Make Your Own Babyfood
 Supplies needed
Tips for making your own 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.
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.
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.
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.
More Recipes Here!
|
