YOU CAN PREPARE HOMEMADE BABY FOOD!

I can't believe my last post was 6 months ago! How time flies.

Anyway, since Caedy was 6mo, I have started her on solid food. And from these 7months experience, I learned a lot. Some of you might think it's so troublesome to prepare baby food, so much work, so many things to wash and clean after that, bla bla bla... Before you decide to stock up your cabinet with those sugar-loaded cereals, think again. Why do you think it's hard? Is it because you didn't plan properly? Or is it because you don't have any clue how to go about it?

I gotta tell you, preparing baby food is so simple and compare to other cereals, it costs so much lesser. Here's some tips to help you start out:

1. Plan ahead
Yes, take out your organizer, or use your smartphone, or just pull out a sheet of paper. Plan out what you wanna cook for your baby this week. Start with a weekly menu sheet. (Therefore, you only need to do groceries shopping once a week). You don't have to serve different food everyday. (You'll get what I mean as you continue reading.)

2. Invest in the right kitchen equipments
Of course, not everyone can afford to buy everything, but if you can invest in one or two of these items, you'll save lots of time and energy. I used to think the conventional ways are the best, but boy was I wrong? I used to steam food (veges, chicken, fish, etc) using this:

I guess it works for some people... But well, it's definitely not the best way if you are a busy mom or if you have to cook few other dishes at the same time.

So I invested in this:

It's one of the best things I have in my kitchen:
(i) I can cook few dishes together.
If I'm preparing food for kids only, I cook them altogether, 1st tier (from the bottom) - steam veges, 2nd tier - steam egg, the 3rd tier - steam meat.
(ii) Sometimes I even use the lowest tier to steam Caedy's bottles.
(iii) You don't have to watch the time. Just set the timer, make sure the water is enough. Voilà!

Other kitchen equipment that you'll find useful:
- Blender (hand blender is good too)
- Slow cooker
- Multi function Rice Cooker (you can cook rice, soup, porridge, casserole, or even for steaming). Some rice cooker allows you to set the time you want the food to be ready. How smart!
- Microwave (to defrost and heat up the food)
- Oven (for baking)

3. Get some knowledge
Old folks will tell you that it's bad if you don't feed your baby fresh food.. Well, errr... hmm... it really depends on how you store the food. My simple guideline: cook the food thoroughly, cool it, keep it in clean air-tight containers, store in the refrigerator (max 3 days) or in the freezer (up to one week). Storing in an air-tight container & keeping it in the fridge/ freezer will prevent oxidation and therefore preserve the nutrients. So if you can't cook everyday, cook in batch! It's definitely better than giving your baby other food from the shelves.

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So today, this is what I prepare:

Purees:
1. Steamed green and yellow zucchinis for 10mins with the steamer.
2. Cool them quickly
3. Blend them together
4. Divide into 5 portions and keep in air-tight containers
5. Keep 3 in the refrigerator and another 2 in the freezer (I usually put the batches purees in one big air tight container in the freezer together with my expressed breastmilk, but since I'm not pumping anymore, I find that container too big. So temporarily, I use a ziplock bag, to double make sure the food remains fresh).

Porridge:
1. Cook brown rice & millet in a slow cooker
2. Cool it down
3. Divide into 3 portions & put in air tight containers
4. Keep them in the fridge
OK I seldom freeze porridge, cos it's too easy to cook, I can just dump all the ingredients (usually multi grains & meat) into the slow cooker before leaving to work, and come home with nice smooth hot porridge.

I heat up the purees, then mix it with the porridge before serving. So I can prepare 2-3 different purees on the same day and I can alternate them throughout the week (if it's the 1st time you're feeding your baby that particular food, make sure you feed the same food for 3-4 days consecutively, to identify allergies if there's any).

So this is Caedy's dinner for the next 4 days! Easy!
So mommy, don't keep telling yourself you can't do it, because you can...

Go ahead and try... Take out your organizer and start planning today! :)
(Note: http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/ is a very good website about baby food).