Pantry Planning for Baby-Led Weaning

Straight A Nursing Podcast (1s):

If you're a nurse or future nurse, you know how challenging and rewarding this career can be. Hi there. I'm Nurse Mo, creator of the Straight A Nursing Podcast. I'd love for you to join me every Thursday as I teach nursing concepts and share tips to help you succeed in school and at the bedside. Each episode breaks down often complex information so it's easy to understand so you could feel more confident whether you're taking an exam or taking care of patients. So subscribe to the Straight Nursing Podcast and I'll see you on Thursday.

Katie Ferraro (38s):

And for those categories of canned foods, even If you can't find the no added salt version, If you just see low salt, low salt means 140 milligrams or less, you can rinse that under the faucet. So rinsing your canned items under the faucet that reduces the sodium by another 30% And that it's totally fine to offer to your baby as well. Hey there, I'm Katie Ferraro, registered dietitian, college nutrition professor and mom of seven specializing in baby led weaning. Here on the Baby-Led Weaning Made Easy podcast. I help you strip out all of the noise and nonsense about feeding, leading you with the confidence and knowledge You need to give your baby a safe start to solid foods using Baby-Led Weaning.

Katie Ferraro (1m 25s):

If the idea of starting solid foods feels overwhelming for you, especially from a like what to feed food standpoint, I want you to take a deep breath. This is gonna help you calm down a lot because one of the biggest misconceptions that parents have about baby led weaning is that you need to run out and buy a bunch of new foods for your baby. Like you suddenly need this whole new like grocery list or a separate pantry shelf that's just for baby food or a cart that's full of organic, fresh, expensive ingredients just to get started. And that is simply not true because your pantry, the foods that you already have on hand, they can actually be a huge asset when your baby is learning how to eat. So today I'm gonna be walking you through how to think about Pantry Planning for Baby-Led Weaning.

Katie Ferraro (2m 7s):

Like what sort of shelf stable foods work, okay? What do you wanna look out for when you're reading food labels? And how can the things that you already have at your house actually translate into foods that your baby can safely learn how to eat? I'm not gonna list every single food in the world that you could possibly buy. Instead, I wanna help you understand the categories of foods that we all already have in our house. And I have a full free feeding guide with all of the info that I'm going through today. If you just prefer to like get it and print it out or read it when it's in your email inbox, it's called the Baby led Weaning Pantry Planning Guide, you can download that guide for free. So If you go to my website, baby led weaning dot co slash resources, you can get it there.

Katie Ferraro (2m 52s):

Or if you're on Instagram, my page is baby led ween team. If you DM me the word pantry planner, so that's all one word. Pantry planner, I'll send you this free feeding guide in Instagram dms. But what we're gonna do here today is the audio slash video rundown of everything you need to get your pantry prepared. That's a lot of pain words for baby led weaning. Now I like to start out each of these mini training episodes with a baby led weaning tip of the day. And today's tip for the pantry planting peeps is do not sleep on canned foods. Okay? A lot of people think canned foods are unhealthy or they're too high in salt or additives or babies, but they're not If you know where to look.

Katie Ferraro (3m 33s):

So yeah, you for sure, you can definitely find canned foods that are too salty for babies in the canned food aisle. But my general rule of thumb is that I'm looking for less than a hundred milligrams of sodium per serving in any canned food that I'm gonna offer to my baby. So you would be surprised how easy it is to find like lower salt and no salt versions of so many of the canned foods from, I know at least from my 100 First Foods list that your baby can safely eat before they turn one. And If you do not yet have a copy of my original 100 First Foods list, I give it away to everybody for free on my online masterclass. It's called BABY-LED WEANING FOR BEGINNERS. So this is a one hour online video training that shows you exactly how to prepare food safely for your baby.

Katie Ferraro (4m 17s):

So If you can see if you're doing everything right and everybody who comes to this masterclass gets a copy of my original a 100 First Foods list. So you are never gonna run out of ideas of foods that your baby can eat. You can get signed up for the masterclass at baby-led weaning co. You can rock it out right now, later today, tomorrow, whenever your baby naps. Literally whatever works for you. Sign up at baby led weaning.co/masterclass And I hope to see you there. So let's dive in to some Pantry Planning for Baby-Led Weaning. Now, when I talk about Pantry Planning for Baby Led Weaning, I wish I had like some beautiful walk-in pantry in my kitchen. I do not. I have like a cabinet where the shelf stable foods live, okay? We're talking about things that live in your pantry or your coverage.

