People pay good money to buy baby food and do you know what? At the end of the day, I don’t blame them. I do it with our 9 month old boy. Buying jars of baby food is sometimes much better than buying groceries to produce your own food that your little one is going to eat.
Sure there is a possibility of contamination, pesticides and using the correct- pure- ingredients. But come on, even the most iffy of factories have to comply with some standard that the government has laid down for them. And ultimately, would you do the same?
Meaning, would you sterilize all utensils and all surfaces keeping them clean and sterile until the next food manufacture? Would you use tap water or distilled or even filtered water? Your actual produce: would you use “organic” vegetables and meats- what exactly is “organic” is debatable. How do you actually prepare the vegaetables? Wash them, boil them? How about storage?
So are we actually saving money? Probably not. Many superstores have baby food pots on sale on a regular basis and coupon magazines have regular baby food segments. Also if you check out individual baby food manufacturer websites, listed here: baby food coupons, they usually have discounts.
Are we actually giving our child a healthy substitute? Maybe, if we grow our own vegetables and meat/ fish- but what happens in the winter?
Are we keeping our child safe from bad pests, contamination or pesticides? Questionable, we might even introduce it to them unintentionally.
So what we must follow is a helpful list, a guideline if you will. And if you are creating your own baby food I would seriously consider all aspects of it before you delve into this potentially expensive/ damaging path.
Here are 10 tips for your home made baby food empire:
0: Home made food is only as healthy as you make it, you need to remember, clean and quick.
1: Clean your hands with warm soapy water before handling any food or surface that you might use with food preparation.
2: Clean utensils in a dish washer or hand wash them using hot soapy water and allow to air dry.
3: Cover the food once it has been cooked and refrigerate, or freeze immediately.
4: Wash all fruits thoroughly. Remove any seeds, shells or hard ends. Foods for baby should be fresh, unsweetened, frozen or canned in their own juice or water. Sugar content for fruits canned in syrup is very high, so these are not a good choice.
5: Canned fruits do not require cooking, they can be pureed or mashed.
6: Fresh or frozen vegetables are the best choice. Canned vegetables may be high in salt and can become soupy when blended.
7: Serving home made carrots, spinach, beets or turnips before 6 months of age can make baby sick.
8: Limit sauces, spices and fats that may be included in meats and fish. Choose seasoned meats products less often. And many cuts of pork and frozen chicken breasts have sodium added- check with the butcher before hand.
9: For a smoother meat texture, mix with a small serving of prepared rice cereal.
10: Talk to your health care provider about what fish types are the best choices. E.g. ones with higher Omega 3’s and ones that have low Methyl Mercury.
As you can see there is a lot to go into making your own baby food. It can save you money (sort of), allow baby to eat a wider variety of food and make the change from pureed to mashed foods easier. But as always there are catches. If you are unsure, check with your health care provider at all stages, just to be sure.