Baby food recipes and snacks

rosh12

I have to say the Annabel Karmel book (from the library!) is pretty good for this. I think she has a website too with recipes on it- though she's not the only expert in this area. I've got a 6 month old girl and we've been weaning for almost a month now... basically for most veg I steam it till it's tender then puree it with a hand blender. Favourites are butternut squash, sweet potato, apple+pear+vanilla, leek+pea+sweet potato, she's not a big fan of apple or potato on their own- but ok if it's mixed up.

I basically froze loads of ice-cube trays of individual veg, over the last couple of months (I think they are best if you use within 3 months...) then mix and match- eg 1 swede, 1 carrot+ 1 mashed potato!

Mashed potato doesn't generally work in a blender- you need a mouli hand grater thingummibob I think. Oh banana (handmashed so v simple!) goes down v well too!

Good luck.

PS A friend advised me to give the odd jar of food every now and again from early on... Occasionally you might have to give the odd jar when you are away / out and about and she ssaid that her baby was funny about jars of food when in such an "emergency" she was given one- as she'd never had them before and apparently jar food is v different in taste and texture to home made stuff!

Hillfly

Also a tip for ice cibe trays - if you get them from ikea they have rubber trays that sit on plastics mats. These rubber trays are soo easy to get the food out compared to normal ice cube trays when you only want 1 or 2 cubes rather than the whole lot at once!

Shoey1610

I really recommend the Lorraine Kelly Baby and Toddler Feeding plan as it was just abit simpler than the Annabel Karmel one I found and I could make things for us as a family once we had got past the initial puree stage and it saved a lot of time. You definately need a handblender to whizz things up and the ice cubes trays are invaluable. Once my little girl got to six months she had whatever we were having within limits, obviously I didn't give her pizza and chips, but she had whizzed up shepherds pie, lasagne, spag bol. I always froze a portion as well so I had a supply in the freezer for when needed. As long as you are sensible with not adding salt/using jars etc then you can just use the same recipe for the whole family.

I second the give her a jar occasionally. I didn't give my little girl a jar for the first three months and then she turned her nose up when I needed to give her one in an emergency.

egon

We have the Annabel Karmel Book too. DS1 is not a fuzzy eater all all (2y), and DS2(5mth) seem to love it too. We also adapt the later stage recipes for the family, so that we don't have to cook extra.
Works a treat!

bommer

Sorry wouldn't call 4 year olds - babies now.

Think you need to sort these two out first. I have always cooked fresh for my two twins and they are better with good home cooked meat and veg or even my vegetarian speg bol or cottage pie than with any processed or "produced meal in a jar".

What is wrong with meat i.e roated chicken turkey beaf, pork, lamb potatoes and several veg with a bit of gravy all wizzed up in a blender -thats 5 days a week.

Finger food for dinner and the english stailwait speg bol, cottage pie, fish pie or chicken tika will make up the rest.

My kids don't like processed food and i alway relish sitting in a resturant and my two eating a lovely cooked roast dinner and seeing people gobsmaked at them eating their veg first whilst their kids are picking at their chicken nuggets and chips it is the best and consistant feeling going.

Kids will as the advert says copy what you do - so you need to make sure you set the right example,

My two love meat - i don't eat it but they will also eat my soya cottage pie or speg bol without batting an eyelid. They will also eat the meat verson but the wind is terrible.

My friends daughter who is coeliac likes my speg bol better than her moms.

It is better to set the example and eat as a family at the table than trying to force kids however young to eat somethink they don't like, also if you don't eat it they are more likely not too. Shared meals are better than separate ones even by times.

Also remember they won't go hungry so don't stress about weaning we all try to early - if they don't like it don't stress about it and try agian later.

thriftmonster

Babies love sweet food and ds1 would eat anything if it had apple puree added - spinach and apple, parsnip and apple, avocado and apple - you get the idea. I made 100s of apple ice cubes and then a selection of others to add to the apple.

beachbeth

Shoey1610 wrote: »

I didn't give my little girl a jar for the first three months and then she turned her nose up when I needed to give her one in an emergency.

This is what happened to me. But I must admit the jars look and smell disgusting so I didn't blame her really!

I more or less gave my babies whatever we were eating. Homemade soup can be whizzed up to a puree or you can leave some whole bits for when they are eating solids. If I was doing a roast dinner I would put gravy in the blender with some meat, veg and potato and whizz it all up. I also used the ice cube trays to freeze any excess food. This is ideal for days when you are perhaps having a takeaway yourself or havent got time.

I would also head for my nearest book shop and have a look as some of these. See which books look easy to follow and contains recipes with the sort of foods you are likely to eat:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_w_h_/202-1559945-3695045?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=baby+cookbook&Go.x=9&Go.y=7

Becles

I've never bothered with baby recipes and feeding plans.

If whatever we are having can go in the blender, then that's what she gets!

I've got some small plastic boxes with lids, so I freeze extra meals for days like last night when we had fish and chips and she had chicken chausseur! My baby is 6½ months now, and has tried various casseroles and veg, pasta dishes, roast dinners, chilli, shepherds pie, chinese, curries and so on. Just remember not to add salt, and start off making a mild chilli/curry, then take some out for baby and spice the rest up for yourselves if you like it hotter.

It gets the baby used to eating the types of meals you have in your normal diet, and they are less likely to be fussy later on. My two boys eat pretty much anything now and the baby hasn't developed any dislikes yet.

She has the odd jar for convenience such as if we're out, but she tends to prefer the home made meals.

sylphraven

I have a couple of jars in the changing bag with a spare spoon & bib incase we're out longer than planned but other than that LO either has what we're having (as long as it doesnt contain honey, or added salt) put in the blender (& an extra portion frozen for another day) or for a quick meal we have pots of fromage frais & heinz pots of custard fruit.

If your in the boots parenting club they send you a voucher for a free trial of jarred baby food, perfect for emergencies.

LO's fav meal at the moment is baked squash, cook it like a baked potatoe, scoop out the seeds & its ready to eat as its nice & mushy. Sprinkle some finely grated cheese on top for another twist.

Penelope_Penguin

Hi, there! Try this thread - baby food recipes. Post 2 has a link to a longer thread - feeding baby on a budget.

HTH, Penny. x