WFMW: Baby Food

I'm a new mom and still figuring out my own tricks for keeping a home, so I'm not sure how many WFMWs (Works For Me Wednesday) I'll be able to do, but today I can share how I plan my baby's meals. (He's 7 1/2 months) In order to make sure he gets his rainbow of nutrition throughout each day AND has a good variety throughout the week, I started making a weekly meal chart. It helps me know exactly what and how much I need to buy at the store so I can get through the whole week. It's pretty obvious, the text is colored according to the color of the food. The yellow shaded box means it's a new food he's trying and I'll have to watch for allergies.

Once I buy the food, then I put it all out on the counter and arrange it into rows --breakfast, lunch, and dinner (2 rows for dinner b/c he gets 2 jars at dinner). While doing this, I break apart the Gerber 2-packs of Stage 2 Foods since the individual containers are still marked. Once I have all my rows ready and the foods are layed out for the week, I put them in the cupboard, starting with the end of the week and moving up. When it's all done, the foods for the beginning of the week should be at the front, and at mealtime I just grab what's in front, double-checking with the chart that I post on the inside of the cupboard door. I know, sounds elaborate for a 7 month old who doesn't care much about having variety and balanced diet, but nutrition is important and so is organization an de-stressing your life in ways that you can. So when it comes to baby food, this is what works for me!

For more great tips visit Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer.