Baby food in jars - desserts, soups and lunches. How to choose ready-made food for a child?

Young children have special nutritional needs, and busy young parents don't always have time to cook, puree, blend, and do other labor-intensive kitchen chores. At such times, it is worth buying ready-made meals for children - healthy and prepared specifically for the needs of the smallest. Why are meals for young children special? How are they different compared to ready-made meals for adults? How to choose and give a child food from a jar?

dr.n. farm. Maria Kaspshak

Infant and Toddler Nutrition - Special Products for Special Consumers

Foods for children under the age of 3 have special nutritional status, which means they are produced in a way that meets certain legal requirements. This is necessary to ensure that the smallest meals are fully adapted to their specific needs, while the child is actively growing, forming his food preferences, and his sensitive digestive system is still maturing. According to current legislation in Poland, foods for infants and young children cannot contain GMOs (Genetically Modified Foods) and added salt. There are also limits on the amount of sugar added, as well as strict standards for pesticide residues and other contaminants. Many manufacturers use organic farming ingredients to make baby food to ensure the highest quality in their products. However, whether we are dealing with traditional products or with "bio" or "eco" products, products for young children are subject to special control and are completely safe.

These dishes have a texture and composition appropriate for the age of the child. The minimum serving age is indicated by a number on the packaging. The number 6 means that the product can be prescribed to children from the age of six months, etc. The packaging also contains detailed information on the composition, nutritional value and the content of potential allergens and gluten, as well as information on the expiration date, storage and preparation of the product.

One-component dishes - fruit and vegetable desserts

Since the expansion of the baby's diet should be carried out gradually, slowly adding one product to the baby's diet, it is worth choosing dishes in jars containing only one ingredient at the beginning. Easily digestible and mild-tasting fruit and vegetable purees are best suited for this - for example, apple, banana, carrot, pumpkin or parsnip puree. Such products are suitable for desserts and snacks between main meals. Usually, manufacturers do not add any additives (for example, sugar) to them, except for a sufficient amount of vitamin C. This is justified by the fact that vitamin C is broken down during heat treatment, and foods in jars are boiled or pasteurized.

Desserts can be served to children by a teaspoon directly from the jar, but in this case, you should not leave leftovers, as they quickly multiply by bacteria from the child’s mouth and hands. If we know that the child will not eat everything, it is worth pouring a smaller portion into a bowl with a clean spoon, and the rest can be stored in a closed jar for up to a day.

Soups and lunches in jars - for babies, one-year-olds and juniors

Over time, your child eats more and more, both in quantity and variety. To provide him with a varied diet, you can get a variety of soups and dinners in jars designed for different age groups. Such dishes are sometimes commonly referred to as "gerberas" after one of the popular brands of products that have been present on the Polish market for a long time. Of course, today there are many branded product lines for children, and all of them are of high quality.

Soups are usually less common and often mimic traditional home cooking in taste, except for the addition of salt and hot spices. "Second courses" most often consist of a mixture of vegetables, meat or fish and starchy foods such as potatoes, rice or pasta. The meat and fish used to prepare these meals are strictly controlled, and this is especially important for certain types of fish (such as tuna or mackerel), which can be contaminated with heavy metals. The meat and fish used in children's meals are generally lean, so to get the right amount of healthy fats, manufacturers sometimes add a drop of high-quality vegetable oil to lunch.

Dishes for a baby of many months are in the form of a homogeneous puree, and those for a slightly older, for example, one-year-old baby, do not have to be completely smooth, but may already contain small pieces. . They are also seasoned with mild herbs such as lovage, parsley or dill, but they are still neither salty nor heavily seasoned. To give your child a canned lunch, place the appropriate serving in a bowl and heat gently over a water bath. To do this, you can put the bowl in a saucepan with a little warm water and stir until the porridge is warm. If you know that the child will eat everything, you can heat the food directly in the jar, without a lid. You can also give your child food at room temperature. The rest of the lunch, if the child has not eaten directly from the jar, can be stored in the refrigerator for a maximum of a day. Baby food should not be heated in the microwave as the microwave heats up unevenly. It could burn your child or burn food on the spot.

Not only jars - snacks and lunches in tubes and containers

Fruit puree-like desserts for children are also available in rolled soft sachets. This is very convenient, as older children can "suck" food directly from the straw when they get hungry on a walk or while playing. For younger ones, you can put a serving on a plate and serve with a spoon. Of course, food in a sachet cannot be heated - if necessary, it must first be placed in a bowl.

For some time now, ready-made meals for children a little older - over a year old have also been produced. These are not mashed potatoes, but ready-made sets in containers designed to be heated in a microwave oven, similar to ready-made meals for adults. Cook them exactly according to package instructions and make sure the food is not too hot before serving it to your baby.

Of course, ready-made baby food is tasty and healthy, but it’s also worth cooking your own food. You can use the recipes of our mothers and grandmothers, guides available on the Internet and in traditional cookbooks, as well as be inspired by the composition of ready-made dishes in jars. This is another advantage of desserts and lunches for young children - it is worth writing down the composition of our child's favorite dishes, so that later they can be recreated in their own kitchen. Inspiration is very important for the diet of the child and the whole family to be as varied, healthy and tasty as possible.

Bibliography

1. Handbook containing recipes - “Handbook of baby food. Step by step from birth to first birthday.
2. Decree of the Minister of Health of September 16, 2010 on food products for special purposes (Journal of Laws, 2010, No. 180, item 1214).