meat : fish for beginners

[morocco]

and I mean a complete ignoramus - help please

today i started cooking meat for the first time for my 6 month old and realised i know nothing at all

eg do you have to wash it first?
how long will it last in fridge? what about after cooked?
what about preparing it - should i use separate knives etc?
how do you know when it s cooked?
more idiot proof recipes also needed
oh yeah - one more question - all the stuff about meat:fish for pregnant women - is it the same for babies ie no swordfish, limit tuna, no pate
please don t assume your advice will be too patronisinglt simple - not so!

I may not be the best person to ask as I didn't go down the path of washing too much food before my ds ate it. I believe that it is sad that it is best to wash fruit and veg before either giving straight to your child or cooking. I didn't wash my meat at all and it didn't occur to me but I suppose you could if you want.

When ds first started eating solids I would cook his meat in water with some herbs to add a bit of flavour and then puree it along with the veg. I know they say you should give foods separately but I didn't know this at the time so just mixed it all up.

I boiled a chicken breast with a bay leaf and some rosemary. It was flavoured quite nicely but remember that even though it is cooking in water it really does absorb a lot of the flavour so don't use too much rosemary. I generally cooked a variety of vegetables up and added something sweet like corn, sweet potato or pumpkin (squash you call it here) and he demolished the lot. I just boiled it all at that stage, pureed and then put it into ice cubes which made it easy to adjust the amount of servings as he got older.

I very rarely cook anything special for him and tend to just cook extra of ours and then puree or not now that he is 14 months.

I wouldn't keep the meat in the fridge longer than a couple of days, I don't leave mine longer than 24 hours. You can freeze it straight away and it will keep for a few months but once you defrost it treat it like normal and don't leave it there for longer than 24-48 hours. Never refreeze it once it has defrosted.

How good a mum are you. Do you go to a lot of trouble with sterlising etc? You can go completely crazy when it comes to things like this but as I said for me it worked well not to get too particular about things. I never used different knives as I was always going to cook the food before giving it to him. If you are boiling your meat you can leave it there for as long as you like as the water won't dry it out so much. If you are grilling or frying the meat then when you stab it the juice that runs out will either have blood in it which means it still has some rawness or if it is clear then it is cooked. If you have over cooked the meat then there won't be any juice that runs out. I didn't give my ds fish until he turned 1 but I don't know what the rules are in this area.

Hope this helps in some way.

hello morrocco , i was vege for most of my teens but now im ashamed to say im a fully paid up member of the carnivores club.i dont disagree with not eating meat i just hope that the animals i eat have had a good life and decent treatment at the end.i try to avoid meat for supermarkets if i can and use a good local butcher instead.
main rules for meat cooking are -use a seperate chopping board and save it for raw meat only-your knives should b ok to use for other things as long as the're washed properly.

raw meat should always be stored in the bottom of your fridge-in case it drips-in a bag in a dish rather than a plate.
i always wash it b4 cooking -i dont think you need to but if theres any bits of bone on it washing gets rid of them.
if you find a good butcher try asking for differant cuts of ma
eat-sometimes the cheapest cuts of meat are the tenderest and tastiest after long casserole cooking
try lamb neck fillets casserole with a little water(not bought stock-too salty) and veg.i think these are good grilled too.slow cooking is good
try braising steak or skirts(or belly cut meat).
if you find a good butcher the meat may have less additives,and have had a better diet(pref. pasture fed)this makes for yummy tasting meat.most
meat has all sorts of crap in it antibiotics ,growth hormones etc.the only way to b sure not to eat these is to buy organic meat.

sorry meanmum i have to disagree about the fruit washing -i know its sort of fussy but these days there can b allsorts of crap sprayed on your apple- pesticides,waxy shine.in an ideal world we wouldnt need to wash fruit.i cant afford an all organic diet-i hope one day i can, but i feed dbs organically.in some supermarkets its reasonably priced(morrisons)

finally back to the meat question-ive read that pork is too fatty for babies under one.i think lamb is good (although its fatty) because its the least allergenic meat and is prob digested more easily.

with fish i think the advice for babies is the same as for mothers-tuna and other fish potentially contaminated with metals once a week(tuna containts essential fatty acids). i would also avoid fish caught in the irish sea because it is sadly known to be highly polluted.
i think fish is fine to give to babies its digested more easily than meat and is prob better for them(brain food)
ive given my dbs(7 mnths)plaice and haddock.he eats chicken also but i havent given him any meat yet.i was vege for a long time(10 yrs)and i know you can survive perfectly well without it.i make sure he eats green veg for iron.(even if i have to mix it with fruit or his fave veg so he eats it!

hope this is helpful.good luck andhappy feeding!

