Starting Solids: What I Feed My One Year Old (and how we avoid “kid food”)

I don’t believe in kid food.  I don’t believe in picky eaters.  I don’t believe in bland.

These were a few of the opinions that formed my beliefs about what I would feed my family.  Ain’t no way I was going to let Landon eat Cheerios, Go-gurt, and Goldfish crackers.  My “eat real food” philosophy remains, and that eliminates a lot of “foods” that are commonly given to kids these days.  Now, I’ll admit.  When you’ve got a busy day, it is so stinkin’ easy to grab a box or a pack of something for hungry kids, but, with a little bit of forethought (and a few products that really do contain real food ingredients), we have successfully avoided “kid food!”  (You can see what I fed my son from six to twelve months here.)

My husband and I love food.  Like, people say, “What do you and your husband like to do together?”  My first response is usually, “We like to eat.”  Seriously.  We love a great restaurant or a nice dinner at home.  We love conversation over a beautiful pairing of delicious food and a big, red wine.  So, it was really important to us that we start Landon out on a journey of exploration and creativity when it comes to food.  We let him try just about anything he wants (usually anything on our plates!).  Now, there were some things I didn’t give him right away (like grains) and some things that he still is not able to tolerate well (like dairy), but, by and large, we feed him what we are having, and that includes flavor and lots of different ethnicities!  Lebanese food?  Try the hushwe!  Thai food?  Have some shrimp curry!  Put some chipotle tabasco sauce on that chicken!  Let’s see if he likes it!  And ya know what?  Most of the time, he does!  If you always give kids bland food, they will want bland food.  I wanted mine to enjoy flavor!  (And yes, that means that occasionally he overdoses on spicy barbecue sauce, crying ensues, followed by me trying to convince him to take a drink to cool his mouth down, which he doesn’t understand and refuses…followed by him asking for more spicy barbecue sauce…I’ll take it!)

Let’s talk for a second about picky eaters and how I’m trying to avoid that.  I’ve heard that you have to try a food ten times before you know whether or not you like it.  (Seems to be true for me and cantaloupe.  I just keep trying it and trying it, but I’m almost 30 now, and it just tastes “meh” to me!)  So, I’ll give a food to Landon, and, even if he’s not crazy about it the first time, I’ll try it again later.  He wasn’t crazy about peas or green beans at first, but now he devours them.  The first time I gave him a mushroom, he seemed to think it was weird, but he eats them on pizza now, so I know he’s coming around.  Sometimes it seems to be a texture thing more than a flavor thing, so I try to introduce the food in a few different ways to see what he likes.  Again, we’re exploring here and tasting and sampling and just enjoying food.

Now, not to say that Landon runs the show when it comes to meal times.  Quite the opposite.  He does have to eat what’s on his tray, by and large, and I do not give him other options if he does not eat.  We avoid snacks between meals at our house (which just aren’t necessary for us if we’re eating a higher fat, lower sugar diet), and so Landon is truly hungry at meal times.  This helps a ton!!  If kids aren’t hungry they will not eat.  They haven’t learned our not-so-great habits of eating when they’re not hungry.  They really do listen to their hunger to cue eating.  I use this to my advantage and give him the most nutrient dense (but sometimes not his very favorite) foods, right at the start of every meal to make sure he eats those while I know he is hungry.

So, what are some of the go-to foods that I give my one year old?  Here are some of our favorites.

1.  Scrambled eggs.  Landon eats 2-3 scrambled eggs every morning for breakfast along with a banana or other piece of fruit, and sometimes something else, too.  That is a lot of food for a little guy, but he just gobbles it up!  Again, remember that we go for a higher fat, lower sugar diet (yes, I know a banana has a lot of sugar in it, but it also has a lot of fiber which slows down the absorption of the glucose into your blood sugar so we don’t have crazy insulin spikes here).  A breakfast of eggs keeps him full until lunch.  No morning snack necessary!

2.  Sardines.  The cashier at my local market that I love finally asked me one day, “Okay, every week you come in and buy a bunch of eggs and sardines.  I just have to ask.”  To which I replied, “They’re for him!” (pointing to Landon).  Yep.  Easiest lunch or dinner for your one year old ever!  They are soft, so he could eat them easily even before he had all his teeth, and they are packed full of omega 3’s, vitamins, and minerals (move over milk…Landon gets his calcium from sardines!).  And here’s the ticket: most people know fish is an incredibly nutrient-dense food, but a lot of fish contains high levels of mercury.  Not so with the beloved sardine!  Mercury levels are much, much higher in large fish (think tuna), so we are safe here with sardines.  Here is the brand that I love for high quality sardines.

3.  Guacamole.  I fed Landon so many pureed avocados as a baby, I guess it stuck!  Landon thinks chips are just vehicles for devouring guac!  He eats his own 4 oz. side of guac at Chipotle in no time flat, and I love that he’s eating real food that will fill him up with good, healthy fat!  I keep meaning to share my super simple guac recipe on here, so I’ll get to that before too long because this is a great one for kids!  It’s also great as they’re starting to learn to use a fork or a spoon because the guac stays put a little better than, say, applesauce when they’re pushing it around their trays.

4. Green smoothies.  My husband and I eat most of our greens in salad form, and that’s still a bit tricky for the little guy to eat.  So, I put his “salad” (just spinach or kale usually) in the blender with some goat’s milk kefir, coconut milk, almond milk, chia seeds, some frozen berries, and maybe a couple of dates to sweeten it up a bit.  He pounds these smoothies.  It’s great.

5.  Larabars and Larabar Bites.  I didn’t say we didn’t use any products or packaged foods at our house!  These bars are great for the diaper bag on the go!  Full of only real food ingredients (typically dates, nuts, and some fruit), these little bars are my favorite go-to, and the new Larabar Bites are a great size for little people, too!  You can order a bunch here.  I’ve even made them myself on a few occasions which works great, too, and is super easy, but if you just want to buy some snacks to have on hand, these are my favorite.

So now I’m wondering, what else could we add to the list?  What “real food” did you give to your one year old as he or she joined the family table and started enjoying food?  How do you avoid “bland,” “kid food,” and/or “picky eaters” at your house?  Comment below!