What do you feed your baby - Homemade/Bought Food?

[happy-chick]

As question says really, just out of interest!

For some reason I feel guilty about giving jars and feel like i should cook it all myself not sure why or where ive got it my head from but i've given in trying to be supermum and started giving a bit of both to Ellie so she has some home cooked food then some shop bought, what do you do?

 

[LilysMummy]

Mostly shop brought. If I feeling creative I will make her up a tub of fruit puree or something but Im no Nigella in the kitchen

When she can eat what we eat she will be having a lot more home cooked foods

 

[Squiglet]

I only really give homemade... I've gone out twice where I have forgotten to take some food with us so we have brought a jar of fruit puree and one time we gave lil miss a pot of fruit puree for dessert... But in general she gets home made..

Not because its better and that makes me a better mother.... but because its a damn sight cheaper to do that over here .. and it doesn't have added sugar in it which most foods in Spain do have...

Because I am working full time, I spend one Saturday afternoon making loads of food, mooshing it up and freezing it.. I do it with pasta sauce too... I got a load of these ice cube trays with lids from the cheap jonny shop and just put it in them.. We have a tiny freezer too... I really really want a bigger one, but we cope. We just take some cubes out for each meal.. heat them up... and its an instant meal too. Boob babies don't understand waiting..

I am no cook either... DH does all the cooking in this house.. But I'll make up the baby food for lil miss... once a week we have an early dinner and lil miss has some of what we are having which papa cooks...

Saying all this we went to Iceland (new shop just opened and it stocks loads of UK products at ridiculous prices) today and I brought lil miss a jar of chocolate pudding... I'm going to try her on some chocolate pudding for the first time as a treat for dessert tomorrow for Sunday lunch..

I used to feed Tia jars all the time.. then she became ill and ended up lactose intolerant and it was so hard to get baby food jars that didn't have some form of milk in it that it just became far easier to feed her homemade stuff as I could eliminate the cows milk and substitute it for soya It was best for my child at the time

 

[newmum]

I usually make my own stuff . It is so expensive out here to buy jars and there are only 3 brands anyway. But I do buy some Hipp jars (the only other options are Nestle/Heinz) when I am going out somewhere, or travelling in the car, or know that I will have to feed her somewhere other than home. Then I am not worried if the food has been out of the fridge to long, or leaking etc

Nowadays companies in the UK are very careful about what they put in baby food, and although you might feel bad sometimes for using them Happy Chick, truth is they are probably far more healthy than buying regular fruit and veg at the supermarket that has travelled thousands of miles and been sprayed in all kinds of toxic pesticides. Even organic stuff isn't always as innocent as it looks.

 

[Sage]

I try and make ky homemade food but he really doesnt like it he'll happily wolf down a stage 1 or 2 jar but will maybe only have a mouthful of something home cooked. He'll happily eat weetabix, mooshed banana and sweet potato but anything else... no thanks! he seems to really like the spaghetti bolognaise stage 2 jars so the other day when i made spag bog for me and OH and gave some to ky prepared exactly the same as the jars do you think he'd eat it?! pffft little monster! Im not going to totally rule out homemade food as im hoping its just a phase and he will start taking to it more but at the moment he definitely prefers jars.

 

[Misslarue]

I make Dans food but when we are out and its necessary I use jars.

I make the main of Dan's food. For one it's cheaper but tbh I am very conscious about what I eat and so I am with Dan. But also its alot cheaper to make it yourself. I did however find it easier and cheaper (and less frustrating) to use jars in the beginning to develop Dans tastes. (Although saying that I am now having trouble to get Dan to eat jars when there's nothing else to eat! )

I do use hipp organics when I go out for the day. Most of our family and friends live a 2 hours drive away so I have to use jars when out to visit. I find the hipps really good though and as they are organic I feel comfortable using them.

 

[Zodiac]

So far I've only given Oliver homemade purees etc. Although I have been given a few jars of stuff which I'm gonna keep for taking out just for ease if needed.

I guess I feel I should give him as much homemade as possible, cos you know exactly whats gone into it... but at the same time, if it's gonna be a bit of a pain taking out homemade stuff then I don't have a problem with him having shop bought occasionally.

 

[valentine]

Ive never bought jars as I went straight to blw so I guess home made

Ditto - I've given the odd Organix fruit pot (but much cheaper to make my own) and the odd Ella's Kitchen pouch/Plum pot (maybe 3 in total) but they are too pureed, DD has always had substance to her meals.

