Home Made Baby Food

This is something that is personally close to me. We decided that we were going to introduce Amelia to food very carefully. I believe that from the first day a child eats, we shape them for life. I wanted Amelia to taste everything and to know the taste. I wanted her to LIKE fruits and veg. Which I'm delighted to say she does and she will look to snack on those as opposed to sweets.

We started her on single fruits/veg. I would cook each fruit or veg and blitz it but not into a paste. I didn't want to start her on very smooth foods because I wanted her to know texture from the get go. Obviously it wasn't "lumpy" just textured. We started with pear, carrot, avocado, apple, pumpkin etc.

The main reason for homemade was because if you pick up a jar of "carrot" baby food and actually read the ingredients, there is a list or more than carrot in there! I wanted to know exactly what was going into her. I still do.

Obviously I'm not saying jar food is "bad" for a child but I'm saying I wanted what was better for her. I remember my sister in law threw me a baby shower and played that game where everyone had to taste baby food from a jar. My husband is a chef and a VERY good one at that. What did he taste in each jar? Carrot! Carrot and that funky aftertaste and funky smell.

Why do all jars lead to the same taste? It's because they've been cooked, then put in a can/jar then heated again to a high temp to sterilise it. When it's heated again the sugars caramelise and you get that funky smell and orange colour.

Lets look at an everyday example, if you put broccoli in a pot a heat it, what happens? The water turns green. The heats draws out all the nutrients. The ones you buy in a jar have been cooked and then heated again? What's left? Then some brands will even ADD IN the nutrients lost during this process. WOW thanks! Fake nutrients for my baby!

I can steam food, blitz and store. We would makes Amelia's meals for the week on a Sunday night. It didn't take that long and it meant there was a point to feeding her fruit and veg. Again I'm not saying it's "bad" to feed your child jar food. They are very handy for travel. I just don't see the point in spending the money on food with "nutrients" when I could give her fresh food with nutrients.