Struggling with meal ideas for 10 month old

[Biosblbay]

Every day I just seem to do the same foods and I feel I need to mix it up a bit but I genuinely struggle to think of what to make/ cook for my 10 month old for meals every day.

most of her breakfasts consist of something egg based, boiled egg, scrambled egg, eggy bread, omelette with different vegetables used, and she always has either blueberries, banana, raspberries or strawberries.

lunches, the occasional jam sandwich cut up into small pieces of course, pasta, or omelette, again always served with fruit.

dinners - usually what we would have if it is suitable to her so I don’t usually struggle with dinners. My lunches wouldn’t be suitable for her age, I tend to have bruschetta or a salad, I skip breakfast and if I do eat breakfast, it would be egg also!

I just feel like I give her the same foods every day and just feel lost!

any suggestions or good websites I can use for meal ideas please but nothing too complicated as I do work full time from home and have a 3 year old so days can be very hectic. thanks to anyone in advance x

Can't she just eat what your 3 year old eats?

@SouthLondonMum22 my 3 year old is on the spectrum and his diet is very beige and he has the same foods almost daily x

Get the What Mummy Makes book. Some great recipes in there and just ideas even. It's split into breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks too which is handy.

There's great lunch ideas that are a good alternative to a jam sandwich. Cheese and chive pancakes, cheese & courgette pizza, pinwheels, muffins, quesadillas, toasties. I still make pancakes and pinwheels for my 3 year old as they're idea for packed lunches and snacks. He's also quite a beige eater but eats them.

What do you make for yourself every day?

batch cook some pinwheels with loads of different fillings. We do classic pizza ones with shredded broccoli in there, olive oil pesto and cheese, salmon and cream cheese, shredded chicken with yogurt and mayo and crushed peas

Sounds fine except for the jam sandwich. I’d swing towards veg instead of fruit as a side, cucumber, peas, roasted veg sticks.

Bruschetta is totally fine too. Feed her that. Just don’t put loads of chilli on it. Toast or breadsticks with hummus. Other types of sandwiches.

Lunch can also be dinner leftovers from the night before.

I also struggle with variety for my 9 month old!

Breakfast is usually weetabix or porridge with banana and flax seeds. Sometimes might be Greek yogurt with fruit. Made pancakes this morning.
Lunch is mostly leftovers of the previous nights dinner, or things like Scrambled eggs and baked beans, Toast with various toppings - cream cheese, avocado, peanut butter, hummus. He’ll also have some of my lunch e.g. quiche.
Dinner is just whatever we have - bolognese, curry, jacket potato’s etc. Sometimes he’ll have pizza toast - just toast with tomato puree and cheese and herbs on.

I also have a 3 year old who is in a picky phase so I get that’s it’s hard trying to think of and prepare food for yourself, toddler and baby!

I batch cook a lot. Chillis, bolognese, stews, curries. I freeze in small individual portions so they defrost instantly in the pan and I boil some potato or pasta to go with it.

When we cook for ourselves, we always make sure to set aside a small portion for the freezer too.

Can you ma
ke a batch of blueberry pancakes? Apparently you can freeze them but ours just get eaten

Sandwiches are fine but I’d try and mix it up a bit so she has a variety. Things like tuna, cream cheese and finely sliced cucumber, hummus and grated carrot.

How is she with things on toast? Will she eat mashed avocado, cheese, smooth nut butter, sardines or beans on toast?

You could try her with some savoury muffins, again you would be able to freeze them. [[https://www.babyledfeeding.com/recipe/mexican-taco-empanadas-finger-food-for-babies-6-months/ Empanadas usually go down well too.

For some main meal ideas I’d have a look at the baby led weaning cookbook or some https://www.tamingtwins.com/category/collections/batch-cook/ taking twins recipes. All of these should be suitable and you can eat them too

Breakfast sounds good. Getting them used to egg for breakfast is a great habit.

Lunch would always be leftovers from the night before for us. Or some variation of. If I really don't have anything then it's salmon and some soft veg for that age. Or the hero pesto pasta, I make the pesto myself and throw in spinach and courgette.

Dinner I make one meal for everyone (2 adults, 2 kids) and I make enough for 2 adults dinners, 2 adults lunch, 2 children's lunches - so 5-6 portions.

Took me quite awhile to get used to cooking 'big' like this but it makes life a lot easier.