Making Your Own Baby Food

Making your own baby food is healthy, easy and saves money.

Getting Started

Offer a variety of soft textures including lumpy, tender-cooked, finely minced, pureed, mashed and ground
Steam food because it keeps more nutrients in
The more you cook vegetables and fruit, the more nutrients are lost
Limit sugar and salt to food

Note: Offer lumpy foods no later than nine months.

Provide Protein, Iron, Zinc, and Vitamin B12

Bake, roast, steam, poach or boil until soft and well-done
If poaching or boiling, drain and keep the cooking water
Remove bones, skin and trim fat
Cut meat, chicken or fish into small pieces
Mash, grind or blend with breast milk or water (use reserved cooking water if boiled or poached) to desired thickness if you like
Give your infant small, soft, cooked pieces of meat, chicken and fish as finger foods

Cook eggs until well-done
Cut egg into small pieces
Blend, grind or mash eggs with breast milk or water to desired texture if you like
You can give your infant the small, pieces of cooked eggs as finger foods

Drain and rinse canned legumes OR cook dry legumes according to package directions
Mash to desired texture
If legume/lentils still has a semi-hard husk after cooking remove husk (pass it through as sieve) before offering

Provide Fibre, Folate, Vitamin A, and Vitamin C

Wash, peel and cut fresh vegetables and fruit or use frozen or canned vegetables and fruit
Boil, bake, microwave or steam vegetables and fruits until soft and drain
Mash, blend or press food through strainer to desired texture. Add breast milk or cooking water as needed
Cut the vegetables and fruit into small pieces and give the small, soft, pieces of cooked vegetables and fruit as finger foods

Note: Soft or canned fruits, such as mango, banana, avocado, ripe pears and canned peaches do not need cooking

Provide Fibre, Folate, Iron and B Vitamins

Iron-fortified (single grain) infant cereal, such as rice, oatmeal or barley
Small amounts of breast milk or water (as per preparation instructions on food label)

Add breast milk or water to cereal (as per preparation instructions on food label)
Stir

Store baby food in the refrigerator or freezer, to keep it from going bad.

Place baby foods into an ice cube tray OR put spoonfuls of baby foods on a cookie sheet
Cover ice cube tray or cookie sheet with plastic wrap or wax paper
When frozen, put in freezer bags and label with name and date
Store in a fridge freezer for up to two months and six months in a deep freezer

Thaw baby food in the refrigerator OR thaw over a small bowl of hot water. Do not refreeze once thawed
Always check the food’s temperature before feeding on the back of your hand to make sure it is not too hot
Do not use the microwave to heat baby food. The food heats unevenly and can cause burns
Offer your baby safe finger foods from six months of age such as soft-cooked vegetables and fruit; soft, ripe fruit e.g. bananas; finely minced, ground or mashed cooked meats, fish without bone, and poultry; grated cheese; crackers, bread crust or toast.

Bacteria can grow in food. Make sure to:

Heat only the amount of food the baby needs
Throw out any food that the baby does not eat
Put frozen food in freezer bags
Remove air from bag to prevent nutrient losses
Write the date and type of food on freezer bag
Use the food with the earliest date first
Do not offer honey or any foods made with honey, until your baby is older than 12 months of age, as consumption can cause botulism, a kind of food poisoning