Always with the baby food!

[Aragarthiel]

My husband and I go shopping about once a month for baby food, and often leave with over 100 jars. Well, it seems that every time we go, at least one gets broken. The first time, the grocery bags the bagger was trying to use weren't fully sealed at the bottom, so we lost three or four jars when the bags were picked up and the jars went through the hole in the bottom. The second time, the bagger had put one in the bag but put it on the inside of the bag near the opening so when he picked the bag up the weight of the jar flipped it out of the bag and onto the floor. Another time, a stocker was working on the baby food aisle while we were there and she accidentally bumped me, and I dropped one of the jars I had. And I can't count the number of times we've gotten home and baby food rolls out of the back of my truck when we lift the tailgate.

Luckily, this store's good about the whole "accidents happen" thing, and baby food isn't that expensive, so if any of the employees have to pay themselves for what happened, I don't have to feel so bad about it. Maybe next time we'll try to get more of the plastic double packs instead.

[fireheart]

Question: are you able to get those pouches or cans instead?

[Slayer]

Try using boxes next time. Less chance the jars will fall out and the box can slide all it wants in the car.

Some stores, like Walmart, have bags with solid sides. I love those.

[Aragarthiel]

I've never seen cans, and we get some of the pouches but the stores that are closest to me never carry more than four varieties at a time. I'll try the box thing though, we have enough of them sitting around from diapers and wipes.

[fireheart]

I've never seen cans, and we get some of the pouches but the stores that are closest to me never carry more than four varieties at a time. I'll try the box thing though, we have enough of them sitting around from diapers and wipes.

I believe Heinz do their baby food in cans as well as jars. I only say this because we use the puréed Apple baby food when we're making meatloaf and I see the cans there all the time.

[KiaKat]

If you have a good blender or food processor, it's really easy to make your own. Steam or roast the fruit or veggie, toss in device, puree. You have more control over the flavours that way, and can puree it to baby's liking. Pick up a cheap set of ice cube trays and spoon the puree into them to create single-serving cubes. Once they're frozen, pop them out and store in marked ziplocks in the freezer. Bonus: no more filling your pantry with those annoying jars!

I still do this with the fruit I use for my oatmeal, or for certain sauces.

[wolfie]

Have you considered asking when they stock the baby food, and shopping then? If you catch the guy stocking the shelves, ask nicely if he could open a couple boxes by opening the flaps, rather than slicing the sides about an inch off the bottom. This leaves the boxes intact and re-usable - and naturally the cardboard cartons used to ship the baby food to the store are the perfect size for transporting jars of baby food. By bringing it home in the cartons, rather than in bags, you'd have fewer "fallout" issues.

[Aragarthiel]

Sadly, our appliances aren't strong enough for most fruit and veggies.

I've seen them rearranging things on that aisle a lot lately and for some reason never thought to ask them for the box.

[Dreamstalker]

The Gerber jars we get in the store arrive in shrinkwrapped cardboard 'bases' (which will probably work for keeping them stable). The plastic trays are in boxes, but depending on the box they have to be cut/torn (box is scored, but that isn't always a clean tear) or opened on an end.