Make your own baby food

Babies eat pureed foods for just a few months, so making your own baby food is more like a brief fling in the kitchen than a labor of love. Sometime between nine and twelve months of age, your baby will be ready to move from pureed to finely chopped foods.

There's a clear cost advantage to making your own baby food, especially if you use local vegetables and fruits in season. The Saskatoon Community Health Unit estimates that homemade baby food costs 30 to 50 per cent less than commercial baby food. By making your own baby food, you can introduce a wider variety of foods than are commercially available. But making baby food is not for everyone. It takes time you may not have. And if it annoys you to have someone spit out the food you've carefully prepared, you're better off serving commercial baby food. Don't worry if you decide not to make your baby's food. Remember, you have eighteen years of feeding to go.

Home-cooked nutrition
Home preparation gives you complete control over what goes in your baby's mouth. But homemade baby food is only as nutritious as you make it. If you overcook, for example, home-prepared baby food scores fewer nutrients than the baby food you buy in the store. You want to use the crispest green beans, the rosiest apples, but what you don't use is equally important.

Do not add:
• salt -- it can tax your baby's immature kidneys and encourage a taste for salty foods.
• spices or herbs -- babies prefer plain food.
• margarine or butter -- they're unnecessary.
• sugar, molasses, honey, or corn syrup -- sweeteners can lead to dental and weight problems later.

It's especially important not to add corn syrup or honey, including pasteurized honey. They may contain botulism-causing bacteria that pose a serious risk to a baby's immature digestive system. Honey and corn syrup should not be given to infants under age one.

What you need
When you prepare baby food, it's important that your work area and equipment be impeccably clean. Wash your utensils and the washable parts of equipment in hot soapy water, rinse them in your hottest tap water, and air dry. Or wash them in a dishwasher. Before handling food, remember to wash your hands.

You probably already have the equipment you need to make baby food. To make banana baby food, all you need is a fork to mash a banana. Here's how to use other common cooking utensils to make baby food.

• If you have a finely meshed sieve and a spoon, you can prepare many fruits and vegetables. First, mash cooked foods with a fork or potatoe masher and then press through the sieve with a spoon. Mix to desired consistency with water or cooking liquid.
• Blenders are excellent for fruits and vegetables, but tend to shred rather than puree meats. Excess exposure to light, heat, and oxygen destroys nutrients, so minimize the blending time. Cut food into small pieces before placing it in the blender, and blend no more than 500 mL (2 cups) of fruit or vegetables at a time, or 250 mL, (1 cup) of meat. Add water or cooking liquid, as needed, to make a smooth consistency.
• A food processor will puree all foods into a smooth consistency, including most meats. You can use a manual food grinder to prepare meats as well as fruits and vegetables. A baby food grinder or mill is inexpensive and useful for single servings. It's also small enough to tuck into your carry bag. Simply put cooked food into the mill and turn the crank. Mix in water or cooking liquid, as needed, for a smooth texture.

Page 1 of 2 — on page 2, learn about making vegetable, fruit and protein foods.