I never made food for Lella because she was quite a fussy baby(although now she loves vegetables and fruit, and eats basically everything else), but I decided to try with baby brother, partly because store brought food is so expensive and also does not taste very nice.
I did a bit of research, there is so much information available, but found a few basic tips on the internet that helped me, hopefully it will help you too.
I started baby on rice cereal at 5 months, and moved onto the flavoured 1st stage cereal by 6 months and also started with Apples and Pears, following the 4-day rule (where you give the same food for four consecutive days to check for food allergies). I gradually introduced other fruits and vegetables, and he actually liked most of it. With some vegetables he is not too keen on, like carrots, I add a bit of apple, which he loves and then he eats it.
We are now at that stage where he eats some complete meals with us, although I take his bit out before adding most of the flavourants (salt especially is something you must not add to their food), then purree it for him, adding some of his milk or homemade vegetable stock(the water in which mixed vegetables were cooked).
A note on flavourants: they say babies can tolerate some herbs and spices, although I have not tried that yet, only nutmeg and cinnamon (with pumpkin).
Different methods to prepare food includes:
- cooking
- baking
- steaming
- microwaving
Already cut vegetable pieces like pumpkin,sweet potato etc come in a convenient plastic bag one can pop in the microwave just like that and then just puree it, adding a bit of boiled water if neccessary. One can bake potatoes or sweet potatoes in its skin in the oven as well, and puree in the same manner.
Steaming in a steam pot or in a colander over a pot of boiling water is very healthy and no nutrients will get lost like in the cooking method. But when you do cook, keep the water and use to thin when pureeing or keep as a stock (I keep the apple water to add to sweet potato for example), and you replace some nutrients lost.
The mixed veggies I cooked, and the other two bags with butternut and sweet potato
were microwaved in the bags.
To puree is easy when you have a food processor or stick blender. The best way is little bit at a time,and with enough liquids. One can also give baby small pieces of soft-cooked/steamed fruit or vegetables as finger food.
I am using a stick blender. Would love to upgrade to a food processor, though;) hands free
Storing tips:
- I'm using ice cube trays, but only have two with lids, so I wrap the others in cling wrap,
- and then I bought these 7day pill holders that each holder has its own lid, so I started using it today, measured it, it takes about 25ml each holder, more than the 15ml that the ice cube trays holds
- I write what it is and the date on with a dry-erase marker, very important because you won't remember what you made and when and can only keep certain foods a certain time in the freezer.
Fruits and Vegetables~ 1-3 months (freezer), 2-3 days (fridge)
Meat/Poultry~ 1-2 months (freezer),1day (fridge)
Meat and Vegetable combination ~2-3 months(freezer), 1-2 days (fridge)
- Do not refreeze once thawed
- Do not reheat more than once
The ice cube trays and pill holders I use to freeze the pureed food.
I do this about twice a month and then it is so easy to just reheat in the microwave a few blocks of whatever at a time, sometimes mixing it up to try out new combinations.
I prefer to prepare meats as we eat it as a family and then just add the frozen veggies each night, sometimes freezing the leftover meat.
Veggies are more convenient for me to do because I buy the ready-to-use kind. Fruits are a bit more time consuming because most of them you have to peel. The ones you don't have to, like bananas, avocado etc I use pureeing it just before use.
We are learning as we go and that is the beauty of the internet, if I'm unsure I just research it! But we are getting there, with freshly, homemade meals made with love!
Try some recipes for your baby and please share with us on the facebook page, Teach me Mommy!
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