The American Academy of Pediatricians recommends that breast milk or formula should be your child’s only source of nutrition for the first six months of life. But before you know it, tiny, curious fingers come reaching across the table, and it’s either time to ante up part of your burger or introduce Junior to solid food.
When the day finally comes to expand your child’s palate, there seems to be no end to what grocery store shelves have to offer, with row after row of tiny, expensive jars of pulverized fruits, vegetable and meats claiming to be chock-full of everything your child needs. As you push your cart down the aisle, you might be wondering if the youngest member of your family really needs food that comes from a separate aisle? Or if it’s possible (and more wallet-friendly) to feed your child the same nutritious meals you serve the rest of your family, just in a puréed, slightly blander form? The answer is yes.
Baby food in individual servings hasn’t been around long, appearing on the market in the 1920s when Gerber, a fruit and vegetable canning facility in Michigan, got started. Before that, people actually did feed babies mushy foods they made themselves. So armed with a bit of professional advice and a few kitchen tools, your whole brood can sit down to a delicious, home-cooked meal.
There are many benefits to preparing your own baby food at home. “It’s cheaper,” says Tasha Pinelo, a former news producer at WCPO, and mom to 13-month-old Lincoln. “And I liked having more of a hand in what I was feeding Lincoln. You can’t deny that peas you purée yourself look and taste better than the ones you get from a jar.”
Jana Douglass, mother of Caleb, 5, and co-owner of Happy Chicks Bakery, liked the ability to control what was in the food she served her child when it came to additives such as preservatives and sugar.
“Caleb got most of his nourishment through nursing,” Douglass says. “That freed me up a bit to play around with his food more since he wasn’t really counting on it to live. I did a lot of fruit and vegetable purées, but I always liked to add a little something interesting to them. I would do strawberries and pineapple with fresh basil and mint, avocado with cumin and garlic, and peaches with ginger and cinnamon.”
Food allergies and intolerances can be more easily controlled when you prepare your own food as well, especially for older children.
“My first child was lactose intolerant,” says Lilly Burdsall, purchasing and facility manager at the Midwest Culinary Institute, and mother to Charles, 7, and Ben, 4. “What I ended up doing was making ‘soup cubes.’ I would take my baby-food cube trays and put chopped bits of things we parents were eating — a protein, a veg and a starch — all together in each cube and then covered them with chicken stock before freezing. Then we could thaw and heat a few cubes for many meals after.”
Local farm stands are bursting with brightly colored, nutrient-dense produce this time of year, which is exactly where you should be shopping for your whole family, according to Jenn Kagy, chef/owner of Jenn Kagy Healthy Me. “I took a very simple, clean approach,” says Kagy, mother to teenagers Christian and Alexandra. “I cooked, then puréed, any and all vegetables and fruits, whatever was in season from the farmers market. Then I froze them in ice cube trays…. If I needed ideas for food combos, I would look to the baby food jars on the shelves.”
Here are a few simple things to remember when making your own baby food.
Do: Make only as much as you’re going to use in a day or two. Homemade food has no preservatives and will spoil quickly. Or make a big batch and freeze the food in ice cube trays to store in containers or zip-top bags.
Do: Keep in mind that minimal cooking is best when it comes to preserving vital nutrients and flavor in foods, especially fruits and vegetables. Steaming or microwaving is preferred.
Don’t: Think you have to invest in some fancy food grinder. Your food processor or blender will work just fine to make a smooth purée. Just add a little water, breast milk or formula, and you’re good to go.
Do: Keep scrupulously clean standards. A baby’s system is extremely delicate and can’t tolerate the bacteria and foodborne illnesses that an adult or even older child can.
Do: Pay attention! When you introduce an infant to a new solid food, The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that you wait about two to three days to see if it causes an allergic reaction.
CONTACT ILENE ROSS: letters@citybeat.com
This article appears in Sep 16-22, 2015.