1 year olds freezer meal ideas?

twirlie

I've been reading through this board and I love it!

My dilemma is as follows. My little boy has just turned one. Up until now, I've done a massive cooking session once a week of meat, veg and some kind of starch (potato / sweet potato / pasta) and blended it all up then frozen it in annabel karmels trays (from boots, about 1oz in size). Then when frozen I've popped them out and stored them in freezer bags. It worked great, especially when he was tired - 1 and a half minutes zapped in the microwave, and he had chicken carrot and potato, all home made and ready to go. I also had a nice selection to give him, as I always had different cubes at the ready.

However, now he's decided he likes finger foods and is refusing my mush. He's too young for the things i remember eating as a kid (nuggets, chicken dippers, burgers etc) but as its only him and me I'm wasting loads of food trying to cook him meals every day, especially as I tend to snack and not eat huge meals.

How did you all deal with finger foods when your kids were 1? Do you have any freezable healthy suggestions for me? Thank you!!!

Ishtar

Quite often DD ended up with something like eggy bread, cheese on toast, breadsticks and dips - something that could be easily put together. She would also eat what we were having in the evenings, albeit with her fingers! Then I found this book: Finger Foods for Babies and Toddlers. It's a fantastic resource with loads of recipes (which DD loved), and also gives you nutritional and storage advice - a lot of the foods can be frozen, which is a godsend. (My copy has been so well used that it's falling apart!).

It's a real challenge when they move on to the next stage - I often found I was struggling to keep up! You think you've got it sorted and they change...!

D.

Bexstars

Hiya My little girl is now 20 months and I made her meals from the Anabell Karmel baby and toddler meal planner which I cant recomend enough. At the age of 1 they can pretty much eat anything you are having, you just need to be careful of salt levels. Things I used to do and still do for my daughter for the freezer are things like fish pie, pasta in sauce, stew. You can give them a spoon to play with and have a go at dipping it in the food and popping it in their mouth while you have a spoon to actually feed them, I always would add sticks of veg, small brocolli florets to the plate too so they can pick them up and feed themselves. It will be messy but if you can make it a little fun for them it always helps

MrsB_2

My 15 month old likes nothing better than to sit at the dinner table in her highchair, eating whatever everybody else is eating. I tend to just chop bits up and give her a selection on her tray which she then eats with her fingers.

For lunches she loves sliced cheese with wafer thin ham, slices of cucumber, tomato and avocado. She also really likes rice cakes which make a great snack once they're into feeding themselves.

Other things she really enjoys are:

Raisins
Jacket potato with cheese / tuna
Sandwiches
Roast Chicken
Any sort of potatoes
Fruit - slices of pear / apple / banana are great for them to eat as finger food.
Yoghurt

She's pretty good and will eat most things. I tend to find though that she eats best when she eats communally. ie if we're eating together. She's much less interested if she cant copy mummy!!