The flavor of true Meal
Teaching kids positive eating behaviors during childhood can set them up with healthy eating habits for life. All grandma/moms told me this is what I could not disagree a bit on this.
When my son was born and used to meet mum from different walks of life, we would discuss different brands of packaged baby food and often marketed as “organic “and “free from artificial flavor”. These statements naturally make parents think that these meals in pouches must be good for their baby. Sure, they are not going to do your baby any harm. And yes, organic, free-from baby food is going to be better for your baby’s health than a non-organic version that is full of sugar, salt, nutritionally void fillers, and preservatives. However, none of these packaged shop-bought options compare to the health benefits of home-cooked food.
As a mum, I noticed the smooth paste that comes out of these squeezy pouches and plastic tubs as colorless and textureless. I personally, feel as parents we reduce the chance of a toddler becoming a fussy eater if we expose them to as much variety as possible in the first few months of weaning. This means we need to give babies a varied diet in terms of flavor, texture, and color. It is undeniable that popular brands of baby food often offer plenty of variety in terms of ingredients. A long list of ingredients does not offer a true variety of texture, taste, and color if these are all indistinguishable within the context of the mush that comes out. Their inclusion isn’t helping to develop a baby’s taste buds. Yes, a variety of ingredients can offer variety in terms of nutrition. But variety needs to also come in terms of taste, color, and texture – arguably you don’t get any of this from packaged options. However, as a mom myself I would only suggest is while the convenience of these pouched food options may be irresistible and, on occasion, the simplest option when traveling or when a busy mother just wants a break, home cooking your baby’s food will benefit your baby enormously not only in terms of their health but also in terms of establishing healthy eating habits for life.
So here, I share some of the amazing combinations of ingredients that I had introduced to my son when he turned 1 year. Probably, that’s one of the reasons he eats or tries all that I cook in my kitchen for the family.
- Boiled Egg with fresh cream
- Broccoli with Chicken
- Mushroom soup
- Zucchini with boiled chicken
- Variety of Halwas made with Gram flour, Semolina (Suji), Wheat flour. I always added 1 tbs of Almond meal or Walnut powder.
- Rice preparation with lentils
- Roti (Indian bread) with a stuffing of vegetables