What age is to old for jars?

sulkisu

LannieDuck wrote: »

I have an almost-2 year old. I understand what you're saying about your baby not eating the same things you do (we like quite spicy curries and chilli con carne etc, so not always appropriate for a baby/toddler). Some of my tips:

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Special (bland) food for babies/toddlers is very much a Western idea. Everywhere else, babies eat the same as their parents -literally eating off the same plate. OH is West African, I am West Indian and my sons (2 and 10 months) eats our food - spice is not a problem although you might want to cut back on the pepper/chilli, at least for now.

Mad-Frog

Another who recommends Jamie Oliver ministry cookbook

And another who recommends you pop over to old style, they will give you loads of ideas

Stolen from old style an easy way to make easy cheese sauce, grate some cheese in a pan, add some flour (just cover the cheese in flour) add some milk so it covers both cheese and flour then wisk (with a hand held one no need for electric)

When it comes to boil it will thicken then add a bit more milk bit by bit until it is how your packet stuff is and it is ready, it is that easy and I couldn't thank the poster enough who posted that, no more lumpy cheese sauce with no faffing with butter and flour

meritaten

sulkisu wrote: »

Special (bland) food for babies/toddlers is very much a Western idea. Everywhere else, babies eat the same as their parents -literally eating off the same plate. OH is West African, I am West Indian and my sons (2 and 10 months) eats our food - spice is not a problem although you might want to cut back on the pepper/chilli, at least for now.

I totally agree with this - I am wondering how they expect toddlers to change to normal tasty food after the tasteless pap they wereused to from jars.
tho I do think that if you, yourself live on a diet of junk food - then having the sense to realise you shouldn't feed it to your kids is a major breakthrough!

try, a few of the simple recipes given here hun, you never know you may well have a 'talent' and enjoy it!
and come on down to Oldstylers - I am pretty sure there may be a 'baby food' thread in the past.
at the very least you will get given some nice easy 'mum and grandma tested' recipes.

Aimless

Like you I try to avoid too much salt, I already cooked without it, but post baby lots of my usual lazy options like jars of sauce have just too much in for me to consider. My fussy so and so also won't eat pasta at least half of the time, which we used to have a lot of!

He does like salmon with rice. I check the salmon for bones before I cook, then I flake his up before I put it on his plate to double check. I get packs of two salmon pieces, then just steal a bit from each for him. Oil a bit of tin foil, wrap the salmon up and put in the oven for about twenty minutes. You can add things like tomatoes or mint in the tinfoil for extra flavour if you like. One pack of boil in the bag rice does us two and a little one. I fry an onion if I have any, pepper and mushroom, then add a tin of tomatoes and any random herbs/spices I fancy. Just leave it to cook while the rice cooks, then chuck the rice in and stir it up.

If not salmon, we do the same basic idea, but add quorn to the veg (mostly veggie here).

Soup is easy, but a bit hit and miss. He refused to taste my carrot and coriander, but loves Jamie Oliver's mexican tomato one (my cheating version with all the fancy bits left out) It's basically tinned tomatoes, jarred roasted peppers, water and rice I think from memory?

Omelettes go down well, because they're rubbery I can hide mushroom in there and he doesn't really notice. Sometimes with ham, mostly cheese though.

On days when I don't want him to have what we have, it's usually scrambled egg, or an M&S kids meal sometimes. He loves the chicken curry one, and sometimes eats the fish pie. You could look at the sort of stuff they make to get ideas? It's all low salt, so if they can do it, so can you.

I did treat him to a Sainsburys cafe meal yesterday, fish fingers, wedges and beans. He wolfed it down. They claim to be reduced salt meals, but I'm never quite sure how reduced, so that's a rare treat.

He's about 20 months btw.

shortdog

Aimless wrote: »

Soup is easy, but a bit hit and miss. He refused to taste my carrot and coriander, but loves Jamie Oliver's mexican tomato one (my cheating version with all the fancy bits left out) It's basically tinned tomatoes, jarred roasted peppers, water and rice I think from memory?

I've found the best way to serve soup to a little person is to liquidise it, add a little water or milk to make it runny, and serve in a cup with a straw. Just make sure it's a disposable straw, as you'll never get it clean again;)

Lola888

We can be quite lazy when it comes to my LO. Have you tried giving chopped up veggies? My LO likes cooked carrot sticks, sweetcorn, peas, chopped up new potatoes, she used to like tomatoes, but seems to have gone off these. She also likes cheese cubes, tuna paste on toast.

We have some quick and easy dinners we resort to if I'm late from work or someone else is baby sitting and we don't want to ask they to cook. Cooked chicken pieces, with tinned sweetcorn, cooked frozen peas, zap a small potato in the microwave and she's happy. We used to give her reduced salt gravy, but she's not bothered if the food is plain.

You can peel a couple of carrots and cut into sticks- boil and store in the fridge for a day or two. Brocolli as well.

Pasta with grated cheese and chopped up ham is also quick and easy.

