Now that you have your instruments, tools, and appliances in order, we’re almost ready to make tasty, wholesome baby food. While there are a few precautions you should take that will be discussed in further detail, it’s good to remember that making baby food is just like preparing and cooking food for big kids and adults. Baby food, after all, is simply grown-up food that is mashed or pureed or chopped. Just remember to pay attention to cleanliness, proper cooking times, and removing skins or peels to avoid choking hazards.
Washing and Scrubbing and Cleaning
Always wash your hands thoroughly before preparing homemade baby foods. Cleanliness is a must, as baby’s delicate system is susceptible to germs that may be hiding out. Yes, washing your hands seems obvious and you already knew that; I just wanted to remind you. It’s also important to clean all of the kitchen equipment and food preparation areas you use, such as countertops, utensils, pots and pans, cutting boards, and your blender or food processor—clean everything thoroughly, preferably with an antibacterial soap.
Never use the same cutting board to cut meats and fruits and vegetables. You should have a cutting board solely for meat preparation and a cutting board dedicated to vegetable and fruit preparation. Thus far, no clear guidelines have been established by any food safety agencies in the United States as to whether a wooden cutting board is more sanitary than a plastic board. For now, the focus should be on proper sanitization no matter the materials.
Safe Methods of Proper Food Preparation
When you make homemade baby food, you can use the specific methods of preparation and storage I’ll discuss here to help keep your baby’s food free from food-borne pathogens. These methods are simple and based in common sense, and you may even be using them already. Read on to find out!
Fruits and Vegetables
Always be sure to thoroughly wash and cleanse the fruits and vegetables you will be using to make your baby food. Even if you are not using the peels or skins, and even if you buy organic, you should always wash your produce. There is no need to invest in a “veggie wash.” If you prefer, you may use a solution of water and vinegar at 2 tablespoons of vinegar per 1 cup of water; put this in a spray bottle and you have a simple, inexpensive, and effective wash.
Peeling skins and pitting or removing seeds may be important prior to cooking. There are times when you do not need to peel or pit or remove seeds from produce; these instances will vary according to your baby’s age, the fruit or vegetable that you are cooking, and the way in which you will be cooking the foods. Pears and peaches, for example, have a very soft and digestible skin that need not be removed if your baby is over seven months old. Apples have a tougher skin and may not be easily digested by babies under eight months of age. There should be no need to remove the seeds from blueberries; however, it is necessary to seed melons and cucumbers. Consult with your pediatrician about the need to peel fruits and vegetables when making homemade baby foods.
Meat, Poultry, Fish, or Animal Protein
When you are preparing and/or handling meats, it is important that you sanitize your hands as you cook. (It is also a good sanitary practice to use plastic gloves when handling meats.) If you are going back and forth from preparing meats to preparing another type of food, be sure to wash your hands prior to handling the other food. This is most important when you are handling poultry products, including eggs, because of the risk of salmonella.
In cooking, do not reuse the preparation surfaces or utensils that you have been using to prepare meats without sanitizing them first.
Meat should always be thawed in the refrigerator. You may use the microwave to thaw meat if you wish, but never leave meat out on the counter to thaw. Thawing food on the counter increases the risk of bacterial growth and may put you at risk for food poisoning.
Never give an infant raw, rare, or semicooked meat, poultry, fish, and eggs. In other words, babies and even toddlers need their meats cooked to well done. Meats that you are cooking for babies, toddlers, and even older children should not have a pink center.
Be sure to check the temperature with a meat thermometer whenever possible.
| Safe Internal Temperatures for Cooked Meats |
| Red Meat |
Poultry |
Eggs |
Fish |
| 160° F |
white meat—170° F |
No runny whites or runny yolks |
160° F |
| |
dark meat—180° F |
Hard-boiled eggs spin, but raw eggs do not |
|
Other Food Safety Tips
Do not leave uncooked or even cooked foods out on the counter at room temperature for longer than two hours.
Frozen foods should never thaw and then be refrozen without first being cooked. For optimal safety and nutrient retention, frozen foods should remain at a temperature of 0 degrees or lower. Temperature fluctuations within the freezer, such as occur when you open the door to rummage around for something, can affect the stability of frozen foods. Try not to store frozen baby food cubes on the freezer door. As far back into the freezer as possible is best.
