Menu ideas for 10 month old

[catgirl1976]

DS is 10 months and so far has mainly been eating Ella's kitchen pouches, toast / crumpets, yoghurts and fruit.

DH and I have decided that we need to stop feeding him ready made baby food and start cooking for him. (I was never going to feed him pre-made food before I had him, I was going to lovingly cook organic delights from scratch every day....however....busy busy, work ft etc)

I want us to all eat the same thing, however I have a hectic life and DH and I eat on the hoof a lot with too many ready meals, takeaways and meals out (and I often skip dinner as I am too knackered when I get in etc).

We don't generally eat dinner till nine by which time DS has been asleep for 2 hours. We want to start sitting down as a family about 6:30 to eat together.

So we need an overhaul of our family eating as it were, so that we can start to give DS good, home cooked food.

I am trying to come up with a list of good dinners we can plan and make but am a bit stuck for inspiration. We love food, I am a good cook, I own a slow cooker. I just need to get organised.

So far my list is:

Shepherd / Cottage pies
Spag bol
Beef Stew
Chicken and Aspargus casserole
Jacket potatoes (for lunches)
Beans on toast (occasional lunches - is this ok for a baby? Is there too much salt in baked beans?)

and then I get stuck

DS is only just getting to grips with chunkier food

Any of your top meal ideas / recipies would be greatfully recieved

Well we all have ideals before we have them don't we, don't beat yourself up too much about what is happening now.

If you work ft, what does he eat while you are at work and do you have to provide it?

Your meals sound quite good. Think if you are going to cook family meals for all of you then low salt stock cube are a really good idea. Baked beans are fine too although if you are concerned about salt try the low salt ones. How do you feel about batch cooking and freezing? You could say make a massive lasagne at the weekend and freeze in those takeaway type trays you get in Home Bargains. Then pop them in the cooker in the week and have with salad.

Your meals sound fine though, some things we enjoy as a family are:

Toad in the Hole with lots of veg and gravy (quick and easy)
Fish Pie
Chicken Korma
Spanish Omelette
Pasta with tom/veg sauce and meatballs
Roast Dinner

Could he manage soup as well?

If you want some more inspiration, there are some great family, baby friendly meals here.

Oh thank you! That's really helpful

I had forgotten about roast dinners! Pasta stuff and spanish omlettes are a great idea too, and the others! Thank you

I am going to have a big cooking weekend and fill up my freezer

Soup might be messy...........but fun!

I will check out the linky

Thank you

Oh - sorry

And when I am at work he has pouches with DH / DM three days a week and then 2 days he is at nursery who do cottage pie / pasta etc which he seems to enjoy

Could DH/DM give him things like a sandwich or cheese/beans/eggs on toast? My DD used to enjoy a small sandwich some bits on the side at that age. Something like a small tuna & mayo sandwich with a small breadstick/dried apricot/raisins/cherry toms/slices of pepper/chunks of cucumber on the side. Basically, just a few bits of whatever was at hand.

And if you are worried about the mess, just get some long sleeved bibs and a cheapo shower curtain for the floor .

These are great ideas - loving the shower curtain plan

Do I cut the sandwich up into chunks or just cut into halves / quarters?

You can do what you like with them really. Fingers might be easier for little hands. I've done that when they were litte and now cut DDs across so they make triangles. i do this because the little bugger won't eat the crusts and if I do it any other ways she leaves half the sandwich .

He might like scrambled egg for lunch too......

Oh and I bought this book a few years ago in a cheapy shop. Both of my DC love the food. It is expensive on Amazon but you might be able to get a copy from your library, if not they will probably have lots of other family recipe books

We're vegetarian and I would suggest the following winning dishes for both parents and small people:
-Curries of any sort are generally straightforward to make (so long as you have the basics). I'm bias but this is a great dish that I fed my daughter from around 10 months beetroot and yoghurt curry
-Soups- once cool enough, you could try putting in a cup/ beaker for your little one
-Veggie Stew with Dumplings Always a great standby dish
-Lentil dishes
-risotto

that curry sounds amazing!

In fact it all sounds really good. I take it we are invited to tea Drlady?

O yes, bring round the little ones and we'll have a veggie feast!

DD is 10mo and we do BLW. Some days I struggle with variety but these are the kinds of things we have for breakfast and/or lunch:

Mini weetabix dipped in milk
Avocado on toast
Peanut butter on toast
Porridge fingers
Fruit - mango, blueberries, melon, satsumas
Veg sticks - green beans, asparagus, carrot, spring onion, pepper, cucumber, sweet potato, courgette
Omelette with veg lightly fried first
Bagel with cream cheese
Thick blueberry pancakes
Rice cakes and bread sticks are good "fillers"
Sandwiches - cheese and pickle, tuna mayo
Mini jacket potato with beans/cheese/coleslaw/tuna

Dinners she generally has what we're having, unless we're having "yellow food" (ie chips, pizza, chicken Kiev etc) in which case she usually ends up with just veg.

I am to dinner for us all at 6pm, then she's straight in the bath and generally asleep by 7-7:30.

Hope that helps!