Making Baby Food: A Fresh Start to Healthy Homemade Eating
By: Cheryl Tallman and Joan Ahlers
Introducing solid foods is a very important step in your baby’s
development and well-being. In fact, studies show that babies who are
fed nutritious, healthy diets grow into stronger kids and
better-adjusted eaters than those who are fed poor diets.
Many parents don’t realize that making baby food at home is a simple
and economical plan to provide your baby with the best in quality,
nutrition and taste. It makes it easy for you to ensure your child gets
the best start possible. Making baby food using fresh, all-natural
ingredients at home has many benefits, including:
· Increased nutritional value
· Elimination of additives
· Improved freshness
· Added variety
· Enhanced control
· Lower costs
Increased nutritional value by making baby food
Vitamins and other nutrients are critically important to your baby. For
the next three years, your baby will experience rapid growth and
development. It is essential that he be fed a healthy and nutritious
diet to maximize his growth and development process.
Processed baby foods have added water, sugars and starchy fillers.
While these products are not nutritionally bad for your baby, their use
in baby food dilutes the nutrient content of the actual foods. To make
matters worse, processed baby foods are cooked at high temperatures to
kill bacteria, so they can be stored in jars at room temperature.
Bacteria are not the only things that are eliminated in this process.
Vitamins and nutrients are also destroyed. Many baby food manufacturers
compensate for the loss of vitamins by artificially adding some of them
back in after the food is processed.
When you make baby food at home, you can cook it quickly. This process
not only preserves the wonderful color and taste of the food, but most
importantly it maximizes the foods’ nutrient content for your precious
baby.
Elimination of additives by making your own baby food
Processed baby foods contain trace amounts of chemicals, including
pesticides, herbicides and fungicides. Although the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration has approved these chemicals, you may choose not to feed
your baby products containing them. Buying certified organic produce
(fresh or frozen) and preparing food at home eliminates agricultural
chemicals from your baby’s diet.
In addition, many varieties of processed baby foods add ingredients
that are not essential or beneficial to your baby’s diet. These can
include ingredients such sugar, butter and salt. Most healthcare
professionals will recommend you avoid the introduction of these foods
until your child is much older. Homemade baby food is pure, wholesome
food with nothing added that you did not add yourself.
Improved freshness (homemade baby food vs bought food)
Have you compared fresh green peas to a jar of pea baby food? Even
though they are the same food, they don’t look, smell or taste similar.
While your baby does not have the refined palate of an adult, he does
respond to taste, color and smell. With the enormous availability of
fresh produce in your grocery store and the simplicity of making baby
food, there is really is no reason he needs to be deprived of colorful,
tasty, great-smelling baby food. And serving fresh food from the very
beginning will help your baby be more open to tasting new flavors and
types of food.
Additional variety by making your own baby food
Processed baby food is developed for the mass market and, as a result,
is limited in variety. Variety is key to a balanced diet and healthy
living. Today’s grocery stores offer a tremendous variety of fresh and
frozen fruits and vegetables. There is no reason why your baby should
be limited by what food manufacturers consider the most popular foods.
What’s more, preparing baby food at home enables you to add herbs,
combine flavors, and easily introduce new textures, making your baby’s
mealtime a pleasurable, gourmet experience.
Enhanced control from homemade baby food
As a parent, you want to understand and trust the ingredients in your
baby’s diet. Similarly, you want assurance concerning the purity,
safety, quality and consistency of such ingredients. Preparing baby
food at home provides you with control of your baby’s diet and
knowledge of exactly what goes into your baby’s food. The more
involvement you have with what you are feeding your baby, the more
likely you are to nurture healthy eating habits.
Lower cost of making your own baby food
Processed baby foods are expensive. The average baby in the United
States will consume 600 jars of baby food. Parents who use processed
baby food spend an average of $300 or more on baby food during their
infant's first year of life. Making baby food at home is extremely
cost-effective, as foods may be purchased either in season or on sale.
On average, baby food prepared at home can cost as little as $55 in the
first year.
With all these benefits, you may think that it is difficult to make
baby food, but it is a lot easier to make than you may imagine. Using
fresh produce, a blender and set of ice cube trays, you can make food
in quantity and freeze it in single servings. This means you only need
to make food once or twice a week. Bottom line, it takes about 30
minutes a week. Here is a simple and easy recipe for a common first
food:
Homemade baby food recipe: Sweet Potato Puree
2-3 medium to large sweet potatoes
Step 1: PREP - Wash, peel and chop sweet potatoes into one-inch (3 cm) cubes
Step 2: COOK – Place sweet potatoes and 2 Tablespoons (30ml) of water
in a microwave-safe dish. Cover. Cook 8-10 minutes. Let stand for 5
minutes. They are done if the sweet potatoes can be mashed easily with
a fork.
Step 3: PUREE – Place sweet potatoes and cooking juices into a blender
of food processor. Add ½ cup (60 ml) of water. Puree. Add additional ¼
to ½ cup (60 – 100 ml) of water, as needed, to develop of smooth
texture.
Step 4: FREEZE – Spoon into So Easy Baby Food Trays or ice cube trays.
Cover. Place in freezer 8-10 hours or overnight. Remove cubes from
trays, place in storage container or freezer bag, and return
immediately to the freezer.
Makes 24 one-ounce servings. Stays fresh for 2 months in the freezer.
To serve, select frozen sweet potato cubes from the freezer, defrost and warm, check the temperature and feed.
Per Serving: 12 Cal (1% from Fat, 8% from Protein, 91% from Carb); 0 g
Protein; 0 g Tot Fat; 3 g Carb; 0 g Fiber; 1 g Sugar; 5 mg Calcium; 0
mg Iron; 55 mg Potassium; 2364 IU Vit A; 0 mg ATE Vit E; 4 mg Vit C
About the authors: Cheryl Tallman and Joan Ahlers are sisters, the
mothers of five children and founders of Fresh Baby. Creators of
products that include the So Easy Baby Food Kit and Good Clean Fun
Placemats; Fresh Baby offers parents convenient and practical support
in raising healthy children. Visit them online at www.FreshBaby.com
and subscribe to their Fresh Ideas newsletter to get monthly ideas,
tips and activities for developing your family's healthy eating habits!
Fresh Baby products are available at many fine specialty stores and
national chains including Target, Wild Oats, and Whole Foods Markets.