Cooked and prepared foods should be kept in the refrigerator for no longer than forty-eight to seventy-two hours before they are used or frozen. Yes, my husband has eaten that container of “who-knows-what” from the back of the fridge and has survived, but really, this is not a good idea!
Foods in the freezer will have varying storage times depending on how they were prepared prior to freezing. It is prudent to use frozen baby food cubes within one month, though they may be stored for up to three months in a regular freezer and six months in a deep freezer, where the temperature is lower and more constant.
Ingredients and Preparation of Foods—Choose Organic Foods When Possible!
As a parent, you may be wondering if it really makes a difference whether or not you use organic products to make homemade baby food. Some people may tell you that you should use only organic foods when cooking for your baby, while others may tell you that using conventional foods or a mix of both is perfectly acceptable. Ultimately, this is a personal choice. Many people “go organic” because they want to know that their foods are free from pesticides and chemical fertilizers. A few other factors may also influence your decision to purchase organic foods: lifestyle, accessibility, and price, for instance. Buying and preparing organic foods for your baby will have great health advantages, and if you are able to buy only a few items that are organic, make those the ones that you feed to your little one. Babies who eat organic foods will not be exposed to the levels of pesticides found in conventional foods, and you can ensure that baby’s tiny system remains as free of chemicals as possible. It is said that pound for pound, a baby consumes more pesticides than an adult because of his small body size, and pound for pound, a baby eats more fruits and vegetables than an adult.
Many parents use organic foods just to prepare their baby’s meals, while other parents have never bought organic foods for their babies. If you don’t have access to or cannot afford the price of organic food, it is still worth using fresh conventional fruits and vegetables to make your baby food, as simply making your own baby food has so many benefits.
Don’t let people tell you that you are wasting your time if you don’t use organic foods. Don’t let this stop you from cooking up wholesome baby food. Using fresh, well-cleansed non-organic fruits, vegetables, and whole grains is completely suitable and remains a healthy and nutritious choice for making your baby’s food. Just remember that you are feeding your baby fresh foods, developing healthy eating habits very early on, and giving your baby more nutritional value per ounce than if you were to feed him jarred foods.
According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a nonprofit agency that works to protect citizens from chemicals in food, water, and common everyday products, there are at least twelve foods that you should always buy organic if possible: the “dirty dozen.” The EWG also tracks the fifteen foods that are found to be the least contaminated by pesticides, fertilizers, or other chemicals.
| EWG’s 2011 Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen Produce List |
| Twelve Most Contaminated |
Fifteen Least Contaminated |
| Buy organic when possible: |
Safe non-organic choices: |
Apples |
Asparagus |
Bell peppers |
Avocados |
Blueberries |
Cabbage |
Celery |
Cantaloupe (domestic) |
Grapes, esp. imported |
Eggplants |
Kale |
Grapefruit |
Lettuce |
Kiwi |
Nectarines |
Mangoes |
Peaches |
Mushrooms |
Potatoes |
Onions |
Spinach |
Pineapples |
Strawberries |
Sweet corn |
|
Sweet peas |
|
Sweet potatoes |
|
Watermelons |
Preparing Fruits and Vegetables
Preparing fruits and vegetables for babies is as simple as preparing them for adults but there are a few extra considerations such as whether or not to peel or cook them. The toughness of the skin or peel, whether or not the “meat” of the fruit or vegetable can be chewed and easily digested raw, and your baby’s age will all be deciding factors.
Is it necessary to peel fruits and veggies before preparing them for baby food?
We know that the peels or skins of many fruits and vegetables contain valuable nutrients. For adults, whenever possible leave the peels and skins on fruits and vegetables to allow you to take full advantage of the nutrients found in them. However, if you are preparing baby food, it may be a good idea to take off the peels and skins for a few reasons.
Perhaps the most important advantage is that it may help to stave off digestive upsets. All babies are different, of course; some will be able to tolerate the peels without any difficulty, but others won’t. While some nutrients may be lost when you peel fruits and/or vegetables, the loss will not be significant—and you’ll be able to avoid the possibility that baby may choke on a piece of peel floating in the puree.
