash/puree your food down and refill them - then use them like bought ones. ds1 had jars, ds2 had homemade and they are both fine and healthy and both eat well. Jamie Oliver has a lot to answer for in making us all feel guilty about what we feed our kids

i didn't use jars because i can't think they have much nutritional value, why don't they need to be kept chilled if they are so wholesome? ds always refused to eat them too (as did dog and he was not usually fussy) and i think they taste like boiled envelopes.

i don't trust the companies that make them as they have a vested interest in undermining parent's confidence in their own cooking so that they can sell more of their products. however i do agree that there are far worse things for babies to eat!

cauliflower cheese wont upset your dd even if it is off!

leave chicken out of her diet if you get in such a tizzy over it - she won't suffer!

courgette gratin and cauli cheese sound delicious, does she like them?

I only gave fruit jars to my DS and DD (they hated they savoury ones) but will guiltily admit to giving them 'packet' food on an odd occasion.

I found the Annabell Karmel book really good too. You can batch cook and freeze. Cheesy pasta is always a good one, or I cook a whole pile of veg, add tinned tomatoes, garlic and onion and blend and it makes a lovely tomato sauce for pasta, or even a pizza topping (think toasted muffin, with cheese on top). It works out a hell of a lot cheaper doing it that way

Wizadora, food is soooo much nicer fresh that the chances are what you're making is nicer than jarred even if you're not a very confident cook.

Agree with what Fishie says about babyfood companies trying to make feeding babies sound more difficult than it really is. The adverts all make out as if it is something incredibly complicated, but really, it's not.

My useful tip: a pair of kitchen scissors is useful for snipping meat etc up small.

Hi, I'm a v busy mum too but I've discovered the 'Nicer Dicer' kitchen utensil and it makes preparing DD's food so quick. (Available from all good shopping channels!) The gadget has a fine dicing blade which chops everything so small I don't even have to blend her food after it is cooked saving on more time. The bigger blade makes great carrot / apple / cheese sticks. Worth every penny!

I pronounce myself guilty of doing jars - not every meal (and not now, because dd has just turned 1 and won't let me anywhere near her mouth with a spoon) but they served their purpose!

In fact, I did try the batch cooking, and am left with a load of random brown cubey things in the freezer that tbh could be anything, only I don't know because the writing has rubbed off the outside of the freezer bag

However, dd, has always preferred random orange gunk and consistently turns her nose up at my lovingly prepared baby burgers and turkey mince bolognese with courgette and a parsley garnish. (okay so I made up the parsley garnish bit) and will only eat crisps and breadsticks, so lesser of two evils. After an unscientific scrutinization of the jar labels, I decided to see if I could replicate the 'gloopiness' of jars by adding cornflour and extra water. Verdict: partial success

I am also guilty of reheating jar food that wasn't finished off at the last meal and no-one has yet come and taken my daughter away on the grounds of child abuse.

Verdict: who the hell cares - if your child is putting on weight, is well and healthy, find something else to beat yourself up about

ds1 had lots of jars.
Ds2,I'd love to have given him some, but he wouldnt eat them!

But you know, you dont need lots of time to cook excititng things. Ds1 loves all real food, so he'll have the ingredients of something without making it into a dish IYSWIM eg a plate of boiled veggies and cheese and some meat, rather than trying to create some kind of pie. Am I just lazy? Its waht I eat too

aunt bessies frozen mashed potato patties (cooked in micro for a couple of mins), tin of tuna in spring water (drained), defrosted and cooked frozed mixed veg (mashed up). stir all together in a bowl with a little full fat cows milk. hey presto!

I gave DS jars and he is fine..some finger foods but mainly jars,
DD1 I did a few jars[had to as was in and out of hospital] and some home made/BLW.
DD2 havent tried jars as didnt think she was interested in food until she ate most of my lunch yesterday.

wizadora, I'm a full time working mum too. All I can say is get a Babycook. It has literally saved my life. you just bung the veg in it, it steams it and then it's also a blender so purees the veg in the same water so keeps all the vits. If you want to put meat in you just cook the meat normally as for yourself, then bung it in at the blending bit with the veg.

don't know if this helps but I give DS of 8 months stuff like:

tiny pasta with a veg sauce (random veg just literally chopped up and put in the babycook)

whatever we're having, minus salt, blended.

mashed potatoes with tinned tuna squished up in it with plain yoghurt

pasta, tinned tomatoes and cheese

oat porridge with fruit for brek

then whatever veg with pureed chicken, pork or whatever.

red lentils (10 mins to cook in a pan), mixed with carrots or whatever veg sauce.

I have loads of little pots, make quite a lot then freeze some. Defrost in fridge overnight and it's quite safe for the next day.

I cannot recommend the babycook highly enough cos it just does it for you. I really think it's worth cooking stuff yourself cos you may be influencing them to have a taste for healthy fresh stuff all their life. can't you tell I'm also a 1st time mum!!