10 Ways to Save Time When Making Your Own Baby Food

One of the most common reasons given for NOT preparing homemade baby food is lack of time.

And yes – it CAN be tempting to reach for the baby food jars on hectic days, when making food for your little one feels like just one more chore.

But there ARE ways to shave off precious minutes here and there, making your life a whole lot easier. And when you watch your baby tucking into your homemade creations, you’ll be SO glad you took that extra little bit of time to prepare them just for him.

Here are our top ten, time-saving, baby-food-making tips, giving you more time to spend doing the things you love!

1. Cooking in ‘bulk’ is THE best way to produce large quantities of baby food in the least amount of time!

   Set aside an afternoon a week to cook and freeze your baby’s meals. Prepare a few different ingredients each week (for example, prepare sweet potato, squash and carrots one week, then pumpkin, swede and plantain the next).

   Then you can mix and match the ingredients over the coming weeks, as your baby’s tastes dictate.

2. Take a good look at the meal you’re preparing for the rest of the family. Can part of it be set aside for your baby?

   Try cooking your vegetables without salt – that way, they will be safe for your baby to eat and the adults can add salt later, if they wish.

   Foods like pasta can be saved for your baby and frozen in little portions – you can even top pasta shapes with your baby’s purees when he’s old enough to cope with more texture.

3. Whenever you are preparing ingredients for your own meal (chopping veggies, grating cheese etc), prepare more than you need and refrigerate the rest for future use in your baby’s food.
4. Make the most of foods that don’t need any preparation – bananas and avocados are perfect examples – just mash with a fork and serve!

   Or try our ‘no cook’ Tuna, Melon and Avocado Salad recipe.

5. Use a melon baller to core apples – it makes the job very quick and easy!
6. Use a good food processor!

   Yes, you can push food through a sieve… but a quick blitz in the food processor is SO much easier!

   We also like using a hand blender, as food can be pureed right in the pot in which it was cooked… one less thing to wash up!

7. If you store your baby’s food in bags after freezing it in an ice cube tray, it’s important to mark the bags with the date of preparation and the contents.

   Do this in advance, in comfort, when you have a quiet (!) moment – or delegate this job to an older sibling!

8. Always cut up your fruits and veggies before your meat – otherwise you’ll have to stop to wash up the chopping board!
9. If you’re cooking potatoes for your baby, scrub them thoroughly then peel them AFTER you have cooked and cooled them. The skins will slip off easily.

   We also like to part bake foods like butternut squash BEFORE peeling – the skin is so much easier to remove as the flesh begins to soften up.

10. Investigate the art of One Pot Cooking. It’s one of our favourite ways to save time!

Have YOU discovered some great ways to save time in the kitchen? Please do leave a comment and share your tips!