PREPARING FOOD AT HOME
The joy of preparing your own baby food at home is that it is not difficult and can be done whilst cooking your family meals.
Bacteria can easily upset your baby’s digestive system so it is important that you clean all feeding equipment before preparing and serving your baby’s food. Always remember to wash your hands and feeding equipment before handling your baby’s food.
There are many advantages to preparing your baby foods at home:
- You can prepare the texture to your baby’s preference.
- You know exactly what ingredients are in the food.
- You can use existing fresh foods in your fridge.
- You can mould your baby’s taste, encouraging him or her to learn what fresh foods taste like.
- Prepared food at home can be cooked and stored in the freezer.
- Your baby will have fresh food on demand.
Here are some tips for preparing your food at home:
- When you are doing your weekly or monthly shopping, remember to buy fresh fruit and vegetables; feeding your baby fresh fruits and vegetables will provide a source of vitamins and minerals in your baby’s diet.
- When preparing home meals, remember to take out your baby’s portion before adding any salt or sugar and seasoning to your meals.
- Try to steam your vegetables rather than boil. This will help preserve the vitamins and minerals.
- If you do not have a food steamer, you can steam your baby foods using a sieve, steam basket or colander above boiling water.
- If you do decide to boil your fruit or vegetables, only use a small amount of water; this will help retain some of the nutrients in the cooking water.
- Do not add any salt or sugar to your baby’s food.
- If you have prepared too much food in one serving, store the remainder in freezer bags and label until ready for use at the next meal time.
- When thawing, allow your baby’s food to thoroughly thaw before re-heating.
