Baby Purees – The Ultimate Guide

March 12, 2017
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Benefits 

Making baby purees is one of the most beneficial ways to keep your baby healthy and free from the toxins that are sadly found in today’s baby foods. With the choices in organic foods out there you can make appropriate selections to make baby’s meal the most sound for his or her growth. This is not a blog post for judgements. It is simply a post offering what has worked for me in making my three sons their baby food over the years. It has taken some perfecting and tweaking but this is the system that has helped our family to feed our babies in a safe and healthy fashion. You’re not limited to the recipes below. I strongly encourage you explore the options that meets your baby’s nutritional needs. Websites like Pinterest offer a plethora of baby puree recipes so do your homework first. If for anything this blog post can serve as a guide for what tools to use and for having a game plan for your workflow when making baby food. 

What You’ll Need

Etc. (These are other products I use for transporting/storing food and feeding baby)

Baby Purees – Recipes

Using your cookbooks, buy and organize your ingredients or head here to grab five of my recipes:

You’re probably wondering why I make so much food. I like to make enough food to last about three months, which is the amount of time you can freeze baby food for. I have to make enough for dinners and for my mother in-law’s house for lunches since my baby is there during the week. I like to make a variety so that baby doesn’t get bored with the same meals. I also think introducing your baby to a variety of foods will help them avoid becoming picky eaters later on. 

Prepare

  1. Start out by cooking the food you can either cook one meal a night or take a day to cook everything start to finish, which is what I prefer. If boiling butternut squash or when boiling items for the malanga meal, use a large stock pot to maximize on making big batches at once. 
  2. As you finish each meal process each one at a time. This may happen in batches. Some people have asked me about food systems like Beaba Baby Cook and other such items. They do make food in small batches so it’ll take a lot longer to mass make your baby’s food, which is why I say stick to using large pots and processors. They will save you time and a headache in making baby purees.
  3. If food is to chunky and needs a smoother consistency you can either leave it as is or pour heated chicken or vegetable stock into the food processor to make the puree smoother. 
  4. Pour the pureed food into Beaba freezer trays or other trays you have/prefer. 
  5. You’ll realize that you can’t freeze all of the food at once as you’ll have pureed food left. Store it in large bowls and cover with plastic wrap. The next few days you’ll be rotating the frozen food blocks into gallon bags to store in the freezer and freezing the new batches of purees until it’s all frozen. Label the bags with the meal name and date. 

Reheating

Reheat all of the baby purees in glass or microwaveable bowls only. You’ve come this far to make your baby fresh and safe food to eat so avoid reheating in plastic containers, which chances are contain harmful chemicals that can be released into the food. 

You should reheat for a minute tops in your microwave. All microwaves vary in temperatures in accordance with the cooking time so beware that you’re not heating the food up too hot for your baby. If the food is too hot simply place it in the freezer for two minutes or pour a little bit of water to cool it down. 

Feeding

With the variety of spoons that are out there the choices are endless. Choose spoons that are small enough to accommodate to your baby’s mouth. Picking a spoon that’ too big will frustrate your baby as he or she will have a hard time rooting for the spoon and most of the food will spill on the sides. The spoons that have worked best for us are Beaba baby spoons. The silicone material makes it easy to scoop up all of baby’s food and avoid wasting it in the bowl. 

Feeding your baby should be a joy and should not feel burdensome. This is a great gift to give your baby. Not everyone’s schedules and lives yield the time within which to make all meals in one day so start small and keep it small if that helps. 

Beyond

Beyond feeding your baby purees you can make desserts as well. Here you can find a few dessert recipes that your baby is sure to enjoy. You can also buy the Boon Pulp Silicone Teething Feeder. This small contraption works by placing the actual fruit chunks inside of the pacifier and your baby will get to eat the pulp and drink its juice. My baby LOVES it and loves all of the fruit I introduce to him as a result of having this awesome teether. 

I don’t consider myself an expert in the area of making baby food and purees by any means but I am most certainly here to help. If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment below and I will try my best to answer it for you. Best of luck on your baby food-making adventures! 

 

 

author: Teresa Gonzalez

Teresa is a South Florida native who is a photographer that also has a passion for food. She's a seeker of sunshine, lazy days at the beach, and exquisite food.

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