Baby food recipes and snacks

Fivenations

Good to know you are more confident. One word of warning - petit filou and other similar desserts are very sugary so please make sure you brush baby's teeth afterwards. My son had terrible teeth because of those and soya milk which, when he had it, was very sugary but no one warned me.

Ouch - your sprogs are bouncers! Thankfully mine were little runts but soon caught up!

tiamai_d

Why does it have to be organic?

Mine just got plain old fruit and veg from supermarket or local stall and butcher meat.

I never used ice cube trays, by the time they are 6 months old, they are eating a lot more.

Simply used a load of small plastic air tight tubs and a hand blender. Would spend one night a week making stuff up, and whenever I was making spag bol (which I make from scratch, no jars) I would make extra and whiz it up later on, freeze it.

Each day I would take out 2 tubs and put in the fridge for the next day. Then they would get mashed banana or fromage frais etc for a sweet.

Cheaper, easier and you know what they are getting. Plus when it comes to introducing texture your not going from mush to mush with bit of pasta like the jars do.

astep70uk

It has to be organic because its just a personal choice. I would rather pay a little more for her food, knowing that I'm not filling her with harmful chemicals. The average supermarket apple is sprayed around 32 times in its life with chemicals and pesticides so I don't really want this going into her system.
Before I knew any different, my son (who is now 5) was fed mainly on dry packet baby food which was made up with baby milk or water. I later discovered that the main ingerdient in this was maltodextrin, which is just like wallpaper paste, used to bulk up the food, and has no nutritional value.
He also ate a lot of 'normal' non organic food, which a few years ago contained lots of artificial chemicals, colours and preservatives.
Round about the age of 3 we had quite a few behavioral problems with him, and this was linked with him eating anything with certain 'E' numbers in.
I now feel really guilty about not knowing what was in his food, and am therefore careful about what he eats now, and what my baby will eat.
Like I said, its just a personal choice though

diddydiddydondon

Don't be afraid to try veggie meals Kirchi is red lentils cooked with a sliver of garlic and ginger. mashed:A with cooked basmati rice and a little yoghurt. All my kids have loved it. Very nutritous and you can buy red lentils and rice by the sack from any supermarket.

troll35

Don't know if this will help but when I batch make baby food I store it in sterilised baby food jars so that I know the portion size is about right (and I can never estimate just how many ice-cubes make up a portion). I also find that homemade food tends to be thicker/stodgier than readymade and so often needs thinning down a bit with formula or boiled water to get the consistency right.

jannyannie

Hi
I was skint when I had my son and also had two step-children to feed. Don't bother with baby food, except the odd jar in emergencies. Get yourself some ice cube trays. Freeze quantities of pureed fruit, vegetables ect. You can puree anything. When dinnertime comes, simply pop two or three cubes out, defrost and warm up in the same way as baby milk. Also give your baby the same as you eat but without any salt added to it. Remember to mash food as soon as you can so your baby gets used to lumps. Sounds like you're in the middle of nowhere, do you have a farm shop near you? Pleased to say my son has thrived on his diet so far and eats anything including brussel sprouts!

Enjoy!:T

borderlakland

i'm certain by this age my lot were eating weetabix(organic if you want) made with formula but by 6 months made with cows milk.do check with h/v as my last 1 was on this over 6 yrs so might have changed guidelines.you can change it by adding fromage frais/fruit etc.
also veg/pots etc that we had for tea used to cook enough for 2/3 meals for baby each time.
dd2 loved h/m ground rice pud can make it with formula if you want.
i wouldn't worry bout giving dd curry as long as it's not mind blowing hot all mine loved the spicier foods.we used to add tiny bit of our curry to lots extra veg to make it milder then as they get used to it you can add more.

rhubarbs

Amanda Grant's cookbooks are great too. I've got her organic baby book and toddler meal planner on very long term loans from the library!

Becles

Check the age guidelines as I can't remember when certain types of food should be introduced. Don't be scared of introducing foods you eat at an early age. Mine ate things like curries, chilli, pasta etc., from an early age. I just mushed up what we were having (within reason!). Both boys now eat a wide variety of foods, and only have a couple of genuine food dislikes.

My youngest was 7 months when we went all inclusive on holiday. I did take a load of baby food with me, but he mainly ate off the buffet!

overlykeensaver

I second the curry solution. We cook our own curries and started to give them to our baby when she about 7 months old - we just used a pinch each of ground cumin, coriander and ginger (no chillies!) and she absolutely loved it and still does!

In fact she much prefers the food we cook for ourselves than anything we do specially for her - babies don't think things are spicy/garlicky/herby etc they just know when something tastes good!