What's in Isabelle's Tummy?

On Sunday I posted about my views on Bento Boxes. In case you missed it, I'm not a fan. I think they look awesome...but I haven't the time to make them, and they don't really fit in with our views on family meal times.
So, I thought that today I would give you all an insight in to what Isabelle does eat. If you ask my friends and family, they would tell you that Simon and I are really strict with what Isabelle is allowed to eat, and I am absolutely sure many of my mommy friends think I am a total 'baby food snob'. Even though she is now 13 months, we still believe she is too young for treat/junk foods such as ice cream, chocolate, crisps, cake - you know the things I mean. She isn't allowed any of those things, as we just think she is too tiny, and that she will have plenty of years ahead of her to enjoy them.
More than that, we don't like her having 'packaged' foods. I may be the only mother in the world who doesn't buy anything from the baby food aisle, but I think the whole thing is a total con - why do I need special 'baby' rice cakes? Why can I not just buy normal rice cakes at half the price and snap them in half? That, incidentally, is exactly what I do. Never once have we bought her a baby meal (jar, pouch etc) - she just eats what we do, which is always home cooked, although I would hesitate before saying 'goodness'! We don't like giving her 'oven' foods either, like fish fingers or chicken goujons, as I am never totally sure that it is the highest quality products inside them. She does get these things occasionally, but usually from other sources, and I am always left feeling incredibly guilty afterwards - which I know is very silly! She is only allowed water or breast milk to drink, although I know that just water and milk is pretty standard with littles this age.
(Disclaimer: I don't think any of this makes us in anyway better than other parents who do buy/use these types of products, it's just the way we prefer to feed Isabelle and it works for our family)
So, yes, we are strict with her food. Very strict some would say....oh wait, some have said! I hear you asking now, what is this poor child allowed to eat!? There seem to be nothing but restrictions on her! Well, here we go, a day in the life of Isabelle's food:
Breakfast: 7.30am
Simon feeds Izzy breakfast while I grab a few extra minutes in bed. She usually has porridge, which she LOVES, and he will give her some fruit as well. We bought some apricots this week, and she's been really enjoying them. We make her porridge super thick, so she is able to eat it by picking it up. Sometimes she will have toast, or a bagel, or just fruit, depending on what we have in the house.
Snack 1: 11am
This varies every day, and it partially dependent on what she had for breakfast. Today she had some pear, plum and strawberry, followed by a piece of cheese (a friend gave me that tip - cheese after fruit to bring the pH of her mouth back to where it should be and protect those baby teeth!). She quite often has rice cakes with hummus which she adores, or crackers with cream cheese.
Lunch: 1pm
This is the meal I dread every day. I am not a big lunch eater, and find it really difficult to know what to give her. Some days she gets lots of little bits and bobs like cucumber, cheese, fruit, and whatever else is lying around. She loves soup for lunch, and cheese on toast is always a winner too. On Monday, we always have omelettes for some reason. I'm not great at making them, but she likes it nonetheless! So this was an omelet with cheese and pepper.
Snack 2: 3.15pm
This is based on what she has eaten during the day. So if she has had lots of fruit already, she will get crackers/rice cake. Or if she has already had a lot of carbs, she will get fruit instead. Today, she had a cracker with cream cheese, as we are all out of rice cakes.
Dinner: 5.30pm
As we followed the baby led weaning approach, Isabelle has always eaten what we eat at dinner time, as much as possible. Although she started off loving meat, she isn't a huge fan of it now as I think her lack of teeth means she finds it difficult to chew. She loves potatoes in any form, and pasta is her absolute favorite thing, but she will eat something from every meal she is given. Tonight, we had risotto with peas, bacon, leeks, pepper and mushrooms, which she really loves at the minute. Although I was told by someone that following BLW would mean she wouldn't understand how to use cutlery, her spoon/fork control is pretty great for 13 months, and while she is still given a preloaded spoon most of the time, she is getting much better at scooping her food up herself, especially when it's something sticky like this. She also knows to jab the fork into things to pick them up, although she isn't always overly successful with that!
So there we have it. It's not fancy, it's nothing spectacular, and heaven knows the poor child can hardly boast that her mother's cooking tastes particularly great! But it's all pretty good stuff, and we make sure that she gets a good variety of different, wholesome types of food throughout the day to keep her happy and healthy.
We won't be so strict with her food forever - she will be allowed all those treats and sweets in time, but for now we want her to get the most nutritious start to life as we can give her. And besides, I don't share my sweets....