Can't cook

[Scarlettsmum8]

Hi i am not really one for cooking. Never really had to before always got by with frozen micro foods. Now im a mum I'm panicking. My wee one is 6 months now and for past few weeks she's been on baby rice, baby porridge and Ella's kitchen pouches. The pouches are great and she loves them but now she's 6 months she's need more than them, am I right?

Help I've no idea what to attempt to make her to ensure she gets all the things she need 😓😟😞

 

[eulmh82]

Honestly you don't need to cook to steam a few veggies and do a few fruit purees. Even at 20 mths my lo prefers proper dinners so meat pots and veg which are all simple to cook. I think the names on the pouches make you believe you have to do fancy pants stuff which to be fair I did start off doing but now my lo eats our meals I just make extra and freeze them. Cook up load of veg and divide it into pots. It's not as hard as the jar companies want you to think it is and it's far cheaper

 

[Rachel_C]

It's a great time to learn to cook

Maybe start with some really simple meals - plain grilled chicken, boiled new potatoes and some steamed carrots? Omelette? Egg fried rice? Just try one new thing a week and you'll soon have a week's worth of meals you can cook. Food doesn't have to be fancy to be healthy and taste good. You're right that you can't feed your LO pouches forever so you will have to learn to cook some meals at some point - you can't feed a 2 year old purées and you can't feed them frozen micro foods either - so you may as well do it now. It'll be better for you all in the long run and you might actually enjoy it!

Perhaps look for a cookery book aimed at students. I have one called Beyond Baked Beans Green (Beyond Baked Beans is the non-veggie version, just as good I think) which is a really good intro to cooking healthy and easy meals that taste great. I'd say I'm an average cook but I still look in that book for quick, easy and cheap ideas. Delia Smith did a good series too called 'How to cook', you could look at that. Or just pick something you like to eat and google for a recipe. Choose one that looks easy and give it a go! A 6 month old can eat normal family foods (even if you're doing TW, most babies are eating food for themselves too), just watch out for chunks of nut, honey, undercooked eggs etc.