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Homemade
Baby Food
I
recently had a beautiful baby girl. She is my second child, so
I’ve been through the copious quantities of Gerber baby food,
crackers  and
biter biscuits that is required to keep the little tots full and
gums satisfied. This time around I decided that I would attempt
to make my own baby food, not only for the peace of mind of knowing
what exactly I’m feeding her, but also to ease the burden
of the expense on my bank account. What I found was that it is
not only very easy to do but quite fun to mix different concoctions
that she thoroughly enjoys! With a few tips I learned along the
way, I found that it is not very time consuming and actually fun
to prepare.
It
isn’t very realistic to expect to prepare pureed vegetables
and fruits every time your child eats a meal. The actual meal
preparation needs to be fast to avoid a screaming tantrum from
a hungry baby. If you decide to take on this task of preparing
your own baby food try this simple method of making batches in
advance. Purchase various fruits and vegetables (about 2 lbs.
per vegetable or fruit), peel, core and slice into 2 inch pieces.
Using a large saucepan, cover the fruit or vegetable with water
and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the fruit
or vegetables are very tender. (One note: some vegetables you
may find easier to simply bake in the oven — examples of
this are yams and acorn squash.) Drain and puree in a food processor.
Depending on what you are pureeing you may want to add a little
water to thin it. Spoon the puree into ice cube trays, cover with
plastic wrap and freeze. When completely frozen, remove the fruit
or vegetable from the trays. Using freezer zip lock bags, label
what the food is and when you prepared it and place the frozen
fruit or vegetable cubes in the freezer bags. Store in the freezer
for future use. When you are ready to make your meal for your
baby, simply remove a few cubes and microwave for 30 seconds,
stir, and microwave for 30 seconds more. (Make sure you test it
to avoid scalding your baby.)
The
beauty of this method is once you have several bags of fruit and
vegetables on hand you can mix wonderful, flavorful concoctions
that your child will love. You can make variations like Blueberry,
Apples and Pears, or Plums & Apples, or my baby’s favorite,
Acorn Squash and Apples.
After
dealing with a finicky four year old, I decided to try an experiment
to mold my baby’s palate. I started putting a stick of cinnamon
or a clove in the water when simmering fruits such as pears, apples
or plums. Or when making butternut squash, I added a couple cups
of homemade chicken stock (or beef stock) to the water just to
give it a different flavor. Now, whether or not this will truly
have an effect on her future food likes and dislikes, that is
yet to be determined. But it is something different to try and
she seems to enjoy it.
Regarding
biter biscuits and other things for your little one to massage
those tender gums, I recently found that my baby absolutely loves
Chebe bread. This is a great gluten-free product available on-line
at www.chebe.com.
It is very easy to make and can be used for all sorts of different
things (see our Product Test Review in the Members-only section
of our site). Mix the dry mix with eggs, water, oil and cheddar
cheese and form into bread sticks. Bake and let cool. They are
the perfect texture for your little one to chew on.
So
whether your baby is gluten-intolerant or not, this is a fun way
to provide nourishing meals and much more inexpensive. By the
way, if you don’t feel you have the time to prepare homemade
baby food and your baby is gluten-intolerant, most Gerber baby
food and Rice cereals are gluten-free.
Your
baby will definitely enjoy the fruits of your labor!
–
Glutenfreeda
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