Batch-cook Sunday: a week of baby meals in 90 minutes

Here's a secret from years of working with new families: the parents who feel calmest about feeding aren't the ones who cook the most. They're the ones who decided once — one shopping list, one cooking session, one full freezer — and then spent the week just assembling. Here's the 90-minute version of that decision.

The four-station session

Everything runs in parallel: one oven, two pots, one mixing bowl. While the oven works, the stovetop works, and you only actively cook for a fraction of the time.

• Station 1 — the roasting tray (oven, 25–30 min): sweet potato wedges, carrot batons and broccoli florets tossed in a little olive oil. Roast until soft enough to squish between your fingers — that's your baby's texture test, not the fork's.
• Station 2 — the pot of dahl (stovetop, 20 min): red lentils, grated carrot, mild spices, simmered soft. This is your iron anchor for the week (see why iron matters). A squeeze of tomato adds vitamin C for absorption.
• Station 3 — the protein batch (oven, alongside station 1): mini meatballs from ground beef, or a veggie frittata baked in a muffin tin and sliced into strips. Both freeze beautifully.
• Station 4 — the breakfast stash (one bowl, 10 min): a batch of banana-oat pancakes (our 2-ingredient version works) cooked while everything else bakes.

Freezing, the safe way

• Cool quickly, then freeze — portion food while warm-ish, get it into the fridge within an hour or two of cooking, and into the freezer the same evening. Don't leave it on the counter "to cool properly" all afternoon.
• Portion small. Silicone trays with 1–2 tablespoon wells are ideal early on; once frozen, pop the cubes into a labelled freezer bag. Small portions thaw fast and waste nothing.
• Label with contents + date. Future-you cannot tell frozen lentil dahl from frozen bolognese. Use purées and mashes within about 2–3 months.
• Thaw in the fridge overnight (or defrost gently in the microwave, stirring well). Reheat cooked foods until steaming hot throughout, then cool to lukewarm before serving — always temperature-test.
• One trip out of the freezer. Never refreeze thawed food, and toss whatever the spoon-and-bowl meal didn't finish.

How 90 minutes becomes seven days

With four components banked, the week is just mixing and matching:

• Breakfasts: oat pancakes from the freezer + fresh fruit, or porridge with a stirred-in cube of fruit purée.
• Lunches: dahl cubes over rice or with toast strips; frittata strips with roasted veg.
• Dinners: meatballs with squished roasted carrots; whatever the family eats, with baby's portion cut safely.
• The wildcard rule: leave 2–3 meals unplanned. That's where the family dinner, the restaurant outing, or the "toast is a meal" day lives — guilt-free by design.

A meal plan that needs you to be perfect is a meal plan that fails by Wednesday. Build in the toast day.

One habit that makes this stick

Plan before you shop, not at the stove. Ten minutes on Saturday choosing the week's recipes writes your shopping list for you — and means Sunday's 90 minutes starts with everything already in the kitchen.