Weaning advice and our top weaning products

Over the past few years I have been through a few parenting milestones, one of which is weaning.

Weaning both Jelly Bean and Bug was memorable and fun, with each experience being unique to them. Both were weaned earlier than the recommended age at the guidance of the health visitor. Bug took to food faster than Jelly Bean with him being an enthusiastic, full meals eater who loved to try new foods; whilst Jelly Bean was more of a slow eater who took a while to take to new tastes and textures and preferred to graze throughout the day eating little and often rather than a few large meals in one go.

Children and the battle to eat healthy food.

Nourishing your children can be a tricky task at times with so many sugary snacks and junk foods being so easily accessible. However, these primary years are the best time to teach your children about optimum nutrition in order to equip them with this knowledge for the rest of their lives. When we encourage our children to make positive choices when it comes to their meals, we are helping them to grow and giving them a taste for foods which will help their bodies and their minds to develop properly.

One of the biggest problems with getting children to eat healthy foods is that they are often opposed to the way these foods taste. That’s not to say that all healthy foods don’t taste good but rather that children might not find them palatable! Finding ways to make healthy foods look and taste appealing to children is a great way to encourage them to eat them.

Julie Montagu is one mum who is striving to do exactly this for her kids and has come up with a way to get children excited about cabbage! By mashing the cabbage down and mixing it with just a handful of other ingredients, Julie has created a dish that serves as breakfast or lunch and can even just be eaten throughout the day as a snack. Click here to check out her Cabbage and Raisin Mash. 

Take Five: How to Cook Speedier, Wholesome Family Meals.

Cooking nutritious meals for your family needn’t be hassle.  With a bit of planning and preparation it’s easy for you and your family to sit down and enjoy a meal time without you having to slave away for hours beforehand.  Here are five handy tips to make that happen:

Stock up on the basics

Staple foods such as potatoes, rice, pasta, lentils and cous cous can be bought in bulk and stored for a long time.  Using these staples with one type of meat and a couple of different vegetables can give you fifteen different varieties of meal, reducing the chorus of ‘I’m bored with this, we’ve already had it this week’ from your kids.

Use a slow cooker

One of the best means of preparing soups and casseroles, or even a dessert, is with a slow cooker.  Leave the food to tenderise on a long, low heat and serve up when you get in.  Practical and versatile, they’re money well spent if you want tasty teatimes.

Save money with Tesco Baby Event.

Alongside the joy, laughter, magical moments and love that parenthood brings often experienced is the costly expense of raising children.  From when children are mere tiny bundles of love as babies then all the way through toddlerhood, childhood and into the teenage years the cost of raising children is a continuous ever increasing cost.  Even though the hardship of a continuous costly expense can be difficult for parents to deal with the rewards of being a parent and seeing your baby grow and go through childhood is priceless.

Even though the cost of having a child is demanding on our bank balance Bug is worth every penny.  As a mum to try and ease the financial burden and save money I try and be savvy with our finances; buying essentials when on offer at a better price than normal, shopping around for the best price, snapping up toys and clothes when on sale, using money off coupons, making use of customer advantage schemes just as Tesco Clubcard and Boots Advantage Card and taking advantage of offers from Parent and Toddler Clubs that I signed up to.  Whilst I do all of the above I also make sure to only buy what is needed and not buy just because it is a bargain price…...it is only a bargain and money saving if I need it or would have bought it anyway. 

Even before Bug was born I found a great way to save money and pick up bargains when shopping for essential baby products was to make use of promotional Baby and Toddler Events at stores.  Over the years I have managed to get some major bargains on everyday products that we needed for Bug when he was a baby and then toddler products for him when he progressed into toddlerhood, getting things we needed at bargain prices at Baby and Toddler Events.

With the expensive aftermath of Christmas and New Year plus perhaps a little too much spending in the New Year Sales taking a huge chunk out of most people’s bank balances, leaving the family budget very tight and shopping budgets reigned in saving money during the first few months of the New Year is extremely helpful.

Thankfully for parents who have to fork out money on baby basics and toddler essentials Tesco have been offering brilliant offers and discounts on baby and toddler products during the first Tesco Baby Event of 2014.