So stressed about cooking for baby

[AbsolutelyUselessMum]

I am so ashamed that I've changed my username for this.

I'm 30 and I absolutely hate cooking. I thought that I wasn't the only one, and that quite a few others never cooked. But I've got an 11 month old daughter, and have suddenly realised that I can't keep giving her pouches until she goes to school

I've done some research and bought some supposedly easy books (eg What Mummy Makes), I plan to batch cook as much as possible, but it just feels so overwhelming. I see a recipe for fish fingers that looks easy, then I realise I'll have to think about the potatoes and the veg as well... plus the other two meals for the day! I know, I sound ridiculous. This kind of thing seems to be second nature to everyone else. I know, I know, cooking properly will be much healthier for me and DH as well (we currently live off ready meals or ready done sauces etc, but organic and high quality ones).

I suppose I'm posting here because I want to know...

Was anyone else like me, and how did you transition to being a cook?? Were you left with enough time to sleep and shower and actually spend time with your child?!

Are there any useful tips and shortcuts, other than batch cooking and trying to eat the same things as a family rather than cooking separate meals?

Gosh I feel like such a failure of a human being.

Sorry for all the typos. Blame the baby. So tired.

I'm in the same position. My baby is almost 11mths and she's still on pouches. I hate cooking and our diet is pretty horrendous so we can't give her the majority of what we eat. My DP works shifts so we don't eat together as a family and I find that I just miss meals instead of cooking.

I suppose batch cooking will be the easiest way to go about it but I can't get motivated to start.

I know they have cut things back but can your local sure start or children centre help with a cookery course?

Could you buy a slow cooker? You can buy sachets of dry powder mix such as chicken casserole. Add water. Raw chicken breasts. Raw chopped carrots. Onions and mushrooms. Put it on after breakfast and will be ready late afternoon. The chicken will be lovely and soft and can be shredded with two forks for DC. Slow cooker can then be turned down to warm and yours and DH dished up later.

There are slow cooker recipe books. And super market aisles are full of sachets to use in them. Its just chopping required no actual cooking. Low fat and healthy. When you gain confidence most other recipes or jars of sauce can be adapted to use in them. The trick often involves adding less water-as the slow cooker traps water so it builds during cooking.

Break dinner down into three parts..

Veg, carbs, protein

Carbs

Mash potato...buy frozen..it's fine
Jacket potato, stick potato in microwave
Rice
Pasta

Protein

Grilled meat
Fish fingers...just buy them
Salmon...literally put piece of fresh salmon in oven for fifteen minutes

Veg

Broccoli, frozen peas, sweetcorn, green beans..boil in water

Once you can do this...watch some cooking programmes on tv. Jamie Oliver's ministry of food was excellent for beginners and you can expand your repertoire.

I’m the same, my husband cooks. I feel like a shitty mum for it to be honest!

My advice would be to aim for variety now so that in a few years when they'll only eat 5 different boring meals you can look back and say it's not your fault as they used to eat loads of different things. My two both used to eat what we ate but as they got older decided everything is bisgustin. Try not to stress over it too much. Just introduce them and you to new things, doesn't have to be gourmet food all the time.

Things that worked for us when ours was first needed meals were:
Cheese omelette and peas
Sainsbury's do great frozen packets of rice with sweet corn and peas mixed in
Fish fingers or nuggets with potatoes and beans
Carrot and lentil soup
Tomato soup with a bit of cream cheese mixed in
Hummus and breadsticks with chopped peppers
For pudding alternate yoghurt/rice pudding/custard and add berries or chopped banana

Please don't worry, you'll figure it out

I can cook but life is often too short. So if DC aren’t eating with us then it’s either freezer leftovers or:

• filled pasta with cheese (DS2 who is 4 hasn’t tumbled to the fact that we have spinach and ricotta and is endlessly smug that he gets a meal with veg)
• pasta, beans and cheese
• omelettes
• sausages or fish fingers, rice and frozen veg

As babies, before they had views on what was ‘yucky’ they also ate scrambled eggs as a quick meal.

