OMG - travel food - to buy it or make it at home?!!!

Babies do eat when you travel! That's one more thing to think about. Honestly, at the beggining, when Benjamin started eating normal food, I realized that where ever I go he needs his food with him. So there was a lot of questions again: do I buy baby food, if yes, what kind of, which brand or do I make the food? Of course, it's every mum's choice, I have started with baby food for trips pretty weirdly, basically I didn't have too much knowledge about baby food in shops. So on first trips Benjamin was eating bought baby food (I am sorry for that now, baby!) Probably here you can see which direction I am going to with the bought baby food, though it is purely my opinion and doesn't have to affect anyone else. It is not a crime to buy baby food, not at all, I do it sometimes, but every time I do it - I regret it. And I will explain why.


Introduction to food British people normally call weaning off, for me it is a bit misleading as I introduce my baby to normal food not in order to wean him off, but to form his eating habits and from 6 months old, baby is not enough of nutrition only from mothers milk. So my decision was to form his eating habits by cooking my own food and not constantly buying one. I have read a number of online forums where mums explain that they buy baby food, because baby doesn't like their home cooked food. Well, if you give bought food right from the start, he will like that more, because it's tastier in some ways than real food. For example, a child doesn't want or need chocolate (remark for grandparents :) ), just after tasting it he doesn't want anything else, because it's yummy!!! I have decided that only rarely bought baby food will be for our trips and journeys.


I went to the shop to buy some pouches for Benjamin as we were travelling somewhere. And....omg!!! I have no clue what to buy. I have started from reading the ingredients. Everything seems to be organic or bio or from biological farm. Sounds too good to be true, so I started reading articles online what it is really in there. Not one source states that home made foods compared to commercially processed ones are mote nutritious. Appears that you would need as twice as much bought food to get same vitamins and nutrition as from the home cooked food. Few sources write that fruit or vegetable used for baby food are bio and organic, but in the process are used almost out of date (the ones that can't be used anywhere else). Though it is really hard to prove such statements. Few articles to read about findings in bought baby food:

http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/the_kids/2013/09/homemade_versus_store_bought_baby_food_your_kitchen_beats_the_jars.html

http://www.onegreenplanet.org/lifestyle/scary-ingredients-in-commercial-baby-food-and-how-to-make-your-own-at-home/

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/dr-dina-kulik/danger-baby-food-pouches-_b_7122852.html

Very good reading from another mama:
http://mamalikes.org/2015/07/14/pureed-food/

And then there are these fancy words to cover sugar or salt levels. A lot of baby foods from the shop state that there is no added sugar or salt in it, but what about concentrates used in it? And then artificial vitamins. When I cook I don't put any artificial vitamins in the food, but in the bought food there's normally Vitamin B, companies claim, it must be there in order to absorb all the nutrition. Well, I don't give my baby any additional Vitamin B.

I think it can be a very long discussion about what it is in shelves. I normally choose fruit pouches. I'm trying to find ones without fruit concentrate, as you can't really do wrong with fruit, right? These seemed to be all right:

(photo taken from familien-zauber.de)

I could say that Austrian shops are not that rich with baby food choices as Lithuanian or British. Here you can find only brands like: Nestle, Fruchtbar, Hipp and Milupa, maybe some more that I haven't seen yet. Whereas in Lithuania or England you can find mentioned ones plus Ella's kitchen (one of my favorites), Marmaluzi (awesome Lithuanian brand), Heinz (have negative feelings for this) and many more. So my preferences whenever it is possible are Ella's kitchen and Marmaluzi as these contain pure ingredients, no sugars, salts or any oils, vitamins, plus the date of expiry is not longer than my baby's age.

Our travels

Equipment. For Benjamin travels I have bought a 290 ml. food flask which surprisingly hold the warmth very well (bought on Amazon).

I have equipped myself with a small plastic box for snacks and of course water bottle (we use the one with the straw only).

