How to make your own baby food

How to make your own baby food

Making your own baby food purées at home is easier than you might think. Follow these steps to get started:

Clean your workstation

Always wash your hands with soap and water before making baby food. If you touch raw meat, fish or eggs (all of which can harbor bacteria), wash your hands again. Be sure to use clean utensils and work surfaces, too. And if you’re sampling the food while you cook it, use a fresh spoon — or wash it off — each time you take a taste.

Prepare the ingredients

• Grains and cereals: Cook grains according to package instructions (good choices include single-grain, iron-enriched, whole-grain varieties, such as whole-grain oat or whole-grain barley) and purée or grind them. When you first introduce cereals and grains to your baby, you can serve with breast milk or formula to thin out the consistency.
• Fruits and vegetables: Bake, steam or boil vegetables and hard fruits like apples before puréeing or grinding them. Mild yellow or orange veggies such as sweet potatoes and carrots; green veggies like peas and string beans; and fruits like bananas, peaches and pears all work well. Peel, and either pit or strain as needed, then purée in a blender, grinder or food mill, adding liquid (water, breast milk or formula) to achieve the desired consistency. As your child gets older and becomes a more confident eater, you can serve up chunkier textures.
• Meats and poultry: Purée trimmed and skinned cooked meats and poultry either alone or with already-introduced foods such as vegetables for an all-in-one meal. Minced meats like chicken, lamb, turkey or beef are popular choices.

Add flavor in a healthy way

It’s best to serve up unseasoned foods at first. Baby’s taste buds are just developing, so she doesn’t have a sweet tooth or a craving for salt yet. (And why flip the switch early?) Plus, by giving her foods straight up, she’s more likely to develop a preference for their taste — no butter or salt needed.

If you want to add some extra pizzazz to sweet potatoes, carrots and other vegetables, stick to healthy herbs like cinnamon — always a high-chair favorite — or sweeten the pot (or bowl) by mixing in puréed fruits such as apples or pears.