QUESTION 2: Food for 10-month old

[RRBB]

Now that our trip is just 2 weeks away I'm full of questions about travelling with our baby.

Our baby will be 10 1/2 months old when we go to WDW in 2 weeks. I've made almost all his baby food since he started on solids - the only jarred he's had is carrots. Should I pack a cooler with dry ice and food for a week or should I switch him to jarred for the week we're there?

We're flying and then renting a car. We're staying at Saratoga Springs with a full kitchen. We'll probably hit a grocery store for our own needs, and diapers, when we arrive. And I have a small baby food processor that I can pack, though I'd rather not spend my vacation cooking/preparing baby food.

I'm really torn over this and I'm looking for advise/experience from others.

 

[metivier]

Neither of my children ever had any jarred baby food. We traveled with them everywhere (including Disney) and we just made do with what was there for CS or TS. The only "food" we packed was Cheerios because we had read that Cheerios were hard to find on Disney property. That said, we made a grocery run and bought a box of Cheerios before going to the hotel. You could also get snacks (bananas, snack crackers, etc.) as part of the grocery run or just pack things in storage bags and bring it yourself.

You could pack a "real" (metal) fork and bring that with you to more easily "mash" up food for your baby -- beats having a tine snap off a plastic fork.

Good luck and have fun!
Karen

 

[amarberry]

What is your reason for making your own baby food? Is it for economic reasons, health reasons, etc.? I made a lot of my daughter's baby food too because we give her organic food as much as possible and it is so much cheaper for me to steam and puree a bag of organic green beans than to buy individual jars. However, when we have taken her on vacation or if we go out to dinner, I do switch over to jarred food for the convenience (we feed her mostly Earth's Best, but also use Tender Harvest and Organic Baby from time to time).

If it were me, I would be concerned about spoilage when transporting homemade baby food, both getting to Florida and during the day at the parks. You mention that you had a baby food processer. Do you mean a baby food grinder that is manual and you can take with you to the parks? I know a lot of people who swear by these and just pop in whatever they are eating at a restaurant and grind it up for the baby. Unfortunately, my DD is a kid who really likes her food finely pureed so this never worked for us.

 

[RRBB]

I have a few reasons for making all the baby food. First, most of the jarred stuff looks so unappetizing. I know this is a bit blurry, but just look at the difference in color of the peas I made vs. the peas in the jar.

I refuse to feed my baby meats from a jar or any vegetable that looks gross to me. Another reason I make the food is I'm a SAHM so why not. Besides, once he's done with baby food I'll have to prepare all his meals anyway so why not start now. Honestly though, I've never really considered the cost much of a factor. I've only been using organic fruits and veggies which tend to be a bit more expensive. But I suppose if I were to calculate it out, it's still probably been cheaper than all the jars we would have gone through by now.

The food processor I have is actually electric but small - only makes about 2 servings worth at a time. My thinking is that I could quickly make something in the morning before leaving for the parks if need be. I pack a lunch for my baby nearly every day using an insulated bag with blue ice packs, so keeping it for a few hours in the parks shouldn't be a problem.

We've taken a couple of road trips where I packed a cooler with a weeks worth of food containers along with a block of dry ice. They stayed frozen solid during our 10 hour drive so I don't think a couple hour plane trip should be a problem if I end up taking a supply with us.

BUT...

 

[staci]

I refuse to feed my baby meats from a jar .

OMG, I am so with you on that one. I could NEVER bring myself to do that! They fed them to him at daycare while I was finishing school, I was there one day at lunch and they were just scooping a big pile of meat, topping it with peaches, and shoving it in his mouth. He ate it, but I was TOTALLY GROSSED OUT.

We did some baby food veggies but for the most part, ds ate what we ate, just fixed differently. He had tons of teeth which helped with not having to completely liquify everything

I would just do what works best for you and your family. Maybe you could take a little jarred food and your processor and do what works best once you get there?

 

[RRBB]

This is the one aspect about our trip that has me stressing the most. Last night I even started rethinking it.

I know the airline will let us carry a cooler of food with dry ice - up to 4.4 pounds per ticketed passenger in our party - on the plane. But the container has to meet certain specifications and there's an additional fee.

