How to make quick, easy and healthy homemade baby food
Why make your own baby food?
By making your own baby food, you can have complete control over what you feed your baby, and you’ll know that what you’re eating is free of the salt, sugar, additives, and fillers sometimes found in store-bought foods.
You can choose to use only the highest quality and freshest produce and if you want to make organic baby food, use only organic fruits and vegetables and you are good to go. However, if you are short on time, you can use fresh frozen vegetables in your own homemade baby food. It’s so easy to make your own baby food – all you need is a kitchen or hand blender and fresh ingredients. And as a bonus, if you make large batches of your favorite foods, you can freeze them and then you can serve wholesome, wholesome meals in minutes and for every meal of the week.
And if the idea of making wholesome, wholesome baby food isn’t enough, how about the added incentive of saving money and protecting the environment? Homemade baby food will cost much less than equivalent store-bought products, and you won’t have an endless supply of empty jars to recycle!
The cooking process…
Most foods will need to be baked, cooked, or steamed (the exceptions being bananas, avocados, and melons) until they’re nice and soft. Once cooked, put them in a blender to make a puree, add a little of the cooking water to give them the necessary consistency and voila, healthy homemade baby food just like that.
Steaming is the best way to preserve nutrients and is also the best way to keep fruits and vegetables fresh tasting. Why not buy a multi-layer steamer and cook different vegetables at the same time? Excess can be pureed and frozen for future meals. Boiling is a perfectly good alternative if you don’t have a steamer, put the vegetables in a saucepan, just cover with water and boil until tender.
Why don’t you try baking some of the vegetables in the oven? Vegetables like potatoes, sweet potatoes, and winter squashes are great when baked. Cook until tender, remove the meat from the skin and mash with a fork. What could be simpler?
Making puree…
A food processor can be used to grind large amounts of food, and is useful for many other aspects of home cooking as well. But if you don’t have a processor, or don’t want to have to invest in one, why not buy a hand blender? These tend to be cheaper, and it’s probably easier to find a space for one in your kitchen!
Storage…
If you prepare a large batch of food, you can pour it into ice cube trays and then freeze it – future meals in minutes! Flexible trays are best, and once the food is frozen, simply store the cubes in tightly sealed freezer bags; however, remember to label them and it helps to add an expiration date as well (6 weeks after making the food is about right!)
And finally…
And one last reason… homemade baby food is so much tastier than its store-bought counterparts. Your baby deserves to eat delicious home-cooked food just as much as we do!
