Baby led Meal Planning is a method of creating weekly meals for your family centered around providing baby specific food that can be share by the adults in the family. This weeks podcast dives deep into what makes this method strategic in keeping baby led weaning an affordable option for your family. There are five tips and tricks to help you stay on track without eating the same thing every night or even every week. You can listen to the podcast embedded below while reviewing the show notes in this post. If you enjoyed this episode then use the link at the end of the show notes to follow up on Spotify, Google Podcast, or the Anchor app. If you would like to help this podcast grow then head over to anchor.fm/twingineering and click the "Support" button.
Five Tips to start Baby Led Meal Planning
1.Start by Shelf Cooking
Shelf cooking is the process of using what you already have to prepare your weekly meal plan. I start by opening my fridge to make sure we use anything that is going to spoil first, then look in my pantry to see what we have one hand. You can get creative with what you have on hand and make exciting meals for your family.
Shelf cooking is a concept coined by Jordan Page from shelfcooking.com where she had a variety of content on how to shelf cook. This includes recipes, guides, and tips from her own life cooking for a family with 8 kids. Check her out for additional resources to help you shelf cook.
2. Batch Cooking = Time Saved
Batch cooking is the process of making double what you will be eating for a meal. You then store the rest as leftover to be used on nights where you are not cooking, or not cooking baby led meals.
Batch cooking works for breakfast and lunch as well. We are fans of pancakes for breakfast, so I will make a triple batch and cook them all one morning. Then put them in a container in the fridge and feed the babies breakfast for the next two or three days. A time saver for mornings that we have super grumpy babies. I also do this with eggs, or egg breakfast muffins if you are trying to get your babies to eat veggies for breakfast.
3. Cook the same thing for the entire family
Cooking the time meal for your entire family means that you will be spending less time meal prepping and meal planning. It is important for setting the expectation with your children that they will not be getting a different meal just because they are not a fan of everything on their plate. Cooking the same thing for everyone is important for tip 4 as it makes sure you are getting variety in your kids lives.
4. Try new foods with your baby often
Trying new foods will help to expand your child's pallet and provide variety in your meals. Something that comes with trying new foods is to shop the sales for produce. This means cooking foods seasonally for your children that set the tone for each season from an early age.
Introducing new foods is also great for avoiding allergies. Some research has shown that introducing a food to a child earlier can prevent them from developing an allergy to that food. Do this with caution and make sure to consult your doctor before introducing allergy specific foods to your child.
5. Use the tools you need, even baby food
Using the tools around you can save you time and reduce your stress levels. So grab some baby food at the store and use it when needed. Remember you know what works best for your family.
These five tips will help you and your family transition into baby led weaning successfully, and with less stress than how we initially completed the process. If you are already doing baby led weaning then these tips will help you with the process of baby led meal planning. If you enjoyed the podcast above then I ask that you share it to your social media pages to help us reach a greater audience. If you haven't already take the time to follow us on our instagram page under @twingineering20 to see updates 5 days a week about our little family. We have also opened up listener support on our anchor.fm/twingineering page to keep our podcast growing with new episodes each week to help you problem solve motherhood.
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