When we were at the meet today, I took sandwiches and yoghurt and raisins for her lunch and h/m veg lasagne for her tea with another yoghurt (not that she ate much except ricecakes all day ). I have to say I'm not very fussy about how long things are out of the fridge for (maybe I should be more?) so its just as easy to take our own stuff and much cheaper.

Valentine Xxx

 

[Misslarue]

I have to say I'm not very fussy about how long things are out of the fridge for (maybe I should be more?)
Valentine Xxx

I was a chef and have done far too many food hygiene courses for my own good So I am probably too much the other way and it wouldn't really hurt if I took my own food out for the day, but it's so programmed into me!!

 

[monster_munch]

Only on fruit purees atm so all home made but doing better than with DD as I was even too lazy to puree fruit Well I wouldn't say lazy, but when you see the pots all neatly lines up on the shelf in the supermarket, you pick them up without even thinking how easy and cheap it would be to do them yourself

Am hoping to stay homemade, purely because i want the extra money saved for chocolate

 

[pilkers]

Well Evie usually has all homemade food but atm she's on jars... the reason for this is that she is now point blank refusing to eat anything pureed If it hasn't got lumps she isn't interested. I have quite a few stage 1 jars in the cupboard which we bought for when we go out so rather than whizzing them in the bin I am adding some baby pasta to them!!
Once she's finished those we'll go back to homemade again and just use jars when we're out and about like before!

 

[Minxy]

Stanley never really did 'smoosh' so we were mainly homemade.

I spent ages in the beginning boiling up, mashing and freezing fruit and veg into little cubes but he was never arsed

He's always had toddler biscuits and snacks though. And I never make my own yoghurt or anything as extreme as that.

 

[fothers]

I was full of plans to do only homemade as I love cooking but Maisie much prefers Hipp organic or boots organic jars

Hoping once she gets bigger she will eat more of mine!

 

[Gem & Leland]

lelands a jar baby , i can give him so much more variety then i could ever cook and tbh ,its prob not cheaper for us as i dont buy fresh veg anyway and very varly meat we eat so bad in our house that he couldnt have what i do ( spes if brians at work and i have a micro meal) its my fault and i hope i can do better once his eating dfferent stuff , but at the mo he loves HIPP jars and fruitapura plus fromage frais he wolfs down ! im continueing to give finger foods but they make him chunder if he chokes but he has fresh mango in his food feeder and sometimes steamed vegs if i buy him a small bag.

 

[Jen & Her Men]

I tend to give James 98% home cooked foods. Thats just cos I love cooking and I love to see this little face when he really enjoys something I have made him. The other thing is that I know exactly whats going in to it and because he has a tendancy to be a bit on the chunky side, I can ensure its all really healthy and good for him. As well with him being weaned early I didnt want to give him anything too heavy on his tummy so I just cooked veggies at first and pureed them with absolutely nothing else added.

But if I know we are eating out we tend to use a jar cos Ive had a nightmare a few times trying to get them to heat up the home cooked stuff. And when we are on the boat Ive got a stash of jars on there too for emergencies.

I also give him weetabix for his brekkie which he LOVES!

Dont beat yourself up chick! The jars are all specially made for babies and the regulations over here mean they are hardly gonna be unhealthy, and they are good cos you can get such a variety of flavours which is harder to do home cooked.

 

[happy-chick]

Interesting to know what people do, thanks guys I cant wait to have my new fridge freezer then I can freeze alot more for her! At the moment shes really fussy with what shes eating so its alot easier to throw away jar food rsther than my own lol so when shes back into her food & less into boob i think i'll try & cook alot more at the mo its about 50/50.

What about foods that have been frozen already, like i bought some frozen cod pieces for her... is that ok being frozen again once ive cooked it & added it to veg etc?

 

[fothers]

If the cod is raw but frozen you can freeze it again when you have cooked with it

 

[Babylicious]

Up until last week it was all packets and jars, but now it's homemade or jars when we are going out (all day). We too need a bigger freezer!!

 

[maria1976]

were on homemade food, I have tried when out for the day just for convenience a jar and the plum stuff, but she refuses point blank I cook it all in advance and give her fruit for afters, blueberries, grapes and so on.

Dont give yourself a hard time thought my lovely, food is food at the end of the day!!

x

 

[Full of hope!]

We use both I try and give Jacob at least one homemade meal a day, usually a veg puree. He has jar or packet food aswell.

I was like you Happy chick, wanted to give him all homemade and felt guilty if I ran out of homemade and had to give him a jar. I developed PND and was getting myself so worked up about his food My hubby and mam then gave me a good talking too and said not to be silly, baby jars are made for babies and are perfectly safe to give! I then saw the light and stopped giving myself a hard time. He still gets homemade just not for every meal