To GNHQ

The food you describe, EP is sans almost every element, and must appeal only to a niche market in a small percentage of the population. Unless they can identify a large enough potential market, manufacturers are loathe to invest a lot of money in research and experimentation at any time, and particularly just now. There can't be many who produce what you would like. Perhaps you could start a new thread under the "Food" topic - it is possible that other posters know of sources. The page for new food threads is www.gransnet.com/forums/food

Blossoming

I’m an avid reader of ingredients on anything we buy. I’m pleased to read in the trade press that Tilda, along with other manufacturers, are moving towards fully recyclable packaging with collection points in supermarkets as well as kerbside collection where possible.

My only reservation with an electric rice cooker is that it would take up counter space and might only be used once a week. I could see it ending up on a garage shelf along with the soup maker and bread maker.

Ah, that's good to know, Blossoming but the plastic packaging still has to be manufactured in the first instance from petro-chemicals. These leech into food just they do into bottled water.

From a vegan perspective (I don't know if you are) many plastics contain stearic acid. This is used as slip agent so food doesn't stick to the packet. It's made from animal tallow so definitely not vegan.

There are synthetic slip agents but these can contain palm oil also very controversial because of the wholesale destruction of animal habit to grow the palm. One of the many reasons why I am very anti-plastic and avoid it wherever possible especially food packaging. I was alarmed at the news story this week about the study which found microplastics in babies bodies. It's in the food chain and all the plastic toys, comforters, utensils they put in their mouths. Frightening.

Yes, the Cookmate does have a bit of a footprint. Probably about 30 cm. I don't know if there are mini versions.

If I recall correctly from previous discussions passim,
EP has NO fridge nor freezer. Do you have a hob for cooking?
I can see how limiting this is for you currently.

Germanshepherdsmum

*EP*, surely all this processed food is bad for you as well as the environment? It may be vegan but what about the preservatives that are added to ensure shelf life? If you were to buy a small rice cooker as Early suggested and experiment with adding some herbs and spices to your liking, and use your blender to purée your choice of seasoned/spiced vegetables, which you can first cook in your microwave or steam (or boil but that destroys a lot of the nutrients) on the hob, you could end up with a delicious and nutritious meal of your choosing, good for you and for the environment? Any lumps in the vegetables after blending can easily be broken down with a wooden spoon. As has been suggested, for convenience you could always cook extra and put in the fridge or freezer for another day. And have you considered soup? I have a very easy to use soup maker (Lakeland, amongst others, sell them) which cooks the vegetables with water or vegetable stock or milk (you could use soya) and then blends, as lump-free as you could wish, in minutes. Very nutritious. With a little planning and experimentation you could have quite a repertoire of suitable dishes and you would know exactly what went into them. One of my favourite easy, tasty (and definitely lump-free) home made soups is mushroom, made with chestnut mushrooms and a few pre-soaked dried porcini. It freezes very well, as do most vegetable soups. Have I got your tastebuds going? Something warm and comforting in the colder months, and nothing beats home cooked!

The only preservative in the baby food that I use, Ella's kitchen 4 month plus range, is that some of them have a small quantity of organic lemon juice added.

The only one out of that range that I use is the Tesco Green Veggies one, and that one has no added preservatives.

I bought a blender some time ago using some Tesco vouchers from the points but I have not used it yet as it is so much more convenient to just use a couple of sachets when I want a meal.

Also I need to get a sieve so that I can ensure there are no odd lumps in the result and I have not found one yet which is strong and with holes about the size of the diameter of a grain of rice

It is not as easy for me as is being made out

On the contrary, it actually is, as has been pointed out ad nauseam - you refer repeatedly to the convenience of your ready meals and their flavour, so why complain or seek more variety? Do something about it yourself.
Add spices, seasonings, herbs to taste- baby food is bland and unseasoned for a very good reason, if you like that , fine, if not- do something about it. You won’t get a manufacturer to produce a range of food products especially for EP
It is not rocket science or indeed cordon bleu cookery. .

