cooking for the whole family things that are suitable for baby

morganb

Just wanted to add that some low-salt stock cubes have MSG in them instead.

3KIDSNOMONEY

thanks everyone,

i have reserved the annabel karmel book at argos.

been out shopping and bought some humous (lazy i know) and lots of veg. I need to get myself into gear and get cooking.

onlyroz

As others have said, the main thing to avoid is salt - which can sneak its way into food without you realising. Gravy and stock cubes are a big culprit - but also check the ingredients list and nutrition info on any processed foods you use.

In general there is no reason why a baby cannot eat whatever you are eating. Some say to avoid spicy food but I don't see why, unless you're thinking of vindaloos. My boy loved curries and chillis from quite a young age - we just made a load of mild to medium curry and then added our own chillis to heat up our portions a bit more.

I can also recommend the Annabel Karmel book.

morganb

3KIDSNOMONEY wrote: »

been out shopping and bought some humous (lazy i know)

I don't think that's lazy, I can never get round to making my own houmous and, when my deli makes such a perfect one, why try to reinvent the wheel? I cook everything else from scratch, houmous is my one shortcut.

Paparika

http://allrecipes.com/

This is a good website that i use if i am after a particular thing.
or after something different.

look up apple sauce, there is a really delicious one that baby will love

ooo000ooo

onlyroz wrote: »

As others have said, the main thing to avoid is salt - which can sneak its way into food without you realising. Gravy and stock cubes are a big culprit - but also check the ingredients list and nutrition info on any processed foods you use.

.

The OH uses stuff called "bouillion" as it's the stock/gravy, for our 7 month old, with the lowest amount of salt she has found. Doesn't taste too bad either. Available in Tesco, Asda etc.

Zziggi

Can i suggest to OP goes to the Old style forum on this site. She'll get loads of ideas, help and support on there. Maybe it'd be appropriate for a moderator to move the thread onto there??

Hell_Dans_Un_Handcart

Check your ingredients for salt, e-numbers and colours (both 'natural' and artifical; many aren't labelled as e-numbers these days). You'll be surprised what contains what - many margerines and breads contain E numbers, for example. By cooking from scratch you should be able to eliminate your use of these

Can I suggest, instead of using stock, invest in a few herb plants for your windowsill (about 70p each from Asda) and then add your own salt at the table? I cook without salt now and I don't even notice.

Amanda65

My little one's usually had portions of our dinners (and I'd save and freeze some for nights when we were either eating late or meal wasn't suitable eg curries / chillis)

They would eat roast dinners, spaghetti bolognese, tuna pasta bake, cheesy pasta, stews, chicken, mash and roasted veg - they really would eat everything which I think gave them a good grounding in flavours and means they will pretty much eat everything now (except DD1 who developed an aversion to the taste of eggs and peas ). As they are now 17, 15 and 12 I obviously didn't poison them!

As others have said, the main thing to watch is the addition of salt, and I still cook with far less salt than my parents did.

I think just cook nice, fresh ingredients and you won't go far wrong.

Woodsey

If you are struggling to get low salt stock cubes (I do!) - for tomato based dishes, mix some tomato paste with a teaspoon of dried mixed herbs and hot water - instant stock! For non tomato based dishes - I just added a bit of water until my little one was old enough to tolerate a little salt.

We generally don't cook with salt anymore now - and only have it on the table. As a result - we really notice now how saltly ready and take away meals are!

Also - I went to my local library before buying any baby recipe books and tried them out. Some of the more well known names recipes can be incredibly fiddly to make on a regular basis - I really like the Children's Food Bible A-Z book. I use the recipes from this more than the others and it has great advice on what freezes well and doesn't.

Hope this helps a little and Good Luck with the cooking