introduction
First, however you are feeding your baby is amazing. You are amazing. This is just what we’re doing - you do whatever works best for you!
Here you’ll find a documentation of our eating journey with KK. Because I am such a picky eater and still weird about so many textures, I wanted to make sure my daughter has an exposure to a wide variety of foods and textures, so this has become some sort of a Passion Project for me. And, because I love love love making dinner, because I wanted to eat dinner as a family as long as organically possible, and because I wanted to make one meal for everyone, Baby Led Weaning was a path I wanted to try. (And really, I’ll be trying some of these foods alongside her, so this has been great for me, too.)
And if it all doesn’t work out, that’s okay! I’m enjoying this journey regardless.
how I learned (and continue to learn)
I will admit, this took a lotttt of reading on my part (but that could also be because I find alllllll the literature on picky eating, baby/kid food, and family dinners - and the psychology behind all that - so darn interesting.)
This was really the only book I read while pregnant, and it reallyyyy got me thinking about this feeding thing. (LOVED THIS BOOK.)
And I loved the idea of serving one meal, but allowing everyone to choose what they wanted to eat within that meal. So I read more about the psychology of picky eating. And the process of baby led weaning. And the art of the family meal and feeding toddlers.
Then I read more. Sometimes I’d just skim or flip through - really it was all to learn a little more, feel more comfortable, and figure out what works for us. Some of these accounts are for Baby Led Weaning and introducing solids, while some are more for later on.
These guides, this database, their newsletter, and their instagram - probably where I learned the most. I had Brett watch their Baby Led Weaning Basics webinar with me and that was the most helpful thing we did together so that we were on the same page, and it was a condensed, easy way for Brett to learn it all. (So this could be an excellent place to start.) They also have on their website a ton of guides for purchase that I found so helpful when it came time for meal ideas.
ALL their content about picky eating is extremely helpful, too.
This website, her newsletter, her Instagram account - ALL GOLD. I continue to get SO many good ideas from her. BLW ideas, baby/toddler food ideas, family dinner ideas, EVERYTHING.
Feeding Littles instagram
Baby Led Feeding (anything by this author, really. Love her instagram account, too.)
Baby Foode website (she also has a great book, but I personally prefer her website)
The Montessori Toddler (not really BLW related, but still in the same zip code of independence)
…and other Instagram accounts that I’m blanking on (there are now quite a few BLW, toddler, kid, and picky eating accounts - following the #blw hashtag was helpful for me).
…and once KK got older (9+ months), I also enjoyed this book (I just skipped the purees section - but I think I bookmarked 75% of this book with ideas of things KK and I could both eat for breakfast/lunch) and this book (especially good since I’m so picky about a lot of these foods, so I loved the ideas/strategies in this book).
favorite products
our eating cart
when it was time to start solids, I took KK’s nursing cart and transformed it into an eating cart. because while we wanted her to eat with us, I needed an easy (but not cluttered) system to keep alllll the things we needed nearby to clean her up.
so we have a rolling cart piled high with an absurd amount of soft cloths, spray bottles of water, and our beloved weighted baby wipe holder full of baby wipes. this way, no matter what mess occurs during the meal, we have plenty of supplies at our disposal to clean up after.
(it doesn’t have to be a rolling cart - a rolling cart is just what we had, so we grabbed that and affectionately named it our eating cart.)
see an instagram photo of our set-up in our breakfast nook here.
the bottom basket of the eating cart has our book of 4000 questions (a darling book from our dating days that makes for both the best road trips and at-home dinner dates). and, since our eating area also has a chalkboard, I’m adding this set of magnetic letters to the bottom basket.
i cannot adequately express my love for this chair. i love that i can pick a color that best matches my decor, I love that it doesn’t scream “baby thing!!!!" I love that it grows with your child, I love how solid it is, I love how freaking easy it is to clean (and no small crevices in which food gets caught), and I love that it’s ergonomically perfect.
the newborn insert for when KK was itty bitty was worth every penny.
to clean it, I just spray it with water and wipe it down with one of those soft cloths (both spray bottles and soft cloths live in that aforementioned eating cart). one of my monthly routines is to give the highchair a good scrub, too.