FannyCornforth

Blooming heck EP and you want us to report this thread to HQ (whatever that is)
Why don’t you just talk to us, not them? I’ve said that exact thing to you before.
It’s as if you think that the management are some higher being.
Just use the forum and it’s wonderful members as intended, please

I have started a number of such threads and some have had Gransnet Daily headline billing.

I am hoping to start a new thread about sponsorship after posting this, so maybe you would like to have a look at that if I can get it started.

EP. In answer to your original post, no I don’t want any sponsored discussions as I don’t see the need. And FannyCornforth has explained that your request to HQ would fall on deaf ears,

I do wish you would consider some of the more nutritious options suggested here, eg soup. Even if you bought tins of soup ? Puréed carrot etc is so easy and quick to make yourself.

GN is excellent for advice on everything from travel information to medical issues (thanks meryl !). Without needing a formal sponsored discussion.

However that is just my view, so please don’t be offended.

I have started a number of such threads and some have had Gransnet Daily headline billing

Please do not fool yourself - as has been pointed out the “headline threads” are simply listed in order, with no reflection of interest, topicality, or even popularity. .

EP, I give up. Your diet is unnecessarily repetitive, bland, processed and environmentally unfriendly. It could so easily be so much more varied, tasty and nutritious - there’s a huge gulf between the nutrients required by you and by a four month old baby. Food should be a source of pleasure as well as nutrition but I can’t imagine you derive much pleasure from eating the food you describe three times a day. As Lucca suggests, perhaps even tinned soups would give you some variety whilst adhering to your vegan principles? And tin cans can be recycled, unlike all that plastic.

ElderlyPerson
As someone who seems very interested in what you eat, I’m puzzled why you just don’t appear to be interested in producing your own.
From reading many of your posts you appear to be someone who likes to be in control and yet you hand over one of the most important aspects of our lives ( food ) to somebody else.

MayBeMaw

^I bought a blender some time ago using some Tesco vouchers from the points but I have not used it yet as it is so much more convenient to just use a couple of sachets when I want a meal^.

Also I need to get a sieve so that I can ensure there are no odd lumps in the result and I have not found one yet which is strong and with holes about the size of the diameter of a grain of rice

It is not as easy for me as is being made out

On the contrary, it actually is, as has been pointed out ad nauseam - you refer repeatedly to the convenience of your ready meals and their flavour, so why complain or seek more variety? Do something about it yourself.
Add spices, seasonings, herbs to taste- baby food is bland and unseasoned for a very good reason, if you like that , fine, if not- do something about it. You won’t get a manufacturer to produce a range of food products especially for EP
It is not rocket science or indeed cordon bleu cookery. .

The baby food that I have is not bland.

This one is quite strongly flavoured.

www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/308486696

I got just one to try one week as I wondered if it might be too spicy, but I found it lovely and I have that some days now, often served with a sachet of Tesco Green veggies to balance the rich with the plain in one meal, served with rice and a third of a litre of Alpro no sugars soya drink poured on the rice before adding the baby food.

This one is very tasty.

www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/271646345

Cordon bleu for omnivores

Cordon vert for vegetarians

At a guess, one for vegans would be Cordon jaune.

What for gluten-free vegan purée? Maybe Cordon orange.

If manufacturers choose to grumble away their opportunities that is a matter for them.

Lucca

EP. In answer to your original post, no I don’t want any sponsored discussions as I don’t see the need. And FannyCornforth has explained that your request to HQ would fall on deaf ears,

I do wish you would consider some of the more nutritious options suggested here, eg soup. Even if you bought tins of soup ? Puréed carrot etc is so easy and quick to make yourself.

GN is excellent for advice on everything from travel information to medical issues (thanks meryl !). Without needing a formal sponsored discussion.

However that is just my view, so please don’t be offended.

Ah, the disability of deafness used as a metaphor! Oh oh oh! Mainstream supremacy.