sorry-dont disagree with eating meat(below-should read)(or not .....)

ps - my friends daughter ,who is now in her twenties has never eaten meat or fish in her life is tall strong healthy and beautiful!

sorry-a couple of things i forgot about raw meat cooking-always store raw/cooked meat well apart in fridge and be careful of cross contamination-always wash hands well before touching anything else after handling raw meat(you probably already know this)
also ask your butcher how long to keep meat in fridge,im never sure - i tend to buy it and use it next day -i think it keeps a good few days though.i wouldnt like to keep it after it has been cooked though.sometimes its ok to reheat it the next day if its in a sauce or curry- but as meat thats not reheated properly is an easy way to get food poisoning its probably not recomended for babes.

heres another rec.-for kiddi cottage /shepards pie.use lean minced beef/lamb.(dont know measurements though) -(1)gently fry 1/2 onion in a small amount of oil(2 teasps.-pref olive) for 3 to 5 mins (or until it starts to turn translucent)
(2) -add minced meat to pan and stir until meat starts to brown about 3 to 5 mins.(dont over cook or meat will be dry- just cook till it stops looking pink , break up lumps with spoon)- add small diced up carrots to pan after meat has been cooking for a couple of mins
(3)next add stock to pan- as shop bought stock is to salty for babies you could make your own before hand-just put bits like carrot ,onion celery ,any other veg or veg trimmings,maybe bones from sunday roast(chicken or lamb)and a few herbs(bay thyme parsley) put chosen ingreds.in enough cold water to cover, bring to boil cover pan and simmer for a couple of hours then strain liquid and you have stock!
add stock so that it covers meat but is not over watery.the carrots will absorb some of the water.simmer for 20 to 30 mins stirring occasionally.
(4)whilst this is cooking make mash.dont know how u usually make mash but seeing as im typing all this anyway ill give you mash rec too! use red spuds(they make good mash as they dont go watery)boil slowly until soft in middle and just starting to fluff round edges).drain for few mins in colander.put back into dry pan(can b slightly warmed over heat but be careful not to burn spuds) next mash seasoned spuds with masher(till smooth give it some welly!) -add butter and milk last as its easier to get the lumps out just mashing them dry.if you want them really smooth beat with wooden spoon or sieve them! add egg yolk for very rich mash(ey is supposed to b good for babes) or cheese(or just top dish with cheese after)
(6)next put spuds and meat together.check meat is not too watery.it can be a bit sloppy but not too watery.the carrots will absorb some water in the oven, but if it looks very watery add a little cornflour(1/2 teaspoons mixed with cold water)to pan 5 mins before it finishes cooking.
to make pie put meat mix in bottom of oven proof dish and top with spuds.top spuds with cheese.bake in oven gas mk 6(or equivalent) for 20 to 30 mins or until the cheese has browned.you can brown top under the grill and not bother oven cooking it but it tasts much better cooked in oven for a bit.
other alternatives -you could flavour the meat with tomato ketchup-you could mix baked beans through it too.another variation which might be yum would be to add tomatoes with the onions and then mix pesto sauce into the mash(be careful though cause pesto has pine nuts in it but i think these are fairly ok?)
if you dont want to fry stuff or want to save time go straight to (3) and just poor cold stock straight onto onions meat and carrots stir bring to boil and then simmer.and if you havent made home made stock just use water herbs and tommy sauce/brown sauce or similar as flavours.
phew ..... i hope i havent missed anything vital out! think i need a cuppa tea.thought id give a receipe back to mumsnet cause i found a nigella rec. on here last night that ive always wanted to make.
HAPPY EATING!!!!!
OH i think the amnt of meat to use is prob 1/4 lb(v.small portion),1/2 lb(smallish port.),1 lb (family size port.)..etc.. vary other ingreds to suit taste(*have left out seasoning for this reason).it will get tastier each time you make it too!!!

Something dh & I never agree on and wondering who is right :

If you've just made a sauce/meat dish (curry, bolognese etc) and have dished out some portions to freeze should you :

a. Leave out to cool to room temp and then freeze
b. Freeze almost immediately, placing containers in freezer when food is hot
c. Chill in fridge first (from hot), then freeze

d. u r takin the p* arent u bb.
e.your lucky though that your man takes an interest in kitchen stuff,my neadertal can hardly find the fridge.

surely?

nope

some great advice and just at my level too - yesterday I bought a chicken and had a go - bit grim all that blood/skin/bone stuff though. Mind you, I think I can report a success. thanks also for recipe which didn't sound too complicated so I'll have a go next week.
How often do you give meat/fish? Every day? A couple of times a week?
BB - I leave stuff out to cool then stick it in the freezer/fridge - no idea if this is the right thing to do but I think it's not good to put in fridge when hot.