both the BLW and the Montessori communities swear by this chair, and I say rightfully so. I will definitely be buying another one for Baby #2.
we also have the tray and I love it. again, SO easy to clean. but I also love that this chair functions without a tray and that she can just be pushed right up to the table to eat with us without a tray.
so we have this jewel on our bar. (again, I love that I can get a color to match our home decor.) while compared to the tripp trapp highchair this is not as lovely to clean, I do really like it. (still very easy to clean, though!) because sometimes we eat at the bar and this allows KK to be with us. and because this allows KK to, say, chew on a teether or eat a snack while I’m meal prepping. and because this is the most delightful thing to have at restaurants, on road trips, while camping, while hiking, while picnicking, etc.
this is actually the only highchair we have at my parents’ house.
hooks
aka a spot for your bibs. i’ve seen some people put hooks on the back of highchairs, on the inside of cabinet doors, wherever. i love having all our bibs corralled in one spot. for us, hooks in our pantry worked the best for our bibs and baprons.
and it doesn’t have to be a hook. you get the idea.
i dont have a link, but we have a few of those silicone bibs. but I’ll be honest, usually I just strip KK down and let her eat in just a diaper. oftentimes I’d rather wipe her down completely than do the dance that is dealing with both her and a bib. (is that weird?)
one of our monthly routines is to give our baprons a good wash.
our bucket in our laundry room
we have a five-gallon bucket (those, like, four dollar buckets from Home Depot) in or laundry room, and we fill it about halfway with water + Oxyclean. any stained clothing gets thrown in there to soak, and I add the content of the buckets to my next load of laundry. easy peasy.
between kk’s eating, brett’s gardening, and my general existing, this bucket gets a lottttt of use. and saves our clothes
any stains that don’t get removed from this process usually can be removed with some dawn dish soap. (a quick google search explains this better.)
we have one of these on our pantry door to house allllll baby bottles and baby eating things. not only is this perfect for corralling all those things that easily take over precious cabinet space, but it also doubles as the best drying rack so that it’s not cluttering my counters. (eventually we’ll use the bottom two drawers so that KK and siblings have a self-serve situation going on, montessori-style.)
I think she only used these for, like, two months, but they were awesome when she was first starting out and figuring out the whole eating thing. maybe we’ll bring them back.
this cup + open cups
this article taught me how to teach KK to drink from a straw and drink from an open cup. although honestly I haven’t been the best about making sure she drinks from an open cup.
she does love this cup so much - we put it near her to independently grab and drink from. and sometimes I’ll even leave it on the floor because in the midst of playing she’ll sometimes crawl over and take a big drink of water. it’s adorable and hilarious.
…and really that’s the extent of our favorite products. we have a few other favorites, but you’ll see them in different sections of this post. and I have a few other gadgets that I’ve tried, but didn’t really love. but really, this is the extent of the list, as everything else I love are things we already have for general cooking (good olive oil, good knives, a good waffle iron, mason jars for storing her food, sheet pans for roasting her veggies, etc, etc, etc). and I love the simplicity of that.
nursing, formula, and weaning
FAQs: I had no breastfeeding goal - if it worked for us, I wanted to do it as long as we wanted without any guilt or pressure. I started weaning her at five months, but let’s talk some background:
we love our baby brezza. we have an additional funnel, thanks to the wise words of a gemstone of a follower - and that’s 1000% recommended to have, since you have to clean the funnels alllll the time, so having a spare is so nice. and we love our bottles.
long story short, I knew before KK was even born that I wanted her supplemented with formula. and conveniently, since she was born as such a big baby, she needed a supplemental bottle of formula in the hospital - to which we were like “perfect!” so from day 1, her last feed of the day was always a bottle of formula with brett. and I’d pump. I will 1000% do this again with allll my babies - the combo feeding worked so well for us for so many reasons.
side note: god, I didn’t pump that often, but when I did, I LOVED my hands-free pump. worth every penny. i only went with this one over others because my insurance covered a lot of this one.
