Feeding Your Baby: Thrifty Baby Food
Making baby food from scratch is easy and can save you money! Rather than buying prepackaged baby food, use fruits, vegetables, and meat that you already have at home.
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• To make your own baby food, choose fresh or frozen vegetables and fruit. Vegetables to start your baby with are broccoli, carrots, peas, and green beans. Fruits to start your baby with are apples, bananas, peaches, pears, and plums.
• The best way to make baby food is to grind or puree the food. You can do this by using a blender, food processor, or hand turned food mill. If the fruit has seeds in it, remove the seeds before grinding or pureeing.
• To puree or grind foods, it may be helpful to add a little liquid to the food as you puree or grind, so that it becomes soupy.
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• Some fruits and vegetables that need to be ground or pureed should be peeled or cooked first to soften them. If you choose to cook the food to soften it, try baking, broiling, or steaming to preserve the vitamins in the food.
• For meat, remove the skin and fat after cooking. Puree the cooked meat in a blender along with a little liquid. For older babies you can chop the meat into small pieces.
• Don't add sugar when making baby food. |
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Tips on Serving your Canned or Homemade Baby Food • Heating baby food in the microwave can cause it to heat unevenly and cause burns.
• Serve the baby from a dish - not from a jar or can. Throw away what's left over because bacteria from your baby's saliva can grow in the food and can cause your baby to get sick.
• Refrigerate or freeze leftovers in storage containers. If you refrigerate leftovers they should be eaten in the next couple of days, but if you freeze leftovers they will last a few months! Freezing leftovers in an ice cube tray (sealed in a plastic bag) is a great way to freeze individual servings.
• When introducing new foods to your baby, continue with the same new food for a few days to make sure that your baby is not allergic.
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