The Gina Ford Baby & Toddler Cook Book: Over 100 easy recipes for all the family to enjoy

"Easy to follow recipes that you can make up in batches and freeze. As a working mum I need to be able to provide my little one with her tea as soon as we come in from work. Waiting is not her strong point!!

The recipes provided clearly indicate suitable age group, whether to puree / mash, if they can be frozen, how many portions each meal makes, plus finger foods, birthday party ideas etc.

I make the food up in batches and freeze for days that I'm working and follow the fresh recipes for days when I'm home, e.g. a healthy omlette takes 10 mins.

It's so important to me that I can give our little one a healthy diet with a wide range of foods; the recipes in the book enable you to do just that.

All our friends & family comment how well our little one eats and how healthy she is. Fabulous book!"
~ Written on 2008-06-23

"I bought this book having tried most of the recipes in my excellent Annabel Karmel Top 100 purees book. I looked at a number of baby cooking books before settling on this one, due to the excellent previous reviews.
The positive thing about the book is that there are some nice looking recipes, however, the vast majority of these are for toddlers (18 months and over), when I expect my son to be eating family meals rather than his own special food. Apparently this book follows on from her "book of weaning", which presumably features more recipes for younger babies.
The recipes are quite traditional, which on the plus side means the list of ingredients are shorter than many AK recipes, and you are therefore likely to have a lot of these in your store cupboard. However, I prefer the more unusual recipes AK has in her book such as fish with orange and cheese(and baby loves them too).
I also prefer the way AK's books are laid out, with receipes split into age groups e.g. 6 months, 7 - 9 months, 9 - 12 months, so you can gradually and easily introduce your baby to textured food. This book is split into meal types - soups, lunches, desserts etc, with each of these containing receipes for all age groups in a random order. Also, there are quite alot of recipes for soup - I just can't get my head around the practicalities of feeding a young baby soup!!
Finally, the book is quite "preachy" in typical Gina style. I found it annoying that the author assumes that the cook is a stay at home mum who spends all morning cooking for her baby. I wish! Also, I know lots of sugar isn't recommended for young children, but I think a small amount in desserts does no harm and allows baby to experience different tastes. I'm not sure what omiting it altogether is supposed to achieve, although of course, that is a mother's choice.
All in all, I think I will be trying some of the recipes when my son is older, but it definitly won't be as well used as my Annabel Karmel book."
~ Written on 2008-02-27

"When I first saw this book in the bookshops I assumed it was just another way of making money by re-packaging Gina Ford with pretty pictures. However, for some reason I went back to it, and I can honestly say it is the most useful children's recipe book I have. All the recipes I have tried so far have been eaten happily by both my 1 year old and 4 year old, and I could cook most of them with ingredients I already had in the kitchen. Does this book provide a groundbreaking adventure in the culinary arts? no. Does this book provide recipes that will mean you can give your children a balanced diet without having to employ a nanny so you can spend all your time in the kitchen and without taking out a loan so that you can buy all the exotic ingredients? yes."
~ Written on 2007-11-21

"This is a good easy to use book. My baby is only 4 months but when he gets to 9 months I will have yummy treats from this book for him. We (me and dad) have been using it this week and have ate healthy recipes with all major food groups which are quick to prepare and can easily be adapted for adults, most of it can also be frozen. The ideas for tea (finger foods) are many and varied. I only wish I had found it when breastfeeding as the recipes are gentle and full of good vegetables in nice combinations. Will be using this a lot I think. I would reccomend the lamb cous cous it is delicious! "
~ Written on 2007-07-13

"A great book full of versitile, healthy and easy to make recipes! Very impressive, and definately has something for even the fussiest little eater - and from a recipe book-a-holic perspective, it is full of beautiful pictures and simple instructions! I would definately reccomend this book."
~ Written on 2007-07-10