Give Your Baby the Very Best Food, Make Your Own

You want to give your baby the very best of everything but with so many of the products being imported from other countries, how do you know the food you are feeding your baby is good and won’t make him sick? The problem is – you don’t. While the thought of giving your baby food that might make him sick is scary, the remedy to the situation isn’t; simply make your own.

Making your own baby food has many benefits other then the obvious. By making it yourself, you will know without a doubt that it is fresh, nutritious, and that it doesn’t have any additives or chemicals. You can also save up to 50% and making it isn’t as hard as you might think. Let’s look at how making baby food in your home can be accomplished.

One of the first foods that babies eat is cereal because it has iron in it. You can make your own baby cereal by grinding dry oatmeal in your blender. The next food that is generally introduced to babies is fruit. Buy fresh peaches, plums, apricots, apples and pears. You can also prepare vegetables when you are ready to introduce them to your baby.

To prepare the fruits and vegetables, you will need a steamer to cook them. Steamers aren’t expensive, but if you don’t have one and don’t want to buy one, simply place a colander over a pot of boiling water. Place your fruit or vegetables in the colander and steam them for several minutes until tender. You don’t want to steam them too long or you will cook away all the healthy nutrients.

After your food has been steamed, the next step is to puree it. You can do this one of two ways; you can use a blender or buy a food mill. A standard blender can do the job quickly and easily and most everyone already has one. Food mills come in all sizes and will strain the food to a very smooth consistency.

Preparing your own baby food doesn’t take long, but if you would like to save time and make it more convenient, prepare large batches of baby food at one time and freeze the extras. You can freeze the baby food by putting spoonfuls onto a baking sheet and freezing it or by freezing the pureed food in ice cube trays. When it is frozen, put the frozen food into plastic freezer bags and simply get out the amount you need, when you need it. You can keep the baby food frozen for up to two months and it will still have all the nutrients.

Remember, it’s always best to use fresh fruits and vegetables, but you can use frozen. Try to stay away from any canned fruits or vegetables as they have had large quantities of sugar and salt added to them when they were processed.

Hopefully, you can see that not only is it best for your baby to prepare your own baby food, but it will save money that you can use for other things and it is very easy. The next time you are in the grocery store, resist the urge to buy baby food. Instead, purchase fresh fruits and vegetables and make your own.
Source: http://www.healthguidance.org/authors/324/Jason-Ladock