Tips & Tricks (Baby / Toddler Meals)

I’ve been wanting to do a post on this but as always, it remains in the darkest corner of my draft post for the longest time.

Now i’m not an expert on baby food, like urmm Annabel Karmel. But i’ve served food for Nadya for more than 6 months now and that ought to count for something eh?

My requirements for Nadya’s food:
* Homemade
* No salt
* No preservatives
* Must be appealing enough for me to eat as well.

So i end up cooking Nadya’s food myself all the time. Now i know some people might think it’s easy for me since i stay home all the time but it’s ok if you’re a FTWM. Just cook weekends or after u get home from office for their dinner. My meals for Nadya are usually quite simple. Very fuss-free and don’t take longer than 20 minutes usually.

The secret is actually simple.

1. Plan ahead
2. Buy vegetables that stay fresh longer
3. Portion your poultry & vegetable into smaller packs.
4. Buy Salt-Free Seasonings. (They’ll save your life.)

PLANNING AHEAD 

Don’t laugh but i excel a meal plan for Nadya and for adult meals as well.

No i’m not entirely OCD but i just like planning ahead and also it helps if you’re just starting solids for your child. Keep track of what they eat so that if any allergy reaction comes up, you can somehow pinpoint it to the food they ate. or if they are having constipation or their poo colour seems a bit off, you know it’s partly cos of the food they ate. That’s how i found out their poo, after they eat dragonfruit is unsightly guysssss.

STOCK UP ON THE VEGETABLES /  FOOD THAT LASTS FOREVER. 

Also stock up on vegetables that are versatile. The kind that you can stir-fry, roast, boil or chuck it in the porridge. Takde hal bro. Semua boleh.

These are my favourite go-to vegetables/food to keep & use for Nadya’s meals.

1. Carrots.
   They last forever or at least till sogginess do us part.
   Really versatile. You can put them in soups, porridge, stirfry, put them in fried rice, baked rice and i can go on and on. If your baby can eat fingerfood on their own, just coat them with Coconut Oil & Salt Free seasonings and let them munch on it.
2. Potatoes. 
   Just as versatile as carrots. One of my current favourite thing to do with potatoes is to cut them in wedges, season them with salt free seasonings and then airfry them. Nadya can eat. I also can eat. I also like making potato patties, mashed potatoes or put them in porridge / soups.
3. Eggs 
   You don’t know the many times these eggs saved my life. Eggs are really good for quick meals like French Toasts / Egg Muffins / Egg Banana Pancake. I swear i’ll write down the recipe for egg muffins one of these days. I just noticed i’ve not posted it up for #NadyaNomNomNom anywhere. Baaaah.
   But back to eggs, you can make scramble eggs / omelettes and put them in sushi. or let them eat with rice. Else if you’re up for something nicer, do a Frittata! It’s one of our favourites!
4. Chicken / Beef 
   I like them minced cos it’s easier for Nadya to eat and also cos you can do more dishes with it. Like Rice with Basil Chicken , Chicken Patties, Beef Balls & more.
5. Brocolli 
   Just like Carrots & Potatoes, brocollis are quite fool proof and can stay long in the fridge. Most of the time i add them in patties or stirfry them with beef / chicken. I’ll throw them in porridge as well.
6. Cheese 
   Everything tastes nicer with cheese. At least for Nadya.
   You can make steamed cheesy rice or cheesy baked rice. Risotto as well if you’re a lil bit more adventurous. Sometimes i let Nadya snack on them. Especially cream cheese! Those are her favourites.
7. Pasta
   I’ve started giving Nadya full sized macaronis. No more cutting it into half and she’ll still chomp it down. So Pasta is now one of her staple dish. If you have excess home made pasta sauce, serve it with meatballs. Else just do a stirfry traffic light macaroni!

PORTION YOUR FOOD 

Now this is something i’ve done since i’ve got married. Cos i always cook for two and i hate thawing a huge chunk of meat each time, i portion everything right after grocery shopping.

I buy ziplock bags from SKP and portion them like this.

1. It’s neater when you store them in the fridge (OCD alert!)
2. They stay fresher longer cos u don’t thaw the entire thing, cut a bit and then freeze again.
3. You can keep stock better. You know how many chicken / beef you have left before you start stocking up.

For Nadya, i portion them in smaller bag cos she don’t eat as much as we do anyway.
I also keep stuff like Pasta sauce that i’ve made in ice-cube trays. That way i can use them as & when i want without making a fresh new batch all the time.

BUY SALT-FREE SEASONINGS

These are for lazy days. Period.
You can use them for anything! Marinate salmon / chicken fillet with them and then airfry them. You can season your patties with them. Stirfry your pastas with them. You can do so many things with them. Lazy? Just season and cook. They’re salt-free so they’re perfect for babies / toddlers.

Just like this lazy-ass meal i made for Nadya. Hahahaha
I made rice balls for her, marinated the chicken fillet and she finished everything up. Don’t care as long got food.

So yeah, making meals for babies & toddlers are pretty simple actually. I’m all for giving them healthy food. Clean food especially. No unnecessary salt, sugar & preservatives needed. Sometimes i give her cheat days lah but most of the time she eats what i cook and you need to ask me for permission before you feed her anything. Thanks.

One is for health reason of course cos her organs are still developing so i don’t wanna ruin whatever is in there. Secondly, if i start giving her salt & sugar too early, she’ll reject the not so nice food, like vegetables. Oh the horrors! Mummy here loves her vegetables so she cannot refuse vegetables.

But this is my personal choice. What you feed your children is none of my business, really.

But i hope this list can help you to manage cooking for your babies & toddlers better! I’ve stopped listing down the #NadyaNomNomNom series monthly here in this blog but i still post them on Instagram & Facebook. You can follow us there instead.

Happy cooking!