i had no bf’ing goal - just that I wanted to do it as long as it felt right. no pressure. at five months, I started weaning KK. I don’t really remember how long it took, just that I’d drop a feeding here and there as my body adjusted. I did have a smalllll freezer stash from those evening pump sessions, and I supplemented with that. I think by six months, KK was on 100% formula and solid foods. (I think she started solid foods a week or two shy of six months, if I remember correctly.)
and we love our bottles (we had both sizes - I can’t remember when she bumped up to the bigger size) + costco formula
i keep extra formula on hand so that I don’t have to run out late at night when I realize I’m out. also comes in veryyyy handy for disasters - like that week where Texas froze over and lost its mind. I was so thankful to have both extra formula and diapers - read all what we keep on hand here.
I don’t discuss this topic often on Instagram either since again I think it’s beautiful that we all get to choose what works best for us and our babies, but I wanted to mention it here.
first foods
Below you’ll find a diary of our first ten weeks of introducing solids to KK. I was suuuper relaxed about it all - meaning, I really was just doing what worked for us. I think this guide was the biggest help for me - I needed that structure and that inspiration to - duh! - make a list, so I took it and made it my own.
And because listing out what I wanted to offer her the upcoming week helped me plan for our meals and plan for Sunday Meal Prep - for example, if I see that I’m hoping to introduce roasted broccoli to her that week, I’ll probably plan to do roasted broccoli as a dinner side for Brett and me. (See my weekly meal plan for every dinner we’ve eaten since 2015 - the goal was to have KK eventually eat whatever we were eating, albeit potentially a modified version.) Or if I see that we’re doing baked apples that week, I’ll make some during my Sunday Meal Prep. (More on this in a second.)
I also tried to link any resource or recipe so that I could easily reference it during meal prep and throughout the week. (And I also wanted to keep a document so that I’d remember for future kids.)
You’ll notice that I started out giving foods that 1) I felt comfortable with but 2) were foods we ate all the time anyway. As KK (and I) grew more comfortable, you’ll see she soon joined in on whatever we were having for dinner (albeit a modified version). And often times I’d jot down whatever she was exposed to that day while, say, out eating with my parents.
You’ll also see that after ten weeks, KK really had the hang of it, and that other than meal prepping a few easy breakfasts for KK and me, she truly ate what we ate. It was so nice. But I’ll get to that in a minute. Let’s talk her first week of foods first!
And I truly went based off her hunger cues - so in the beginning, I gave her maybe one meal a day of solid food. But if we missed a day, no big deal. And gradually we got to where we are now: she’s currently almost ten months old and pretty much demands solid food three times a day. (Plus, feeding herself wears her out. It’s awesome.) Throughout all of this, both then and now, I usually offer her a bottle both before and after anytime she sleeps (again, I just follow her hunger cues). Sometimes she takes a little, sometimes she takes the whole thing, sometimes she doesn’t want it at all. And her doctor said she is a really good size and super healthy, so we’re all pleased with how things are going.
* Indicates possible allergen (I missed a few below, but you get the gist). This article and this is what I mainly referenced in terms of allergen exposures.
Week 1 (Nov 15):
Week 2 (Nov 22):
Oatmeal with formula
Raspberries - on their own or mashed into oatmeal
Banana - on its own or mashed in oatmeal
Mashed avo or avocado slice rolled in hemp seed
Bell Pepper (or here)
Turkey + mashed potato + roasted veggies + citrus + green beans (Thanksgiving)
Roasted broccoli + roasted cauliflower (or here)
Week 3 (Nov 29):
Banana - on its own or mashed in oatmeal/yogurt
Grapefruit and/or oranges
Stewed apples or baked apples (+ grab applesauce from freezer?)
Roasted zucchini (or here)
Soft scrambled eggs, mushed* (more egg ideas here)
Avocado egg salad*
Roasted broccoli + roasted cauliflower (or here)
Sweet potato (or here or here or here)
Week 4 (Dec 6): Six Months Old
Baked apples (+ grab applesauce from freezer?)
Sweet potato (or here or here or here)
Grapefruit and/or oranges
Russet potatoes (could try with nutritional yeast for funsies?)
