Making Baby Food For Your Infant

It's Easy and Healthy

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Long before baby food came in jars, mothers were making baby food themselves. Today, with all the discussions about chemically grown foods and added preservatives, many parents are going back to making their own baby food, thinking that this may be a safer route.

Making your own baby food is a simple process and is convenient as well as economically smart. Making your own baby food mostly involves pureeing the foods.

Of course, it does take longer than opening a jar...

So for many, a combination is ideal. Prepare your own baby food as often as you want and combine it with canned food when it's more practical.

Equipment

Making baby food does not require much equipment. Here are some of the things you can use:

Fork - some foods such as ripe fruits and bananas can be prepared using a fork

Potato masher - works well for cooked foods such as potatoes, carrots, squash, and apples

Strainer or mesh sieve - use to strain cooked foods

Blender - a blender can be used to make vegetables, fruits, and even cereals or peanut butter

Baby Food Mill - a baby food mill is great for raw and cooked foods - and is handy to take with you to restaurants or when visiting

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Preparing Baby Food

There are several ways in which to prepare baby food:

Boiling - fruits and vegetables can be boiled or simmered. However, this using this method could cause the food to lose some of the important nutrients in the water. It is best to use the least amount of water and the cooking liquid can be used to thin the food if necessary. The crock pot is excellent for making baby food as it needs very little water and is great for making large batches and then freezing.

Microwave - this method is a great way to prepare food quickly without having to use a lot of water leaving more of the nutrients baby needs in the cooked product. However, some studies have shown that microwave also can destroy a good part of the nutrients, so be a little bit cautios with the microwave owen.
Steaming - the best method of preparing baby food. This can be done by placing vegetables or fruits into a steam basket, a sieve, or a colander over a pot of boiling water and letting the rising steam cook the food. This method helps the food to retain almost all of the nutrients so that baby gets the most out of home-cooked baby food.
And it doesn't take as long as it may seem to steam the food! Since you're going to puree or mash the food anyway, you can cut the ingredients up is small pieces before steaming them.

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Baby Food Storage and Serving Tips

Since home-made baby food is free of the additives and other ingredients necessary to preserve the food for long periods of time, you must be careful when storing it.

If the baby food is not going to be used quickly, it should be frozen. Baby food can be stored in the refrigerator, but only for 2-3 days - and then discard it. While a refrigerator can slow down the growth of bacteria, it does not kill the bacteria, so the baby's food should not be stored in the refrigerator too long, usually not for more than two days.

If you wish to prepare larger batches of baby food, you can divide the food into serving sizes and freeze. There are several ways in which to freeze baby food. You can freeze the pureed food in ice cube trays and then transfer into a freezer bag; you can place small portions of baby food onto a cookie sheet and freeze that way, placing the individual portions into freezer bags once the food is frozen; or you can purchase individual size freezer bags and freeze right in the bag. Frozen baby food should be used within one month.

When thawing baby food, you should never leave it at room temperature - this makes it easier for bacteria to get into the food. Thaw the serving by placing it in the refrigerator, in the microwave, or in cold water.

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Some Things To Avoid

There are some things that should be avoided when making baby food.

Salt and sugar should not be added. Salt is bad for the kidneys and sugar for the little teeth. Let baby enjoy the natural taste of foods.

Honey should be completely avoided in babies younger than one year. Honey can cause serious illness in babies - infant botulism, which is a serious form of food poisoning.

There are also other foods that are important to avoid, for a detailed list on foods to avoid for babies, click here.

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Good luck with your cooking!

If you're busy, check out these slow cooker recipes.

Do you still need help with your baby's eating habits? You'll find a large number of baby feeding questions already answered here.

Also, don't hesitate to use our Baby Help Line if you can't find what you're looking for among the baby feeding questions aswered.