Monday, March 18, 2013

Menu Planning for Baby...



Now that Henry has been enjoying solids for over a month, the variety of foods he is eating is growing quickly. We have also just added lunch to the menu, which means a full three meals a day! Sometimes I find it difficult to keep track of what he ate and when he ate it, which means it's very likely that he will have the same dinner three nights in a row. I know I wouldn't enjoy that, so I thought it was time to come up with a menu plan! 


I find dinner time to be the most chaotic in our house. Rob is rarely home from work, Andrew is getting restless and Henry seems to go from happy to hungry in the blink of an eye! Knowing what is on the menu, and having it thawed in the fridge is a great step in the right direction. Also, in the very rare event that I get to leave the house and someone else feeds my kids, they will know the plan!



At the beginning of the week I will sit down and fill out the menu, knowing what I have on hand, and what new foods I would like to introduce for the week. It is recommended to introduce new foods slowly, giving baby at least three days with each new addition before trying something else. I have left a space for comments on the menu where we will keep track of his likes and dislikes, whether he has missed a meal or any adverse reactions (gas, constipation) he may experience. 


The second part of my plan uses these adorable little jars! I wanted to be able to label the meals in the fridge so that they would be easy to identify. What better label is there than a little bit of Chalkboard Paint! I used  baby food jars, but may switch to the small mason jars once Henry is eating larger amounts. *Be careful to keep the paint away from the inside of the lid, where it may come into contact with baby's food*

Each night, I quickly check Henry's menu, pop the frozen food cubes into the jars, label with chalk and place them in the fridge for the next day! I thaw few servings of fruit for his dessert as well. I am loving that his meals are thawed and ready to go (especially when I remember on my way out of the door that he will want some lunch before we return)! 

I had so much fun designing Henry's menu that I decided to make a few more for you!


If you would like to print one off, simply save the JPEG file below and print! It is also super easy for me to customize this printable, so if you are interested in one with your baby's name, send me a message on my Facebook Page, I would love to hear from you!





Happy menu planning!!


14 comments

  1. what a lovely idea. Here the uk babies are now fed by baby lead weaning. I have watched my grandson aged one tackiling food ad such a young age. He was started at six months with bread sticks and then veg and fruit sticks. I was no way convinced it would work but now at 15 months he eats anything put in front of him . never had a jar .
    I love the way i used to make food for the kids like you do i could so have done with that planner

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    1. Thanks Tracy, I've read about baby lead weaning, pretty interesting idea!!

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  2. Love it! I am totally going to try this when my little one is introduced to food! Thanks for the awesome printables! Shannon

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  3. I love this!! Sending it to my sister-in-law to use for her baby! Thank so much!

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    1. Make sure you get her to message me with her little one's name! I'll email her a personalized copy!

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  4. Great! I remember just winging it every day this would have been great. I'll keep it in mind I case the 'maybe' baby moves over to the 'yes we will have a third' category!

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  5. Love it! The jars are so cute with the chalkboard lids! I love that you left a spot on the menu for recordinf if they liked it or not.....great idea!

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  6. Thanks, I'll check it out for sure!

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  7. Great idea! Thanks for sharing this tip. :)

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  8. I like the idea of the menu. Great way to keep track of veggies versus fruits. I feel like my kids always got more fruits than veggies.

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