Smoothies (trying this pouch and these cups)
Eggs*+ cooked quinoa in a waffle iron like this, then torn into quarters
Mozzarella* + tomato
Week 5 (Dec 13)
Baked apples (+ grab applesauce from freezer?)
Eggs*
Sweet potato (or here or here or here)
Sweet potato yogurt with leftovers
Smoothies (trying this pouch and these cups)
Grapefruit and/or oranges
Mashed avo or avocado slice rolled in hemp seed
Toast sticks with mashed avocado (see here for best bread for babies)
Baby pancakes (or this oatmeal version?)
Or spinach pancakes? (more spinach info here) (could try waffle iron or mini muffins?)
Week 6 (Dec 20)
Pork loin + mashed potatoes
Tilapia* and/or cod* + cabbage + lime + tomato + unsalted corn tortilla
Mashed avo or avocado slice rolled in hemp seed
Toast sticks with mashed avocado (see here for best bread for babies)
Peanuts with yogurt* and/or peanut butter toast*
Steak + brussels sprouts + broccoli + oranges + grapefruit
Plain pizza crust (soft) + homemade marinara sauce + fresh mozz*
Leftover applesauce from freezer?
Smoothies (trying this pouch and these cups)
Grapefruit and/or oranges
Week 7 (Dec 27)
Hamburger patty + tomato + onion
Grilled cheese (use gruyere in freezer)
Fajita chicken, fajita steak, tortilla, guac, shredded cheese
Banana with ground flaxseed (see this article this idea + easy, high-iron BLW ideas)
Meatballs + rigatoni or penne* in olive oil + tomato sauce
Steak + bread +roasted potatoes + asparagus + brussels sprouts
Ricotta cheese* + raspberries or blueberries
Eggs*+ cooked quinoa in a waffle iron like this, then torn into quarters (from freezer)
Baby pancakes (I froze leftovers)
Grapefruit and/or oranges
Week 8 (Jan 3)
Salmon* + roasted broccoli + roasted cauliflower (or here)
Fajita chicken, fajita steak, tortilla, guac, shredded cheese
Smashed cherries (I used frozen cherries, and let them thaw completely) + ricotta*
Meatballs + rigatoni or penne* in olive oil + tomato sauce
Eggs* (soft scrambled) + tortilla + roasted potatoes
Banana with ground flaxseed (see this article this idea + easy, high-iron BLW ideas)
Mashed avo or avocado slice rolled in hemp seed + Black beans
Black beans (or on toast)
Toast sticks with mashed avocado (see here for best bread for babies)
Peanuts with yogurt* and/or peanut butter toast*
Yogurt with banana sticks and hempseed*
Roasted potatoes
Strawberries, cantaloupe, avocados, tomato
Ricotta cheese* + raspberries or blueberries
Strawberries + blueberries + raspberries
Smoothies (trying this pouch and these cups)
Grapefruit and/or oranges
Week 9 (Jan 10)
Sweet potato (or here or here or here)
Fajita chicken, fajita steak, tortilla, guac, shredded cheese
Sauerkraut + roasted potato + pretzel roll
Bread + tomato + chicken
Raspberries - on their own or mashed into oatmeal
Banana - on its own or mashed in oatmeal
Banana with ground flaxseed
Cucumber + tortilla + chicken + chickpeas + tomato + onion
Ricotta cheese* + raspberries or blueberries
Strawberries + blueberries + raspberries
Smoothies (trying this pouch and these cups)
Grapefruit and/or oranges
Smashed cherries (I used frozen cherries, and let them thaw completely) + ricotta*
Roasted potatoes
Pear
Black beans (or on toast) (leftover from last week)
Baked apples (from freezer)
Week 10 (Jan 17)
Eggs* (hardboiled and cut into wedges?)
