Hellobee Boards

@Mrs. Peas: I love this! Thanks for organizing! I will brainstorm and come back!

@nutmeg36: I have a huge fear of choking so starting solids was scarier for me than child birth, and BLW was a huge no for me I found this website really helped me when we started the transition. We started with pureed baby food and baby oatmeal. Once DD got used to eating purees, we made the oatmeal thicker to slowly transition into 'chewing'. Then for actual 'solid' food we started with puffs, as the website recommends.

Anyways, this website helped me and I hope it helps you. And I would also love someone to write a detailed post about making that change, because I searched high and low and this website was the only place that helped me!

https://yourkidstable.com/how-to-transition-your-baby-or-toddler/

@jennlin821: also i'm digging into this site now and holy hannah there goes my morning. I already have 4 of these articles bookmarked

@nutmeg36: I used puffs mostly as a diversion. I would try to steer away from using them as a snack (also you can definitely switch to Cheerios: less expensive and more nutritious). At 13 months she’s old enough that she could be eating a more substantial snack like maybe cheese, yogurt with blueberries, or a whole grain waffle with peanut butter. If she’s wanting to eat all day I’d make sure she’s getting enough filling whole grains and proteins at meals. She can eat almost all the same things as you at this point (of course not hard carrots or other hard chokesbles) so you might just think about it as giving her the same food as you, but in smaller portions. If she wants more at a meal, offer more.

All kids are different too. I’ve posted before that we tried baby led weaning with DD1 and then stopped until she was 8 months old, and with DD2 we didn’t try but then at 6.5-7 months old discovered that’s all she wanted.

Also for those people with 2 meals on rotation, I’m all about that! We basically eat the same few meals every week and it changes by season. I have no shame about not trying a ton of new things when my cognitive load is already high between work, housework, and other childcare. I focus on healthy meals my kids like and go with it.

We both work full time outside the home. I have a normal 8-5, however, my DH is a shift worker.

DH is our normal cook, including deciding upon dinner, shopping, and cooking. I do dishes.

When he was on the 6am to 4pm shift, we left at the same time and I went to get the kids from daycare and he went home to cook dinner (we walk opposite directions from the train station and it took about 30 minutes for me to get the kids and get home).

Currently he is working noon to 10pm, Sunday-Wednesday. I do dinner on those nights, and he does dinner on the other nights. I do involve myself in meal planning as I will be cooking. I sometimes shop, but usually it's small items at the walkable store.

I think the plan when he shifts to 9pm to 7am, he will go back to doing all of the dinner ideas again.

Currently, DH does breakfast and drop off. When I do drop off, breakfast is packed and given at daycare. Lunch is given at daycare. I pack lunches all week, but that's because I don't think DH does a great job. I use leftovers and usually give veggies, while he doesn't.

Lunch for DH and myself is usually leftovers, though we do occasionally buy food to cook at work in the microwave. We have a small cafeteria on site, however, it's expensive and the only thing close by. DH can't leave for more than short breaks as well.

We both work out of the home full time with hour+ commutes on either end, so dinner is typically a scramble.

I tend to do all of the shopping on the weekend for the week. I would love to meal plan, but I cannot find the time, especially in the summer. We have our favorite go-to meals that our quick that we keep in a rotation during the week.

I typically do all of the cooking most nights, but at least one night, sometimes two, I am out of the house working out, do my husband does the cooking those nights. Again, it's easy stuff that is quick and everyone likes! Tacos, spaghetti & meatballs, shepherds pie, hamburgers/hot dogs or steak tips on the grill, tofu or chicken stir fry, etc etc.

We are really lucky in that my mom makes dinner twice a week and we often get leftovers for a third night from that. My parents are out of town right now so I’ve gotten to experience not having them here for weeknight dinners. Again I’m fortunate because I only live 3 minutesfrom
where I work, so I went home and made dinner, out it on the table, and went and got the kids from daycare at about 5:45. Also in the summer I sometimes do picnic dinners at the park on Monday evenings. I’ll do turkey sandwiches and a fruit and veg. Low stress, low mess. I avoid prepping food when the kids are home on a weeknight at all costs. Sometimes in the nice weather it’s ok because they can play outside but in the winter they’re awful and wanting snacks.

DH doesn’t usually make dinner. He isn’t home most nights for dinner,, and I’m pretty particular about what we serve.

My dinners on rotation:
Bean burritos: beans, cheese, guacamole, salsa, lettuce, tomato, and roasted peppers if I have time.

Pizza (store bought crust), a veg, a fruit

Tuna sandwich, veg, fruit (not often as my mom does this one too)

Salmon, rice, veg, fruit (made on Sunday, so leftovers for Monday and lunch)

Marinated chicken, rice, veg, fruit

Bean burritos, roasted potatoes, veg, fruit (newly added)

In the winter and fall I make chili or soup weekly and we have leftovers.

