Why Is Homemade Food Better For Your Baby?

When preparing homemade food for your child you can make a careful selection of ingredients, thus avoiding undesirable foods such as sugar.

Maybe preparing homemade food for your baby can take much longer than just buying a puree or a processed fruit puree, but do you think that both have the same nutritional properties?

Without a doubt, homemade food is healthier and is free of artificial substances that the baby’s body does not need. If you need additional reasons to start cooking children’s meals at home, here are some of them:

The advantages of preparing homemade food for your baby

• You will know what exactly you are giving your child. You will take care of each of the ingredients so that they are fresh, clean and properly prepared.

• It is cheaper than buying processed foods. It generally costs less to purchase the items for each of the recipes than to purchase ready-made meals from the market.

• You can choose the flavors and foods you want. You will have complete freedom to choose the fruits and vegetables that you like the most, it is not necessary to limit yourself to the options that you find on a shelf.

• The baby gets used to eating the same foods as the rest of the family. When preparing homemade food for your baby, you can give them the same food that you eat, in small portions and smaller pieces. In the long term it becomes a great benefit to establish eating habits.

• It contains many more nutrients. The fruits and vegetables that you include in your baby’s homemade meals are rich in antioxidants, fiber, vitamins and minerals. With a food prepared at home, children receive a quality source of all these essential elements for good health. Remember that certain substances, such as omega 3 fatty acids, are essential for its development, as stated in an article published in the journal “BMC Pediatrics”.

• Artificial substances are minimized. Not only do foods contain unnatural chemicals and elements; Containers used to store prepared meals can also be loaded with substances unwanted by children. Fresh and organic food is free of pesticides, fertilizers and other agents that alter its natural composition.
• In many cases, baby formulas usually contain a large amount of sugar. This nutrient can negatively affect your child’s metabolic health, according to a 2018 study.

Tips for preparing homemade meals

• Use fresh ingredients. Tender meats, grains, vegetables and fruits, fresh or frozen and raw, are excellent allies for your recipes. Avoid buying canned goods that contain extra salt and are not as healthy for the baby.

• Optimize time. If you don’t want to prepare food every day, you can cook, cut and marinate a good amount of fruits and vegetables and store them in your freezer so that they are fresh for use.

• It varies in the ingredients you use. By making food at home, it is much easier to make changes to conventional recipes. Play with the ingredients so that your children learn to try different foods and choose the ones they like the most.

• Get suitable containers to keep food until the next time you eat it. If you want to save time, you can process large portions of fruits and vegetables that do not spoil easily. The secret is to do it in the right containers so that you don’t run the risk of bringing spoiled expired food to your table.

The steps to cook at home saving time and money:

• Wash the food, your hands and the kitchen utensils with which you are going to prepare each of your meals very well
• Remove the peels and rinds of the fruits and vegetables that you are going to include in the preparations
• The healthiest ways to cook are to bake, steam or roast the ingredients so that they retain their properties for longer.
• Use a food processor to spend less time than you would cutting with a knife. When using the food processor, include a little liquid to give the food a smoother texture.
• Store your cut and crushed ingredients in vacuum-packed bags, so they will last longer and you can use them the next day in another of your recipes.

• To make your recipes even more nutritious, you can use breast milk; In addition to the macronutrients that are present in the natural ingredients that you use, you will be giving your child one of the foods that provide the most benefits to their body.

Prepare homemade food instead of buying it processed

As you can see, it is much better option that you prepare your child’s food at home than that you resort to buying a processed product. In this way you will be aware of the ingredients that make up the preparation for the baby and how they have been treated.

You also ensure the absence of simple sugars and additives that can damage your health in the medium and long term. With a good organization and using conservation methods, it will be easy for you to prepare all your meals without taking too much time from your other chores.