Katie Ferraro (4m 59s):

It's basically not fresh or frozen foods. Okay? So this is about creating, well, this is not about creating a baby food pantry, okay? It's not about buying any special baby foods. It's definitely not about cooking very elaborate meals, okay? Because pantry planning is about having reliable fallback foods. So these are items that you can introduce, you can reintroduce, you can do this like to round out a busy meal or when life gets busy, okay? One of the biggest benefits of baby led weaning, you might not be aware. So basically your baby's gonna be learning how to eat modified versions of the same foods that the rest of your family is eating. So pantry staples are just gonna help make that be realistic. 'cause let's be honest, if offering a new food requires like a special trip to like go to the grocery store is probably not gonna happen.

Katie Ferraro (5m 43s):

Okay? So pantry foods make that follow through so much easier. Now, before we get into specific food categories, I've got two non-negotiables when it comes to pantry foods for baby lead weenie. Number one is sodium. You gotta be a little bit of a sodium sleuth, okay? When those foods are shelf stable, sodium is often used as a preservative, right? Babies don't need added salt. So label reading matters here. So I mentioned that tip at the top. Okay? I look for less than a hundred milligrams of sodium per serving. There is no exact cutoff for the number of milligrams of sodium that baby like can or cannot have. But this guideline works because you gotta remember, nutrition labels are based on adult portions, okay?

Katie Ferraro (6m 24s):

Babies eat much smaller versions of that, and most of your baby's foods that they're eating are not coming from packaged foods. So a little bit of salt in sometimes food is not the end of the world. You're gonna see labels that say no added salt, low sodium, reduced sodium, no added salt, always gonna be your best option. Next best bet, low sodium. That means up to about 140 milligrams of serving. Well, exactly one 40 or less reduced sodium just means 25% less salt than the original version. It doesn't necessarily mean it's low. One extra tip, If you rinse your canned foods under running water, that can reduce the sodium by about 30%. Second, non-negotiable, no added sugar. Okay? The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends, well for a long time they recommended no added sugar until age two.

Katie Ferraro (7m 5s):

The newer D dietary guidelines said something funny about no sugar till age 10. You make the call on that. I work with babies, but I have big kids in my real life. Avoiding no added sugar until 10 is real tough, but it's pretty easy to do up until two. Okay? When you're choosing foods for your baby, just make sure it says zero grams of added sugar in that added sugars line on the label. Okay? Those two rules alone, they're gonna help you like pretty quickly narrow down what fits the bill for your baby and what doesn't. Alright? Let's talk a little bit about seasonings and spices because I think one of the most underrated parts of the pantry or your kitchen cabinets is your spice rack. Okay? Here's the deal. Babies do not need to eat. Bland food flavor is not the same thing as salt, okay?

Katie Ferraro (7m 45s):

And exposing your baby to a variety of flavors early on can actually support acceptance of different foods later. So you got spices like cinnamon and cumin, ginger, garlic, powder, paprika, all these things are ways to add flavor without adding sodium or sugar. And a lot of parents worry like, oh, the spices are gonna be too much, but we're talking about flavor. We're not talking about heat. Okay? You don't have to add spicy food, but seasoned food is fine. I've got a list in that baby led weaning pantry planner guide that have all of the different seasonings And you can see how it kind of matches up with the different foods. Again, baby led weaning dot co slash resources or DM me the word pantry planner and I'll send that to you on Instagram.

Hungry Root (8m 22s):

Hey, we're gonna take a quick break, but I'll be right back. This episode is sponsored by Hungry Root. You know that saying about the cobbler's kids never having any shoes? I feel that to my core because I cook and prep food and tweak recipes for babies all day long in my business. But then the burden of trying to figure out what to feed my actual family for dinner, it just looms large at the end of every workday. And I know I sound like a broken record going on about Hungry Root, but it is one of the things that has truly simplified my life. Lately, it's been extra helpful 'cause I feel like Hungry Root finally gets me. Here's what I mean. Hungry Root is a personalized grocery and recipe service that plans your food for you. So it fills your cart with meals and groceries that fit your health goals, your food preferences, and your budget, and then delivers everything right to your door. So the mental load relief is real. Like even if I only use Hungry Root for one or two dinners a week, that's a few nights where I know I don't have to do the, like what are we eating? Do we have the ingredients? Is anybody gonna complain? Like spiraling outta control? I've just opened the app. I pick what looks good, it's basically handled. Plus, there is so much variety. There are over 50,000 chef crafted recipes with many ready in 15 minutes or less. Plus there's over a thousand grocery items now too. I know you're gonna love Hungry Root as much as I do for a limited time. You can get 40% off your first box plus get a free item in every box for life. Go to Hungry Root.com/weaning and use the code weaning. That's Hungry Root.com/weaning code weaning to get 40% off your first box and a free item of your choice for life.

