Making Your
Own Baby Food
With
a little planning, and a blender, a fork, a strainer, a food mill
or a baby
food grinder, you can make foods
for your
baby at home. Homemade infant food may
help cut food costs,
and provide baby with food as
nutritious, if not more nutritious, than store-bought baby foods.
Making your
own baby food will also help baby get
use to foods
the family eats.
Pureed
fruits and vegetables can be prepared from fresh-cooked fruits
and vegetables. Use the cooked fruits and vegetables without
added salt, sugar or fat. Puree means to put food through
a sieve or grinder to make the food into
a liquid-like, smooth texture. Some foods, like ripe bananas,
can be mashed or pureed with a fork and won’t need to be
precooked. It may be necessary to add some fluid (formula,
breast milk, water or cooking water) to other pureed food to make it
the right consistency for your
baby.
Canned
or frozen fruits and vegetables may also be pureed and used.
When using commercially processed canned or frozen fruits
and vegetables, check the ingredient label. Make sure
you are not adding extra sugar, salt and fat to your
baby’s diet. Other unnecessary additives may also be
in canned or frozen foods.
| Homemade
infant food may
help cut food costs,
and provide baby with food as
nutritious, if not more nutritious, than store-bought baby foods. |
Some
commonly home-prepared fruits for babies are ripe mashed
bananas, and pureed bananas and applesauce. Dried prunes
that have been cooked and pureed are another food for baby.
Fresh pears or peaches in season may also be soft cooked
and pureed. Fresh vegetables that can be home prepared and
pureed include potato, winter squash, sweet potato, peas,
asparagus, and green or wax beans.
Later,
when baby is
between 8 months through 11 months, table food can
be added to her diet. By that time, your
baby will be able to move her tongue from side to side,
and will have begun to spoon feed herself with your help.
She’ll also start chewing with her new teeth, and feed herself
with her fingers. With your help,
she will also drink from a cup.
At
this stage, try feeding mashed or diced fruit, soft cooked
or mashed vegetables; mashed cooked egg yolk; strained meats
or poultry; mashed, cooked dry beans and peas; cottage cheese
or cheese cubes; sliced bread; crackers; and juice in a cup.
Tips
for Making Homemade Baby
Food
- Work
under the most sanitary conditions possible.
- Wash your hands
with hot water and soap, scrub, rinse and dry with clean
towel before fixing your
baby’s food,
before feeding your
baby, and after changing your
baby’s diapers.
- Scrub
all working surfaces with soap and hot water.
- Scrub
all equipment with soap and hot water, and rinse well.
- Prepare
fresh fruits or vegetables by scrubbing, paring or peeling,
and removing seeds.
- Prepare
meats by removing all bones, skin, connective tissue, gristle
and fat.
- Cook
foods, when necessary, boiling them in a small, covered
saucepan with a small amount of water until tender. The
amount of water is important — the less water used, the
more nutrients stay in the food.
- Puree food using
a blender, food processor, baby
food grinder, spoon or fork. Grind up tough foods.
Cut food into
small pieces or thin slices. Take out seeds and pits from
fruit.
- Test
for smoothness by rubbing a small amount of food between your fingers.
Add a liquid such as formula, water or fruit juice to achieve
a desired consistency.
- If
pureed food is
not being used right away, refrigerate quickly.
- To
freeze: pour cooled, pureed food into
a paper cupcake liner or a section of a clean ice cube
tray, and cover with foil. When frozen solid, store cubes
in a freezer container in the freezer in a freezer bag
or box.
- Reheat
frozen cube in a heat-resistant container in a pan of hot
water.
- When
cooking foods for the family, remember to separate the baby’s
portion before adding seasoning or spices. Babies need
very little, if any added salt or sugar.
| Q: Should
I avoid certain foods if I make my own
baby food? A: High-nitrate
vegetables, such as beets, broccoli,
cabbage, carrots, celery, collard greens,
lettuce, spinach and turnips, should
not be fed to babies in large quantities.
The naturally occurring nitrates in
these vegetables can change to nitrites,
which bind iron in the blood and make it
difficult to carry oxygen. This can
cause the skin to become blue and make it
hard to breathe. Limit the serving
size of these vegetables to one to
two tablespoons per feeding.
|
Thawing
and Warming Baby’s Food
Here
are some suggestions on thawing and warming food for your
baby. Frozen food can
be thawed in the refrigerator or the microwave oven on the
defrost setting. But remember, food that
has been thawed should never be refrozen.
Stove
Method: To warm food,
place it directly in a saucepan and slowly warm over low
heat, stirring often. Stir and test temperature of food before
feeding it to your
baby.
Microwave
Method: Microwave ovens heat foods unevenly and cause
hot spots. There may be hot spots even if the food feels
cool to you. It is important to stir food well
to prevent burns to you or your
baby. Here are some other tips:
- Cover
dish with a microwave-safe cover, not plastic wrap.
