Baby breakfast ideas
Usually, this is the first meal that you and baby will be having the same thing (bar coffee, obvs).
- Wholemeal or multigrain toast (the processed white stuff lacks much nutritional value so steer clear) with peanut butter, Vegemite, cream cheese or avocado smash is a great fibrous start to the day (jam usually has a lot of sugar, and honey is on the “no” list because there’s a risk of infant botulism).
- Oats or Weetbix are fine and chia puddings or your own bircher topped with fruit are delish in the summer.
- Scrambled eggs
- Wholemeal pancakes
- The odd hash browns
- Fruit and yoghurt
Basically, you and your baby could go to town on a breakfast buffet!
Baby lunch ideas
Lunch is the time to give them their main serve of protein for the day. This is partly to help with their big midday nap, and partly because both babies and toddlers are crankier in the evenings, and it’s easier to get them eating more and trying new things when they’re in a better mood. When cooking for babies, don’t be afraid of adding herbs and spices, as Dupuche writes, “babies don’t like bland, they like what they know.” So you want a nutritious tasty meal, but you’re (likely) home alone with your baby and they need to eat before they nap. How to pull this off? Raid the freezer for whatever you prepared earlier. Clever you. Even if they’re out of the puree stage, Karmel recommends freezing pureed or grated vegetables to use as bases for pastas, risottos or omelettes that are easier to put together while your baby’s about. If the freezer is empty, grilled toast, couscous, a tofu salad, mini sandwiches, deconstructed burgers, French toast or omelettes make for easy wins.
Baby dinner ideas
To save your evening cooking load doubling, find recipes that are easily adapted for little ones, or something from their recipe books that can be given a little embellishment for adults. A lamb curry can be pepped up for the grown-ups with a little cayenne pepper, a home-made burger can be deconstructed for little hands and mouths, and spaghetti bolognese is a fantastic way to sneak-in extra veggies for everyone. Meat and veg dinners are easily adapted: just cut the vegetables into fingers or wedges instead of rounds or dicing, and use a mallet to really tenderise the meat before you cook it. Babies struggle with a chewy meat.