By Tidy Tot

We all know that Baby Led Weaning can get delightfully messy, but did you know that it’s also an opportunity to reduce food waste and stretch your budget further? At a time when every penny counts, keeping food waste to a minimum is more important than ever before. Did you know that 70% of UK food waste happens in people’s homes, with households having young children being the highest contributors? But worry not, because we’re here on a mission to help you conquer food waste during weaning!

We’re ready to share our ultimate tips on reducing waste and making the most out of your food budget during Baby Led Weaning. Get ready for some game-changing advice:

1. Adjust portion sizes

Babies require different amounts of food at different stages of their weaning journey. When starting weaning, make sure portion sizes are small, not over-facing, and as you move to offering complete meals, try to offer a nutritionally balanced plate. As your baby starts finishing all the food on offer, you can then adjust your portion sizes as your baby grows and develops.

2. Reduce food waste by not plating up too much at a time

Some days your baby will be hungrier than others. Holding back food and just placing a little on your baby’s plate at a time is a really simple way to reduce waste. You can save un-touched leftovers for the next meal, and your baby won’t have as much leftover food to throw – which generally happens at the end of the meal as they get full!. A massive 25% of food wasted in households is due to cooking, preparing, or serving too much food (WRAP 2021), so targeting this type of waste is a great way to help your food budget stretch that bit further.

3. Re-use food

Serve any untouched food to your baby at their next meal or add it to your own. If you didn’t manage to get your portion sizes for your little one quite right, you can freeze the food you made and offer it another day.

4. Use bibs that catch any food waste

Throwing food is common (but we hear you, so annoying!). It’s your baby’s strongest signal to communicate they’re full, or to let you know they’re simply not interested in eating right now. Having a good bib, such as our Bib & Tray Kit that pretty much eliminates food wasted to the floor and highchair seat like this, is a great solution. Food that would have been thrown to the floor is caught on the large tray and can be hygienically re-introduced.

5. Offer foods that are part of your own meals

One of the many advantages of Baby Led Weaning is being able to offer your baby most foods that you eat yourself. Or if you’re spoon feeding your little one, you could always mash or puree your food down (watch the salt and sugar content) and use this instead of making a different meal. By offering your baby family meals, you save on time spent in the kitchen, reduce the number of foods you’re buying, and any leftovers can be added to your own portion.

6. Home composting your food waste

f you have a garden, you could try home composting by disposing of fruit and veg in your garden. Creating a section in your garden where you can create a compost heap will help keep waste out of landfill.

The equivalent of eight meals per week is thrown away by UK households (WRAP 2021), by following these simple steps in your baby led weaning journey, you could help reduce food waste and save money.

You can also save £5 when you spend £30* on any of our Tidy Tot range, happy shopping!
Use code WEAN5
* end date of 31st May 2023, minimum spend is £30 and can not be used in conjunction with any other promotion.

About TidyTot

Tidy Tot‘s mission is to make things ‘easy for parents and fun for baby’. It was born from one mum’s drive to contain the mess of weaning, and has now grown into an award-winning brand offering weaning accessories, bibs, mats and more!

Disclaimer: The views and advice given in this article are those of the guest writer and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Weaning Week or any other organisations represented on this platform