Make your own baby purees

I was a bit nervous of making my own baby food, but one day I gave it a go and not only was it easier than I thought, Scarlett loved it too!  I think it gives you a good feeling of knowing you've made your baby her own dinner and you know EXACTLY what's in it and where it came from.  I also save a bit of money doing this as I can make between 4 and 6 portions of food for around £1 and keep them in the freezer to use as and when I want, where baby food in jars, costing around 50p each only last 24 hours or so, and then need to be thrown away.

You don't really need a lot of equipment.  I used a steamer to cook the fruit and vegetables which I picked up for around £12 from our local supermarket.  I know steaming is a healthy way of cooking things so I use it for general cooking now too, I even steam chicken in it, try it, it tastes so much better and it makes it really moist instead of all dry and stringy!  If you don't have a steamer of course, you could just use a pan with water and a lid on.  I used a small baby food blender to puree the ingredients, but you could use any other blender you may have, or even a potato masher or fork if you haven't got one of those, it's just a bit more effort!  You'll also need a sieve.  Even my blender doesn't seem to get every single lump out so I push the food through a sieve at the end just to make sure there's no lumps that Scarlett can't swallow properly yet.  It's handy if you have some small tubs or freezer bags to store the food in.  I found some small baby food storage tubs and I put these in the freezer and then I just defrost one on the day I want to feed Scarlett.  Food in the freezer will probably last around a month and stored in the fridge about 2 days.  Remember not to refreeze defrosted food and use on the same day.

I don't know a lot of recipes but I'm going to share the few basic ones I made for Scarlett with you.  Scarlett is six months old now so the following are appropriate to her age with foods she is safe to eat.

Broccoli and Sweet Potato Puree

Ingredients:
1 small sweet potato, peeled and chopped into small cubes
A few broccoli florets, the equivalent in weight to the potato

1. Start by steaming (or boiling) your sweet potato for around 5 minutes and then add the Broccoli and cook for a further 5 minutes.  Check how soft the vegetables are by pushing a knife into them.  If they still feel a bit tough just cook them for a bit longer.  
2. Once your vegetables are cooked put them into the blender (or in a big bowl if mashing with a fork or masher).  Don't pour away the cooking water thats left as you may need this later.  My baby blender is quite small so I did this step in smaller batches with equal amounts of potato and broccoli.  Blend or mash until the ingredients are of a pureed, smooth(ish) consistency.  I found at this point my puree was quite thick so I stirred in a few teaspoonfuls of the reserved cooking water until I was happy with how think it was.
3. Put the puree into the sieve and push through with the back of a spoon.  I did this for extra measure as there were a few stalks of broccoli and bits of potato the blender didn't blend so well.
4. Divide up portions into freezer bags or small tubs and store in the fridge for up to 2 days, or in the freezer for around 1 month. 

Pear and Banana Puree

Ingredients:

1 pear, peeled, cored and chopped into small chunks

1 banana, sliced

1. Steam (or boil) the pear until soft.  I found steaming was best as the pear seemed to loose flavour when I tried boiling it.
2. When the pear is soft, transfer into a blender (or bowl if mashing) and add the sliced banana to it. Again, my blender is quite small so I did small batches of equal amounts of pear and banana.  Blend or mash the ingredients until you achieve a nice smooth consistency.
3. Push the puree through a sieve to remove any lumps.
4. Divide up portions into freezer bags or small tubs and store in the fridge for up to 2 days, or in the freezer for around 1 month.

As you can see from the methods, it really is that easy to make baby foods yourself and as baby gets older and develops taste, you could experiment with more varied foods appropriate to their age.  I've only listed two recipes here but other ones I've tried are pear and apple, avocado and banana, parsnip and sweet potato, carrot and sweet potato and just the fruits and vegetables on their own.  Just make sure to steam or boil harder ingredients and make sure avocados are ripe.

Thanks for reading and have a lovely day!

Ni

xxx