Mum's Guide - Cooking for Toddlers - Must have's to make your life easy!

Getting started

Today I would like to share some little tips when cooking for baby's & kids.


I usually cook for a few days in advance because sometimes I am not as hungry, some days I eat in the evening with my husband or some days we just eat something which is simply not yet for our little one due to spices or the lack of a full set of teeth. The little one however needs lunch and proper nutrition and with some easy tricks it is quickly prepared.

Always handy to have are

· Some little Tupperware storage boxes for freezing or storing for the next 3 days.
It can also be a no-name brand from your local supermarket. If I have cooked more or for anything we don’t eat in the next 3 days, freezing it in the relevant portion your child is able to eat comes handy. The portion then just needs to be defrosted by putting it into the fridge a day before consumption.

· A Blender = a Mums lifesaver!
My old one gave up on me a few weeks ago so I got one from Kenwood with 3 blades. It’s a fantastic product; I love it and couldn’t live without it. Even though my boy can chew already most of the things its handy to have for making fruit-puree which he can eat either pure or you add it to semolina or rice-pudding to give it a little vitamin-lift. And if you don’t need it for baby food, well its always good to have for making a creamy soup, marmalade / jams or even part-blend salsa-dips or relishes to have a 50:50 chunky yet creamy consistency.

PS: If your child is a bit bigger and does not "love" i.e. vegetables in particular, a blender is quite handy to cover-up the healthy veggies by mixing them with the tomatoesauce in order to get the vitamins into your child.

· A Pressure-Cooker or Steamer.
As I am German I am using usually either WMF or Silit however any other brand will do. They come in different sizes depending on size of family or what you plan to cook. Don’t be afraid of any stories you might have heard regarding the pot exploding etc. These days that is very unlikely to happen. If the food is not ready or hasn’t cooled down yet enough it is not possible to open the lid except you use extremely strong force or leave the pot boiling unattended for a long while - which are both things you should never do anyways; with or without kids.

Be careful though when making fruits for compote… I once had apple mash all over my hub because I filled too much into the pot - so always follow the instructions (RTFM as they say ;)) ...

A Pressure-Cooker is SO handy for making stews, soups or even a roast and it’s quick and easy. Not to mention that you safe a lot of time and electricity (as it is faster cooked due to the pressure) which makes the investment also environmentally friendly ;)

At the end of the day no matter if a working or full-time stay-at-home Mum, we all still have our own lives and need some rest and every little help to make things easier is greatly appreciated, don't you think so too?