Baby Food 101
- Remember to always start with the basics first and don’t get creative till farther down the road.
- Remember when cooking your veggies/fruits the best way it to steam them and help maintain many of the nutrients and vitamins. I use the PC steamer and add a little of water to the fruits or veggies and cook for about four or five minutes in the microwave.
- Add either breast-milk or formula to help puree your food, this is great for adding more nutrition to the food and giving it a familiar taste.
- I prefer to NOT freeze the food and just make it at the beginning of the week. When you freeze certain foods that can become watery or turn color.
- Always start with a veggie first or something that is not super sweet, you don’t want the baby to get a sweet tooth early on.
- Seeds and Skins- When making any fruit or veggie recipe for your lil one, I would always remove the skin and any seeds before steaming.
- Organic? This is what I have always followed: If it grows in the ground or you eat the skin, then I would go organic. If it is something like a cucumber and you are removing the skin then regular is fine. This is a total personal preference. When I purchase frozen veggies I tend to use all organic.
- When the baby moves into stage two and three foods you can mix and match veggies and fruits. Some ideas are:
Mashed potato and carrots, sweet potato and pears, sweet potato and carrots,
zucchini and apples, green beans and peas, carrots and corn
- When they get older you can also start to add some spice like cinnamon to your sweet potatoes or apples.
* When pumpkin is available this is something babies tend to enjoy and is fun to mix and match.
- Remember the more variety you give the little ones, hopefully they will tend to be less picky as they get older.
- Also, the PC chopper is a great thing to take to the dinner table when lil ones have a few teeth and can eat. This is great because you don’t need to make separate meals you are able to chop up into small pieces what you are serving.
Top Items for New Mom’s
Quick Stir Pitcher- This is great for mixing formula and keeping some pre-made in the fridge. The quick stir pitcher has a mixing device on the inside, therefor when you stir you are not incorporating air which can give lil ones gas.
Micro-Steamer- This can be used to steam bottles, nipples, veggies, fruits, etc.
Food Chopper- This is great to cute up chicken, hot dogs, veggies into small bite size pieces that are easy to eat and hard to choke on.
Microwave Chip Maker (available Sept. 1st)- This can be used to make apple chips, veggies, banana chips, sweet potato chips. This is a great thing to use to make the lil ones healthy snacks as they get older.
Manual Food Processor- This is great because unlike the one’s you plug in you can use it during nap time, take it on the go and it can go in the dishwasher.
Veggie Wedger- This is a must have when they get older, you can slice an orange into slices in 10 seconds.
