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5 No-Cook Baby Purees is by Sara Keli at Kid Magazine at kidmagazine.com.au
Starting solids is an exciting milestone for baby to reach. Seeing their eyes light up as they hungrily reach for some flavours while blowing others out of their mouth faster than you can ask, “more?”. And then the shine of the newly reached milestone dulls. Yes, they need three meals (plus endless snacks) a day and they want it every. Single. Day.
To help keep your sanity you need a strategy. I have a couple of tricks I use. The first is to batch cook and freeze different baby foods that I can easily pull out of the freezer. And the second is to have a repertoire of no-cook ideas that I can blitz and serve. Kind of like the baby version of vegemite toast for dinner…
Banana and avocado by themselves are both great no-cook baby food options but babies generally love when they are combined. Best made fresh because neither banana nor avocado keep very well (and avocado doesn’t freeze well). Blend half a small banana with a quarter-half of an avocado, depending on your baby’s appetite.
If your baby wakes up and wants breakfast immediately, try preparing some oats the night before. Pop 1/4 cup traditional oats, with 1/4 cup baby’s regular milk, 1/2 an apple or pear (peeled and grated) and 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon in a container. Stir to combine and place in the fridge overnight. In the morning the oats will be soft and sweet and you can puree to the right texture for your baby.
As summer approaches and stone fruit starts filling the shelves you have a plethora of no-cook puree options. Peach and mango is one of my favourites. Puree the flesh of one whole mango with the flesh from 1-2 peaches. A fruit puree like this can be eaten on it’s own or stirred through yoghurt or custard. It will freeze well so you can stock the freezer at the end of summer. This puree is also perfect to add to smoothies for mum or bub.
Frozen peas are a staple in my kitchen because they are so easy to add to almost any meal. For babies, defrost a quarter of a cup of frozen peas and puree with one tablespoon of ricotta or cream cheese. This actually makes a really delicious side dish for the rest of the family, especially if you can’t get them to eat whole peas.
How delicious is watermelon? I buy whole watermelons, cut them up when I get home and keep it in the fridge for quick snacks. If you need a quick dessert for baby puree a bit of the watermelon and stir it through some plain Greek yogurt. Instead of yogurt you could also mix the watermelon with other fruit purees that you might have on hand like apple or pear.
About Sara
Sara Keli is the Editor and Chief Kid of Kid Magazine, a digital magazine and blog full of inspiration and empowerment for mums to help them find more time for the fun stuff with their kids. She lives in Sydney with her husband and two daughters and when she isn’t writing, designing or creating she can be found enjoying the sunshine in the backyard or escaping into a good book.
What are your go-to recipes for no-cook baby purees?
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