Dry Ice (4.4 pounds/ 2 kilograms or less) for packing perishables, may be carried on board an aircraft in a hard plastic or heavy gauge Styrofoam container, provided the package is vented. Ticket or gate agent must be advised, and a $40 USD/$54 CAD fee (one-way) applies.

I'm not sure I really want to take up one of our carry-ons for a cooler, even though it would only be one way.

My thinking now is to go mostly jarred and pick it up once we get to Orlando. I just don't know the grocery stores out there. I'd prefer to stick with Earth's Best brand - it doesn't look as gray as Gerber or other brands. And maybe I'll still take the food processor and puree' up some fruit/peas for a few meals.

 

[RRBB]

OMG, I am so with you on that one. I could NEVER bring myself to do that! They fed them to him at daycare while I was finishing school, I was there one day at lunch and they were just scooping a big pile of meat, topping it with peaches, and shoving it in his mouth. He ate it, but I was TOTALLY GROSSED OUT.

All I have to say to that is

. I once tasted a jar of mac & cheese. I tasted worse than cardboard. What are these baby food makers thinking? Babies like flavor too. I even have a hard time getting my baby to eat certain foods now unless there's a little seasoning on it. (Mixing in fruit doesn't seem to be cutting it anymore. )

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

My girls didn't eat baby food either--if you can get a portable food grinder..you can order some veggies at dinner--or whatever baby eats (think of it as a "special dietary concern) and then hand grind it.

I have a hand grinder---very easy, convenient and portable.

We do this at home for parties and stuff we attended as well...you just need something fresh and grindable.

Bananas are in large supply at disney And it shouldn't be too hard to get steamed veggies.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

My thinking is that I could quickly make something in the morning before leaving for the parks if need be. I pack a lunch for my baby nearly every day using an insulated bag with blue ice packs, so keeping it for a few hours in the parks shouldn't be a problem.

Excellent!!! This will work and this is what we did.

If anything--spend a couple of hours when you arrive to make a batch of food for the week and you will be all set.

we live on the coast--and we've gone over for the day when the babes were little with no trouble packing what we needed.

We even made our own rice and grain cereals.

 

[WantToGoNow]

Jarred meats look gross -- I've had 3 children and not one of them would eat it. Personally, I would take a small amount of jars and suppliment with whatever you are eating. When my youngest (now 22 months) was little, she started eating all table foods at 10.5 months. We were at Disney for her first birthday and it was wonderful not having to take baby food and formula. Just make sure to chop everything small -- I bet your baby would love it. Disney has no shortage of mac & cheese, applesauce, the chicken out of the middle of chicken tenders, mashed potatoes, etc. I would be careful about introducing anything new to the diet however; one day at MGM I gave my baby stir fry for a late lunch/early dinner -- she threw it up a few hours later in her crib.

T.

 

[RRBB]

I'm feeling more confident this evening about feeding my baby at WDW. We went to lunch at Black Eyed Pea and ordered mashed potatoes and broccoli & rice casserole for him. At first all he wanted was the rolls (I gave him small pieces to eat) and the cheese we brought for him. Of course once DH and I finished and thought we would leave, DS decided he was ready to eat. He finished off more than half of the mashed potatoes and almost that much of the casserole, that's after eating tons of roll and a half stick of cheese. We also ended up eating dinner out cuz we'd been running around doing errands so long. I still had half a stick of cheese to feed DS and the puree'd peaches he didn't touch at lunch. We also got a grilled cheese sandwich for him and he ate almost half of it. (I wasn't thrilled that it was loaded with butter, but at least I know DS won't starve if we have to resort to something like that at WDW.)

Thanks for all the advise everyone. Now, do you know where the nearest grocery store is to WDW? And do you know if they carry Earth's Best baby food and/or organic produce?

 

[metivier]

How about shipping yourself a package of Earth's Best jars straight to your resort? (Just a thought...the jars are small and, if well packed, should not cost that much to ship down.)

ETA: I just checked the Whole Foods web site and there is a store in Winter Park -- not exactly close to WDW but certainly accessible since you'll be renting a car. In general, I believe Whole Foods carries many items of the Earth's Best line. You could call them and ask if they could put a bag together for you and you could pick it up, or perhaps they even have a delivery service (???).

Whole Foods Market
Winter Park Corners
1989 Aloma Avenue
Winter Park, FL 32792
407.673.8788
407.677.7640 fax
Store hours: 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week.

