Homemade Baby Food
Homemade baby food is the healthiest and most economical way to feed your baby solid foods. Use fresh, locally grown and produced foods whenever possible. Keep it simple. Opt for easy cooking techniques like steaming and baking that preserve the foods' natural nutrients. And remember that your baby's taste buds are very sensitive, so it is unnecessary to add butter, salt, sugar, or other spices to flavor his foods. Some excellent first foods to try are rice cereal, cooked sweet potatoes, avocado, or ripe mashed bananas.
After your baby's food is cooked, you can puree it with a blender, food processor, or hand-cranked food mill. Add a little breast milk or formula to get the food to the desired consistency. For baby's first foods, make the meal as runny as possible. You can increase the texture as your baby gets older.
While you want to expose your baby to a wide range of foods during her first year, there are a number of foods that you should avoid until your baby's first birthday. These include honey, cow's milk, egg whites, citrus fruit and juices, nuts (especially peanuts), fish, shellfish, sesame seeds, and any unpasteurized foods.
Storing Homemade Baby Food
After you get the hang of cooking and serving your baby's first few meals, you will probably want to start cooking his food in batches, so that you will have a small, homemade meal ready for him whenever he gets hungry.
Commercially prepared baby food does come in handy at times, especially when you are on the go. Remember to look for brands that are free of added flavors, salt, sugars, and preservatives. Earth's Best (www.earthsbest.com) and Gerber (www.gerber.com) both make an organic line of baby foods that can be found at retail stores nationwide.
The simplest method for storing a batch of homemade baby food is to pour it into an ice cube tray after it has cooled and freeze it. Once the food is frozen, remove the individual food portions from the tray, wrap in waxed paper, and transfer them to a freezer-safe sealed container labeled with the type of food and the date it was prepared. Each cube of food will weigh in at about once ounce. To serve, just warm the cube in a double boiler.
