Salt in home cooked food

[PoptyPinnnngggg]

Hi all,

For a baby under the age of 12 months, would you feed the baby family meals that have been cooked with salt (e.g. salt added to cooking water, or added as seasoning during cooking), or would you omit the salt from the family meal altogether?

Lots of people say 'just give baby what you have e.g. spag bol, lasagne, shepherd's pie...' etc.

In reality are people cooking these family meals without salt in them? Or is baby getting the salted version?

I'll hold my hands up and say I cannot bear food to be cooked without salt and only season at the table - so I always cook my baby's food separately and it's such a faff (but I'd rather faff than omit the salt ).

So just interested in what everyone does in reality. Do most people these days have salt free family meals to share with baby?

We cook without salt. It’s fine

I also use a lot of other spices/herbs - garlic, paprika, cumin, chilli (in moderation), basil, parsley etc. All give you lots of flavour without salt.

You can get good low or no salt stock cubes (kallo or boots) that I used, but I'm not one to add much salt otherwise. Usually take baby version out before adding other flavours. So cook it all together and just plate up the baby one first before seasoning the food at the end.

We just got used to blander food for a while (or add salt at the table) , slowly bringing in more seasoning as they get bigger.

If it works I often took the babies portion out towards the end and then add the salt if that makes sense. So with a Shepard's pie for example I would make the mince part of the pie then take out the babies portion and put in a mini oven dish. Then add extra stock/salt to the rest and cover them both with mash. So I wasn't exactly making two separate meals.
If I was making pasta I would just boil the babies pasta separate and whilst cooking the sauce take out the babies portion towards the end, then add salt and cook the sauce for a minute or two longer.

I lived with the lack of flavour in exchange for speed / easy life.

Plus I'm obviously a heathen as it tastes the same to me if I add salt at the table to if I add it during cooking. I'm genuinely baffled that it could make so much difference to anyone it was worth adding MORE fucking food prep to the weaning schedule!!!

I used Kallo low salt cubes and salted ours later. It pained me but stuck to it until at least 12mo, I think the amount young babies can have is pretty small. But after that didn’t fuss too much.

Stopped cooking with salt when the kids started weaning.

Everyone adds salt at the table

I did all this for PFBand then no.s 2 and 3 I didn't worry too much. They're pretty healthy in the outside so hopefully not too damaged on the inside

I didn't know that pasta should be cooked with salt!

I'm a salt fiend, cook with it, put it in everything, add more at the table. But with weaning I'm just cooking everything salt free or using the very low salt stock cubes.

Honestly it's been less of an ordeal than I thought. Contrary to a pp I've found the one thing it's made zero difference to is pasta. I'm using lots of other herbs and spices and I'm not missing it much. I made a curry with curry paste yesterday and she did have some and it was only afterwards that I thought 'shit I bet there was loads of salt in that' but she had such a tiny portion I wasn't too worried. My MIL also fed her some smoked salmon pate which probably wasn't ideal either but again, because I know she doesn't get much salt elsewhere and it was a small amount I figured it should be ok.

She had some bread and cheese but so much ends up on the floor I really don't think we're in danger of exceeding guidelines.

One great sadness is only having unsalted butter in the house, I might have sprinkled some salt on my crumpets on Sunday Other than that I'm adapting ok.

Even Annabel karmel recommends plenty of salt in the pasta water for her macaroni cheese recipe (granted her recipe is for 12months and over, but still)

www.annabelkarmel.com/recipes/mighty-macaroni-cheese/

[quote PoptyPinnnngggg]Even Annabel karmel recommends plenty of salt in the pasta water for her macaroni cheese recipe (granted her recipe is for 12months and over, but still)

www.annabelkarmel.com/recipes/mighty-macaroni-cheese/[/quote]
That's odd. Unless pasta doesn't actually absorb much? But then there'd be no need for it in the water in the first place

Cook without salt and just add at the table.

@GreyhoundG1rl don't tell the Italians you don't salt your pasta water...

Salting pasta water means the salt is dispersed evenly throughout the dish and seasons the pasta within itself.

[quote CorianderBee]@GreyhoundG1rl don't tell the Italians you don't salt your pasta water... [/quote]
I've just googled. One and a half tablespoons per pound of pasta
I don't know why I'm shocked, I'm a total salt hound. But I never thought to salt pasta water!

I don't like salt so food isn't salted while it's cooked in our house. It can be added at the table if wanted but the only people that really do that are visitors. We use plenty of other flavours though so I don't think it tastes bland.

[quote PoptyPinnnngggg]**@Aquamarine1029* @Midnight0* I did wonder if the actual salt baby would get is very low anyway and so it wouldn't really matter- it's hard to judge when I cook by eye not by recipe.

@orangejuicer yes I do portion off and cook baby's food separately but it is a bit of a faff which is why I was wondering if everyone else did this or just cooked without salt.[/quote]
Oh I'm with you on the faff. Sorry if it sounded like I was having a go - replied in a rush probably.

I use the low salt stock cubes for curries and stews etc, then add salt if needed for the adults. I don't salt pasta for DS but I tend to make some separate meals for him anyway.

Yes I cooked without salt - added after to some things but the likes of spag Bol really doesn't need it if you use the right balance of herbs. You get used to it very quickly then when you eat out etc things taste really salty

Even Annabel karmel recommends plenty of salt in the pasta water for her macaroni cheese recipe (granted her recipe is for 12months and over, but still)

Fwiw the 'plenty' is referring to the volume of water not salt

I don't add salt to anything. I honestly dont see the point. Not even to boil anything - I steam vegetables.

I stopped adding salt to my cooking. Never got into the habit of adding it to much again.

@Chicchicchicchiclana

I always found this problematic as I use salt in everything I cook. Pasta cooked in unsalted water is revolting for adults, even if you add the salt later.

Totally agree.

I would definitely NOT go on the basis that if it's home cooked it will be ok as the quantities are smaller. Unless measuring it out - which is unlikely with salt - people generally don't have a good grasp on portion sizes.

I just stopped using it in cooking and also switched to low salt stock cubes. Yes you can taste the difference but for most foods it was fine to add salt to adult's portions afterwards.

I'd avoid it as much as poss and if you really want it e.g. pasta then cook your DC's separately which for pasta is easy.

If we are cooking something for us all, we cook without salt and just salt afterwards or sometimes split the portions part way through cooking (bolognese for example) and then add salt into ours to simmer for a bit.

We also batch cook some stuff for our DD and freeze in portions (Aldi do great silicon ice cube tray things that are a bit bigger than normal in their baby event). If we are having something that she wouldn't/couldn't eat she can just have something from her stash.