My husband and I both work full time outside the home, although at the moment I’m on language training and usually get off pretty early. I do all the cooking, the grocery shopping, and basically all the meal planning. There was a phase where my husband was coming up with and cooking one dinner a week, but then I got tired of nagging him to tell me what he wanted to make so I could do the shopping, I stopped asking, and it kind of fell off. Sometimes I get frustrated by it but on the other hand, I do like to cook. I also get home at 5 and he doesn’t get home until 5:45, and we try to have dinner on the table at 6, so it’s easier for it to be my job.

@JennyPenny: I rotate tested winner dinners by protein and carb, since obviously I don't want to eat chicken with pasta several nights in a row and I interject new things as needed, particularly when I feel like I've been eating the same things for weeks. I also divide things up seasonally so fish tacos feel more summery then chicken pot pie, this helps with rotation as well.

- My daughter is two and just got diagnosed with Celiac, so we have gone mostly gluten free in our household.
- I feel like I'm floundering in a lot of areas, but I do think we have figured out what works for our family for meals/food.
- Things that are important to me/us – eating a wide variety of foods, limiting processed foods, understanding where our meat comes from, involving our kids in the cooking process so they understand the effort involved and what they are eating.
- This can get expensive and take a lot of time, so to cut down on that we shop at Aldi first (best prices in our area) and get whatever they dodn’t have at Hy-Vee (more expensive, but usually has the more unique items). We get pantry staples and gluten free packaged things (pasta, crackers, etc) from Woodmans and do online ordering (I HATE going to this grocery superstore, but they have great variety and prices). The Woodmans is also farther away from our house, so it isn’t convenient to shop there regularly. We get our meat from a local butcher and try to buy in bulk for the whole month and keep it in a freezer.
- We use an online meal planning service for dinners. I’ve tried several, I like the Fresh 20 the best. It provides a shopping list and 5 dinner recipes. We’ve used this for years and years. We prep all the food on the weekend or Monday nights. This meal plan lets us try a huge variety of meats, vegetables, grains, flavors, etc. and I’ve become a very confident cook. There is usually one seafood meal, one vegetarian meal, and 1-2 more meats that are used for the other three meals. Having someone else do the leg work of putting together unique, healthy, in-season meals plans was a game changer for us.
- We will spend an hour or so every Sunday prepping the meals (mostly cutting vegetables/fruits and making sauces or marinades). On weekdays I get home at 4:30 on and DH works from home and is done with work around the same time. We spend about 20 mins prepping dinner together before one of us goes and picks DD up from daycare. The we spend another 10-15 minutes getting the rest of dinner together as a family. Our daughter stands in her learning tower and watches, pretends to help cook/stir things, or helps cut up vegetable scraps for compost. She has a play kitchen in our dining area and sometimes plays there instead. Two nights a week I take her to activities right after daycare (swimming class, music class) and DH just makes the whole meal himself. And we eat when we get home. We try to grill a lot in the summer, so we play outside while the food is cooking.
- During the week DH eats cereal for breakfast every morning, DD has a small refillable squeeze container of yogurt on her way to daycare (they serve breakfast about an hour after she arrives). I eat breakfast at work (we have a nice big kitchen and plenty of storage) and have a piece of fruit and either a bagel with cream cheese or cereal.
We generally eat leftovers for lunch. I always have PBJ on hand at my office if I forget leftovers or if we don’t have any. I’ll also eat out once a week or so for lunch.
- On weekends, it’s anything goes. We eat out a lot and eat leftovers from the week. We have a lot of go-to recipes, I experiment with stuff I see on blogs, in the summer we grill out with neighbors often, in the winter, I will spend a weekend making freezer meals.
- This was a novel. Thanks if you made it to the end!

@TemperanceBrennan: Aldi for us too!

On Thursday evening after kids are in bed and before TV is on, we pick meals for the following week. (I work from home on Fridays so DH goes to the grocery with 1 kid for some 1:1 time.) I do a 5 minute scan of pantry/fridge/freezer and we start with picking protein for each night and then add in sides. DH will default to 5 set meals so then I drop a couple and pick out something I've seen/pinned/eaten out. We buy seasonal fruit and veggies so that allows the variability throughout the seasons in side dishes. We also typically do a protein, green salad, and either hot veggie or slaw. Butter/parm noodles for the kids as a side at least 2 days a week. This probably takes us 15 minutes tops.

DH is home during the day so generally cooks on weekdays. However, having the list allows me to pitch in when I get home if the kids are happily playing or prep something the night before during dinner clean up.

Finally, when I cook meat that reheats well (shredded pork, shredded chicken, ground beef, sausages) I tend to do really large amounts and freeze in dinner portion sizes, so at least once a week I can defrost, heat up and add whatever flavoring.