- Stir food and
turn the dish often during the heating process.
- Allow food to
sit for a few minutes; stir well and test temperature before
feeding your
baby.
- It
is not recommended to heat pureed meats in the microwave.
Hot spots in the meat could seriously burn your
baby.
- For
other foods, heat food in
a microwave-safe dish or an opened baby-food jar.
Equipment
Needed to Make
Baby Food Sieve/strainer: It
should have a small mesh. You can press foods through
it with the back of a spoon. It can be used for juices,
soft fruits and vegetables, but not meats.
Spoon,
forks and potato masher: Use these to mash soft
foods, such as most canned fruits, egg yolks, bananas
and potatoes, to the right consistency.
Food mills
or grinders: You may already have a food mill
in your canning
supplies, but if you don’t, they are available in
stores that sell kitchen supplies. The smaller size baby
food mill is similar to the larger version. They
can be purchased in the baby section
of department stores. It can be used at home or when
traveling. The larger mills and grinders are useful
when preparing soft meats and both can be used for
cooked fruits, vegetables and soft fresh fruits.
Blenders: Your blender
can come in handy to prepare food for
the baby. Food items
cooked for the family can be blended smooth for baby or
to freeze for later. Hand-held blenders are useful
pieces of equipment that you may want to consider.
Plastic
ice cube trays: Use trays for freezing extra food that
you prepare. After the food is
frozen, remove the cubes and store in a container
designed for freezing.
Pureed Baby
Food Recipes
Pureed
Fruit Delight
1/2
cup freshly cooked or home-canned fruits, or cooked
dried prunes (without sugar) (Use apples, pears,
peaches, nectarines, apricots or prunes)
2-4 teaspoons liquid (water, unsweetened fruit juice — not citrus — or
formula)
Remove
skin and seeds. Press through a sieve, or put ingredients
in food mill
or blender and puree until smooth. Serve or freeze.
Freeze no longer than 1 month.
Yummy
Fresh Fruit
3/4
cup ripe fruit (uncooked peaches, nectarines, pears
or apricots) without sugar
1 tablespoon unsweetened fruit juice (not citrus)
Remove
skin and seeds. Puree ingredients in baby
food mill or blender until smooth. Serve or freeze.
Freeze no longer than 1 month.
Vegetable
Medley
1/2 cup cooked fresh, frozen
or canned vegetables (potato, sweet potato, green beans,
peas, carrots, yellow squash), without salt added
2-4 tablespoons cooking liquid, formula or water
Cook fresh vegetables or
use frozen or canned vegetables without salt or seasoning.
(Read labels for ingredients.) Press vegetable chunks
through a sieve or baby food mill.
Thin with cooking liquid or formula to eating consistency.
Or put cooked vegetables and liquid in a blender and
puree until smooth. Serve or freeze. Freeze no longer
than 1 month.
Note: After the individual
vegetables have been fed several times, some good combinations
are: potatoes and carrots, potatoes and green beans,
carrots and peas.
Applesauce Deluxe
1 medium apple
4 tablespoons pineapple juice
Peel, quarter and core apple.
Cook with pineapple juice until soft. Blend until smooth
in texture.
Bananas Plain and Simple
Ripe bananas may be pureed
or mashed and fed to your baby directly.
Your Choice
Combo Dish
(for babies over 8 months)
1
cup cooked, cubed or diced meat (cut off fat)
1/2 cup cooked rice, potato, noodles or macaroni
2/3 cup cooked, diced vegetables
3/4 to 1 cup liquid (formula, broth or water)
Combine
and blend until smooth. Serve or freeze in serving-size
containers.
If frozen, use within 1 month.
Note: If you prepare
combination dishes, use them only after you have fed
the individual food several
times.
Simple Strained Meat or
Poultry
(for babies over 8 months)
1/2 cup cooked meat (small
pieces of lean chicken, beef, turkey or pork)
2-4 tablespoons meat broth or formula
Cook lean meat (fat, skin
and connective tissue removed) over low heat in a small
amount of water. Puree meat and liquid until smooth.
Serve or freeze. Freeze no longer than one month.
Egg Yolk Puree
(for babies over 8 months)
Cook
one egg in simmering water 15 to 20 minutes. Remove
shell. Remove yolk and
mash with 1 tablespoon of formula or water until smooth.
Serve or freeze. Freeze no longer than 1 month.
Note: Use
only the yolk. Avoid feeding egg whites until 1 year
to avoid
problems with allergies. Use the extra egg white in
the family’s casseroles, salads or sandwiches.
Creamy Custard
(for babies over 1 year)
3
egg yolks
2 tablespoons sugar
2 cups milk, warmed
Mix egg yolks and sugar.
Stir in milk and mix well. Cook over low heat, stirring
constantly, until mixture coats the spoon. Refrigerate.
Use within 2 to 3 days