I don't mind cooking, but the less ingredients you need the better. I find it overwhelming when a recipe asks for a million and one things, but I found learn the basics and eventually you'll have most things you need and you'll only need to buy the odd thing.

I also found a basic cheese sauce is very easy- cheese, butter, flour and milk over pasta/veg is a winner with my LO.

I don't want to sound condescending, but I'm so glad you're looking for ideas to give your LO a good diet. I know some mothers who just feed their kids chicken nuggets, oven chips, fish fingers, baked beans etc. I'm not saying don't feed them this once in a while, but my DH's aunt raised her kids on food like this and her kids don't like fruit or veg.

notanewuser

meritaten wrote: »

I totally agree with this - I am wondering how they expect toddlers to change to normal tasty food after the tasteless pap they wereused to from jars.
tho I do think that if you, yourself live on a diet of junk food - then having the sense to realise you shouldn't feed it to your kids is a major breakthrough!

.

I totally agree. The children I know that we're fed on jars/pur!es have real issues with food now they're 3. A friend ordered a bread roll and chips for her daughter at a pub the other week because that's pretty much all she will eat. . (DD tucked into her dad's chilli con carne and my broccoli and cheese bake quite happily).

As for steak, DD has it once a fortnight or so. I cook it through (her dad eats it blue). Brilliant source of iron and protein - much better than fish fingers and waffles. Don't forget, he had what you had when he was developing inside you, and that will have set some of his food preferences. (I went totally mad for tuna for about 6 weeks while pregnant and DD loves it!). No harm in chips once in a while.

DD has never had a pur!e or jar. She ate what we had from about 5 months (BLW). It's rare that I ever cook her something different. She's very into texture and flavour and loves fruit and veg. We eat out a lot and she'll often have a mini portion of an adult meal rather than a children's meal. She takes the breadcrumbs off fish fingers (I just do her a piece of fish now!).

Lunar_Eclipse

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

But it takes no longer and isn't any more complicated to make than a cottage/shepherds pie, yet people make these frequently. I wonder what makes a lasagne appear so scary to some people.

I think they all take too long for a week night dinner, especially fish pie which would be our favourite.

Grilled fish or chicken with roasted veg or stir fry are much quicker. Healthier too, though probably more expensive.

OP: I think you've been given great advice. Mine would be to prioritise changing the way you all eat, but to be careful that you don't overwhelm yourself. I'd be tempted to have at least one 'easy meal night', when you have beans on toast, scrambled eggs, (noodle) soup or similar. I also have a friend who has a baked potato night. One of my girls loves beans & cheese, the other tuna mayo.

In winter, we often do something that another poster suggested. We have a roast on Sundays, the meat of which forms the starting point of meals for Monday & Tuesday. Cold cuts with chips & salad on Mondays is fairly common, not that we had that often, but I would usually do a curry or pasta bake on one night and a risotto or enchiladas/quesadillas on the other.

Speaking of quesadillas, they make a quick and yummy lunch. Using flour wraps from the bread section of a supermarket, place it into a frying pan with a small amount of hot oil. Add fillings (grated cheese, ham, veg as desired) onto one half, fold over the other half (so you now have a semi circle), cook for a couple of minutes before turning and cooking other side. Be careful not to burn the wrap whilst making sure the cheese melts! Serve with sour cream and soup if you're very hungry! Youngest loved these 'cheesy triangles' with Heinz tomato soup after football!

Good luck!

Lunar_Eclipse

Another quick healthy thing I make that you might all like is 'muffin quiches'.

Fry some veg of choice. (We like spring onions, red pepper & courgette.) Add to greased muffin tin/rubber muffin cases (1/2 fill.) Add chopped ham, cover with beaten egg mixture & top with grated cheese. Cook in oven @ 180. Can't remember how long they take: 15-20 mins maybe.

These take approximately 1 egg/muffin.

Poppy9

Lunar_Eclipse wrote: »

Speaking of quesadillas, they make a quick and yummy lunch. Using flour wraps from the bread section of a supermarket, place it into a frying pan with a small amount of hot oil. Add fillings (grated cheese, ham, veg as desired) onto one half, fold over the other half (so you now have a semi circle), cook for a couple of minutes before turning and cooking other side. Be careful not to burn the wrap whilst making sure the cheese melts! Serve with sour cream and soup if you're very hungry! Youngest loved these 'cheesy triangles' with Heinz tomato soup after football!

Good luck!

I use the corn wraps (they are by the mexican food) as they don't burn and fry better. Also if you use them as oven baked wraps they go nice and soft and easier for toddler to eat. For a quick meal I often cook some chicken and peppers add a jar of creamy pasta bake from Aldi (it's runnier) then fill the wraps with the chicken and put in oven dish. The remainder of the sauce is poured over the wraps and I cover with grated cheese and bake for a bout 20 minutes. Absolutely delicious and so quick to make.

Corn wraps are also lower in calories and fat (though you shouldn't worry about fat content for babies)