Since the day the little wonder is born, one thing new parents really look forward to is a trip with the baby. Or hang on, would you rather wait a little longer to plan it since you have ‘foodie worries’? Whether it is a few hours of an outing or a vacation, a mom’s holiday planning is topped with (‘What should I feed my baby while traveling?’) thoughts. Honestly, it’s not as tough as it seems. If you look around and experiment a little, there are quite a few healthy and easy options that will make traveling with your babies easy and peaceful.
Many of us are not too keen on exposing our kids to restaurant food throughout the travel. That’s wise and quite understandable since we don’t exactly know what goes inside that delicious looking dish. There’s also a fear of using packaged and ready-to-eat foods due to the presence of preservatives, coloring agents, etc. Baby food must be nutritious and yummy. It also needs to be quick and easy to prepare while traveling. You can either pack ‘ready-to-eat’ meal options, carry ‘instant-to-cook’ food or even plan to cook fresh meals depending on the facilities at the destination.
Here are 4 best travel foods for babies, hassle-free, convenient and easy to customize:
1. Cereal
When you’re on a trip, nothing can be as handy as readymade baby cereal mixes. There are some great options available in the market in a variety of flavors. Ensure you pick up ones that are nutritious and organic, and appropriate for your baby’s age and palate. Another great option available these days are millet cereals, which can be mixed with expressed breast milk, formula or regular milk or even with boiled and cooled water.
One can also make their own cereal powder mix based easy recipe such as Carrot Oats Cereal using Slurrp Farm Organic Oats Cereal.
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Great source of fibre, easy to digest. Excellent for traveling, just add hot water, cooks in 2 minutes. Buy now!
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2. Seasonal Fruits/Fruit Purees
A no-fail breakfast/snack choice, fruits are highly nutritious, loaded with crucial vitamins and minerals and make for excellent takeaway foods. While fresh whole fruits work best for toddlers and older kids, purees are the most loved substitute among mothers to feed the little ones as they are simple to prepare and easily digestible. All you need to do is simply mash the fruit in a clean bowl using a fork. You can add a little warm milk to make the consistency a little runny so that your baby is able to gulp it down with ease. The most common ones are apple, mango and banana puree.
3. Healthy Bakes
Yummy treats like Carrot Cake with fresh carrot, Ragi ladoos/brownies, Banana muffins are sure to delight any fussy eater. One can prepare these healthy foods a day or two in advance by tweaking the core ingredients. Instead of maida, one can use ragi as the base that’s packed with nutrition. The banana muffins can be sweetened naturally using banana powder or jaggery powder. These last a few days and are sure to be snack-time buddies.
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Banana is a Superfood for kids. It’s a rich source of potassium and magnesium. Has NO preservatives, and additives. Buy now!
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4. Instant Finger Millet Khichdi
Image credits: Loksatta.com
Khichdi is the comfort food for most babies. Light on the tummy and easy to eat, it’s always the go-to option when one can’t think what to cook. Why only at home, good old khichdi can be made easily while traveling too. All it needs is a little prep of keeping the dry roasted yellow moong dal, rice, ghee, and condiments handy. It is quick to prepare on a hot plate by mixing all the ingredients in a pan with boiling water. If you don’t have access to heating equipment, add boiling water to the khichdi mix, stir to remove lumps, add masalas and cover for 5-8 minutes. It’s ready to be served hot.
Traveling with your tot can be fun if you are sorted on the food front. One must ensure that the food you carry is easy to make/store, doesn’t easily go bad or gets messy while feeding your baby. It’s always advisable to try it out with the kids a few times at home before traveling to see which options are easily relished by your baby. Also, avoid introducing new food during travel to avoid allergy scare. Plan and prep a bit to make it an easy breeze. Happy traveling!
by Swati Mehra