We're located on the corner of Aloma and Lakemont Avenues in Winter Park, Florida, a city at the northeast edge of Orlando. From downtown Orlando, take I-4 East until you see the Fairbanks Avenue exit(#87) on your right. From the exit, turn right and continue travelling east a few miles as Fairbanks becomes curvy and changes names into Aloma Avenue. The store is just past the intersection of Aloma and Lakemont Avenues on your left (north) side. From the airport, take Highway 436 (Semoran Blvd.) North, about 10 miles until you reach Aloma and turn left. We are in the Winter Park Corners shopping center on your righthand (north) side.

 

[SqueakyMouse]

The odds are that your baby will be so stimulated by all that is going on around him that he will eat very little anyway. The trick is to make sure he gets PLENTY to drink.

 

[justhat]

We never did jarred meats at all, but we did do jarred fruits and veggies, mostly on vacation. We always bought Earth's Best at home and mainly used them when we went out to eat or to visit friends, etc. In WDW though, I brought 2 jars with me and planned to get the rest at Publix, but they didn't sell Earth's Best. I think they had Tender Harvest, but it was last December so I'm not completely sure about that. I just got whatever they had and supplemented the jarred foods with table foods. Oh, Madison was 9 months old then.

For your son though, 10.5 months right? I'd just try to go with as much table food as possible. Madison got her 1st 2 teeth at 10 months old and no more till 16 months, but was entirely off baby food by about a year. Mostly due to her own preferences, but I wanted to increase her exposure to different textures anyway. Around 8 months she would get Gerber Puffs (she'd choke on Cheerios) and small bits of fruits/veggies, mostly things like peas, green beans, bananas, berries, etc. She loved being able to pick up small pieces and feed herself, plus it made life outside our house so much easier. So maybe try giving him soft, fresh veggies and fruits before your trip to see how he does and maybe that would be a good alternative to mashing up foods in WDW.

 

[kangaand2roos]

you might also consider bringing along a couple mesh feeders. you can stick most soft foods in them and the baby can eat whatever is available without choking.

 

[rchristiansen]

Gerber's Lil Entrees are good - they are like TV Dinners for toddlers. They are good because it's not "mush" The food is small sized like small soft pasta and tiny tiny cubed meats and veggies - think carrots, corn and peas. I liked these because you didn't have to refrigerate them. Also, they were very easy to carry in a backpack. We brought about 5 or so for my DD when we went - she was a little under 12 month and had been eating them for a few months by then. At 10 months or so my DD refused to eat "mush" (ICK - I always though those baby jar meat, etc were gross too). Also, my DD only had 2 teeth at one year old - so the Lil Entrees were good because it was soft and very tiny pieces.

Also, I know friends that don't even heat them up - so it's easy to just serve anywhere you are.

 

[Manda]

We went to Miami with DS when he was almost 10 months old. He never ate pureed baby foods or jarred baby foods ever - went straight to table food and just fork-mushed foods that we were eating. When we went on that trip though, I bought a few jars of the Gerber graduates fruits and veggies and put them in the diaper bag. Most meals we didn't need them. We'd order a fresh fruit cup or a side of brocolli or something like that as his 'meal' and then we'd pick small pieces of chicken or beef or whatever off our plate as well. Under one year of age, they should still be getting most everything they need from breastmilk (or formula) anyway. I didn't worry about what he was eating much, because I knew he'd get everything he needed otherwise when he nursed. So, he ate a lot of melon and berries and veggies on the trip or whatever else was handy and I just didn't worry about it much.

 

[henrylovespooh]

I'm also a stay at home mom. We shipped a box with diapers and Earth's Best baby food down to our resort. Because I was afraid of breakage, I also shipped the Gerber's fruits in plastic containers, but I wasn't concerned about organics that much. I had to wrap the glass bottles in bubble wrap - I used a wide sheet, and was able to wrap three bottles at once and used twist ties inbetween each. I threw in some baby clothes to keep the box soft inside. None broke in shipment.

We have also stopped at a grocery store in Orlando, but we had a car service and I'm not sure which store we stopped at.

I would have some jarred food on hand just in case you have trouble making your own down there. And you're on vacation, so give yourself a rest.