›› Homemade Baby Food
It is simple,
healthy and cost-efficient to make your baby’s food at
home. Homemade baby food allows you to control the
ingredients. Whether fruit or vegetables, homemade baby food
is easy to make, store and reheat. You can even make tasty
combinations of fruits or vegetables that will increase the vitamin and
nutrition content of your baby’s food once the baby has tried
the fruit or vegetable by itself.
It is important that the first time a baby eats a food, it is not
combined with another new food in order to watch for any
allergies. If a baby ate two new foods mixed together and
developed hives, the parent would not know which food was the cause.
All one needs to prepare baby food at home is a blender or food
processor. All one needs to store baby food in convenient
portions is an ice cube tray. Cook vegetables the way you
would normally, using only water for cooking liquid. The
microwave or stovetop is equally fine. Make more than the
baby will eat in one sitting, since you will be able to store the
excess. Cook vegetables or firm fruits until soft enough to
puree. Once soft, you may want to pour off some of the
cooking water before you puree it. Homemade baby food should
be the consistency of applesauce until your baby is old enough to eat
more textured food. Puree the fruit or vegetable in the
blender or food processor.
Making your own baby food lets the baby try vegetables that you
won’t always find in the grocery store. Try
zucchini, spinach, broccoli, squash, potatoes, and even
cauliflower. Avocado is very healthy, and doesn’t
need to be cooked first. Of course, standbys like carrots,
peas, and yams are easy to make homemade also.
Not all fruits have to be cooked first, unless it is necessary to
soften them. Firmer fruits such as apples and pears should be
peeled and cooked first. Melons, plums, mangoes, peaches,
nectarines, bananas, and berries can be simply washed, sliced and
pureed without cooking. Remember not to serve strawberries to
babies until one year of age as they are a common allergen.
Fruits do not need to be sweetened, and seldom need water.
Once the baby food is at the desired consistency, you can pour it into
an ice cube tray and freeze. Once frozen, the cubes can be
removed and stored in a Ziploc bag in the freezer. Label the
bag so you remember what veggie it is. Individual cubes can
be heated in the microwave whenever needed.
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A Healthy Dose of Good Advice
