BLW Lunch Ideas With ‘FROM RACHAEL CLAIRE’ || Guest Post

Hi Everyone!

My name is Rachael & I run FROM RACHAEL CLAIRE, a parenting & lifestyle website. Actually, you’ll find a variety of posts on my blog – ranging from books to travel & beauty. I am a first time mum to my little boy Theodore (Teddy) – who arrived in May 2017. Motherhood was quite the shock and even 16 months on I am still adjusting and getting to grips with this crazy whirlwind that has entered my life. One thing that I feel we have cracked is weaning! We started our weaning journey when Teddy turned six months old & we decided to go down the baby led weaning route. It just felt right to us & the easiest method, it meant we could all eat together as a family & I also loved the idea of Teddy trying lots of new foods.

One of my biggest worries when doing BLW was the gagging & choking that you hear all kinds of horror stories about – I can honestly tell you, in the…ten months we have been weaning Teddy, he has gagged once & never choked! It happens a lot less than you would think but you should still always err on the side of caution. Make sure you research how best to prepare & serve certain foods. Teddy is an absolute FOODIE & will pretty much each anything you put in front of him, which I am so happy about!

My lovely friend Charlotte has asked me to share our favourite lunch time ideas for your littles – lunch time is actually one of my favourite meals for Teddy as every day can be completely different depending if we are at home or out & about.

PITTA PIZZA

One of both mine & Teddy’s favourites – super quick & easy. Simply spread tomato puree on a pitta bread (we use wholemeal) sprinkle with grated cheese & I usually add a sprinkle of garlic granules and black pepper. You can then add any toppings you like, our favourites are:

• Ham & mushroom
• Chicken & red onion (we use pre-cooked chicken)
• Tuna & sweetcorn
• Pepper, onion & cherry tomatoes (all chopped & diced)

It is then just a case of putting the pitta under a pre-heated grill for around ten minutes until the cheese is melted. Then cut into strips for younger babies or Teddy prefers his cut up into squares.

Bagel

Again, another easy meal that can be really versatile! Teddy loves his either simply toasted with butter or with various toppings. He especially loves tuna & sweetcorn (we buy the ready mixed sandwich filler to save time).

Picnic Lunch

This is probably our most popular lunch! It usually consists of Dairylea cheese dunkers, cocktail sausages & little sausage rolls. This is usually what I pack up in Teddy’s lunchbox if we are heading out for the day, along with some crisp, fruit & a yoghurt.

Sandwiches/Toasties

The easiest meal of all – Teddy used to HATE bread unless it was toasted but we persisted and now he is a true bread lover. In any form! So many fillings for sandwiches; Dairylea spread, tuna & sweetcorn, ham, soft cheese & cucumber.. ANYTHING! Toasties are exactly the same, except Teddy LOVES cheese & beans in his. So do I to be honest, proper comfort food!

Homemade Pasties

I made these a couple of months ago on a whim, not expecting much, cos you know I aint no Nigella. OH MY GOD, they were amazing, I posted a picture on my Instagram stories and had so many messages about how I made them. All you need is a roll of ready made puff pastry cut into large squares, a tin of ready mixed sausage & beans, grated cheese & an egg for glazing. Put them in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until the pastry is a lovely golden brown colour. Delicious!!!! Perfect for the colder weather that is upon us.

Freezer Food

There’s absolutely no harm in grabbing something from the freezer for your little – BLW isn’t all about the homemade, organic crap. Sometimes it is about convenience. Our favourite freezer essentials are turkey dinosaurs (HELL YES) & the mini potato and carrot waffles (we get ours from Asda). Mixed with some corn on the cob, or baked beans. WINNERRRR.

Leftovers

I am well known in our home for making far more food than is required for our little family, especially at tea time, so I always have plenty of leftovers. There is absolutely no need to throw them away, let them cool fully before decanting them into Tupperware tubs/foil trays & storing in either the fridge or freezer. What’s good about this is that the next day when it comes to lunchtime, I can simply re-heat whatever we had for tea the previous day – most recently it was lasagne, Teddy’s FAVOURITE. Just make sure the food is piping hot when you have re-heated it.

I hope this post has helped give you some ideas on different quick & easy lunches for your littles. AND YOU! I love all these just as much as Teddy does. Thank you so much to Charlotte for letting me write this post – you can find me on Instagram & Twitter.