Cooking for babies and toddlers

Storage:

Once cooked and the meal has cooled, try and batch it up for the freezer straight away. Once in the freezer try to use the meals within a couple of months.

Containers:

Jam jar type containers are excellent. Alternatively, plastic takeaway containers are good. Make sure the lid fits well and the container has been well washed out. Meals like lasagne, once chilled, are pretty solid and the portions can be cut and wrapped in cling film and then foil. Make sure you label the jars with the name of the meal and the date. (You'll think you will remember…but you won't when you have a freezer full). I just use pieces of paper stuck on with sticky tape.

Stock and Salt:

Baby's under 1 year should not have any salt. I never add salt to my cooking even for my toddler. Stock cubes are heavily loaded with salt so be careful. If you feel you need to use them, try making your own stock (Annabel Karmel has recipes you can follow) or try using the low salt cubes you can buy. I just add more herbs and spices to give flavour to the food. However, the younger the child is, the more content they will be with basic flavours of your cooking. It may be bland to you, but it won't be to your baby.

Re-heating and Defrosting:

The meals seem to taste better if allowed to totally defrost before heating in the microwave. However, they can be heated slowly on a defrost setting first. Make sure the food is piping hot and mixed well to avoid hot spots. Allow plenty of time for cooling before feeding to your child.

Vegetables:

I try to cram my meals with vegetables to make life easier. However, it is still nice to cook vegetables fresh occasionally. They will freeze fine, although large pieces of mushroom and potato can sometimes hold water and go soggy. Fresh vegetables do taste better and crunchier as once frozen they can lose their bite. However, with meals like Cottage pie, it is easy to just add some freshly cooked broccoli or beans to the meal the day you re-heat it. Just wash and break up the portion size you need into a small bowl and add a couple of tablespoons of water and cook for 2-3 minutes in the microwave.

Meal ideas that work well:

Spaghetti Bolognese/Lasagne, Cottage Pie, Fish Pie, Chicken Casserole (excellent for baby's as it is nice and juicy), Quorn Biriani, Sweet chilli con carne, Creamy salmon pasta. These are a few of the meals I regularly cook for my baby and toddler.

If making for a baby just use a hand blender to get as smooth or chunky as they will eat.

Source: http://www.parenting.co.uk/help/cooking-for-babies-and-toddlers.cfm