Making your own baby meals are easy, efficient, and economical. Instead of paying money on prepackaged baby food, you should use fresh produce, grains, and meat that you have on hand. Best of all, you’ll know exactly what you’re feeding your baby. Going the do-it-yourself route also gets your baby utilized eating identical food the rest of the family does, a method which will pay off through the picky toddler years.

Selecting the best equipment
You’ll need a tool to grind or puree the food. Some possibilities, all which you’ll buy at stores or online, or you already have them inside your kitchen:

• A hand-turned food mill with different blades for various textures of food. Many parents say this portable, non-electric gadget is their favorite tool.
• A baby food grinder, a very inexpensive and straightforward way to interrupt down chunks of food on your baby, non-electric and portable, but you usually do not have a choice of textures. Read the reviews online before ordering. The grinders don’t always work as well as they promise, but some parents swear by them.
• A hand blender, a useful electric gadget that purees food like a blender does, but works in the alternative way: You place it into the foodstuff as opposed to vice verse.
• A daily kitchen blender or food processor. You almost certainly already have at least one these at home. A blender or food processor might work well for you personally, though you might find it lower than ideal for small jobs.
• An excellent old-fashioned fork. This straightforward piece of kitchen equipment found in every kitchen does a fantastic job with easily mashed foods for instance sweet potatoes, avocados, and bananas.

Other useful supplies:

• Storage containers and ice cube trays (or similar trays made just for baby food) for refrigerating and freezing extra portions. Store-bought baby food jars are fantastic for storing leftovers.

Buying the top produce
Choose the freshest vegetables and fruit, and check out to utilize what you buy in each day or two. When fresh isn’t available, frozen is a fine option.  Good fruits at the beginning with include apples, apricots, bananas, blueberries, mangoes, peaches, pears, plums, and prunes. Vegetables to test include asparagus tips, avocados, carrots, peas, potatoes, sweet peppers, sweet potatoes, and winter squash.

Don’t limit yourself to these, though. Feel free to become creative, trying new things that look interesting inside the produce section or foods you could enjoy to show your baby to a variety of flavors (and nutrients).
Should I worry about nitrates?
Nitrates are a chemical found in water and soil, and they’re a concern in relation to feeding your baby. Babies who ingest a lot of can develop a form of anemia called hemoglobin. Preparing formula with well water that’s high in nitrates is the usual reason for the illness in babies, but some vegetables could also contain nitrates. In the past, it was recommended that beets, carrots, green beans, spinach, and squash were not recommended for children under 6 months. However, since Health Canada as well as the Canadian Pediatric Society now recommend babies not get solid food until 6 months, this is not a concern.

Preparing the food
After washing, cook vegetables – and fruits like apples and prunes that must be softened – before pureeing or grinding. Bake, boil, or steam the produce until it’s soft. Should you boil the food, use as little liquid as possible and add a variety of the leftover liquid when mashing the foodstuff (or add it to your family’s soup stock). Steaming fruits or vegetables until soft is another easy way to cook these first foods along with the flavor of roasted vegetables can be wonderful.

There are some fruits that need not be cooked before given to your baby, including ripe, fresh banana, avocado, mango, pear and melon.

TIP: “I always try to own a fruit on-hand that I don’t have to cook for my little guy if I’m in the rush. He loves avocado and banana and they’re really easy to give him.”

Peel and pit the produce if necessary and strain out any seeds. Some fruits and vegetables don’t require any liquid – simply mash, add a seasoning or two (avoiding salt), and serve. For others, you probably have considered trying to include a bit liquid (breast milk, formula, or water) because you puree or grind to obtain the consistency you want. As your baby adapts to solid foods, you are able to add less liquid.

Grains like quinoa or millet can be pureed or ground in a food mill. Cook them first in accordance with package directions. For older babies, whole grains make fabulous finger food. To prepare meat and poultry, remove skin and trim the fat before cooking. Then puree the cooked meat in a very blender or grind it up in the food mill with a little liquid. For older babies, simply chop the meat into very small pieces.

One family meal
If this all feels like a lot of trouble, understand that “homemade baby food” might be the very same food you feed the rest of your family. It’s a vintage-fashioned concept many moms are resurrecting. Simply use your food mill or other tool to puree, blend, or mash examples of the same food that your family is having for dinner.

Soups and stews, like, might be processed and fed for a baby. Similar goes for many healthy foods your family might eat. Save and refrigerate the leftovers so you’ll have a meal for the next day.

TIP: “I prefer to cook extra of whatever I’m making for our family dinner. Then, I puree the additional veggies and put them in ice cube trays to freeze and use later.”  Homemade baby food might be frozen for approximately 3 months. Thaw overnight inside the refrigerator, or defrost in a container of warm water.

Serving tips

• Serve the food no warmer than body temperature.
• Use caution if you heat meals in the microwave. Microwaves heat unevenly and can create “hot spots” – areas of the meals which can be much hotter than others – so remember to stir microwaved food well and let it sit for a few minutes before serving.
• Only dish out the quantity of food you think your baby will eat at that feeding. You’ll need to toss what’s left over because your baby’s saliva will enter the mixture and make it easy for bacteria growing while in the food.
• Don’t sweeten your baby’s food. Babies don’t need any extra sugar. And never use honey or corn syrup, which could cause botulism – a potentially fatal type of food poisoning – in babies.
• Use seasonings. Despite the tradition of feeding babies bland food, they can tolerate and enjoy different flavors. Be sure to circumvent salt.

What to do with leftovers
You will be happy to possess extra on hand. When introducing the latest food every few days, it make sense to produce a large batch since you’ll be feeding the same food to your baby for a few days in the row. Refrigerate leftover baby food in an airtight container and use them up within some days.

It’s also possible to freeze leftovers in ice cube trays or similar devices. After the cubes are frozen solid, remove them and store in plastic freezer bags. Vegetables and fruit frozen in this way will last three months. Meat (including poultry) and fish will last one to 2 months. An average ice-cube tray will hold about 2 tablespoons (25ml) per unit, or about 1 ½ cups (375ml) per tray.  Having different fruits or vegetables inside the cubes within your freezer considers it very easy to have homemade baby food on hand on your little one. You can even easily mix them and try different combinations. Defrost frozen baby food overnight while in the refrigerator or in a container of warm water.