If you haven’t already, start at my previous posts: Making Your Own Baby Food: Getting Started and Making Your Own Baby Food: What to Make. These posts will help you get set up with the equipment and grocery list needed to start making your own baby food!
To make baby’s first foods, I recommend making and freezing large batches of purées at once and storing them for later use. In this post, I will walk you through how to make purées using the steaming method. In upcoming posts, I will talk about boiling and roasting. As your baby gets older you can move from single-ingredient purées to combination purées, then eventually to “chunky” purées. If your baby is just starting solid foods, you will be set for a good amount of time solely with the basic purées that you will use even in the beginning stages of combinations.
Let’s get started!
Steaming
The first method of making baby food (and the one I use most) is steaming. I have recommended our steamer pot in previous posts and I can’t say enough great things about it.
First, wash and dry all produce that you wish to steam. Bring 2 inches of water to a boil in a medium saucepan. My suggestions for foods to steam are as follows:
- pears
- apples
- mangoes (fresh or frozen)
- green beans
- broccoli
- fresh cranberries
- peaches (fresh or frozen)
- carrots
If the food has skin, make sure you peel, de-seed, core, etc. Cut up into small pieces and place in the steamer pot/basket. Once water is boiling, place steamer basket over the boiling water and into the pot.
Set the timer- for harder foods such as apples, cranberries, broccoli and frozen fruits 8-10 minutes has been my magic time frame (you can always check at 8 first and see if they seem soft to determine if you need to steam longer). If you are starting with an already soft food such as fresh mango, you likely will only need to steam them for 5 minutes or so.
Remove steamer pot/basket from water but DO NOT EMPTY THE WATER FROM THE POT YET. Depending on the food, some will need a liquid in order to make a smooth purée. Using the leftover boiled water from steaming is a great way to add nutrients back to the food. Take a look at my water from steaming green beans–you can tell it has a greenish tint!
Place steamed food into a food processor or blender. Add liquid (water from pot, breastmilk or formula) until desired consistency is reached (I add about 1 tbsp. at a time).
Use a small scoop or teaspoon to fill a food storage tray or container with the purée. My favorite is the WeeSprout tray! It makes perfect 2oz portions.
Freeze overnight. In the morning, let the tray sit on the counter for a minute so that they begin to thaw. It should be easy to pop the cubes out after a minute or two. Place cubes into a labeled freezer bag for storage.
To thaw, take out frozen purées in the morning for the day, or at least a few hours beforehand. If you need them sooner, cook them on low on the stovetop until smooth and warm.
Watch for the new posts on roasting & boiling to make baby food next!
I hope your baby enjoys their first foods as much as mine has! Let me know if you have any questions by commenting on this post or e-mailing eatplayreadMI@gmail.com.
