Weaning without a cooker hob

[peacemakeruk]

This may sound like a silly question but I am weaning my 8 month old DD and at present she has jars of baby food. At present we don't have a working cooker hob, only an oven and microwave. I want my DD to eat similar stuff to us but we are eating quite alot of convenience foods at present because of the hob not working which I obviously can't give her. Does anyone have any ideas on what 'normal' food I can give her that doesn't need to be cooked on the hob?

Thanks.

don't have a microwave but I'm sure you can stew fruit in one.
And baked/roasted veg in the oven.

you can do a lot of veggies in the micro. plus there's a great meat loaf recipe here and you can make a lovely ratatouille in the microwave. in fact, shouldn't you just look out a micro recipe book, and then either mash or just give dd the food and see how she gets on?

lots of fruit? no cooking required, i am assuming she has finger foods at 8 months (i did blw so bit different)

steam-fresh veggies from microwave
roast things, anything really
scrambled eggs in microwave

lots of fruit? no cooking required, i am assuming she has finger foods at 8 months (i did blw so bit different)

steam-fresh veggies from microwave
roast things, anything really
scrambled eggs in microwave

At 8 months old, she should be pretty much eating "normal" food by now so I would try to cook for all of you using your oven/microwave and just don't add salt.

If you have a casserole dish, you could bung some chicken, potatoes and veg in the oven. Instead of dissolving stock cubes into water, try making up a sauce with tomato paste and herbs and bung that in to prevent it drying out. You could then separate out your DD's share and mash it down before adding salt/pepper to your own portions.

If you have frozen veg, it's pretty easy to cook it in the microwave - just bung it in a plastic bowl with some water on top for a couple of minutes to your taste. I use frozen sweetcorn, runner beans and even brocolli. Obviously you can heat baked beans in the micro as well which are perfectly healthy.

Jacket potatoes are easy to do in microwave/oven - just scoop out the flesh for DD and mix with butter and/or milk for easy mashed potatoes!

I'm rubbish at cooking but I'm sure some other well-informed MNers will be along in a mo to give you some more exciting recipes!

and if you have a toaster, you can make cheesy toast sarnies. and these are delicious and can be made in a toaster. good luck.

Can you not just give her lots of finger food that can be cold anyway
sandwiches
pitta bread
garlic bread
breadsticks
fruit in easy pieces - halved grapes, peaches, apples (?), satsumas, oranges (lovely atm)
Salad - halved cherry toms, cucumber, pepper.
Potato wedges
chicken breast baked in oven and sliced
Ditto fish
Do you hae a microwave? Do veg in that. Or roasted veg in oven yummmy

I wouldn't mash anything - DS2 was sort of blw-ed and at 8mo was just eating handfuls of whatever we had (eg roast dinner etc)

but if I give her food that isn't mashed I can't see her beening able to eat enough to feel full. As it is I've given her toast in the past which she chews a few times then leaves, as far as I can tell she doesn't swallow any.

milk is what will make her feel full atm.

you can stew fruit in the mircrowave - put it chopped up into a dish with a tablespoon of water - cover and micro for 5 - 10 mins - easy peasy! Same with veggies.

maybe give her snacks to feed herself and give her mashed meals? or half half in a meal so mashed casserole, stew, curry with a bread that matches the dish for her to dip in the bowl and chew on.

my dd was saying dip, dip at about 12 months as she LOVED doing this!

buy a cheapo camping stove, will make your life alot easier.

true story, goat.

What about buying a slow cooker - i love mine!

I'd buy a steamer and a blender. You can pick them up cheaply - £20 ish for both. All you need really. Fish microwaves lovely. Veggies - microwave OK, steamer easier. Finger foods - surprisingly effective esp. to avoid mealtime battles

DS is nearly 8mo, he has triangles of toast, loads of different veggies cooked in the microwave, meat roasted and cut into slices, chunks of apple, sticks of cucumber, slices of cheese, chunks of different breads, stuff like that.

Even though DD might not swallow much toast at the moment keep at it and she probably will. DS just played with everything for a while, having a nibble, now he eats quite a lot. Apple he loves biting it, has a bit of play with it in his mouth, then most of it comes back out again.

I lived for a year (before kids) in a place with only a kettle, toaster and a microwave to cook.

My top tips: forget about pasta. Water everywhere. Heating onions etc in a pyrex with a good slug of butter can give that 'fried' depth of flavour to things. Normal fine noodles come out fine if you make them liek a pot noodles in a bowl with boiling water for 5 mins. Then just soy sauce and some veggies.

I thought soy sauce was high in salt Kif?

Yeah, it is. You can get a 'reduced salt' version.

My recipes were my student creations - pre-kids. For an 8 m.o. they can just have plain noodles, but adults would want a bit more flavour.

ok, thanks everyone.