Homemade Baby Food
Homemade Baby Food – An easy way to save money
Homemade baby food is the best, and saves money. With the rising basic grocery prices the baby food is no exception. When my four children were little, I was living on a very low budget and therefore know how hard it is to manage getting the food for the children. It takes some creativity, but with the help of my mother I came up with 5 basic recipes that easily can be changed in flavor and taste.
At the age of 6-8 months, babies can start solid food. It is helpful to have an immersion blender or magic bullet blender to prepare the food. I started with cereal (oatmeal, rice), mashed potatoes or mashed sweet potatoes, carrots, and homemade fruit puree. With aging ( from 8 months), they can also eat the Zwieback, Ladyfinger, and Butter Cookies puree, which also consists of sugar. 6 Zwiebacks have 8 g of sugar, 6 Butter cookies have 7 g of sugar, and 3 Ladyfingers have 10 g of sugar. 7 g is about 0.25 oz or 1 teaspoon. During the research, I realized that the general store-bought prepared baby food contains sugar too.
Preparation of the fruit
Bananas, berries, peaches, pears, apples, apricots, and cherries are ideal for preparing. Whereas I fed the bananas raw, I washed the berries and brought them to a boil while constantly stirring. Afterward, I passed them through a sieve so that no seeds were in the puree. Next, I peel the apples and pears, take the core out, cut them into small pieces, add some water, bring them to a boil, and let them simmer for about 6 minutes. Then, using a blender, I mash them. Last, wash the peaches, apricots, and cherries, remove the stone, and cut it into pieces. Also, bring them with a little water to a boil, let them simmer for 4-6 minutes, and use a blender to mash them.
Mashed potatoes or sweet potatoes
Peel the potatoes cut them into small cubes, and let them boil for about 10 minutes. Then, for very young babies, add half water and half milk and mash them with a blender. You can enrich the mashed potatoes with butter and/or egg yolk and whole milk when they are older. You also can boil the potatoes (about 140 g – 5 oz) with carrots (50 g – 1.8 oz) cut into cubes and mash after cooking. Another option is to add 3-4 leaves of spinach 3 minutes before the cooking time of the potatoes end. Serve it with one of the fruit purees.
Zwieback (rusk) puree
Break 5 Zwieback into small pieces and place them in a pot. Pour 200 ml of milk, baby formula, or half water and half milk when they are younger, and let them soak for 3-5 minutes. Then, bring them to a boil while constantly stirring.
You can do the same with 6 butter cookies
or 6 lady fingers.
Banana, yoghurt, and fruit
Mash the banana with a fork, add 2 tablespoons of oatmeal, 2 tablespoons of plain yogurt, and either homemade fruit puree or 1 teaspoon of homemade jelly or jam.
I know that some of the meals include a little sugar, but that’s how I fed my children in the evenings, supporting their digestion while giving them unsweetened fennel tea to drink. As a result, my four children slept through the night and never woke up.