Annabel Karmel's New Complete Baby and Toddler Meal Planner - Annabel Karmel

Although a bestseller this book hadn't been on my list of must-haves when my first child arrived. When my little man was about 4 months old a neighbour passed on her well loved copy. At first I thought how lovely she's given me an old recipe book with pages falling out and bits of food here and there! Oh joy! She did at the time apologize for the state the book was in and told me it would still be a helpful thing to have as my son started eating. Almost all the cookbooks I have for myself have been looked at and on the odd occasion used so I thought this one would follow suit.

I started off weaning my little one with those baby food jars available at local stores and it wasn't long before the food shopping for him was costing more than that for myself. I tried to fix this by making a list of foods that were easy to prepare and puree but this ended up in bland meals. I wanted to give my son a variety of flavours to increase his enjoyment of food and so the cover of the Baby and Toddler Meal Planner was finally cracked. I have to admit I was happy with what was hidden within.

I had a quick scan of the introduction which was a brief hello from the author, Annabel Karmel, and a bit about the importance of healthy eating habits from day one. I felt a bit bad after reading it as it told of the sometimes unnatural things that can be in jars of baby food.

Contents:
The best first foods for your baby
Four to six months & weaning
Six to nine months
Nine to twelve months
Toddler

Chapter One, The best first foods for your baby:
Covers the importance of milk, benefits of continued breastfeeding, and what foods hold the most vitamins and nutrients for babies needs. This chapter goes into depth about sugars, starches, fats, proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals. Vitamins are broken down here and lists of foods are provided to easily show where to get these vitamins from. Many parents with or without allergies themselves worry about them in regards to their children and here the most common allergies such as lactose intolerance, gluten, nuts, eggs and more are covered and explained. If you need to know what kitchen utensils are needed when beginning the weaning process look no further that too is covered in the first chapter. Freezer storage times are also broken down which is something I found very helpful.

Fruit - 6 months
Vegetables - 6 months
Purees with milk - 4-6 weeks
Fish - 10 weeks
Red meat & chicken - 10 weeks

Chapter Two, Four to six months & weaning:
When to start, what foods to start with, quantities and how to know if you've started too early. Tips and tricks to successful weaning. A collection of recipes to assist you. One of my favourites being Broccoli Trio. Peel & chop a medium potato, boil till soft, steam / cook 50g (2 oz) of broccoli and the same of cauliflower. When everything is tender and ready add a dessertspoon full of milk and puree with a blender. This will make 14 portions so the freezing guide will come in handy.

For each age group there are a number of recipes that I have even made as side dishes for dinner parties! Next to each recipe it will have a freezer symbol to let you know if it can be frozen or not. There is also a tick box next to a happy and sad face. Mark if baby likes the recipe or not so you will know for future. Each recipe is easy to follow which is great if you're lazy like me and can't be bothered with hundreds of steps that lead inevitably to loads of washing up.

Sometimes it can be hard to stick to a schedule for yourself so thankfully the author has done it for us with an easy to understand grid that includes nap times.

Chapter Three, Six to nine months:
A bigger appetite to take care of and thankfully there are more ideas a recipes as you carry on through this book. At this stage baby is allowed more types of foods, chunkier textures, and bigger quantities. Some of the foods used in the recipes were introducing foods to me which was a nice surprise. I don't think my son would be so into food if it weren't for this book. I suddenly realised how little I knew and how unadventurous I was in the kitchen.

Again you will find another meal planner schedule set out for you.

Chapter Four, Nine to twelve months:
Often in this last stage before baby turns one weight gain slows and a good eater can suddenly become fussy. Many will refuse to be spoon-fed as they wish to be more independent, (not my child of course ... he's lazy to the end!). At this stage and to encourage them to feed themselves it's time to introduce finger foods! Although I was very happy that little one was adventuring into the world of being a big boy and feeding himself a bit I hated the mess and advise you put a bin bag or something under the highchair. That way you don't stress to much about mess.

This chapter gets you ready for the long wait you will have at the table whilst lazy bones eats at a snails pace. Again the author tells you about textures and quantities for this age group, and ideal finger foods. One of the best things I have learnt from here is to make whatever I was eating into a smaller portion but to ensure it looks the same so little one thinks he is getting exactly the same and thus less room for fuss as they will see that everyone has the same thing.

The author gives ideas for making food look fun on the plate which encourages them to gobble up. I have to say I still put his sandwich and carrot sticks into a smiley face pattern on the plate (poor lad, I'll probably still be doing that when he's 20).

Looking at it now I think there are more recipe ideas in here then in any other cookbook I have.

Chapter Five, Toddlers:
Exercising their independence even more once they pass the one year mark it can be tricky to keep them happy and still trying new things. This chapter gives tips on making mealtimes an enjoyable process and not to make it a battlefield. If your little one won't eat or is fussy there are a number of tips to encourage a change in habit. Also covered is getting kids involved in the kitchen, more meal planners, recipes, and healthy snack ideas.

In total there are over 200 recipes to play with and mixed with the advice and tips makes this a wonderful helping hand. I have my copy out again for my second child and use it as my child feeding bible, most highly recommended.

According to a quick search this book retails at around £8 and is widely available.

(c) znh3ra54 and oioiyou on dooyoo 2009