Katie Ferraro (10m 9s):

Alright, I wanna talk next about some particular types of canned foods. This is where a lot of parents get stuck. So I'm gonna get fruits and vegetables 'cause fresh, frozen, and canned vegetables. All work for baby led weaning, the form matters a lot less than the texture and the label. Okay? So when it comes to canned vegetables, you wanna look for those no added salt ones whenever possible, okay? You wanna make sure the food passes the squish test, meaning that you can easily squish it when you put it between your forefinger and your thumb. We're talking about canned vegetable things like artichoke hearts, beans, green beans, pumpkin, they all work great for baby led weaning. They're already soft, they're convenient, they're cheap, easy to modify. What about canned fruit? Now, canned fruit's a little bit trickier because a lot of canned fruit products are gonna be packed in syrup or have added sugar.

Katie Ferraro (10m 51s):

And your rule here is simple. If you, if it has zero grams of added sugar and packed in water or juice and not syrup, then your baby can have it, okay? 'cause you can find unsweetened versions of fruits like pineapple, pears, peaches, cherries. If you look carefully and a quick reminder, canned pumpkin puree is great. Okay? This is technically a vegetable, but I forgot to mention it at the vegetable thing. But pumpkin pie mix is not the same thing. Okay? So make sure you're getting canned puree pumpkin inside that pantry planning guide that I have for you for free, I break down the canned goods, vegetable by vegetable, fruit by fruit. 'cause I don't want you guessing in the grocery store aisle. All right? Next up are the legumes, the beans, and the peas. These are like nutrition powerhouses, incredible for babies packed with iron and plant protein and fiber.

Katie Ferraro (11m 34s):

But I do have an important safety note here. Those little small legumes like black beans or kidney beans, those are gonna be oftentimes just too small for early eaters to self feed. Okay? Your baby's not gonna get their pinch or grasp until later, like nine, 10 months of age. So up until then, we're gonna have to work those legumes into fritters or other finger foods that your baby can pick up and feed to themselves. Okay? Those canned legumes, they're totally fine when you work 'em into appropriate finger foods, but you still wanna look for the no salt versions. As for the canned seafood, my next section, seafood is a very important part of the pantry that everybody overlooks. Okay? Because fish and shellfish, those are actually two separate allergenic food categories and we want to offer them early and often to your baby.

Katie Ferraro (12m 18s):

'cause that has the potential to lower the risk of food allergy and can seafood makes this so much easier. So you'll notice that seafood oftentimes is gonna have more sodium listed than some of the other canned foods that I've mentioned today. But you don't need to worry most of the time because that sodium tends to not be added sodium, okay? Because If you think about it like seafood foods, fish, shellfish, they're high in minerals and one of the minerals out there is sodium. So a lot of times it's naturally occurring sodium as long as there's not the word salt or sodium in the ingredient list and it just has the seafood or shellfish itself, totally fine to do things like canned salmon, sardines, anchovies, clams. They're all options that you can find without added salt. So having these canned items on hand makes like when you come to fish day and you're crossing fish off, that a hundred First Foods list makes it a lot easier and don't skip those ones.

Katie Ferraro (13m 5s):

Okay? A lot of people do alright. Some dry goods that are out there, okay? Dry goods, like some of the most versatile pantry items for baby led weaning. I'm talking about things like oatmeal and pasta that are in early to grab shapes. Panko breadcrumbs, lower sodium than regular Italian breadcrumbs. No offense to the Italians almond flour. Another one than I love wheat germ or wheat brand whole grains like quinoa or farrow. These foods are so important 'cause they help introduce allergens to your babies. They add texture and grip when they're practicing those all important tactile skills, they boost their iron and it helps us break out a food ruts, like just doing rice or pop potatoes every day. I don't want you to have to memorize all the foods on this list.