As per PPs when you do cook can I recommend:

• bolognaise
• oven risotto (there’s a BBC recipe although I think it uses chorizo which would be too spicy and salty I think)
• cheese sauce
• roast joints

Wow, thank you all so much! Some brilliant advice and ideas. I will bookmark this thread as I know I'll keep coming back to it. I really appreciate that nobody has expressed judgement about my lack of kitchen skills too... And it's been nice to hear that it really isn't just me

I did attempt a "really easy" falafel recipe yesterday which was a disaster
The 10 minute "easy" recipe took me nearly an hour, because it kept getting burnt but raw in the middle (ended up baking it in the oven!) The house still stinks of smoke now
Poor DD ended up in front of the telly for an hour while I faffed about in the kitchen... I will start again today, maybe with the 7 veg sauce which looks great. I'll bring DD in with me this time. And ultimately not stress too much. Thanks all again x

I absolutely hate cooking. My OH has to do most of it as I am rubbish.

I find having to do so much food daunting so dinner is normally the only one that involves cooking and most the time its leftovers of what we have eaten.

Breakfast - porridge/weetabix/toast or on weekends they have some croissants/crumpet with us.

Morning Snack - fruit

Lunch - picky bits - sandwiches, cheese, cucumber sticks, hummus & pitta, scrambled egg etc. Normally followed by yoghurt. My sister sometimes makes some pin wheel pastries or veg muffins and sends them over - they look quite easy so may try myself as i have the what mummy makes book. They can be frozen and reheated so makes it easier.

Afternoon snack - rice cake/baby biscuit/sorreen loaf with some more fruit

Dinner - sometimes I do pouches (normally if our dinner was too salty). things I can just about make: frozen fish fingers with some mash and peas, sausages cut into strips with Mediterranean veg, spag bol, pesto pasta with chicken and broccoli, stir fry, chilli (seeing my 11month olds holding a mini burrito was so cute haha)

The other day I just boiled up pasta, added some garlic, chopped tomatoes and dried herbs, grated a courgette in and grated cheese. Kids loved it and I had their leftovers for my lunch the next day.

@AbsolutelyUselessMum I've never managed felafels! You didn't exactly start with an easy recipe - they were fibbing! Even though I'm a decent cook, its impossible to get them cooked on the middle but not burnt outside.

7 veg sauce sounds much easier.

Haha i remember making falafel, sounded so healthy but was a total ball ache and i never did it again! Eggs are great for lunch or breakfast, scrambled eggs and smoked salmon with toast is a favourite here and takes 5-10mins to prepare. Pancake batter is easy to make once you've done it a few times and really versatile. You can make big or small.pancakes, yorkshire puds, toad in the hole or waffles with it. My kids like pancakes with grated cheese and spinach inside so a.good way to get some veg in too. The Baby Led Weaning cookbook has a good few simple recipes (although avoid their falafel one )

Falafel always fall apart when I make them! Tesco ones are nice though!

I absolutely love cooking and am a big foodie but apart from a few flukes when much younger my kids will barely eat anything I cook. They love school dinners but otherwise just bland boring stuff 🤦🏻‍♀️

There are some decent toddler ready meals, Little Dish, Annabel Karmel etc, but agree just keep it simple and try not to stress. My daughter's all time fave is pasta pesto.

Good quality brown bread - toasted or not, I would think is as good for, or better for her, than potatoes or pasta.
Veg and fruit. Peas sweetcorn, cooked carrot sticks (2 carrots take 4 mins max in microwave) , cucumber, baked beans always seems to be a favourite. Sprinkle grated cheese on cooked veg. Fruit - small slices of anything soft for her to pick up and eat.

It's hard but you'll get there. For breakfasts do fruit, yogurt, toast, cereal, sausage patty (if you just buy sausage meat you've no skins to worry about).

For lunches convenience food is your friend initially. It's like a gateway drug to cooking. Just watch sugar/salt. Frozen peas/carrots/beans etc, rotate which you offer. Potato, waffles are great, shove them in the toaster, frozen alphabet shapes that type of thing. Then chicken nuggets, fish fingers, burgers etc. You can just shove it in the oven. Introduce baked beans, soup, sandwiches, salad, cheese chunks etc. Over time you'll gradually start to add new things but you need a base of go to foods. When you get more confident you'll start replacing with healthier alternatives. This was all recommended by our dietician, she said at this age they just need the fat and it doesn't really matter where it comes from.

Just offer lots of fruit and veg. They only eat a little at this age anyway.

