How to Make Homemade Zucchini Baby Food

Why make your own baby food?

Many parents and care givers choose to make their own baby food:

To Save Money

No Added Sugars

No Preservatives

No Chemicals

No Dyes

When is Zucchini safe to introduce?

Zucchini is a safe food to introduce after you child is at least 6 months old. Once they are 8 months you may keep the skin in the puree. Before an infant is 8 months they are unable to digest the skin of a zucchini. However, the skin is where practically all of the nutrients are. This post will be for my son who is not yet 8 months, so the skin will be removed.


How to Make Homemade Zucchini Baby Food:

* First choose 2 small organic zucchinis. You want them to be small because they are the most tender.

* WASH your food! Even if its organic. Even if you will be peeling it. Then peel if you choose to.

Even if you are peeling it you HAVE to clean it. You might be thinking

"No way, you are just tossing the skin anyway!"

That is correct in the macro sense of things. But think of the micro sense; if you use a peeler or a knife and are cutting off the skin you are then pushing the dirty bits into the flesh of your food with every swipe.

* After peeling, chop them into small equal circles.

* Now you will steam or boil your zucchini. I placed mine into a small pot of water. I turned it to medium heat. Once at a nice rolling boil I turned it down to a low boil. Let it boil until soft.

* After they are soft, remove the cooked zucchini from the pot with a slotted spoon. You will want to save the water if you choose to make your puree ever thinner. This water has some of the nutrients from the vegetable so you would want to use this water over fresh filtered water when thinning.

You will place the zucchini in your blender. I will be using a Baby Bullet, but any blender will do the trick. I sometimes use a Cuisinart Hand Blender.

* Once it is at the consistency you desire you will place them into individual feeding containers. I will be using the containers which came with a Baby Bullet System but any Tupperware container will do. Make sure you NEVER feed your baby out of a container and put it back in the fridge. Once a spoon which has entered a mouth and was dipped back into the food the food now has bacteria in it which will cause you to be unable to reuse it later. If you will not use the whole container at the feeding simply move the quantity you desire into a different dish.

* You do not need to wait for the vegetable to completely cool before freezing or refrigeration (you do wait for meats to cool before freezing). If you are able to freeze them it will be like blanching. Your newly made puree will only be good for 24 hours in the refrigerator. If you want to keep some longer you can freeze them, which will keep for up to 30 days in a freezer, or up to 60 days in a deep freezer. I would suggest putting your containers IN a Ziploc freezer bag or into ANOTHER larger container to avoid freezer burn. Once you defrost a frozen container it is only good for 24 hours.

Make sure to label your food. I use a small piece of tape and a Sharpie to label. This way I can easily identify and rotate my food but not permanently mark my containers.

I hope your little one loves his or her new food experience!