Ideas for baby led weaning foods you can try with your little ones. From staples like bananas to new things to try like chicken bone broth, see what we’re planning on feeding Sage over the next few weeks!

 

 

It’s time for another grocery haul, only this time we’re doing things a little different. This grocery haul is all baby led weaning foods! Sage is now 7 months old and has been eating solids for about a month now. Let me tell you, she is definitely a hungry girl! She’s got an amazing appetite and so far (fingers crossed!) we haven’t come across a food that she won’t eat. I’ve been really enjoying testing out new flavors and recipes, and I try to buy basics that we can use for our own meals too just to make it that much easier meal prep wise. 

What is baby led weaning?

Baby led weaning is a method of feeding your baby where you allow them to feed themselves. Contrary to popular belief, this doesn’t just involve eating finger foods! We’ve been doing a kind of hybrid for Sage, feeding her both purees and finger foods. Even with the purees we’re still actively encouraging her to feed herself. This cutlery set has been so helpful because they’re really easy for her little hands to grip.

 

 

It’s important when you’re feeding your baby to follow your gut instinct. If you want to just go down the finger food route, do that. But if you feel more comfortable opting for purees, or doing a mix like us, that’s absolutely fine too! It’s whatever works for you and your baby. I loved taking the Healthy Happy Eaters course (use code SAGEEATS to get 15% off!) to help educate me on all things baby food. It really helped to take away the stress and overwhelm I was feeling. I highly encourage it to any parent getting ready to feed their baby.

Baby led weaning foods

I’m going to take you through the staples that we get for Sage on a weekly basis, as well as some new foods we’re planning to introduce soon. Let me know in the comments below if you’d like to see a full meal prep blog post!

 

Frozen Food:

I’ve been really utilizing frozen fruits and vegetables because it makes things super easy. It also makes things more affordable when buying organic, which I try to do as much as possible when it fits within the budget. Costco is a great place to get bulk frozen fruits, vegetables and meat.

• Whole frozen raspberries – I just pop these into a container in the fridge and they thaw overnight. It’s so much cheaper than buying fresh berries, they last way longer, and they taste just as good! They go into her oatmeal, or sometimes I’ll just mash them up and pop them on the side of the plate.
• Frozen blueberries – Another great frozen berry option, though Sage is still pretty new to them. They’re also great for adding into our smoothies!
• Frozen baby spinach – This is one I have yet to try out with Sage, but it’s a fantastic iron-rich option for your little ones! I’m going to try adding it into some of her purees.
• Frozen mango chunks – The best bit about these is you don’t have to mess around chopping up a ton of fruit. It’s all pre-cut, and once it’s thawed we like to add it to oatmeal or just mash it up and serve on the side.
• Frozen peas – We use these all the time. Just boil a pot of peas and mash it up. You can then pop the mashed up peas into these food moulds, pop them in your fridge or freezer and voila! You’ve got mashed up pea portions all ready to go.

 

 

Animal Products:

Sage hasn’t yet had any animal products, so I’m super excited to start introducing her to these new flavours!

• Chicken thighs – I opt for the dark meat because it’s higher in iron, they’re usually cheaper and to be honest they’re more flavourful than lean chicken breasts. I also tend to opt for grass fed / organic when it comes to our meat because we don’t eat that much of it, so I can kind of justify the cost.
• Chicken bone broth – This is great for adding to grains or cooking up with lentils. Sometimes I’ll even just warm it up and have her sip on it. The one I get is made in-house at the local health food store, and just contains filtered water, organic chicken bones and organic apple cider vinegar. Obviously you can make it at home, but as a full time working mama this just makes it easier for me.
• Eggs – If you’ve been watching or reading for a while, you’ll know how much we love a good egg in the HealthNut home! We go through so many. I’ve been super into boiled eggs, but check out this Eggs 10 Ways post for more ideas. Eggs are another food that I try to get organic if I can, because they taste so much better. 

 

 

Plant Based Proteins:

I’ve been brainstorming some meal ideas that I’d like to start introducing Sage to over the coming weeks and months. With all of these meals I’m mentioning, like the dahl and the chilli, we’re looking forward to introducing Sage to some new flavours via spices and herbs. She’s already a big fan of cinnamon. We just obviously won’t be adding anything spicy-hot!

• Canned chickpeas – These are so versatile. We’re looking forward to trying Sage on things like baby hummus.
• Canned black beans – Another super versatile food that goes great into recipes like chilli. Again, we’re not quite there yet, but Sage is so great with food I think it’s only around the corner. 
• Organic green split peas – These are great for things like stews and dahls. You could add the chicken in there too for extra protein. 

 

 

Fresh Fruits & Veggies:

• Bananas – These are of course a baby food staple. They’re great for baby led weaning because you can cut them in a certain way so that your little one can hold it. 
• Avocado – Another baby food essential. It’s great mashed up with peas or hemp hearts, or even just on its own on the side of the plate. It’s nice to have foods like this on hand that you don’t need to cook. If you’re not using the whole avocado, be sure to use one of the avocado huggers to keep the remaining half fresh in the fridge. 
• Peppers – Peppers are full of antioxidants and vitamin C, which is really important for little ones because it helps with their iron absorption. 
• Apples – I’m planning to peel the apples I got and cook up an organic apple sauce for Sage. I can then add that to different foods and add some yummy cinnamon! I might even add something like the frozen spinach to the apple sauce. 
• Carrots – I’ve just been steam roasting these for Sage. You can see how I prep some of these foods in my baby’s first foods video.
• Sweet potatoes – All you need to do with sweet potatoes is roast them up in the oven and they go all soft and gooey inside. Perfect for mashing up for little ones! 
• Butternut squash – Sage hasn’t tried squash yet, but I’m excited to try her with it. We’ll do the same thing as the carrots and sweet potatoes. We’ll just peel it, wash it and then either roast it or steam it. 
• Watermelon – I feel like watermelon is perfect for hot days. You can just slice it up into a chunks and let your little one knaw on it. 
• Broccoli – Same thing, I just steam this and mash it up with some breastmilk. You could also mash it up with some bone broth or peas! 
• Cauliflower – Another new food for Sage. I’m going to mash it up in the same way and mix it with the peppers, or even some banana. Don’t always default to thinking certain foods don’t mix! Babies don’t care if they’re ‘meant’ to go together!

 

 

Other Foods:

• Organic pitted prunes – I feel like prunes get a bad rap but you can do so much with them. I’ll eat them just as a dried fruit, melted into oatmeal or even added to a trail mix. I’ll be making some prune purees for Sage and again popping them into these moulds for easy baby meal prep.
• Pre-packaged purees – I try not to get into the habit of giving these to Sage often, but they’re handy to have when you’re out and about. I just check the ingredients (taking care to look for the sugar content) and make sure they’re organic. The flavours we picked up are the prune puree, the carrots, apricot and pumpkin puree and the apples, sweet potato, broccoli and spinach puree. 
• Mushies – These I just thought would be fun for her to try. They’re organic fruit and veggie snacks, and I picked up the banana and beetberry flavour. Again, the ingredients are very simple with nothing added, so as a treat I’m happy to let her try them out.
• Buckwheat flakes – These are a wholegrain cereal that’s been ground up into flakes. We do oatmeal a lot for breakfast, but these just make a nice change so that she’s not always eating the same grains. It’s also gluten free, so great if there are any sensitivities. 

 

Would you like to see a full baby meal prep video? Let me know in the comments below! 

If you’re preparing to start your baby on solid foods, you may also want to check out my Baby’s First Foods post and my Baby Food Resources I’ve Been Loving post.