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Lunch Ideas

10 replies

TastesLikeStrawberries · 27/06/2022 22:58

Any ideas for lunch for a 6.5 month old? Started weaning at 5.5 months and he absolutely loves his food but I'm running out of ideas. I did get an Annabel Karmel book but most recipes are only 3-4 portions and I feel like I'm spending my entire time cooking, I also don't like giving him the same foods several days in a row - I wouldn't eat the same meals everyday so I'm kinda wondering why babies would want to?

Lunch is my biggest problem, what does he need? Meat? Just veg? I feel like I'm giving him two dinners per day. Today for eg he got salmon, peas, sweet potato pureed for lunch and then beef casserole with potato for dinner. People keep saying give him what I'm eating but he can't exactly sit down to tuna and onion sandwiches or a salad Envy should I just give him mixed veg/fruit at lunch?

Tried him with boiled egg thinking that would be a handy lunch and he projectile vomited everywhere, he won't eat toast yet. He does manage lumps and will pick at pasta but he can't have that 7 days a week either.

I know people say at his age most of his nutrients come from milk but he definitely seems to prefer solid food to milk feeds!

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SoftSheen · 27/06/2022 23:07

You could actually give him tuna sandwiches, cut into fingers. Or sandwiches made with grated cheese, chicken, peanut butter, mashed avocado, hummus etc.

Other suggestions would be thick vegetable soup with cheese scones, homemade quiche, savoury pancakes, omelette or scrambled egg, cheese on toast, eggy bread, savoury muffins.

You can also give sticks of cucumber and red pepper, and chunks of soft fruit such as pears, peaches and strawberries.

Babies can have most things, as long as you keep an eye on the salt content and avoid too much processed food.

Fivemoreminutes1 · 28/06/2022 06:28

My dc didn’t have 3 meals a day until they were about 8 months. And I never worried about giving nutritionally balanced meals e.g. carbs, protein, dairy, veg etc… until they got a lot nearer to 12 months because they got most of their nutrition from milk. I was mostly concerned about them developing their fine motor skills and Co-ordination, and experiencing different flavours and textures.
DS loved pesto at that age! He couldn’t get enough of it but I had to limit it due to salt content. Also enjoyed falafel, which I bought already made and were super quick and easy to heat up at lunch.

Twizbe · 28/06/2022 06:55

My two either had a pouch or sandwiches for lunch at that age.

I loved a good pouch for giving a bit of variety that I couldn't be bothered to cook myself.

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houseofboy · 28/06/2022 07:02

Omelettes can be good as you can put so many different things fa into them. Other option is savoury pancakes, you can make a batch and freeze some

yikesanotherbooboo · 28/06/2022 07:34

Mine had sandwiches, vegetable soup or things with toast eg tuna,cheese , sardines, egg etc.We had the same.

shivawn · 28/06/2022 07:41

For lunch, my 8 month old loves roast veg sticks with homemade humus for protein. We also do homemade fish fingers, homemade baked beans (can't find canned low salt ones anywhere also they do apparently exist). Sometimes scrambled eggs and toast or cheesy eggy bread. We do tofu strips spiced with a little garlic and paprika and veg. Theres a mushroom and lentils burger recipe on the Ellas Kitchen website that he enjoys. They have a few good recipes on there actually.

My guy has a big appetite so I make sure he gets plenty protein to help him feel full.

I also agree with @Twizbe that pouches are a great lazy option for adding variety and I often feel like they're just as cheap too.

LeafHunter · 28/06/2022 07:44

There’s a lot of ideas on Instagram - I like the baby dietician but loads of others too.

Sbena · 28/06/2022 07:49

At that age all I gave my boy was random blended vegetables. They really don't care if it's a meal or not, and it's more about getting them used to the act and the flavours rather than actual nutrition.

In a few months when he's eating more you can worry about actual recipes.

BertieBotts · 28/06/2022 08:22

Very quickly he will get more proficient, it's very early days. You'll find that textures which make him vomit now are fine in a few weeks' time. At this age it's really just tastes, so I would offer some aspect of what you're eating or an easy alternative such as a banana or pouch or pre-prepared food. You don't need to worry about nutrition as such as he is still getting almost all of his nutrition from milk, it's more about trying a variety of flavours and textures.

So for example for a tuna sandwich I might offer a piece of toast or some sticks of cucumber or peppers. For a salad, cucumber or peppers again or tomato slices, cold cooked chicken, hard boiled eggs, sticks of cheese. Or just do a jar or plain Greek yoghurt or something I've made previously.

You could double or triple the AK recipes to make that cooking session last longer. I also would just make really simple purees/mashed or blended bits of our meals and chuck them in tiny pots in the freezer so it wasn't extra effort. If you freeze things then you can pick out different ones each day, rather than feeling that you need to use up everything you've made ASAP. I used little pots by Nuk (I think they are actually AK branded) so they don't take up much space. You can then microwave them in the pot and transfer to a bowl. Or some people freeze individual ingredients in ice cube trays - a tray of sweet potato, a tray of chicken, a tray of carrot, a tray of plums - you can then pop out the cubes into labelled sandwich bags and mix and match. One day potato, chicken and plum. Another day pea, potato and carrot. Another day chicken and carrots. Just pop out 1-2 cubes of each flavour, place in a bowl, microwave and combine.

Are you doing 3 meals a day already? You don't need to yet, I was only doing 1-2 meals at that age, it's much easier to get variety that way, so you do one "dinner" type meal and one breakfast - baby porridge, weetabix, toast, yoghurt, or fruit (BLW or puree). Nobody minds if breakfast is the same every day (and you don't have to offer it at breakfast time). Once they got proficient at self-feeding I added in a "lunch" type meal (cut up cold salad veg, toast, strips of cold cooked meat/cheese, eggs, baby "puff" crisps, breadsticks etc) This means you have to do less thinking up of meal ideas and your homemade meals will last longer too.

However, having children does just kind of feel like cooking for them forever and ever 😅and they are rarely appreciative, so it's a good idea to get into the mindset of not attaching too much emotion to it - spend time and energy preparing stuff you would like, and don't be afraid to use convenience shortcuts whenever they make life easier for you. It can be really easy to pour your heart and soul into food and then it's frustrating when they don't want to eat it or are fussy, which can then feed into an unhelpful cycle where you get anxious or frustrated at mealtimes and that puts them off even more.

Twizbe · 28/06/2022 09:42

Will also add that I started at 4 months (medical reasons) and 5.5 months (baby started herself) which meant we were up to 3 meals by 6 months and both loved food. They both dropped a milk feed shortly after making it to 3 meals.

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