Preparing, storing and serving baby food

Homemade baby foods can be nutritious and economical.

You can save time by making larger quantities than your baby needs and freezing.

Not to mention you can control what goes into the food your baby eats.

Freezing your baby food in advance can be a time saver and life saver.

As your baby only eats small quantities when they are first starting solids it makes perfect sense to prepare and freeze food.

5 easy steps: wash, peel, chop, cook and puree.

Your baby will start solids around 6 months and will realistically eat very small portions of food.

Freezing purées allows you to go back and try a food that was “rejected” on the first try of introducing.

When storing and serving foods we need be vigilant about  preparing, storing and serving baby foods the appropriate way.

Choose quality ingredients.

Frozen and/or canned food is acceptable but wherever possible fresh is best.

If you are going to be using processed fruits and vegetables, try to source products without added sugar, especially canned fruit packed in syrup.

Certain vegetables and fruits are easy to prepare and freeze as baby food. Suggestions include sweet potato, pumpkin, carrot, parsnip, broccoli, peas, potato, zucchini, cauliflower, avocado, apple, banana and pear.

When selecting foods ensure you do not use:

• Food from cans or jars without labels or that are dented, rusted, bulging or out of date.
• Dairy products made from raw, unpasteurized milk (may contain bacteria that can cause serious illnesses)
• Honey as it puts your baby at high risk for botulism. Botulism is a very dangerous illness especially in young children.
• Home-canned food (may contain harmful bacteria if it was canned improperly).

Once you have established the food that you are going to prepare check all the fat, seeds, bones, etc. have been removed before you start the preparation and cooking process.

A simple yet important step nonetheless.

Infants are at a higher risk of getting a food borne illness than older children or healthy adults .

It is vital that before you start ensure your hands are washed thoroughly, your kitchen surface is clean and all utensils are clean and free from any traces of other food.

• Use separate cutting boards for meat, poultry and fish and for non-meat foods to avoid cross-contamination.
• Avoid adding to the food. Especially avoid adding salt, sugar or oil.
• Wash all the food you are preparing thoroughly under clean, running water. Even if you plan to peel a fruit or vegetable wash it first.
• Ensure safe cooking methods are used. Cook meat thoroughly for example.
• Always refrigerate or freeze the food immediately.
• Spices such as cinnamon, garlic powder, pepper etc. may be introduced as early as 7 months. Consult your doctor before adding.

Aside from the kitchen items required to cook the food you will also need:

• Blender
• Ice cube trays
• Zip lock bags or freezer storage
• Permanent maker

There are several ways to cook baby food.

Steaming, dry baking, microwaving or boiling. It is not recommended to fry a baby’s food as most of the nutrients are generally lost in this method.

Microwaving and steaming preserve the most nutrients. If you are microwaving it is best to use glass.

Once the food is cooked use a blender to purée the food.

Some foods like banana or avocado can be mashed and frozen without cooking.

Adding liquid to the food:

Water, formula or breast milk can be added to thin the food if needed.

Liquid can be added before of after the food is frozen.

Adding the liquid used in cooking the food will preserve any nutrients that may have leached during cooking.

Do not use the water from carrots or other high nitrate veggies for a baby under 7 months old.

Freezing:

Place the puréed food into the ice cube trays ready for freezing.

Fill each cube as you would with water to make an ice cube.

Cover with plastic wrap that is labeled with the food.

Do not cover with foil! There are some kitchen brands that make ice cube trays with lids.

When filled each individual cube is equal to approximately 1 ounce of food.

Once it has cooled place them into the freezer as quickly as possible.

Never use glass for freezing homemade baby food unless is says ‘safe to freeze’ on it. Old bar food jars are not suitable for freezing.

Label the sandwich bags with the food and the date. Place only one food type in each sandwich/zip lock bag.

Once the food in the ice tray is frozen quickly transfer into the bag and place back into the freezer.

The frozen cubes should be consumed within a month.

Do not re-freeze if it has been defrosted.

Refrigerating:

Puréed placed in the fridge should ideally only keep for 24 hours but certainly no longer than 48 hours.

The timeframe is 24 hours for meat, poultry, fish, and eggs and no more than 48 hours for fruits and vegetables.

Harmful bacteria can grow in the purée if kept any longer.

If you store the prepared food in the fridge do not feed your baby from the container and then re-store in the fridge for another meal.

Saliva has the potential to contaminate the food and cause bacteria to grow.

• If reheated discard left over’s.
• Don’t re-fridge or refreeze.
• Stir well before serving.
• Try to defrost frozen portions in the fridge before reheating.
• Test the temperature of the heated food on your lip to see how hot it is.
• Food can be heated in the microwave or on the stove just ensure that you stir well to remove any hot spots and test.
• Thoroughly reheat the food.
• Never defrost baby foods by leaving them at room temperature or in standing water.

• You are in control and know exactly what is in the food.
• It sets up the potentially good precedent of the baby eating the same foods as the rest of the family and has been noted that it can reduce the incidence of picky eaters.

• Some consider the time it takes from start to finish.
• Some consider  convenience of pre-packaged foods far outweighs the desire to prepare homemade foods.
• Storage may limited for bulk amounts of prepared baby foods.