Waffles + scrambled eggs
Almond butter* + yogurt* or toast + hemp seeds
Eggs*+ cooked quinoa in a waffle iron like this, then torn into quarters (from freezer)
Baby pancakes (from freezer)
Black beans (or on toast)
Baked apples (from freezer)
Edamame* (mashed and spread on toast)
Ricotta cheese* + raspberries or blueberries (or on toast)
Strawberries + blueberries + raspberries
Papaya (usually I buy frozen fruit and give it to KK thawed)
Nectarines
Smashed cherries (usually I buy frozen fruit and give it to KK thawed)
Banana with ground flaxseed
Chicken + tortilla + lettuce + tomato
Naan + pizza sauce + little bit of mozz
rigatoni or penne* in olive oil + tomato sauce
Smoothies (trying this pouch and these cups)
Grapefruit and/or oranges (also blood oranges and cara cara oranges this week)
Week 11 (Jan 24)
At this point, KK was almost 8 months and reallyyyy had the hang of it. So we continued exposing her to allergens and offering her modified versions of whatever we’re eating. See my weekly menu plan where I note what we’re eating each night, as well as a “meal prep” section where I mention any muffins/eggs/oatmeal/waffles/etc I might be prepping too.
meal prep
Let’s backtrack a minute and talk about the MVP of all this: meal prep. Because hi, hello: I’m not cooking for KK all day, every day. My goal was to add in a few things to my weekly meal prep that would make for easy, ready-made breakfasts and lunches for her all week.
I do a little meal prep every Sunday as a part of our weekly ritual of Grill and Chill.
(See my #hwdmealprep hashtag on Instagram to see all my meal prep sessions in one place.)
I take anywhere from five minutes to an hour and a half (depends entirely on that week’s mood and energy level), and I prep a few things that could make my life easier the coming week. What can I make now so that it’s easier to eat at home this week? And, depending on the week, I’ll either do this meal prep session in one continuous session, or broken up into several tinyyyy sessions as I find a few spare moments throughout the day. It’s all fluid.
Pre-baby I’d use this time to prep a few dinner components ahead of time, if that was helpful. And I’d see what breakfast/lunch/snack things I could prep for the upcoming week. Because I know that Future Haley loves to have those things ready to go in the fridge. Prepped produce, smoothie packs, mason jar salads, baked omelettes, mason jar yogurt parfaits, adult snack boxes, containers of soup, prepared sandwich fixings, etc.
And, I still do this. But now, I also think: what would be helpful to have on hand to make it easier to feed KK this week?
This usually means preparing produce. Whether that is cutting some citrus, baking some apples, roasting some veggies, cutting some cucumber, or thawing some frozen fruit, I do some version of this every week. Every single week. And I sing my. praises for Past Haley the entire following week.
And this usually means prepping some sort of egg-thing, oatmeal-thing, pancake/waffle-thing, and/or muffin-thing. Whatever I’m feeling for myself and KK that week. (And, I usually freeze leftovers, too, whenever possible. So if I’m not feeling like making any of them, I’ll just pull some things out of my freezer stash to thaw for the week.)
So between what I make for meal prep, and what we have for dinners that week, feeding KK all week is so, so easy. Basically I just grab a few things from the fridge, dump them in front of her, and bam! Done.
Examples of what I might meal prep:
prep produce (the above section will link resources on how I cut these so they’re safer)
cut citrus
slice some cucumbers
slice pineapple (although I usually buy those precut rings at the store, but I cut the rings in half for KK)
slice strawberries
baking apples
slicing tomatoes
prep a few smoothie packs to make smoothies easier
roasting sweet potatoes (and/or mashing sweet potatoes)
roasting butternut squash (or zucchini squash. or bell peppers. or, or, or.)
take frozen fruit out of the freezer, disperse into containers (i like mason jars), and let thaw in the fridge
i especially like frozen fruit because 1) it’s usually inexpensive 2) it’s an easy way to expose KK to more fruit and 3) once it thaws in the fridge, it usually is softer and mushier than fresh fruit, so it helped ease my nerves early on
make some sort of egg thing
scrambled eggs
hardboiled eggs (I do love to grab those Costco hardboiled eggs as an easy back-up for Brett and KK, but usually I make a batch each week in my IP)
avocado egg salad (smashed hardboiled eggs + avocado)
muffin tin omelettes
sheet pan omelette, cut into strips or squares
still figuring out my favorite recipes - but googling these terms and/or adding the word “baby” or “toddler” or “baby led weaning” to the front was how I’d find potential recipes. (or I’d refer to my favorite resources - linked in the beginning of this post)
make some sort of beans and/or rice/grain
KK and I LOVE rice and beans for breakfast/lunch!
