Now that your baby has started solids and has been chomping cucumber and slurping cereal for a few months, they’re ready for the next leg of their culinary journey, but WTF do you feed them? You want to ensure a nutritious balanced diet that creates lifelong healthy eating habits, but cooking for the adults of the household is already a lot. Add in separate baby meals, and that’s a real lot. To arm you with timesaving tips, tasty ideas and fail-safe feeds, we consulted our top baby food recipe books Food Babies Love by Emily Dupuche, and Weaning by Annabel Karmel. Get ready to be your child's very own Masterchef.
Baby Food Ideas: Keep the first-foods in your repertoire
Just because their palette has developed, doesn’t mean you can’t keep broccoli florets, carrot sticks, plain yoghurt and slices of avocado on the menu. Not every meal has to be complex. Sliced fruit or cooked single veggies are great, easy snacks when you’re short on time or planning to be out and about. Same goes for the humble two-egg omelette. It’s delicious, full of good fats and packed with that essential lunch-time protein.
Nothing ‘lite’
Babies need proportionally more fats than adults, so it’s important to introduce meat and cheese from six months. Always give them full-fat options when it comes to dairy, cook with good quality olive or coconut oil, and remember that while the rough guide is 1 cup of food per meal, babies come with a built-in self-regulator to manage their intake (lol, but really), so don’t worry too much about how much they are eating.
Freezer friendly? Amen
While you’re feeding a baby/toddler, it’s a great time to get friendly with your freezer. Most cooking endeavours will produce a lot more than your kid will eat in one serve, so whether it’s dumplings, croquettes, rissoles, falafels, risotto, curry, dhal, pesto, fritters or soup, plan to freeze individual serves and treat yourself some cute containers to store it in. Not only does this eliminate waste, but it means you always have something fresh and nutritious on-hand to serve your baby. It also means you can vary up their meals i.e. they don’t have to eat pumpkin risotto lunch and dinner three days in a row — you’d get over it, and so will they.