The pouch scandal

Unless you’ve been living under a rock (or a pile of dirty bibs) you’ve probably heard the latest news that pouch food is Very Bad.

But put it this way. We all know microwave meals are a bit salty, yet I bet you’ve got at least one in your fridge. 

Now, I’m not saying that six month olds should exist purely on squeezable mulch from a packet. But the odd pouch here and there won’t hurt. Frankly, unless you’re going to extract yogurt directly from a cow at the farm, SOME baby food will need to go through SOME processing before it hits the spoon.

And the biggest headline – purées have higher levels of detectable sugar than whole pieces of fruit? Well sure, because they’ve been crushed down and the sugars have all been released. I don’t know much biology (science book, French I took) but I bet the same thing would happen if you whizzed up an apple in your Nutribullet.

Nobody should be eating wall to wall junk food, especially babies. It’s our job as parents to feed them nourishing meals and give them the best start in life. But if you’re out and about, without access to an Aga and 4 hours of uninterrupted cooking time, the occasional jar of Heinz tomato pasta is a bit of a lifesaver. It doesn’t have to be an everyday thing, but it’s there to make your busy life as a parent just that little bit easier.

(They’ll be asking for McDonald’s soon enough. Then you’ll wish for the days of pre-cooked lamb roast – at least some of the ingredients may once have met a carrot.)

All this to say: home cook where you can, use pouches as needed. That’s what they’re there for.

And don’t beat yourself up if you haven’t managed to make an organic artisan sharing board for your baby and all their mates. They’d probably smear it all over their high chair anyway.