How To: Making homemade baby food purees.

Making baby food doesn’t have to be an all or nothing process. Having the tools and a basic plan makes the process more feasible and, I think, even enjoyable. And I’m here to help.

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Where to start and what do you need. 
A means to steam and puree.
There are options that, like most things in life, vary in price and convenience. If the desire is to make the majority of the baby food and spare time is in low supply, the investment of an “all in one” type machine may be for you. I have this Beaba Babycook Machine and I LOVE it. It truly streamlines the cooking and the cleanup process. The price tag on these is in the higher range so the decision to make this purchase is a personal one. A fancy machine is absolutely not needed to make baby food though. A traditional stainless steel steamer and a small food processor or stick blender will do the trick as well too.

Trays to freeze the purees.
1 ounce cube trays with lids

Containers to store the frozen purees.
Stasher bags. I cannot say enough great things about Stasher bags, not for just baby food but all uses in the kitchen and around the house. They are such a great alternative for the environment to single use plastic. All of the sizes are great but the sandwich size is my favorite for baby food. They lay flat and fit 16, 1 ounce cubes. AND they are dishwasher safe.

Containers to thaw the purees in/hold fresh purees.
Small 4 ounce glass jars. I like these ones from Sage Spoonfuls.
If looking for larger containers for leftovers or large portions of food, these are great too and are so well priced.

Glass Markers for labeling stasher bags, frozen trays and/or glass jars.

When to start introducing solid foods.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (APP) recommends looking for signs of readiness before starting solids. These include: sitting up unassisted, showing interest in foods (opening their mouth if food is near or interest in the food others are eating) and no significant tongue trust in response to food. The typical range of this is between 4-6 months with the average being closer to 5-6 months.¹ Not rushing this process, although it is exciting, is important for everyone’s success – so don’t be in a hurry! When you do start feeding, be sure not to rush or force food either. It’s very tempting to make sure that babe is trying every food you offer or eating a certain amount but that’s not what it is about. It’s about the process and learning. Avoid tricking them into eating or scraping food off the top of their mouth in order to “make them” eat. This is only going to cause more grief for you and fear for them in the future when eating. Your job is to provide the food and it is up to them to decide if and and how much to consume. Enjoy the experience together and have little expectations (laughable I know, but truly, try to minimize the expectation of what this should look like or how much they should eat). At this point in baby’s life, their main source of nutrition should still be breast milk or infant formula so be sure to not decrease their daily total ounce intake. 

What are the flavors and foods to start with.
This is the fun part. There are many options here but I know when I started this process I just wanted someone to tell me what to do. So here’s what I did. We started with organic fortified baby oatmeal. This is one of the few exceptions to making my own food. I choose to do some oatmeal infant cereal as it is fortified with iron, a crucial nutrient that is needed in baby’s diet starting around 6 months, especially for breastfed babies as their level of need is no longer met in the breast milk alone. I started with a fairly liquidy consistency. I then chose sweet potatoes, carrots, peas and broccoli. I stuck with vegetables to begin with to make sure she didn’t start with the yummiest things in life and would still have an appetite for other things. We then did foods like bananas, strawberries and blueberries… As I said, the options are endless. The consistency of the purees at first will likely need to be smoother as this is all new for baby. As they get the hang of this whole eating thing, thickening the consistency or eventually even more chunky consistency will be beneficial. Try thinning purees with water from the steaming process or fresh formula or breastmilk. (There will likely be extra puree to freeze for ease of feeding later so you want to use fresh milk, not frozen and thawed as you will be refreezing and that’s not a good idea with breastmilk.) 

More information to come on food options for baby – this information is truly worthy of multiple posts. Let’s start with why to feed baby organic foods. Check it out.

Finally, what you’ve been waiting for – how to make the pure

1. Prepare the food. If preparing fresh foods that have skins that cannot be pureed to smooth (ie: apples, pears, potatoes, etc), peel. Cut into approximately 1 inch cubes. If preparing frozen foods they can be put directly into the steamer (most frozen fruits you can let them thaw for several hours until completely soft and often just puree).

2. Steam. If using a baby food machine, steam according to the water levels recommended. With the Beaba machine, I typically always use the level 3 water line and steamed for approximately 15-20 minutes to make smooth purees. For a stainless steel steamer and average time of 15 minutes is likely adequate. You want to be sure that it is fully steamed. Each food varies in cook time for optimum steaming so there is the option to tailor to each vegetable if you prefer or as you make more foods.

3. Puree. Use the blender option on your baby food maker machine or transfer steamed food to a food processor or a glass or stainless steel jar to use a stick blender. You will need to add liquid for a smooth puree for babies first foods. Water is the easiest option but there is the option may let the food cool and use fresh breastmilk or formula. [As time goes on, adding less or no liquid or even just partially blending will allow you to change the consistency to babe’s needs and eating skills at the time].

4. Store food. Place food in jars (no more than 3 days portions). Keep in mind that initially portions for baby may be small – even as small as ½ Tablespoon. This is okay – Don’t fret! It’s about the experience at this point, not the calories for babe. (Keep up the formula or the breastmilk intake). To be as safe as possible, you should discard any remaining food in the container that was eaten from.

5. Freeze extra. Place the remaining puree into 1 ounce cube trays and freeze for 24 hrs at a minimum.

6. Remove cubes from tray and place in reusable zip lock bags. Label the bags with the food name and date made. Frozen purees are safe for 6 months time.

7. When ready to thaw, remove a cube and place in the glass jar in the refrigerator the night before (typically these take a few hours to thaw so in a pinch, place at room temperature or even heat briefly). Thawed food is safe for 48 hours once thawed.

Tips: 
✴Make a reasonable portion of single food purees at a time (6-10 ounces depending on how much freezer space if available. We had limited freezer space between the breastmilk freezer stash, baby food and the lack of ability to buy a small freezer due to the COVID-19 pandemic – but we made it work. It can really be done and the Stasher Bags help keep it all organized.  At a later time thawing these single purees and/or make combination foods is so easy. Having the frozen single purees allows different combinations to be tried and to find combinations that baby likes without having to make a whole bunch of pre-made combinations.

✴Don’t stress if baby doesn’t eat the food you made. It can be a huge mental blow to spend time making awesome, healthy, yummy, fresh food for baby and they don’t eat it. It’s so discouraging at first. It just is. BUT it will get better and we are allowing baby (and ourselves) to be equipped for so many great flavors and food experiences in the future. Remember, enjoy the journey and don’t just focus on the ending – that’s not what it’s always about.

✴The most commonly used foods that don’t need to be steamed, but just pureed (or mashed very well once babe has gotten use to the consistency of solid food) are avocados and bananas. Give ‘em a try.

Drop any questions below AND any tips you have learned and want to share with all the fellow mamas.

Let’s talk soon,
Al

References:

1. Infant and Toddler Nutrition. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 11 Dec. 2020. https://www.cdc.gov/nutrition/InfantandToddlerNutrition/index.html. Accessed 1 June 2021.