While my stomach was having its ulcerous condition again, I started eating jarred toddler food for lunch because it was soft, low sodium, and a fairly balanced meal that didn’t hurt too much. Now I find that I’m liking the convenience of the toddler food for lunch (and the taste is even growing on me! :eek: ). Is there a reason that an adult with a tetchy stomach shouldn’t regularly eat Heinz toddler food? Is there a limit on how many times a week an adult should eat toddler food?
It’s been a long, long time since my kids were toddlers, but I remember jar toddler food being expensive to the point of ruin. We only used it for traveling, and the rest of the time made our own. However, I see no reason nutritionally it would be a problem for an adult to eat it.
Hmm, you’ll find it a lot cheaper to make a sandwich and then throw it in the blender 
For it to be unsafe, there would have to be some mechanism by which it hurts adults but doesn’t hurt children. Other than lactose intolerance I can’t think of anything children can eat and adults can’t. IANAD etc.
The nutritional requirements of toddlers and adults are different, however, so to much toddler food is likely to lead to an unbalanced diet, unless you compensate in some way.
Yeah, isn’t the jarred toddler/baby food just bland adult food? I’d think you could obtain the same effect by just steaming vegetables, grilling/baking chicken, cooking rice, etc., and leaving out the seasonings.
Post to follow.
Like the other posters have said, toddler food is probably not going to do much harm since it is, after all, regular adult food in smaller portions with much less seasoning.
However, if you’re having digestive problems, I’d suggest going to a dietitian to work out a more sustainable and less expensive diet.
Robin
Maybe featherlou should consider joining the Tinytums Club.
I’m not a member myself (I was blackballed) but Tinytums offers an advice and information service. Presumably there’s a forum where you could pose this question and have it answered by a a nutritional expert. There is some nutritional detail on the linked page but it probably doesn’t apply to the OP.
There’s also a real life story about the dangers of turning into a Drama Queen if you eat this food (I think).
Check your sodium levels. They tend not to be as high as most prepackaged foods, but still up there. Chances are very good that sodium isn’t a problem for you (it’s a problem for only a very few people) but if you notice your fingers or ankles swelling, that’s a clue.
If you have weight control issues, you might find them too high in fat for frequent consumption. A toddler needs a lot more fat and carbs than most adults do, pound for pound. And you might find them lacking in the amounts of fiber most adults need.
But all in all, they’re just food. If you’re going to have an issue, you’ll be the one to notice. I’m sure they’re better than eating quarter pounders with cheese every day (which is all I could keep down for a few weeks while pregnant.)
There’s nothing wrong with occasional Baby Food. In fact, I remember my Dad was once “prescribed” a diet that included baby Food.
In fact, I’ll bet we could survive quite fine on dog food, if we had to.
When I was a senior in high school I had my wisdom teeth out. Out as in put to sleep and surgically extracted. Needless to say, I had a hard time eating anything. I subsisted on mashed potatoes and a selection of baby foods for nearly a week. No harm done other than I was extremely grateful by the time I could eat “real” food again.
I think that if you eat a little bit (1-2 jar/ lunch) and not revolve your whole diet around it, you should be fine. But if you have ulcer/stomach problems maybe look into medication. My mom uses that prilosec or nexxium (I can’t remember which) prescriptions stuff… it cleared her horrendous upset stomach problems up. (She was borderline ulcer formation due to high acid production- at one point the only thing she could keep down with any regularity was an Ensure drink)
That being said… hopefully you feel better soon.
Yes, but then I would be steaming, grilling, baking, and cooking.I’d rather be jar opening and microwaving. 
I’ve seen the doctors and nutritionists, and at then end of all that, I’m pretty much still on my own finding a way to keep feeding myself while my stomach is all but out of commission (you know how it goes with the medical profession). As long as nobody has any “Ohmygod you’re going to DIE eating toddler food!!!11!”, I guess I’ll just continue on. I hope I’m feeling better soon, too - you take your stomach for granted until it starts hurting.
Don’t know how good they are for you, but when I saw Gerber boxed lunches at the Dollar Tree (ravioli, veggie puffs, and a juice for $1), I was sorely temted to take up the habit!
I found a Heinz page here where you can click on the link and see the nutrition information for their various toddler foods. And here is Nutritiondata dot com, where you can look up regular foods.
One cup or 140 g of plain stewed chicken white meat has 211 calories and 4 g of fat. One jar or 213 g of Heinz Toddler Chicken Cacciatore has 160 calories and 5 g of fat.
However, how much of the Heinz toddler food is actual chicken is debateable; since the plain stewed chicken has 41 g of protein and the jar of Heinz Toddler food has 7 g of protein, my guess would be “very little”.
So yeah, it’s tasty, and it won’t kill ya to eat it, but it’s not designed for an adult’s protein needs, and it’s darn expensive.