mamanatural.com We know our baby is ready for solid foods. We know the top first foods to start baby on. Now, we want to know how to prepare and store our baby food. Begin with organics We want to use organic fruits and vegetables whenever possible. Yes, they are pricey but they are worth the investment for your little baby. If you need to use conventional, be sure to avoid the dirty dozen (www.organic.org and use a fruit and vegetable spray. Simple mash For some of our healthy baby first foods, all we need to do is peel and mash with a fork. No cooking required! This is true for our bananas, pears and avocados. Be sure to by these fruits ripe so it's easy for baby to digest. For younger babies, add water or breast milk to your mash to thin out consistency. Steaming your food For other healthy baby first foods like squashes and carrots, we'll need to steam these vegetables and then puree with blender. You can do this separately with a steam basket and immersion blender OR you can get a baby food maker that combines both of these functions like the Beaba (mamanatural.com Use filtered water when you steam and save the leftover water, which is loaded with vitamins and minerals, to thin out vegetable puree OR use it in a sippy cup for baby to practice hand/eye coordination. Be sure to cook your veggies long enough so they are super soft and easy to digest for baby. We'll also want to let them veggies cool to room temperature before we feed baby. Storing your food Once we've <b>...</b>