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 Few sources write that fruit or vegetable used for baby food are bio and organic, but in the process are used almost out of date (the ones that can't be used anywhere else).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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