Stuck in a puree rut - mashed food ideas please?

[minipie]

DD is ready to move on to mashed/slightly lumpy food, but I'm struggling to come up with meals that will work. Pureeing was easy, I just whizzed up whatever we were eating (cooked without salt etc) and bunged in the freezer in ice cube portions. But lots of our meals won't mash, especially lumps of meat.

What will mash (and freeze) well?

So far I can think of:

• slightly overcooked veg risotto
• small pasta or cous cous with veg/mince sauce of various sorts
• mince based dishes like cottage pie (Unfortunately I don't really like these myself much)

• scrambled eggs (DD loves this, but it doesn't freeze - or does it?)

Any other ideas please? And what can I do about meat?

Thank you!

I think at this stage you're stuck with 'wet' meals.

I used to cook -

Cottage Pie
Spag Bol
Casserole (beef, lamb, chicken, bean)
Fish Pie
Cauliflower Cheese and Jacket Potato

A 'baby led' weaning fan would give you some other ideas.

Thanks! Cauliflower cheese and jacket potatoes are a good idea.

How does meat casserole work... when I do casseroles the meat ends up soft but still quite fibrous iyswim, so wouldnt exactly mash but would more end up as long fibres of meat ... can babies cope with that?

Think your thinking of something else countrymummy with blw just serve whatever everyone else is eating, in same way they're eating it

I just gave my boy chunks of meat/chicken/fish. Didn't mash or blend them

Well, yes, that's what I meant really PinkPepper. I'm not 'up' on BLW - I was never that brave.

Yes it's probably not for everyone but not sure how old OPs baby is? Maybe worth just trying normal peices of meat? Maybe something flaky first like salmon (obv check for bones?) would that be easier?

How old is your baby? They manage fine with meat from 6 months, slices of roast, mince, meatballs, whatever. The bigger the better as they have more to grab.

minipie a casserole will be nice and soft so will just need some chopping up with a knife and fork.

I always found casseroles the easiest because you can put all sorts in them.

I think you can get a 'chop' attachment to go on some hand blenders which would chop your meals up rather than pureeing them? Might be worth a try? Or if you just chopped up meat casseroles etc into little pieces (the same size as diced vegetables) your DC will probably be able to cope with those?

thanks all. DD is 9 months but was 6weeks early so more like 7.5 months (and poss a bit behind that) in terms of coordination.

She does have finger food at the moment and can 'manage' it in the sense that she can grab it and get it in her mouth. However, apart from some fruit and bread, she struggles to actually swallow much, it mostly ends up on her lap or the floor. So she would be able to grab and attempt to chew a lump of meat but probably wouldn't actually eat very much, which I'm not comfortable with as having been prem she needs the iron etc from meat. (hence not doing BLW). But maybe I can do a mix, some soft/slow cooked meat which I've chopped to the point she can manage, and some lumps just to chew.

sounds like casseroled meat should be manageable which is good. You've reminded me that fish will mash well too.

Tinned red salmon is full of nutritional goodies and is easier/cheaper than cooking salmon fillets. One of the first non-puréed food my DS ate was tinned salmon (very finely flaked by hand to check for bones), mixed in with mashed potato, grated cheese and some puréed broccoli...he loved it and I think it's mega healthy. You can inclue different veg too, like spinach.

sounds delicious! thanks. How much cheese is ok? I've been trying not to give dd too much due to th salt content but that does make life more difficult.

Right, just tried dd on spag Bol, with the tiny soup pasta. no problems at all. lumpy food it is from now on!

WOOOHOOOOO! x

oh and the chopper attachment on my blender seems to work quite well to create small lumps of veg (though it turns casserole into purée sadly)

all a bit easier than I expected in fact!

Things things usually are

mashed up meatballs with potatoes or mashed up pasta tubes
steak pie that has been simmered for hours until it falls apart when you touch it.
poached chicken which falls apart when you touch it
corned beef hash
lasagne

Corned beef for a baby?!

One slice of corned beef contains about 0.5g of sodium, which is more than a baby is suppose to have in an entire day!!

That much salt could make them really poorly.