Tips for Baby Meals

When I was approaching the 6 month mark with our daughter, I felt so overwhelmed by the idea of introducing foods and trying to plan what to feed her. I spent hours reading blogs, watching videos, and even took a free online course (which I highly recommend). I've finally managed to balance some easy meal combinations for her and weekend prep to make busy times easier. Below is a summary of tips and examples of our go-to's!

• Prep Ahead & Freeze - in the very beginning, I would spend time on Sundays to make purees. I still maintain this as an easy way to add vegetables to her meals. I scoop it into the silicone cube tray, freeze, and pop them out to a freezer safe bag.

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• Buy Frozen Plain Vegetables or Fruit - I'll purchase broccoli, cauliflower, and other vegetables to do a quick microwave or boil now that we are serving her solids. Just let it completely cool and cut into smaller bites that is appropriate for their age. Costco's massive bag of frozen blueberries cost the same as a fresh pint at our grocery store! I'll defrost and mash for her.

• Merge What You & Baby Eat - baby marketed food is just more expensive, so I purchase yogurt that both of us can use. When she first started solids and I was meal prepping for us, I would think about what items I could pull aside to cook plain (such as 1-2 broccoli florets) that could be served to her.

• Pair Pouches with Easy Sides - we are human and keep pouches on hand because we have plenty of stressful nights when we are rushing to get a meal in front of her. If we use a pouch, we typically serve 1/2 of it with a (heated up) frozen vegetable cube and some fruit with yogurt or cottage cheese. I really like this brand and so does our little one.

Some of my go-to combinations:

• oatmeal with a little bit of almond or peanut butter, half a mashed banana

• 1 cooked egg with ~ tbsp cottage cheese stirred in, hemp seeds on top

• 1/2 an avocado with ~1-2 tbsp cottage cheese, hemp seeds on top

• almond butter thinly spread on toast, cut into small pieces

• goodles (prepared) with added peas or diced broccoli

Some of my go-to easy prep:

• poached pears or apples - remove skim and slice (I will eat the skin pieces), add to boiling water with cinnamon for 10-15 minutes or until fork can pierce it.

• digestive yogurt - soak 2-3 pitted dates for 30 minutes in warm water, add to plain whole milk yogurt (about 2 cups). I'll also add a little nut butter and cinnamon.

• vegetable blend (to freeze) - boil a variety of vegetables such as carrots, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, and/or cauliflower until soft enough to pierce with a fork. Blend with some water, no sodium broth, or breast milk.

• chia seed pudding - ~ half a tbsp of chai seeds mixed with 4 tbsp whole milk yogurt and mashed fruit

Now at 10 months with a few teeth, she can try more solids and eat from our plates, which has made things a lot easier. We are lucky she is a very curious eater, which I contribute partly to the variety of food in the first few months!