Annabel Karmel's New Complete Baby and Toddler Meal Planner

By starting our son slowly on baby rice for the first two weeks as suggested & then gradually introducing more adventurous foods, we now have a healthy, lively & energetic 19 month old, who eats everything that is placed in front of him with no fuss.

The recipes ranging from 'Lovely Lentils, Baked Sweet Potato & Orange' to 'Fillets of Fish in Cheese sauce' have meant that our son has been eating balanced & nutritious meals without additives or preservatives since he was four months old.

The meal planners are invaluable, saving time when there is little by having a weekly straight forward outline that is simple to follow. Freezing recommendations & portion guidelines have halved the time spent in the kitchen as favourite recipes can be stored for use at a later date & we get to spend more time with our son.

For our son's 1st birthday all the dishes were made using this cookbook and the adults loved the variety of food on offer as much as the children. Some family favourites are 'Chicken with cornflakes' & 'My favourite pasta with broccoli'

I highly recommend this book as a first recipe book for parents facing the weaning process.


Fantastic - a must for new mums   December 6, 2005
D. Abbey (Haverhill, Suffolk United Kingdom)
60 out of 60 found this review helpful

This book has been absolutely brilliant in helping me to introduce all kinds of food to my baby who is now nearly 10 months old ( I am still using it). Whilst I am a keen cook and have commom sense, when it comes to feeding babies I was not sure on how adventurous I could be. This book has given me total confidence and some great ideas and my baby has not yet refused any kind of food I have given her. By the way, you do not have to be an advanced cook to use this book.It really makes you think about texture and flavour and avoids your baby having pureed pear for months as some other books suggest. A must have in the kitchen and in baby's tummy!!


Great book, particularly for the first time mother.   June 1, 2001
25 out of 25 found this review helpful

The information and advice contained on weaning, which foods to offer and at what stage, was comprehensive. It enabled me to offer a far greater variety of foods to my baby than I would otherwise have done, such as sweet potato, butternut squash, leeks and watercress.

The nutritional information and meal planner charts were invaluable and helped me to feel confident about feeding my baby solid food. I used many recipes from the book, all of which were well received, but she particularly enjoyed Fillets of Fish in Cheese Sauce, Fruity Swiss Muesli and Lentil and Vegetable Puree. We all enjoyed Salmon and Vegetable Tagliatelle, Nursery Fish Pie and Penne with Courgettes and Cheese. Also, the ideas for ice lollies were great and we invented many delicious blends of our own once we got started. These are still very popular.

I would enthusiastically recommend this book to anyone who is about to wean a baby, but also to anyone with a young (or not so young) family to feed.


The only book I used for weaning   August 18, 2007
S. L. Bradley (UK)
15 out of 15 found this review helpful

Found this book so good I used nothing else to get my son onto solids. Plenty of variety in the purees and there were very few that my son didn't like. There are plenty of the first stage weaning recipes which give you good ideas for older children (eg I sneak courgettes into mashed potato thanks to the excellent courgette gratin)

I started using lots more recipe books as we moved from baby to toddler, as I find most of the toddler recipes in this one are a bit bland for my husband and I. I'd say it's not to be considered a family recipe book (I don't think it intends to be either as Annabel has a separate family recipe book out!)

Baby 2 is on the way and I will be relying on this book again.


A must for all new Mums!   February 12, 2001
15 out of 15 found this review helpful

Why are they not giving these books out - or at least recommending them - at Pre Natal/Mother & Baby Groups? This is the first book/piece of information that I have found that clearly helps with what foods you can give your baby at various stages, interesting, varied and tasty dishes, a key as to which dishes can be frozen, plus helpful meal planners.

All babies are different and I have quickly discovered that my baby does not like many of the exotic fruits and dishes that Annabel suggests trying in some of her recipes, but at least we have tried them and may well try them again in the future.

For those that think her book is nothing new, and that the dishes and ideas are simple, etc, you would be surprised how many mothers I have discovered that either cannot cook, or give their babies nothing but jars and packs of shop bought baby food and think they are cheaper!

Although I have been making all my daughter's meals using fresh, organic products (where possible), to me this book was a Godsend after I searched and asked around for help without success. It has been most informative, given me ideas on how to develop my daughter's interest in different foods, tastes and textures, and more importantly, reassured me that I was giving her the right foods at the right time, etc.

A most informative book. Thank you Annabel.