Baby food is a multi-million dollar
industry at this point, with dozens of brands to choose from at the grocery
store and flavors ranging from basic fruit purees to multi-ingredient combinations
designed to appeal more to the parent than to the health of the child. And
while we know that these packaged and processed food are no better than their
adult counterparts, we can’t resist the convenience of simply buying
over-the-counter. After all, having a baby and caring for him or her is a
handful enough; adding baby food preparation to the mix just seems like too
much additional work sometimes. But as it turns out, there are plenty of
advantages to preparing your own baby food; a lot more than people realize.
You don’t need fancy equipment to make
your own baby food; all you really need are fresh ingredients. You can use the
blender or the food processor you already have. You can even use a basic
steamer or a pot of boiling water and a fork and sieve. And it’s not as
difficult or as time consuming as you think, especially with the right know-how
and storage techniques. In fact, chances are you already have everything that
you need to make healthy and wholesome food for your little one, which brings
us to the first advantage of cooking your own baby food.
Preparing food for your baby at home is
so much more affordable than buying them ready-made at the store. How much does
one large sweet potato cost? A dollar? How about a carrot? Your baby doesn’t need
a lot when it comes to food and even a single piece of vegetable can last for a
while. Store them in properly sealed bottles and you can be set for a week,
interchanging with other fruit and vegetable purees for every meal. Add up the
dollars saved and you’ll find you’ve saved a lot of money and you’ve given your
baby the healthier option to boot.
The second advantage is pretty evident,
especially since we’ve been reiterating it since the beginning of the book –
cooking your own baby food is the healthy choice. There are plenty of adults
who are already shying away from processed and pre-packed food because of the
amount of unknown ingredients and preservatives that are in them so why would
you offer your baby any less? The point of the matter is when someone else
prepares your food for you, you don’t know what goes into it and not knowing
exactly what your child is eating is the last thing that any concerned parent
wants.
Also, when you are planning and
preparing your baby food, you also inevitably end up paying much more attention
to your baby’s diet than you would have if you bought bottled food from the
store. And it paves the way for making healthier meals, even as your baby gets
older. When you get them started on good, farm-to-stove food from the beginning,
you won’t find them craving for TV dinners or snack packs. Start them young and
they will learn to appreciate and enjoy real food that’s both delicious and
healthy.
Here’s another important point; a lot of
parents turn to homemade baby food after learning that a lot of the bottled
baby food you’ll find in the stores are cooked at extremely high temperatures.
That’s to make sure that all the bacteria is dead but it also kills off most of
the vitamins that you want from fruit and vegetable purees, along with active
enzymes that have a lot to offer to your baby’s growth and development.
Your baby is at that age when growth and
development is racing, going on full speed, and every step counts. You would be
surprised at how much is decided in terms of physical and brain development
happens long before your baby learns to crawl or walk. That’s why it’s so
important to give his or her body the right kind of fuel to push against those
boundaries and to grow as strong and healthy as he or she can be.
Don’t worry; you aren’t a terrible
parent if you find yourself reaching for bottled baby food at the grocery store
when you run out or for emergencies. It is by no means an all-or-nothing
decision. But you’ll find that our recipes are very easy to follow and are designed
to not be time consuming or inconvenient. In fact, you may find that you’ll
start leaning towards just preparing those quick purees to save yourself the
time and effort and a few dollars too. At first, you may find yourself mixing
it up with store-bought food and homemade baby food, but the more you get used
to preparing your baby food right at home, you’ll look for those bottled food
less and less because preparing baby food from the same food that you and your
family already eat and keep in the kitchen will become the easier, healthier,
and more economic choice.
This is an excerpt from the book: Homemade Healthy Baby Food Recipes and Cookbook
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