make some sort of waffle/pancake/oatmeal/muffin thing (+ freeze any leftovers for future weeks)
make a batch of oatmeal
make baked oatmeal
make overnight oats
make oatmeal cups
make a batch of pancakes/waffles
make a batch of sheet pan pancakes
make a batch of muffins
….or pull something out of the freezer from past weeks
still figuring out my favorite recipes - but googling these terms and/or adding the word “baby” or “toddler” or “baby led weaning” to the front was how I’d find potential recipes. (or I’d refer to my favorite resources - linked in the beginning of this post)
smoothies
let me pause and talk about smoothies. i try to have a daily smoothie as apart of our daily schedule. when I do, I pour a little bit into one of these cups or one of these pouches. (if I have extra, I’ll make an additional cup/pouch and stick it in the fridge to use another day that week.)
I give her the exact same smoothie as me (unless I’ve added honey. I always omit honey from her smoothie). 99% of the time I do a smoothie with frozen produce, unsweetened almond milk, and ground flaxseed and/or chia seeds. i might add a bit of honey to mine, but usually really ripe, frozen bananas gives it the perfect amount of sweetness.
this article taught me how to teach KK to use a straw
sometimes I’ll freeze leftover smoothie in these silicone popsicles molds - teething KK loves these things
to clarify, she loves the empty silicone mold, she loves the empty silicone mold frozen, she loves the silicone mold filled with a little smoothie/water. she loves it all. plus they’re easy for her to hold. i’m pretty sure we have an empty mold both in her carseat and in her stroller, just because she loves to gnaw on and wave these things.
I loved this book and this book (I love both authors’ instagram accounts, too)
but I think this blogpost was the best thing I read re: giving babies/toddlers smoothies
my “smoothies” highlight on my Instagram answers a ton of FAQs, too. i’m hoping to do a full blogpost soon.
I’ve had my Vitamix now for ten-ish years and it’s still a champ. makes the best smoothies. worth every, every penny.
nowadays
I don’t share photos of KK eating all too often on my Instagram just because I want to avoid the feedback and I think it’s great we all get to choose what works best for us and our babies. So while I know you may have good intentions, please refrain from sending me any opinions. This process has taken a lot of research, both we and our pediatrician love it, and KK is happy + healthy. You do what works best for you! :)
KK loves her solid food. And, let me say this: sometimes she has no interest in a food. None at all. She’ll either ignore it, or toss it on the floor. And that’s okay! I just keep offering it to her.
I truly believe in that division of responsibility where I can control what foods are offered and where/when we eat, but she can control which of the offered foods she eats, and how much of each offered food she eats. This article explains this method better.
If she doesn’t care for a food, yes, I keep offering it. But I also might change up how it’s cooked (roasted vs steamed, for example) or the size it’s offered (halved vs quartered). I might offer it with a sauce or with something smeared on it. I might try a new seasoning. I might mix it in with something else. Etc, etc, etc.
I think she didn’t care for hardboiled eggs for the first, like, seventeen times. (The dogs were thrilled.) And then one day, I offered it in halves instead of quarters, and she ate the whole thing. Now she’s hooked.
Or, like, chicken, She didn’t care for it. She’d bite into it and then toss it on the floor. (Again, the dogs were thrilled.) Then, one day, Brett offered chicken tossed in a little bit of avocado, and she ate it all. The next time, we offered the chicken in tinier shredded pieces than normal, and she ate it all.
Oh, and here’s what I keep in mind when she drops food on the floor.
Usually this is how her breakfast, lunch, and dinner go:
breakfast:
lunch:
a combo of meal prepped things, things we keep on hand, a smoothie, and/or dinner leftovers
dinner
what we’re eating for dinner, or a modified version
and while she may not eat everything, I do offer it to her
Curious how our days look? See my blogpost on our daily rhythms here.
