Weaning advice?

[Saila]

Hello

I'm about a couple of months away from weaning but I wanted to begin preparing for it

Does anyone have any good tips on what equipment i may need to buy?

Any recommendations for certain steamers (i don't have that much kitchen work space)

Also I will be returning to work at approximatley the same time so i'd be leaning towards a convenient and easy approach to weaning rather than teh most time consuming methods, if that makes sense .e.g i'm open to using the microwave and taking short cuts whereever possible

thanks in advance

xxx

[Pickle]

In my opinion you don't need special equipment - I have a steamer which we were given as a wedding gift and used it once for preparing vegetables then never again as it involved too much cleaning up! I used to cook all the kids food in our standard pots, and the microwave at times.

The most useful thing you could have is a hand blender, great for purees and I still use mine a lot for blending soups etc.

The little Tommee Tippee pots with lids (Sainsbury's do an equivalent for less money!) are great for storing little portions of food in the early days, and I find I'm still using mine 3 years on to keep snacks in for the children.

Have fun!

[apenn]

If you go with baby-led weaning (which saves time on cooking special things, on pureeing, and on having to feed your child before you eat, but takes time in cleaning up) I found the Tiny Diner Placemat that Jojo Maman Bebe sells to be great. Bibs with sleeves are a MUST (the ones from Sainsbury's are pretty decent)!

Also, if you want to steam food, you don't need a separate steamer on your countertop. You can just use a steaming basket in your regular pots:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kitchen-Craft-Stainless-Collapsible-Steaming/dp/B0001IWW4S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1269920629&sr=1-1-spell

These little gadgets are great!

-A

[Fuschia]

Ikea cheap easy to clean hugh chairs

FROM SUPERMARKET SMALL SIZE BACOPOTS TO FREEZE STUFF

ABLED WEANING

X

[Belle]

baby-led weaning - it will be messy but you will get to eat a meal now and again...apart from some weaning spoons for yoghurt and the odd fruit puree pot (we did blw but supplemented a bit) and long sleeved bibs from jojo maman bebe we didn't have to buy any equipment either.

[Saila]

Thanks so much - this is all really helpful

... off i pop to 'classifieds' :)

i'm trying to do everything secondhand to save $$$

[candj]

Agree with everyone above, I used a wire mesh colander on top of a pot of water and covered with a lid to steam things, a Braun hand held blender, and a load of little tupperware pots with lids that I purchased for 30p from Farmer's on LL. Very easy. Good luck!

[HAL9000]

Whenever we prepared any fresh foods for ourselves, we'd zap some in a blender and pour the puree into a plastic ice tray that was then frozen. The ice-cube sized portions were turned out into Tupperware containers and stored in the freezer. In no time we accumulated a huge variety of multi-coloured cubes.

At meal times, we'd steam heat four little cubes, for example, carrot, potato and chicken for the main meal and a fruit puree for desert. Our little one loved the variety.

[Fuschia]

Saila Wrote:

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>

> i'm trying to do everything secondhand to save $$$

You can store frozen cubes in freezer bags or save small pots from pasta sauces etc if you buy them...

[sandy_rose]

I've got a hand blender that you can have if you haven't already got one, I haven't got round to Freecycling it yet.

It's a bit stained from pureeing lots of squash but other than that it works fine. It's a Kenwood Wizard 3-in-1 and comes with a chopping bowl (small crack in it but works ok) and a whisk attachment too. Best thing about it is it stacks up quite well if you haven't got a lot of space.

Anyway, it's yours if you want it!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kenwood-Wizard-HB655-Blender-Chopping/dp/B0001A29H6/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=kitchen&qid=1271078604&sr=1-3

[Saila]

thank you sooo much - that's so kind of you.

i'll pm you now

sorry for the late reply - i've only just seen your msg