In the quest to decide whether to feed your baby jarred food or homemade baby food, deciding what you will do about meat can be a tricky venture. Their little gums are not yet able to chew tougher, chunky pieces of meat, but the thought of pureeing meat sounds a little daunting. Meat is a fantastic first food as it is an excellent source of iron, which starts depleting in a baby’s body at around six months of age. So how do you offer meat to those gummy little grins? As it turns out, making meat into baby food is quite simple, and takes very little time and effort.
The Decision to Make Meat into Baby Food
This is one area where I actually planned to use jarred baby food, and ended up making my own. The thought of pureeing meat sounded quite awful as far as I was concerned. My trip to the baby food aisle had me changing my mind pretty quickly. The jars of just plain chicken or beef, without added vegetables or pasta, were $1.50 for a small jar! And the ingredient list included spices, but didn’t say which spices. Maybe I’m a little picky but I like to know exactly what I am feeding my baby. I didn’t want to buy the casserole-type meats because I hadn’t yet introduced pasta and white potatoes into her diet.
Making Poultry and Meats into Baby Food
I ended up buying some extra-lean ground beef, and chicken breasts. I poached the chicken to keep it from getting dry, cut it into pieces, and pureed it in the blender with some water. The outcome was not pretty. It was like a runny chicken pudding. But my daughter ate it up no problem!
Pureed chicken has a slightly gritty texture when first made, but it changes once it has been frozen. I freeze the mixture in ice cube trays and once they have thawed, they have a firmer, flakier texture that is easy for baby to eat. For more information on the basics of making, storing, and serving baby food, see my article A General Guide to Making Homemade Baby Food.
I used the same method when making beef into baby food, only this time I fried the meat in a pan, rather than poaching it. I have also chopped up leftover pieces of roast beef and pureed with water. I found this tasted even better than ground beef. These methods can also be done using cooked pork. Pork tastes delicious with pureed sweet potatoes or applesauce. If you are interested in making vegetarian baby food, see my article Making Homemade Vegetarian Baby Food.
Making Meat into Baby Food is Economical and Easy
Making meat into baby food will most definitely keep some money in your wallet. It is so easy to cook a little extra when you are making dinner, and takes only seconds to puree in a blender. Making it this way allows you to control exactly what you are putting in your baby’s body. I encourage you to try this method as you embark on the adventure of making homemade baby food for your little one.