Sorry, I'm backing off.
I am quite distressed envisaging OP on baby food as a lifestyle choice.

MerylStreep

ElderlyPerson
As someone who seems very interested in what you eat, I’m puzzled why you just don’t appear to be interested in producing your own.
From reading many of your posts you appear to be someone who likes to be in control and yet you hand over one of the most important aspects of our lives ( food ) to somebody else.

I am not someone who likes to be in control!

These conversations are riddled with disconnect.
I personally cannot get the hang of the interplay of exchanges.
I'm sorry.

EP you wrote
I got just one to try one week as I wondered if it might be too spicy, but I found it lovely and I have that some days now, often served with a sachet of Tesco Green veggies to balance the rich with the plain in one meal, served with rice and a third of a litre of Alpro no sugars soya drink poured on the rice before adding the baby food

.
Well, Chacun à son goût

But as for this series of non sequiturs
Cordon bleu for omnivores

Cordon vert for vegetarians

At a guess, one for vegans would be Cordon jaune

What for gluten-free vegan purée? Maybe Cordon orange.

Now you are just being silly.

I used to like Heinz baby food tins of prunes and custard.
The DC rarely got a taste.

Alas they don't make them any more.

If you can safely swallow and digest basmati rice then you should be able to eat foodstuffs other than pureed baby food, rice & Alpro, three times a day, even with your limited cooking facilities.

You are woefully short on protein - the litre of Alpro daily gives you about 33gs, but you say you are very tall so you need at least twice that amount.

I won't comment further on your extreme eating habits.

Riverwalk

If you can safely swallow and digest basmati rice then you should be able to eat foodstuffs other than pureed baby food, rice & Alpro, three times a day, even with your limited cooking facilities.

You are woefully short on protein - the litre of Alpro daily gives you about 33gs, but you say you are very tall so you need at least twice that amount.

I won't comment further on your extreme eating habits.

There is protein in the rice.

7.2 grammes per pack, three packs each day. So over 21 grammes per day.

Plus the protein in the soya desserts, vanilla and chocolate, and in the soya shakes, chocolate and strawberry.

So that is around another 20.

So around 74 grammes of protein per day.

Plus a couple of grammes in the baby food.

You never mentioned that you have desserts and shakes!

As I said, had enough of your diet.

MayBeMaw

EP you wrote
I got just one to try one week as I wondered if it might be too spicy, but I found it lovely and I have that some days now, often served with a sachet of Tesco Green veggies to balance the rich with the plain in one meal, served with rice and a third of a litre of Alpro no sugars soya drink poured on the rice before adding the baby food

.
Well, Chacun à son goût

But as for this series of non sequiturs
Cordon bleu for omnivores

Cordon vert for vegetarians

At a guess, one for vegans would be Cordon jaune

What for gluten-free vegan purée? Maybe Cordon orange.

Now you are just being silly.

I remember reading that the vegetarian society had cordon vert cookery events.

The colour used for vegan is usually yellow, so cordon jaune would be logical for the vegan equivalent.

And what colours are left? So orange seems a good choice.

So not silly at all.

Being silly and having harmless fun would be getting Pantone fashion colour swatches and devising diets for a Cordon sash for each of the colours suggested for fashion in Spring 2022.

www.pantone.com/

Direct link.

www.pantone.com/articles/fashion-color-trend-report/new-york-fashion-week-spring-summer-2022

ElderlyPerson

Direct link.

www.pantone.com/articles/fashion-color-trend-report/new-york-fashion-week-spring-summer-2022

I don’t know what point you are trying to make other than having the last word.

I’m out.

Such as Cordon Poinciana for food based on tomato purée.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhJ-_D-f5Fc

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poinciana_(song)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delonix_regia

MayBeMaw

ElderlyPerson

Direct link.

www.pantone.com/articles/fashion-color-trend-report/new-york-fashion-week-spring-summer-2022

I don’t know what point you are trying to make other than having the last word.

I’m out.

I was just being happy and jolly and friendly.

Harmless humour.