Baby/Toddler Mealtime Must-Haves
*comissionable links from Amazon
I’ve been getting some questions about some of Beckham’s mealtime items I’ve been sharing about lately, so I thought I’d just put all of our favorites in a blog post so that they are all in one place for you! Many of these items we’ve had since Beckham started eating solids, while others we’ve picked up along the way. Be sure to read through the whole blog post as I’ll share some tips for taking care of silicone food items as well as some of our favorite toddler meals and snacks at the end. With that being said, you know the drill, lets get to it!
Mealtime Must-Have Links
Antilop High Chair - Don’t sleep on this high chair from IKEA! It’s seriously so affordable, modern looking and works great! If you don’t live close to an IKEA, just double check that they will ship to you.
Silicone Baby Food Freezer Tray - I made a lot of purees when Beckham first started eating solids, and this was great for keeping a freezer stash!
12-Pack Glass Baby Food Containers - These were also great for my freezer stash of purees. They even fit the puree cubes from the freezer tray I just shared about perfectly. I would put a cube in the glass container and let it thaw in the fridge overnight so that it was ready to feed to Beckham the next day. They’re also super easy to label and date with a dry erase marker. We loved these so much we still use them for storing food and snacks!
3-pack of Moonkie Silicone Bibs - Silicone bibs are so nice to have on hand in general, but we really loved these specifically for the price and the quality. They’re great! I never got into a long sleeve bib, but I have friends who swear by them. If you’re into that, here’s one I found.
Mushie Suction Bowl - You’ll notice I’ll be linking a lot of mushie brand products (we seriously love that brand), starting with this suction bowl. It’s practical and comes in a bunch of cute colors.
Self-Feeding Baby Spoons - These were the spoons we started Beckham off with when he started solids. They are textured which is supposed to help get littles adapted to all the new textures of solid foods. They fit perfectly in their little hands and they have a stopper to prevent choking. We actually still keep one of these in our diaper bag as an on-the-go spoon. It packs easily because of it’s size and we’ve definitely run into situations where we would’ve been stuck without a spoon hadn’t we had one of these packed. If you’re wanting some that come along with forks as well, here is an option.
mushie 2-pack Silicone Spoons - We ended up getting these spoons as well just because they were easier for us to hold while feeding Beckham over the small ones. They are a good solid silicone so they are not flimsy like some reviews said about other brands out there. Also, we have yet to upgrade to using forks, so we don’t have any of those yet, but you know I will keep you posted when that time comes! I’m open to suggestions if you have any :)
mushie Silicone Snack Container - We use this snack container at home. Beckham can easily stick his hand in and out to feed himself snacks. It says it is spill proof, which it is for the most part I would say. When we put smaller snacks like puffs and cheerios inside, they tend to fall out more. For that reason, and because it does not have a cover to keep out humidity for storing snacks more long term, we typically do not pack this in our diaper bag.
Stasher Reusable Bag - This is the snack container we pack in our diaper bag for when we are needing something on-the-go. It seals well enough to keep out moisture, but is still easy enough for Beckham to open with his little hands. This is Stasher’s snack size bag, but they have a ton of other sizes and colors as well!
mushie Training Cup & Straw - This is the cup we used to teach Beckham how to drink from a straw. It doesn’t take a lot of force to drink out of, so it’s perfect for training and beyond! Plus the handles make it easy for littles to get used to holding by themselves. We still use this at mealtime!
Simple Modern Kid’s Stainless Steel Watterbottle - This was a recent gift Beckham got and he is loving it! Before he was always wanting to drink out of my water bottle. I’m all about sharing, unless backwash is involved haha. We have the 14oz size, which is perfect for both Beckham being able to hold it, and for just slipping into the side pocket of our diaper bag. There are a ton of other colors and designs as well (I really loved the Chloe-Floral print for a girl). The whole thing is dishwasher safe and it also came with two straws!
Re-Play Sippy Cups - These sippy cups made from recycled milk jugs were such an upgrade from bottles for us. They come with only three parts and each of those parts are dishwasher safe. We have the ‘monochrome’ pack, but they come in so many different color options.
Reusable Pouches - I’ve talked about these a couple times on my stories, but these reusable pouches have been game changers for us! Beckham loves eating pouches and making our own has saved us so much money over buying store bought ones. Don’t get me wrong, we still buy store bought ones for on-the-go, but these are so nice to have on hand at home. They’re easy to fill, dishwasher safe and you can freeze them. I typically put applesauce in ours or some sort of yogurt smoothie.
Haaka Baby Food Feeder - I’ve also talked about this product a few times, but we have truly used this from the time Beckham started solids until now as he has some teeth coming in. His all time favorite thing to eat from this is frozen banana, but we’ve tried other things like strawberry, peach, avocado, ice cubes and breastmilk. This specific product is a bit of an upgrade from the one we have because it comes with a breastmilk tray so that you can easily put breastmilk cubes inside the feeder.
WeeSprout Suction Plates with Lids - These plates are great! They come in a three pack and the suction is great! They also come with lids which is so convenient for meal prep especially if you are leaving your little one with a babysitter.
Busy Baby Silicone Placemat - This was also a recent gift Beckham has received and it has been packed in our diaper bag and ready to be used again since we got it! This placemat is so handy for on-the-go meals - especially at a restaurant. Some restaurants have placemats and high chairs with trays available, but it isn’t always an option and it isn’t always sanitary. This placemat sticks to most surfaces and also gives you the option to attach toys to keep your little one busy. We just wash it when we get home, place it back in the storage sleeve it comes with and put it back in the diaper bag for the next time we need it. So easy!
That’s it for all the toddler table and dinnerware, but I promised you some additional information, so let’s get to that!
Silicone Tips & Meal/Snack Ideas
First, I wanted to share that most silicone items state that they are dishwasher safe. They are, but they often end up tasting like soap after a few washes. If you have noticed that your little’s silicone items have started to taste like soap, I would recommend boiling a big pot of water and letting those silicone items soak for about 10 minutes or so. I typically wash our silicone items by hand, but that 1. is a lot more work and 2. doesn’t completely get rid of the risk of it tasting like soap. I still boil mine every couple of months!
Lastly, I wanted to share a few of our favorite meals and snack items with you. I always love hearing and seeing what others do in their house because it gives me ideas to add to what we already do in ours, so I hope that this can be helpful for someone. We try to keep things as healthy and as non-toxic as we can over here, but we’re still learning what that balance looks like. One thing I’ve found to help with that is the app “Yuka”. Yuka is an app that scores and analyzes food and cosmetic products based on their health impact. If you don’t know about this app yet, you should check it out - it’s free and we use it all the time! Now, to the snacks/meal ideas!
Serenity Kids Meat + Veggie Pouches + Grain Free Puffs (Code DURBIN15 will save you 15% on your first order.
As always, do what is best for you and your family. There is no right or wrong way when your end goal is to do what is best for your kiddos. We just like to share what has worked for us, with the hope that we can help other families out there. What are some of your family’s mealtime must-haves? What are some favorite baby/toddler snacks in your house? Feel free to comment on this blog or dm us on Instagram - we always love hearing from you and welcoming new ideas :)
