Baby Food Adventure Begins

I Facebook sourced some tips for starting solids. Many mommas suggested Baby Led Weaning, which in theory I'm all about. However, since having E I've learned my worst time of day is dinner time. I'm low on brain space and so we do a lot of meal prep ahead of time to limit the number of decisions we need to make.

This led to the decision to do a combination of homemade purees and well-cooked finger foods (BLW style).

Since we started solids with E the end of 2013 a few recommendations have changed. Now "they" recommend:
1. Introducing common allergens almost right away (nuts, eggs, strawberries, etc.)
2. Not spacing out the introductions of new foods (used to say wait 3 days in between foods)

I decided to keep track of which foods T has had, so that if there is a reaction I can try to trace it back. I laminated this chart and am marking them off as he tries them even in small amounts.

I spent much of Saturday and Sunday prepping baby food following suggestions from this book. Nothing is rocket science, but it's just nice to follow something when you want to be led. 

I then put the thick purees into ice cube trays covered with plastic wrap in the freezer overnight. Once frozen, I put them into freezer safe containers, labelled with the name of food and date cooked.

I also cooked vegetables in large pieces (as shown in top photo) to use in BLW manner. Then placed them on parchment-wrapped cutting board with plastic wrap covering. Froze flat in freezer overnight and placed in labelled containers.

Tips to prepare avocado and minimize waste!

Cut the avocado in half. Use a straight edge knife and tap the pit brisquely. Knife sticks in, then pull pit out. Slice the avocado in skin as pictured above.

Run the knife around the outer edge of the avocado between the skin and the fruit. The start on one side and carefully peal back the skin. The slices will then be free one at a time. Freeze in same manner as other food.