Food. As I have mentioned already, I try to make food for all our travels. I wouldn't lie, it's pretty hard as you need to plan your time ahead, count how many meals will be needed and so on. And for me it is the hardest job:) Very rarely, but I do buy baby food, mostly fruit purees. Snacks are handy as well especially for time in the car when it gets boring. Our snacks so far are carrot and puffy 'kringels', not sure how it is called in English :)

I find these amazing as they were the only ones in the shop that didn't have any additional stuff to it as salt, sugar, color or any other taste. Benjamin loves 'kringels', can recognize those even by the sound of the pack :) This is only for our journeys as I guess it is not the most healthy option, but so good for calming down, sharpen those teeth and there's no mess! 'Kringels' melt very quickly in mouth so don't think choking can happen. We have tried another brand, but it was full of oil (I have tried it myself, really disgusting). Other options like this, baby rice crackers and cookies had sugar inside or fruit powder which I am still not sure about. Lets say the baby rice cracker is with the blueberries, so the ingredients are blueberry powder with perfect violet color....I have mixed feelings about this so I don't buy it.


Oat cookies perfect for travels

Oats

Apple puree

Cranberries or plums

Ripe banana

Cinnamon or not

I make apple puree myself, just steam a peeled apple, then mix it with another fruit (steamed cranberries - great natural antibiotic, steamed peeled plums, etc.) and ripe banana and pour in the oats. Form cookies and cook in the oven around 15 min. on 180°C. Cookies turn out very soft and nice to chew. I normally freeze the rest just to have it for future.

I have a journey coming up where in my head I need to plan Benjamin's menu for few days, probably will end up buying fruit purees and making few jars of lunch and dinner food. Well basically everything the same that you would cook at home, just packed to go!

Enjoy your travels and consider making baby food at home!


Yours,

niom niom by Mama xxx


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Behind the niom niom by Mama

I am starting a blog, always wanted to write something, to share my ideas, views - have loads of them, but there's always a small doubt that stops you from doing it. Oh, people will laugh, criticise you - all that negative stuff which just stops you from doing it.

I woke up this morning saying it's enough of doubts, actions speak for themselves!

So here I am, a young mum (consider myself such still) writing about baby food. Boring? Then, don't read it :) That's what my life revolves around now. My baby boy Benjamin is 9 months old at the moment and is interested in every piece of food you give him. And when I started cooking for him ''normal human food'', I was in a light shock. It is all day in a kitchen!!! Cooking, cleaning, washing dishes and all over again! It was changed within few weeks, I got into it, got sucked by creating loads of various recipes and clapping hands when the little one loves it and exploding inside when he refuses to eat it! Why about baby food, why not photography (which I consider myself to be good at) or skiing (awesome here as well) or some other sarcastic views (love it). It's what fills my day and I have strong views about it.

Baby food, I see it as you have been given a chance to shape little ones eating habits. How you prepare him now - that's how he's going to be whole of his life. Be interested in food. Know what good and healthy food is. Love family dinners, etc. I consider the whole process as a big responsibility, not to be personally judgmental, but buying baby food without being informed what's in it, you run the risk of creating bad eating habits. What if you ate fast food every day for lunch? :) I am writing about cooking, preparing, buying fresh groceries, vitamins, various combinations of products, likes/dislikes, healthy recipes.

If you think, oh, it's another vegan freak promoting green world. Not exactly. I am against raising children vegetarian or vegan if you don't have enough knowledge about how to do it. They will choose on their own if you give them choices to try everything, right?


It all started for us pretty early as Benjamin was keen to eat what mummy and daddy are having, so we tried giving him ''human food'' when he was 5 months old. It was just a game - to taste. Steam cooked potato and then mashed, the same with apple. So just playing around with the tastes. And then it was, omg, it's getting serious, I don't really have enough knowledge how the baby food process goes. So I freaked out a bit, then went to this pretty good lecture, at that time we lived in Vilnius, Lithuania, the lecturer was a children's doctor and the founder of 'Sveika Pradžia' clinic. I was pretty happy about the information, just still needed something to have with me all the time, not to google every question I get while making baby food. So I googled again recommended literature. Loads of it. But having finished Communications bachelor studies, for sure, I know, not every piece of information that is out there, is for you. So after loads of research and reviews I found this book, which I think is very handy, unfortunately only in Lithuanian (to my knowledge).