Let’s talk the easy ready-to-grab things we usually keep on hand for KK (at the time of publication, KK is not yet a year old, so this list may change with time, but it’ll at least give you a good idea of easy foods we love to have):
anything I had meal prepped that week (see above meal prep section!)
similarly, I often times freeze things I meal prepped, so I might pull something from the freezer from a past meal prep sesh to have on hand for this week’s meals
thickkk shredded cheese
whatever produce we have from the farmers market
i loveeeee farmers markets, but realistically we can’t always get out the door to attend them. so I signed up for a few local deliveries. this is the easiest way for us to always have a variety of produce on hand, and often produce I would never think of getting. one of my go-to dinner strategies is to just have a side of produce, so this is the easiest way to expose kk. that and signing up for a weekly produce box. (more on this below.) like tonight’s dinner side was sliced kiwi from our produce box. win win win!
if you’re local, I love this delivery service. (if you say that you heard about them from me, Haley Wynn Baribeau, you and I both get $10 off!) I love to order their produce boxes.
and I also order weekly eggs from this guy.
brett wants to find another CSA to support, too
tortillas
on their own, spread with avocado/ricotta cheese/nut butter, made into a quesadilla, etc. KK loves loves loves tortillas.
berries, smooshed. allllllll the berries
pineapple rings
you know, the precut pineapple in the produce section? the kind in the shape of rings? KK loves those rings in halves or quarters. or tinier slices. or tiny pieces in yogurt. and I love not having to deal with a whole pinapple.
sometimes I’ll also grab prepped watermelon if it looks good (except in the summer when we’re buying a whole melon ourselves)
yogurt
ricotta cheese
beans + rice/grains
oranges + grapefruit, if in season
watermelon, if in season
baked apples
applesauce pouches
i only keep these in my purse and in my car - I have applesauce and cheerios in these places for emergencies.
cheerios + cereal
frozen fruit
i take it out of the freezer, disperse into containers (i like mason jars), and let thaw in the fridge
i especially like frozen fruit because 1) it’s usually inexpensive 2) it’s an easy way to expose KK to more fruit and 3) once it thaws in the fridge, it usually is softer and mushier than fresh fruit, so it helped ease my nerves early on
eggs
usually I have hardboiled eggs in my fridge (I use this method) for Brett and KK
i may also have a sheet pan omelette in the fridge (cut into squares or strips) - something that we or KK can eat for a quick meal - I take this recipe and modify it
big tomatoes, sliced
kk loves these. either quartered roma tomatoes, or big ol sandwich slices of tomatoes.
cucumbers, also.
toast. lots of toast.
with nut butter, mashed avocado, guacamole, ricotta cheese, mashed sweet potato, smashed berries, etc.
we love Dave’s Killer Bread
i’ll sprinkle the toast topping with hemp seed, chia seed, and/or flaxseed sometimes
there are few things teething KK loves more than cold pineapple rings/spears, cold citrus wedges, tortillas, cold smoothies, and lotsssss of toast
avocados
while we have fresh avocados, what we really love is that our grocery store offers in-house made guacamole and avocado spread (mashed avocado + lemon juice). i usually add one or the other (or both) to my cart since these are SO nice to have for KK. mixed with eggs, spread on toast, etc etc etc
bananas
eaten on their own, with yogurt, spread with nut butter, rolled in ground flaxseed, mashed into oatmeal, mashed onto nut butter toast, etc.
shredded rotisserie chicken
my grocery store offers this premade, and I say it’s so worth to have on hand. she especially loves it mixed with that aforementioned avo spread and/or guac or a spread with a little bit of nut butter
or, or, strips of grilled chicken (or really any grilled protein), leftover from Grill and Chill
Woooo, I think that’s it! We’ve loved this journey and are excited to continue. As always, this is just what has worked best for us. You do whatever is best for you! Thank you for being here and thank you for such a wonderful blogpost request.
Curious to see how Feeding Toddler KK is going? What she eats in a day, our favorite snacks we keep on hand, our beloved kitchen stool, our favorite plates, and what we do when she doesn’t like a food? See this new post!