For dinner give them exactly what you have (except don't add salt). Instead of ready meals why don't you try the meal packets. They give you all the herbs/spices you need, list all the ingredients/instructions/timing on the packet. You just need to follow the instructions, they're really easy and again will start to get you interested in your meals in an easy way. Over time you'll refine them to your taste, then decide to give it a go from scratch. Before you know it you'll be the mum who can prepare a delicious feast in half an hour. No-one gets it straight away, it's a learning process. You'll get there I promise x

Hi OP as pp have rightly pointed out, I missed the bit in your first post that said you mostly have ready meals. In that case, I highly rate this awesome cooking book for babies. It's has brilliant, easy-to-follow recipes and towards the end there are recipes that can be cooked for the whole family. I've recommend it to a few people irl and they have been been delighted with it.
www.amazon.co.uk/Feeding-Your-Baby-Day-Tastes/dp/1409337510/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?hvlocphy=1006886&hvnetw=g&keywords=feeding+your+baby+day+by+day&hvadid=259096375911&qid=1610889760&dchild=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiA3Y-ABhCnARIsAKYDH7vvUZyOGyctYWhMYEnlk2MIMJL7ot7uJiljx2ExyvoMEm0dXGugqY0aAm1rEALw_wcB&hydadcr=13688_1820762&hvdev=m&hvqmt=e&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&hvtargid=kwd-300651730540&adgrpid=52052378766&hvrand=5424041561878876213&sr=8-1

I just saw that you live off ready meals.
I suggest you just learn to make 2 or 3 very basic meals. Meals you and DH can eat as well as the baby. There is really no such thing as "baby food", it's just food. A label that says organic doesn't mean it's better than home made food.
A baby of 11 months can pretty much eat whatever you eat, just cut or mashed up a bit more, they don't need special food. It's also not true that strong flavours are unsuitable but they might be a challenge for a child who has only ever had bland processed mush. You might be surprised to find they like a mild curry for example.
If you cook for all of you then it stops being a big thing that you are doing for the child.
I am an experienced cook but I wouldn't dream of making fish fingers or falafel!

Do you know how to prepare and chop vegetables? Which ones? It may sound like a silly question but I have taught complete beginners and they don't know how to peel and chop an onion. Then when they learn it's very slow.
Try a very basic tomato pasta sauce. You can make large quantities and freeze in portions for the three of you. Do you know how to cook pasta?
A beef stew or casserole is easy to make and freeze and you can serve with fresh veg, bread or potatoes.

I used to just grind up a bit of our dinner, it's not difficult.

Have you considered a meal subscription service such as Hello Fresh or Gousto. They're a bit more expensive but tbh they taught be so much about cooking and make everything so easy, but you're cooking healthy meals (depending on what you choose) from scratch.

@LizFlowers she can't really give her child a bit of a ready meal can she? The salt content alone would be astronomical

@lizflowers have you even read the post properly? You probably wouldnt have commented in such a smug way otherwise

I can cook but I don't really enjoy it. My baby is a bit older than yours (18m) but here are some suggestions...

Breakfast.....I don't even think about this, its porridge or weetabix, toast with some peanut butter or fruitbread.

Lunch....normally a sandwich with veg sticks or any leftovers from night before. (My baby isn't much of a lunch eater really)

Dinner... omlette with veg inside and ham, pizza with wholemeal wrap as a base (sometimes I make the tomato sauce) and cheese and veg toppings, fish cakes, fish fingers (both shop bought), tuna pasta, today we have had chicken dinner with veg, sausage and mash, pastry pin wheel things, egg muffins, meatballs. He always has fruit and yoghurt for pudding.

Nothing amazing but I feel something like this would be more doable for you. (No offence)

Keep it really simple
Scramble an egg, add some cheese/chopped cherry tomatoes/cucumber sticks on the side
Roast chicken off the supermarket hot counter
The fish section will put fish in a microwave bag or oven bag for you
Frozen bags of steam veg
Frozen mash, or microwave a potato and scoop out the inner
Raw veg/salad/fruit
Meatballs from the fresh meat section with a tomato sauce and some pasta
Pasta with creme fraiche and some mushrooms/ham/sweetcorn

[quote Letsallscreamatthesistene]@lizflowers have you even read the post properly? You probably wouldnt have commented in such a smug way otherwise[/quote]
I wasn't being 'smug', just said what I did, is that wrong? Yes I have read the op and she thinks she is not much of a cook. I was actually trying to be reassuring - you really don't have to be a great cook! Most people can manage basic stuff; husband and I muddled through eating ordinary, simple things - meat, chicken and potatoes with veg and gravy, pasta dishes, stews and casseroles, fish sometimes - and babies will eat that liquidised or mashed up. My point was that you do not have to cook something different for a baby.