Loads of great tips, divided into understandable sequence by baby's age. written by a mum with the help of children's doctors and other people educated in this field. A must have for every interested mama. Guided by this book, I have been creating my own combinations of goodies for my little one.

Currently we all live in Austria, skiing, snow and all that goodness around! My favorite hashtag on Instagram is #iliveinthemountains. It is a really awesome feeling to live here just one drawback, concerning baby and food in general - we live kind of in the middle of nowhere, few shops, no food markets, oh, that's not true really, they have food markets here full of nicely smoked hams and cheeses (Austrians are crazy about that stuff), doesn't really suit babies, right? So if you go to the shop to look for baby food (I was doing that in the beginning for travels and so), there are full shelves of baby food from Hipp and Nestle. And what? It's disgusting! Have you tried it? Doesn't matter what it says on the label: corn, rice, potato, chicken or beef - it all tastes the same! Taste of mashed potatoes with carrots - I wouldn't eat that myself for money, why should I give this to my baby?!

More about food for travelling, later.


All babies are different, all families and habits as well, I just believe it's our as mothers responsibility to give all the best and a good start for further eating habits. Throughout the blog I will try to share my experiences, recipes and all information gathered from my friends, books, internet. If you're with me - I will be delighted!!! xxx


Yours,


niom niom by Mama Egle


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Your highness, breakfast Porridge!

I love porridge! I always did when I was a kid and later, even now once in a while porridge for breakfast, yummy!
This morning I made wheat porridge with mango and banana for Benjamin. I want to share this simple recipe with you.

Products used:
Two spoons of wheat grits
Less then half of mango
4 slices or so of banana

How I made it:
I always immerse any grits I use in the water for the night, so the next morning it cooks very quick.
Cut all the fruit and pour some boiling water on them. I always do that with whatever fruit, just kills any potential bacteria and warms it up a bit. And then mash it all together.
And a little teaspoon of cold pressed oil of your choice. Every day I give Benjamin a teaspoon of cold press hemp oil (cannabis oil in other words), oh noooo, or linseed oil. As I don't use any artificial Vitamin D, both of these oils have everything what it is needed (I will write about cold pressed oils on baby's menu on the other post)!

From time to time I mix few cranberries into porridge as it the best natural antibiotic known, right?

As Benjamin is 9 months and has 8 teeth already, I don't mash everything very neatly, leave pieces in the porridge for chewing. When he was younger I used to mash everything into one mass, so no chewy bits would be left as choking baby is a big nightmare for me!

Grits
I use loads of grits in baby's menu as well as in all family's. I was recommended by our baby doctor to start introducing meat before the grits, though in the literature I read differently. So I tried grits first and then meat as, in my head, grits are lighter to digest than meat. Cannot state it as a fact, but it worked well for us! By now Benjamin has already tasted and approved these grits: rice, buckwheat (lt: ryžiai), barley (lt: miežiai), already mentioned wheat, couscous, pearl barley (lt: perlinės kruopos), quinoa, corn grits, semolina (lt: manai). I use these grits for lunch or dinner menu as well. I want to write a bit more about buckwheat as I think it's a great and undervalued product.
We use a lot of buckwheat. Why? Well, first, it's tasty! Buckwheat are very nutritious and contains loads of vitamins, like calcium, zinc, phosphorus, vitamin B, iodine, etc. I use non dried buckwheat. And it's cheap! An interesting fact about buckwheat is that it is laxative (lt: laisvina vidurius). So if your beloved one can't poo for some time, try giving him buckwheat, I tried it, it works! So massive plus goes to this grit, recommended.

Few simple breakfast porridge recipes that I have made and Benjamin loves them.

Buckwheat 
Blueberries
Banana

Rice (normally I used Basmati, as it's softer and cooks quicker)
Pumpkin
Apple 
Banana

Couscous
Plum
Banana 

Basically, it is not an invention this morning porridge. What I do is, I change different grits every morning and different fruit. I always use banana as it thickens the whole thing.

Buon Apetit!

niom niom by Mama xx

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