Katie Ferraro (13m 47s):

What matters is understanding that there's a variety of different foods you already have in your house that you can layer into your baby's diet. Now, I do have a couple kind of rando pantry items that don't fit neatly into a category, but are for sure gonna save you on busy days. Okay? What do I always have in my cupboard that I hope my kids don't eat? Because I have babies coming over for parent coaching and I need to cook for them. Things like unsweetened applesauce, I love that for thinning out nut butters, okay? That we're gonna offer off of a preloaded spoon to help the baby try some allergen foods. I've always got a lot of no salt broth on hand for adding moisture to meats. I love cans of unsweetened coconut milk for, well, there's a lot of fat in there, but also it's great for open cup practice 'cause it's a thicker liquid.

Katie Ferraro (14m 32s):

I have prunes that I work into homemade prune purees that we offer from a preloaded spoon that's wonderful for constipation support, okay? I serve it not as a finger food, but a food that a baby can serve to themselves. Tahini. Okay? Yesterday my best friend was over and she's like, why do you have four bottles of tahini in here? I was like, well, I was like testing different brands and like by the way, the shelf life of like tahini, before you open it, after you open it, you do need to put it in the fridge And you know you always gotta read the fine print. 'cause a lot of the stuff you do need to put it in the fridge once you open it. But like, I mean, I think I've had this tahini for a while. Four different types of it. I need to make some more sesame foods for my babies. Vinegar's another great one. A lot of times parents are like, what? Babies can have vinegar? Heck yeah, as long as it's the unseasoned vinegar.

Katie Ferraro (15m 13s):

So we use a lot of like unseasoned rice vinegar in our recipes. If it's seasoned, that means it's salted. But if it's unseasoned, guess what? It's unsalted. So these are all foods that like kind of quietly make baby led weaning a lot easier. I think one of the biggest advantages of baby led weaning is that you do not need to run out and buy any special or expensive baby foods, but it is not true that your baby just eats the same foods you eat from the get-go. Okay, we'll get there. Your baby is gonna eventually eat modified versions of the same foods that you eat, but If you plan your pantry wisely, it helps you kind of see what you already have, how some of those foods can work for your baby. You can choose different options so that when you're shopping you'll feel confident. Okay? Gosh, wow, there are foods out there that my baby certainly can eat.

Katie Ferraro (15m 54s):

Again, If you want that full breakdown of the different categories that I talked about today, including specific recommendations for each one and how they correlate to foods on the hundred First Foods list, you can grab that free baby-led weaning pantry guide. I designed it to be something that you can literally keep on your phone and just when you're at the store like, well, you can print it out. If you're a dork like me, except my husband used all the ping today and I'm super annoyed, you can reference it when you're shopping. If you're wondering like, oh my gosh, can my baby eat this? If you head to baby led weaning gut co slash resources or DM me the word pantry planner, I'll send that to you. Or If you go to the show notes for today's episode, that's gonna be@blwpodcast.com/91. That's where the show notes will be a very special thank you to our partners at AirWave Media.

Katie Ferraro (16m 37s):

If you like podcasts that feature food and science And you use in your brain, check out some of the podcasts from AirWave. If you have the 100 FIRST FOODS list and you've gone through the pantry foods and you're like, all right, I'm ready for something new. My baby's ready for some combination multi textured foods, And I need some more ideas of real food, my baby can eat. Check out My program, Baby-Led Weaning with Katie Ferraro. This is your step-by-step guide and community to getting your baby to eat a hundred safe foods before they turn one. We are having so much fun inside of this program, And I would love to help you out. If you check out in the description where you're watching or listening to this, you can get a discount code for 50 bucks to join or sign up when you join today. Or you can check it out at be baby led weaning co slash program.

Katie Ferraro (17m 22s):

I've got my 100 FIRST FOODS Daily Meal Plan in there too. A lot of people are asking, how do I find like just exactly what to feed my baby on what day and what recipe and how to make it. You guys have literally made 20 weeks of done for you meal plan, so you don't even have to think about what food to feed your baby next. That's all in the baby-led weaning with Katie Ferraro program. Head to baby led weaning.co/program. Thanks so much for listening. I'll see you guys next time. Bye now.