You Can Make Baby Food

We have three children, and with each I’ve made almost all of their baby food.  It’s best for them, it’s most nutritious, and it’s also less expensive than buying large quantities of jarred baby food (especially the organic varieties). 

I have been in the thick (pun intended) of making baby food for several months now for our baby.  She continues to amaze me at how much food she can pack in!  Fortunately, when preparing your own food, it is easy to make a large quantity that you can then refrigerate and freeze in smaller portions to meet your baby’s mealtime needs.

It’s not hard to make baby food.  It does take time, though, and requires extra effort every few days.   (And, as moms and dads know, some days you have enough to do, already!)  But, it’s worth it to know that your little one is getting freshly made, tasty and nutritious whole foods.  Plus, it doesn’t require special culinary skills.  You don’t need to be a ‘Top Chef’ to get started, or to later come up with creative food combinations to keep your baby nourished and happy.  It simply requires some advance preparation, a little thinking, and a few tools to make the process simpler.

In my cookbook, Vive le Vegan, I discuss baby food in depth and include a food introduction schedule that is designed to reduce possible allergenic reactions for your baby.  Foods with lower allergenic potential (and better digestibility) are introduced as first foods, and foods with higher allergenic risks are delayed until baby is more mature.   For instance, fruits like cooked pears and blueberries and vegetables such as sweet potatoes, parsnip, and zucchini are the first foods introduced at six months.  At nine months, some gluten-free grains are introduced, along with beans and a wider variety of fruits and vegetables.  Seeds are delayed until 12 months of age, as well as higher allergenic foods such as citrus, strawberry, tomatoes, gluten grains, and soy products.   Wheat and nuts aren’t introduced until 18 months, and peanut products are further delayed until 2-3 years.  This chart is unlike most baby food introduction guides, and it may seem complicated at first glance.  Once you get sorted and organized, it is very easy to follow, however, and I have had very positive experiences with all three of our children following this schedule. 

You’ll need a few kitchen items to get started:

1) Pot to steam vegetables and fruit, or a steaming insert.  For the first few months when you are steaming most foods.  Alternatively, you could cook the fruits and vegetables in just an inch or two of water and simmer until tender.  Some vegetables can also be roasted whole, including sweet potatoes (yellow and orange fleshed), winter squash, beets and white potatoes (place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake until tender when pierced).   Let cool enough to handle, and then remove skins/rinds to puree with some water. 

2) Blender or food processor to puree foods.  With our first two children, I used my food processor (for larger amounts) or my immersion blender (for smaller amounts).  This time round, I use my Blendtec, since it works with varying amounts very easily and can puree very smoothly.  Sometimes you need to add a small amount of water to thin out the purees, so it’s handy to have some water boiled (can cool if you want) ahead of time to do so.

3) Glass bowls (preferably with covers) to store portions in the fridge and freezer.  I have two sets of the Pampered Chef 1-cup prep bowls.  They are perfect because I can a batch of one puree that fills 4-5 bowls, and then another puree to fill another 4-5 bowls.  They come with their own covers, and are easy to store.  Any similar size/shape of a glass or ceramic bowl will also work well, but consider ones that have covers. 

Tip: I don’t use a microwave, so to warm the purees, spoon out the amount babe might eat into another glass bowl.  (You won’t use the full 1-cup in the early weeks/months, so spoon out a portion to warm.  This helps avoid wasting any food that baby may not eat, since you should not save any leftovers that have made contact with babe’s hands or mouth).  Place this bowl in a larger bowl and pour in enough hot/boiled water to come up to about 3/4 of the height of the inner bowl.  This will quickly warm the food, and you can stir it through to evenly distribute the heat.

In the first weeks of introducing foods, you’ll be working with single food purees, such as here with yellow-fleshed sweet potatoes.  Later, you can start combining some of these foods.  Some vegetables and fruits work better blended with others. 

puree of beets combined with yellow-fleshed sweet potatoes

For instance, bitter greens like broccoli, spinach, and kale, and stronger tasting vegetables like beet and parsnip will be more readily accepted by your babe if blended into a puree with sweet potatoes or pears.  

pureed baby food

 Here I’ve pureed some spinach with cooked apples and then also added brown rice to a portion of the blending.  So, after you’ve introduced sweet potatoes and know this food is well tolerated by your baby, then you can blend other things into it as a way to introduce stronger flavored foods like these greens, or others like beets and parsnip.

Things get more interesting when you can start introducing grains and beans to your baby’s diet.  Here I have brown rice, steamed carrots and steamed zucchini ready to blitz in the Blendtec.  After I pureed this mix, I transferred roughly half into glass bowls.  Then I added white beans to the remaining mixture and blended those in.   

purees with carrots, zucchini, brown rice, white beans

Things to consider when introducing solids:

• Choose organic as much as possible.  Your baby is in the biggest phase of growth and development of their lives, organic is best to avoid exposure to harmful pesticide and chemical residues.  For certain buy any of the “dirty dozen” produce items.
• Have back-ups.  Pick up several jars of organic baby foods for your pantry.  You will have days when you need it!
• What goes in must come out.  Don’t be alarmed if you see bright pink poo in your baby’s diaper shortly after that meal of pureed sweet potatoes and beets!  Also know that all of this food is minimally processed and fibre-rich, so be prepared for 2-4 or more poo diapers a day.
• Keep in mind that the first few months can be the most involved since baby is eating only pureed foods. Once he/she reaches about 8 and 9 months, some finger foods can part of their meals (ex: rice puff cereal, cut rice pasta, soft beans, pieces of cut fruit such as bananas, soft melon, raisins, apricots, etc).  Also, food mixtures can be somewhat chunkier and involve less preparation, such as mixing cooked quinoa or brown rice into mashed avocado or banana.

For additional tips on food introduction, refer to the ”Feeding Your Vegan Baby and Toddler” section in Vive le Vegan.  For specifics on nutritional needs for babies, speak to your naturopath or doctor, and also refer to Becoming Vegan by Brenda Davis and Vesanto Melina.