What age is to old for jars?

Torry_Quine

I just have to say well done on wanting to feed your child well and it will be good for you too. :A

Kayalana99

Filled a page + 2 lines, so annoying I couldn't fit those last two lines on same page but nvm need to get into this freezing habit!!

Thanks to everyone(again), can really tell people put alot of effort into these posts

rozmister

My sister wasn't too confident with my niece although she's a nutritionist so she knew what she needed to put in her meals. It was more she wasn't confident what she would eat and like or what children ate! I think it's quite normal.

She does make my niece - fish pie, lasagna & cottage pie. She cooks the meat/fish & veg mix and then puts some aside for my niece in a small pyrex dish for her before she adds sauce. Then she just plops some mash on top before she adds salt to ours or puts the cheese sauce on before she adds salt. I've got a little pyrex dish myself and they're very useful! My niece also has pasta quite often with like creme fraiche on it. She's not keen on everything mixed in I think because she likes to see what she's got so we put the ham and mushrooms and that on the side. My sister makes up a small batch of pasta/couscous (with no seasoning)/mash/cooked potatoes for my niece and puts them in the fridge and then does a dinner with them one day and a lunch the next for her.

I don't want to sound patronising but have you seen if perhaps you could do a short course in your area to help build your confidence cooking healthy simple recipes for your family? I know they do them in my local Surestart centres. I used to have a really good basic cookbook I found on line so I'll see if I can dig it out a link for you

rozmister

I found it!! - http://www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consum_dg/groups/dg_digitalassets/@dg/@en/documents/digitalasset/dg_171715.pdf

I loved this when I first left home. It was just so simple and easy to use that it got me over that first daunting period of thinking OMG I have to make all my own food now. My uncle bought me a Delia cookbook to help me 'become a lady' and I have to admit I've never opened it. The format just isn't right for me, it's too wordy and I prefer pictures and tips and simple to follow recipes I know it's meant for teenagers but I think it's great. I had made all the things in it at some time before but I found it helped to have it laid out in a simple way without loads of extra gourmet ingredients added. I'm not sure all of them are bambino friendly but I think there's a few good ones in there.

Treevo

I know you say that what you eat isn't suitable for him so is there any way you'd consider improving your own diet? That way you'd be eating healthily and you wouldn't face the situation where eventually your son begins to eat what you're currently eating.

If you're not a confident cook - Delia Smith's How to Cook series is an excellent starting point which will help you immensely.

Poppy9

I was a bit lost when it came to prepping food for DD when she was a baby as I had lost my mum and didn't feel I had anyone to ask.

My mum was a good old fashioned make food from scratch cook. Nothing fancy but all freshly prepared and always a pudding!

I tried to remember what she gave my neices and nephews as babies when they visited so I started with those. I could onlly really recall things like a boiled egg with soldiers, eggy bread, or cauliflour cheese.

As I got more confident I invested in a blender and dumped the salt and gave DD the same food as us only blended. I used to use the glass jars that ready food came in (I would sterilise them in bottle sterliser) and put portions in there to freeze. DD hated lumpy food and would sort it out in her mouth and spit out so the hand blender meant I got veg down her!

DD also loved porridge with some banana mashed in it.

I did have some plastic pots for freezing food too but I never microwaved food in them as I'm not sure I trust plastic is safe when heated so I just tipped onto a plate/dish to microwave.

Roast dinners freeze well on a small plate and it's easy to put up an extra plate when you make a roast. Even at 17 DD used to have a Sunday lunch on Monday when she came in from school as I put up an extra dinner for her.

Mashed potato with either swede or sweet potato mixed in is a nice veg for children too and you can put some grated cheese on top and bake it in oven.

Perryl_2

rozmister wrote: »

I found it!! - http://www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consum_dg/groups/dg_digitalassets/@dg/@en/documents/digitalasset/dg_171715.pdf

I loved this when I first left home. It was just so simple and easy to use that it got me over that first daunting period of thinking OMG I have to make all my own food now. My uncle bought me a Delia cookbook to help me 'become a lady' and I have to admit I've never opened it. The format just isn't right for me, it's too wordy and I prefer pictures and tips and simple to follow recipes I know it's meant for teenagers but I think it's great. I had made all the things in it at some time before but I found it helped to have it laid out in a simple way without loads of extra gourmet ingredients added. I'm not sure all of them are bambino friendly but I think there's a few good ones in there.

I think that's a brilliant book of basics for anyone, not just teens. Going to bookmark it myself!
My mum wasn't the most confident of cooks when I was little. But she did just give me a little of what her and my dad were having. Apparently I used to love just eating chunks and strings of cabbage, even in restaurants.
Go through the recipes, just have a play. At worst, it goes a little wrong and you can have a laugh at it. But yeah, just freeze it up in little portions and make sure its thoroughly reheated before you let it cool to eatable temperature.
There's a lot of books aimed at teens leaving home for uni on the market if you look, a lot of the book clubs (https://www.thebookpeople.co.uk for e.g.) sell them for quite cheap too. They might be worth looking into for you as well for more ideas.

fluffnutter

Kayalana99 wrote: »

Alot of people say give what your eating but its just not suitable...maybe once in a while its ok for him to have chips etc but it would be constant.

Maybe your son moving on from jars of baby food is an opportunity for you to improve the whole family's diet. Yes, when people say 'feed your baby what you eat' it's predicated on your having a decent diet yourselves. So why not aim for a better diet, then you can all eat together.

There have been loads of great suggestions already so I won't go on about what you can or can't make. It's not easy to change your eating habits, I know. But this is such a good opportunity it would be a shame to miss it.

Clutterfree

OP, may I suggest you pop over to the "Old Style" forum and also start a thread there? There are lots of lovely members on there who cook from scratch and I'm sure they will be able to help you with easy, cheap recipes. Good luck!

Threebabes

I used a version of this book

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lorraine-Kellys-Baby-Toddler-Eating/dp/0753511479

What I used to do on a weekend was make a roast dinner and make portions to freezer for the baby.

You can pick up (from memory) baby gravy and baby pasta.