Weaning without waste

How to reduce waste whilst weaning with pouches

Here at For Aisha, we’re passionate about helping to reduce food waste whilst weaning. Weather you decide to follow Baby Led Weaning or prefer the traditional approach of spoon feeding, we’ve pulled together some top tips on how you can cut down on food waste and save money!

Purees are a great way to introduce your baby to smoother textures and new flavours in a convenient and easy to serve way.  You can serve directly from pouch to spoon, but by squeezing your puree into a bowl or plate – you can add variety and interest to your baby’s meal by serving other flavours and textures alongside it.

To reduce any wastage, avoid 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 food, including any left in the pouch, in the fridge for later.  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. For Aisha pouches can be stored in your fridge for up to 24 hours (Please check the back of your packaging as this may depend on the brand).

A good tip for smaller babies is to use an ice cube tray to freeze any leftovers. If you’re left with an open pouch, squeeze any leftovers into an ice cube tray. This means when it comes to defrosting, the puree is already in small enough portion sizes for each meal. This can be frozen for up to 1 month before needing to be consumed.

Decanting pouches into a bowl and plate help you introduce some real variety into your baby’s meal.  Try serving For Aisha’s Chicken & Sweet Potato Curry Pouch with some steamed broccoli florets, baby corn fingers and some soft bread fingers for example, to create a nutritionally balance meal, packed with flavours and textures.

A divided silicone suction plate or bowl is ideal for this, and the strong suction bottom will stop your baby throwing utensils to the floor and keeping food firmly on the table.