Make Your Own Baby Food With a Grinder
Baby food is easy to prepare while fixing your own meals or to store for the baby’s daily meals. Using a blender is a lot of trouble for small portions of food. Another idea is a baby food grinder. They are available in styles where you use a hand crank or electric ones. They work like a blender but hold small portions and are easy to clean.
Babies can eat many of the foods we eat if they’ve been pureed. Try cooked carrots, peas, green beans and other vegetables in the grinder. Mix them together or make them separate. Simply put them in the food container and attach the grinding mechanism. Hand-grinders are simple because you give the machine a couple of cranks and the mashed food appears before you, ready to eat. If the food, after going through the grinder, appears too thick simply add a few drops of formula or milk, or even broth, depending upon the age of the child.
Vegetables are the easiest foods to prepare in the baby food grinder. Fruits like apples or pineapples are difficult to grind completely. The grinder will often leave “threads” of the pineapple that could cause baby to choke. Other fruits like pears and peaches do fine after the peeling is removed.
Use the grinder to mix foods together, such as oatmeal and peaches. Try mixing milk and mashed potatoes in the grinder when the baby is old enough for starches, to make the mashed potatoes a more appropriate consistency for the baby. The grinder can also make some cereals perfect for the baby. Cereal that is made like flakes can be put in the grinder with some fruit and milk and prepared for baby.
Some meats, like hot dogs or ground hamburger, can be placed in the baby food grinder but most meats are not suitable for baby grinders. Hamburger that has been made in spaghetti or other pastas will usually do okay in the grinder, though. Canned pasta meals are perfect for the baby food grinders. After grinding the food store the large portion in the fridge for later usage and serve a small portion now. Or, grind just a little for baby and serve the rest to older kids.
When you make your normal family dinner try to add side dishes, like macaroni and cheese, that can easily be put into the grinder, as you sit at the table. Most of the grinders have a “dish” that holds the food after it is ground, making it easy to feed baby at the table. Go online to find the grinders or check your local department store.
