Bulk cooking for 1 yr old.

[Noodles81]

Hi all,
I'm going back to work in a couple of weeks time and luckily (or unluckily depending in how you look at it!) my mum is looking after the lil man from 3-6pm till Hubbie gets home.
At times we've been rushed for time and have to put my hands up and admit that I've reached for the Ella's perhaps a little too often than I would have liked to.
My mother is very old school, make everything from scratch, using top notch fresh ingredients etc. god forbid she should ever see my feeding him a ready meal (which unbeknownst to her she has, but only because it was already emptied into his bowl!)
The problem and question I have is, having purchased the baby led weaning and Anabel cookbooks, where do I go from here and how do I manage it? Do I spend a Saturday batch cooking for the week ahead? Do I make a whole cottage pie and defrost that all or just make small portions with a bit of mince for example? What kind of Tupperware can I buy where you can write on the front what it is, yet use the tub again? What are some other good books/recipes that you can recommend? What and how do you ladies manage this and produce dinner every night which won't take too long for a 64 year old granny to do?

Thank you in advance!
x

I use stickers to put on Tupperware (Lakeland).
Good tip for freezing mashed potato, soup, mashed veg etc is to use silicon cake cases, then when they're frozen empty them all out into a freezer bag. That way you don't use endless Tupperware.
I would make batches of bolognese, stews etc, and some mashed potato/root vegetables (any combination of sweet potato, parsnip, swede, carrot, butternut squash etc) and keep supply of frozen veg- peas, sweet corn etc.
Then combine as desired- one day bolognese and pasta, another stew and potatoes and veg etc.
Almost any food is suitable for a 1 year old as long as you limit the salt, so make it easier by cooking for everyone and using extra portions of that.
River cottage family cookbook is good.
Hopefully granny is familiar with microwaving? I only ask bevause my MIL never had one! Remember all food must be heated until piping hot through, then allowed to cool.

Awwwww, this brings back memories for me.

When my little ones were at that stage I had a routine of one Sunday a month cooking up loads of Annabel Karmel recipes whilst drinking wine and getting well tipsy and freezing them in the Karmel ice cube trays. I would either leave out 2 cubes before I went to work or just defrost them in microwave when I got home.

I miss my cooking sessions. I tried all sorts of the recipes out of the Karmel book and enjoyed them. It suited me to use those recipes because I was a cooking novice.

Once DTs turned one I just started taking a portion of our food out for them before adding salt or chilli so at one they were having spag bol / curry / chilli / stew / stir fry etc and chopping or blending it down when they still weren't great with lumps.

I get the take away food containers from the 99p shop and just write on them with a white board marker.

I do a lot of what ellangirl suggests - making larger meals for DP and I and then portioning up DD sized meals from whats left and freezing them or having a batch cooking session on a weekend to stock up the freezer with DD portions of curry, Cottage pie, fish pie or fish/chicken in sauce.

I always have mixed veg and a stack of veggie pasta sauce ice cubes in the freezer as well as portions of mash to pull together quick meals.

I buy small plastic containers from asda - its a pack of 4 for a couple of quid

I batch cook once everyfew weeks for 12 month old DS. I use pots from the pound shop at the minute - i have some bigger ones from Wilkinson to use soon.
I make

• fish pie (cod cooked in milk) with mash, peas and cheese.

Tuna pasta - onion, whatever veg i have in, tuna and pasatta blended to make a sauce. I mix it with pasta, pot it up with cheese on top then freeze it altogether.

• cottage pie - mince, onion, gravy. Layer of veg, layer of mash and freeze
• soup made then frozen in individual pots

Watching with interests i need to extend my repertoire i think!!

Fantastic advice thanks guys!
Question - are ice cube trays now a bit too small of a portion to use? Couldn't fit much of a meal in there?
Also, if we have say lasagne using Dolmio sauces, I'm guessing I can't take a portion out for him for the next day because of the salt, is that right?
Also, what do you ladies do for lunch? Sandwich or a full on tuna pasta or risotto? Do you do light lunch then carby type dinner?
Tonight for example I'm doing me and hubby beef roast dinner. Shall I just put a load of food in his bowl and whizz up a bit more for tomorrow?

Sainsbury's and he baby clubs seem to a have a good selection of recipes. I've also been told Jools Oliver's book?
Sorry for all the questions, I'm just a bit go, go, go, pause, breathe, arrrrrrrgh at the moment trying to get a plan together for my mother before I go back to work!

I didn't use ice cube trays past the initial weaning stage, as I would have had to use too many cubes for my hungry DS!

Meals at 1 should be mashed or cut up v small rather than whizzed. Roast dinner perfect, meat will be difficult to chew so v small pieces. Dolmio sauces not great because of salt. It's not that babies/kids can't have any salt, it's just there's already quite a lot in things like bread and cheese without adding more with ready made sauces.

I would still do 1 meal a day soup/sandwich/eggs on toast/pasta salad etc and another more 'proper' meal for my DS

I use ikea silicone ice cube trays (as they are quite large) to make pesto cubes and then use 4 with pasta for a meal for DD.

Dd has her main 'proper' meal at lunch time then a smaller tea - soup, sandwich, homemade pizza, cheesy crumpets, slice quiche etc

I make individual pasta bake, Shepherd's pie, mac cheese, fish pie in ramekins and freeze with cling film over the top. I then defrost and put them in oven to finish to avoid microwaving everything.