Tips for home made baby food

Home made apple, pear and strawberry puree.

Making your own homemade baby food is much easier and cheaper than many think, and can be quick to prepare with a little planning.  By creating your own portion sizes you cut down on waste and unused food from cans or jars. Also, you have the ability to control every single ingredient that goes into your child’s mouth.  You can create endless flavor combinations of fruits, veggies, and meats.

Weaning your baby on to solids is full of well meaning advice, and do's, don'ts and varying opinions and trends. At the end of the day there really is no "right" way to do it. The World Health Organisation recommends that babies only start solids at 6 months, but a week or two is unlikely to make a difference one way or the other. If you have major food allergies in your family it is best to wait to introduce those foods until baby is over 1. In the Iti Baby Household we avoid grains for our babies as they cannot properly digest them until they are over one.

Your baby is likely to be ready to try solids when:

• Your child has good head and neck control.
• Your child is able to sit well with little or no support.
• When you put a bottle or spoon in front of your child they show interest by opening their mouths or trying to reach for the object.

Coming up with your own combinations of foods can be a lot of fun, but if you are running short of ideas, have a look at the cans of baby food at the supermarket, and make your own versions of similar combinations.  It isn’t imperative that one type of food be introduced before the other, but there are a few recommendations that may help the process go smoothly.

1)     Introduce vegetables first. The idea behind this is that your child may be less willing to give vegetables a chance after discovering the sweet flavors of the fruit.

2) Try starting baby with soft cooked egg yolk with small amounts of vegetables. Egg yolks are very nutritious and easy to digest.

3) Mix meat/bone broth in with vegetables right from the beginning, they contain iron and minerals in very accessible forms.

4)     Prepare and serve foods plain, do not add any additional sugar, salt, or seasonings.

Preparing the food

Before you start, some food safety!

• Always wash your hands prior to preparing any foods.
• Work on a clean surface with clean equipment, cooking utensils and a clean storage container
• Never cross contaminate surfaces by cutting vegetables or fruits on the same surface on which you previously cut raw meat.

The easiest way to prepare fruit or veges is in a pot (or microwave) with a little water. This will completely cook the foods, and will also aide in breaking them down making it easier for your baby to digest them.

1) Select your vege/fruit - try to get organic, local food if possible. Try combinations like broccoli and peas, sweet potato/kumara and carrot, pumpkin and sweet corn, apple and apricot, pear and blackberries.

2) Wash, peel, chop your vegetables or fruit in to 1.5cm cubes or there abouts. You can do this in small amounts fresh each meal while you prepare the rest of the families dinner, or you can do it in bulk ie a bag of apples at once, a whole pumpkin at once etc and freeze for later.

3) Place in a pot with 2cm water in the bottom and cook until the food is soft - 10-20 minutes.

4) Now you have two choices - to go the finger food/ baby lead weaning way, or the more traditional puree way. For finger food, let the food cool and plop it in front of baby and let them go for it. For puree add a little butter, breast milk, coconut oil, bone/meat broth or vege cooking water and mash with a fork, puree in a food processor or use a stick blender.

5) If your food is pureed, storing it in covered ice cube trays (or for larger portions use silicone muffin tins) and pop into the freezer. This is great if you are doing a whole lot of one type of vegetable at once, then you can grab one cube of broccoli, one of pumpkin and one of kumara, defrost and mix together with ease. It is also easy to defrost a little more if baby is still hungry!

Tip for defrosting: Be careful using the microwave, is leaves hot spots in the food, so if you do use it, stir, stir, stir well and leave it to sit for a few minutes before serving. To avoid the microwave, heat the food in a bowl over a pot of hot water.

Making Bone Broth:
 

Making bone broth is very easy and incredibly nutritious. It contains minerals from the bone, soothing fats (for nerve and brain growth) and gelatin (for the immune system) from the meat and connective tissue, protein from the meat and the all important iron.

Choose chicken frames or beef shin bones. Add these to a deep pot or slow cooker with plenty of water. Babies don't need additional salt or seasoning, but you may like to add some chopped carrots or celery for additional nutrients.

Put over a slow - medium heat and simmer slowly for many many hours (at least 3, up to 24). Check the water level regularly and top up as required. When finished, strain the liquid in to ice cube trays and freeze. Once frozen, tip out into a labelled zip-lock bag and store in the freezer. These can then be added to sauces, and baby's food.

Home made baby food is much much cheaper, tastier and more nutritious than bought preserved food. Give it a go! Baby doesn't know conventional food combinations, so feel free to experiment!