Solids when out and about

[sjv]

Hi,
Can you give me some advice on the best way of transporting and reheating (if nes) food when out and about? Where possible I would like to avoid having to go into somewhere in order to get food zapped or to ask for hot water.
Are certain foods better than others if I want to do this?
Is it better for food be frozen, defrosted, freshly made?
I'm not against the odd jar of food but not every time we go out.

Thanks

[gingernutlover]

I keep all of dd's food in little tubs in the freezer and when we go out I heat it piping hot and then store it in one of those mini thermos things which keeps things hot or cold. this seems to work well and I dont use as many jars as I used to when out.

[archiesmummy]

I would have them cold or frozen and just carry a thermos so you can heat it up when needed.
Food shouldn't be left in room temperature over long periods of time as this increases the risk of food poisining. The "Danger Zone" (between 41°F to 140°F) is when the risk of this happening is the highest.
Keep cold foods cold and hot foods hot.
Sorry to go on, but I see so many people carry warmish food with them all day and then feed baby in afternoon.

[lexiemum]

in the early days went for easier option and took the fruit puree pots you can buy.

if did take a meal with me - it was defrosted and stored in cooler bag with ice packs and warmed wherever we were as we were likely to be eating aswell.

once on finger food - took a packed lunch of sandwiches; cucumber; bag of apple; banana etc and stored in cooler bag.

[Bozza]

Take a banana and a fork!

[Tommy]

bananas are great as they don't need to be cooked and come in their own little protective pouch
You take your food out of the freezer and it will have defrosted by lunchtime - your baby doen't have to have it warm - room temp should be fine.
jars are not the devil's work (really!) and presumably this is not every day.
Also, powdered food is a good alternative and you just take the water in a bottle to mix it up.

[snowleopard]

I used jars sjv, because I didn't like the thought of carting around semi-warm food all day - even in a coolbag it's not really guaranteed to be OK. If you choose your jars carefully and read the ingredients you can find some quite good ones - and I made up for it with lots of fresh and home-cooked stuff at home. My other strategy was to get DS onto finger foods and as wide a range of normal food as possible - now he's 14 months and I can just give him a bit of whatever I'm having, eg I'll get a baked potato, sandwich or vegetables when we're out and he'll just share it.

Top tip if you have a John Lewis with a cafe - you can ask for their roast dinner without the meat, and it costs about 2 quid (as opposed to 6.95 with the meat) and you get a load of potatoes and mixed veg that make great finger food plus lunch for you.

[Olihan]

I used to take pureed friut or veg with me in a cool bag so it wasn't AS vital if it got a bit warm (unlike if it had meat in). I also got them used to eating cold fruit purees so I didn't have to bother warming them up. Yogurts are also a good thing to take if you've got a cool bag.

[notsogummyanymore]

I was always told that pre-frozen food had to be heated to a very high temp then allowed to cool before feeding due to the risk of food poisoning? Have always followed that rule with he exception of fruit purees. Is your baby having finger foods yet? My baby loves buttered bread or toast fingers with the already mentioned mashed banana and maybe a yoghurt in a cool box?

[clairemow]

how about avocado (fab meal all in one!), kiwi fruit (don't know how old your LO is - kiwi can be bad if they have allergies)? Ripe pears are good too and mash easily, although need to be mixed with something else like banana or go really runny!

[pipo]

No tips on what home-made food to take out and about I'm afraid as I go for the safe option of a small jar (4month size even tho' DS is 18 months) and a banana. DS then usually shares mine as well.