We discussed this earlier & wanted some Mums opinions.

I was interested in doing my own food but as OH pointed out the little foods like Heinz, Hipp etc contain nutrients baby need so if you make your own foods to freeze surely they are not getting the needed nutrients & vits etc??

What about the difference between Heinz & Hipp? Hipp is organic? Is it really better or no different in your opinion?

We started with Hipp Organic for Bethanie, just because of the word "organic" as you always want to give your baby whats 'best' don't you? We stopped giving her it because iut was turning her orange lol. She loved it until more recently, so we switched to Cow & Gate but now we're back on both for her.. so whatever your baby wants is probably the best answer to that one.

Making your own food is good because you know exactly what is going in their food, but at the same time.. you are paying for the convenience of shop bought food - for example, we buy the Organix pots of fruits (usually if they're on offer 3 for £3) but we could make fruit puree lots cheaper, it's just having the time and the space to do it.

My advice is not to worry TOO much about what they say on the jars, try and involve her in your family meals as much as possible when you can and give her what you think she can have, not what 'they' say she should have. I reckon all of these baby foods are so similar that it's not worth worrying over.

baby foodslikeheinz,hipp etc do contain nutrients but they also contain a lot of water and the fact they are heated to a high temp to sterilise them means that nutrients are lost. I think jars are great for when you are out and about,or need a meal in a rush but homemade is better as you know what goes into them (plus its loads cheaper)and if you make a well balanced diet then baby gets all the nutrients they need. At Caitlin's age she will be getting the majority of nutrients from her milk, the food is just to intoroduce new textures and tastes.

Is there anything wrong with giving purees if it be the likes of Hipp or homemade & finger food? Like maybe one day Ill give her a Hipp for lunch next day Ill give her toast?

Makes sense to me.

What about puddings you make & freeze them to? If I remember right & going on reply you mainly make your own Beanie?

Do you make up different meals & freeze? Clueless really so any tips for this way? Like how long to freeze for how many meals to make at one time for freezing? Make up on the day only?

I didn't really do the puree thing so can't help there. What my friend did (and what I started to do before going onto baby ledweaning) was put extra veg in when cooking the roast on a sunday (obviously not using salt) and then would blend them down and freeze in ice cubes (then when making baby's food she would defrost oneor two cubes for his lucnh, dinner etc etc). She did the same thing with fruits, stewed pear and apple and blend them down.

The good thing about that was you can mix up diferent things , i.e. a cube of carrot with a cube of brocolli etc

So led weaning! Is it nothing puree at all?

How for example does your plan go for say the first week of weaning? Just an example exploring ways atm in my mind! Loopy this Mummy stuff

I make Simon's food myslef as I like to know exactly what goes in it. I don't think babies need to have modified starch or sugar in their first foods, but I know they're still certainly ok. I just prepare batches of veggies, fruits and now even meats. I puree them, now less so there are some little lumps and pieces to chew on. That's one thing you can't have with commercial foods. They're all really smooth.

I then freeze in ice cube trays and unmold them once frozen. In freezer bags, they keep for:

fruits and veggies: 6-8 months
meat:1-2 months
veggies mixed with meat: 1-2 months
foods made with milk (prep. or breast)rather than water: 1-2 months

If fresh, in the fridge:

fruits and veggies: 2-3 days
meat:1 day
veggies mixed with meat: 1-2 days
foods made with milk (prep. or breast)rather than water: 1-2 days

Hope this helps!

My first week of weaning (this week) has gone like this;

Monday: baby rice
Tuesday: baby rice mixed with a bit of pureed apple
Wednesday: pureed carrot
Thursday: pureed butternut squash
Friday: pureed banana
Saturday: fruit & yogurt (a shop bought one)
Sunday: he'll be having mashed potato

On Friday and today, I've also given him a big chunk of banana to chomp on/lick/mush in his hands/play with - obviously watching so he doesn't choke. I don't think I'm going strictly BLW or puree route, probably mostly purees but with some big pieces (and I mean really big.. not small enough for him to fit into his mouth) of soft fruits/half-cooked veggies to get him use to food and for him to explore it a bit. x

EDIT: I've bought loads of jars just for when I'm struggling with time or going out. I don't think there's anything wrong with using them personally. I am trying to use most of my own though, just because home-made food tastes so different to baby food.

most baby food is full of sweetners and sugar, and preservatives so home made food is better, i used to use jars occasionally, and just make and batch freeze food.