Another good reason to peel fruits and vegetables is that it will help decrease pesticide residue. Of course, some veggies and fruits, like acorn squash and avocado, have an inedible peel that has to be removed.
Use your own judgment and/or contact your pediatrician about leaving the peels and skins on the foods you will be preparing.
Is it necessary to cook fruits and vegetables when making homemade baby food?
You will find that many pediatricians who endorse making baby food will also recommend cooking fruits until baby is about seven to eight months old. Depending on the doctor, this age recommendation may vary. And some doctors may say cooking fruits is not necessary at all. Bananas and avocado are the key exception (and some say that peaches and pears are also exceptions), in that these fruits need never be cooked. For infants who start solids before six months of age, cooking fruits is best, because the process gently breaks down the fibers and sugars and eases digestion for an immature tummy. An older baby may be better able to handle raw fruits than one who is younger and just starting on solids. While there are no immediate life-threatening health risks to feeding a baby raw fruits, if your baby experiences some digestion and tummy troubles, continue to gently cook raw fruits for another week or two. Tummy troubles and digestive upsets from raw fruits should go away once the fruit itself has been passed.
Using Frozen and/or Canned Foods
One question that is commonly asked about making homemade baby food is: “Can I use frozen or canned ingredients to make baby food?” The answer is this: Fresh foods, particularly those that are also local and in season are a great first choice, but frozen foods are fine as well. Canned foods, while convenient, have a lot of down sides, which I’ll explain here.
Is it safe to use frozen foods to make homemade baby food?
Frozen fruits and vegetables are sometimes a better alternative than fresh foods when making homemade baby food. In fact, many food safety resources and authorities say that frozen foods can be more “fresh” than fresh. Fresh foods may spend weeks traveling around the country until they arrive at your grocer’s, and this can affect their overall quality (a good reason to buy local foods whenever possible). Picked at the peak of ripeness, many fruits and vegetables are flash-frozen directly at the place of harvest. Flash-freezing protects the nutritional quality of the foods, enabling them to withstand long journeys without impacting the quality. When seasonal fruits and vegetables are unavailable fresh at the market, using frozen is perfectly acceptable—and certainly much better than canned!
When selecting frozen fruits or vegetables, be sure to read the labels and avoid brands that contain syrups, sugars, and salt or sodium. A few types of frozen vegetables have been previously cooked and then frozen; avoid using these, as you should not cook, freeze, and then cook and refreeze foods.
Using canned food to make baby food is not a good option.
Using canned foods to make homemade baby food may be safe, but it’s not really the best choice. In the canning process, foods are often cooked at high temperatures and the can is then filled with liquid (syrup or brine). Once the can has been filled, it may be heated again before the final sterilization, during which the can and its contents are cooked at a temperature high enough to ensure a long shelf life.
One problem with this process is that the nutrients in the food may be severely depleted, and further cooking, freezing, and reheating the foods may lead to an additional loss of precious nutrients. Canned foods also sit around for months on a shelf, and many of their nutrients leach into the water in which they are packed. When we open canned foods, we often toss out the packing liquid, thereby tossing out some nutrients as well. It is possible to use the liquids that the food was canned in to make a baby food puree, but these liquids typically contain high amounts of sodium; even canned foods that are “low-sodium” are not appropriate to serve to infants.
Another negative is that many of the cans are lined with a coating that contains BPA (bisphenol A), and the BPA may leach into the foods when they are heated. Finally, canned fruits and vegetables will have a texture that is very soft and often mushy. While this may be good for finger foods, purees made from canned food will be very runny and a bit grainy.
If you are making your baby’s food from scratch, you will want her to fall in love with the tastes and textures of fresh foods. Using canned foods will not help you achieve this goal.
Time-saver: You may use canned pumpkin when making pumpkin baby food. Please make sure that you purchase canned pure pumpkin and not a “pumpkin pie” mix. The pumpkin pie mix contains sugars, starches, and other additives. I do not generally recommend using canned foods for baby’s homemade food, but canned pumpkin is a great alternative, as it contains nothing but pumpkin!