Microwave steamer baby food
Can You Make Baby Food in the Microwave? – Anyday
News FoodIt’s Easy, Baby: How to Make Baby Food in the Microwave
The days of colorful jarred baby food seem to be over as more and more families turn to home-cooked meals for their infants. Making your own baby food fresh does have multiple benefits: You can control exactly what goes into it (no surprise sugar or additives), you can pick fresh, organic, in-season ingredients, and you can customize baby’s meals to his or her tastes.
There’s a lot of options when it comes to baby food makers on the market. Oftentimes, these appliances are all-in-one: they steam and then purée the food. But like many all-in-one appliances, these baby food makers are difficult to clean. Plus, they can only be used for one thing: to make baby food (obviously).
Chances are you already have the most powerful tool for making baby food in your kitchen: the microwave. Baby food is made incredibly easy with Anyday’s microwave cookware — and you can make much more than just baby food with it.
Here’s why and how to use the microwave to make your little one’s meals.
Why the microwave makes great baby food
Steam is the key to making baby food
Whether you’re making puréed baby food or doing baby-led weaning, the food needs to be soft enough to blend or for your baby to eat with their gums, with little to no oil. This means that steaming is the best option when it comes to cooking fruits and veggies for your baby. The microwave’s superpower is generating steam: It vibrates the water molecules in the produce itself, which heats them up and creates steam.
But you can’t just throw some broccoli into the microwave and expect it to come out tender. That’s where Anyday comes in. The glass dishes with airtight lids trap moisture and create a steam chamber to gently cook food, making soft fruits and veggies perfect for blending or for baby to eat with their hands (cut up, of course!).
Cleanup is a breeze
Other baby food makers have multiple compartments that need to be cleaned by hand. Anyday’s dish and lid are also dishwasher-safe, so you barely need to think about cleanup. The interior is made of polished glass, so even if you don’t have a dishwasher, food comes off easily with soapy water.
Microwave is the healthiest method of cooking
Yes, you read that right. Studies done by Harvard University, Cornell University, and many others have proven that the microwave actually keeps more nutrients in your food than other cooking methods. It makes sense — the microwave cooks at low heat, for a very short time, with no extra water, all of which preserves nutrients!
How to make baby food in the microwaveMake sure you’re following CDC’s guidelines for introducing new foods
Many parents start feeding their child solid foods at around six months. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has some helpful guidelines for safely introducing new foods into your baby’s diet.
Rinse your produce under cold water
It’s important to get your fruits and vegetables clean for baby, but that little bit of water also helps produce steam in the microwave. That’s right, no need to dry — just chop and throw everything into the Anyday and close the lid.
Cut your ingredients before cooking
The smaller you cut your ingredients, the faster they’ll cook in the microwave. Microwaves penetrate only the outer few centimeters of food, so if you cut your fruits and veggies to be a few centimeters in width, they’ll be done in a flash.
Introduce some grains
Try adding healthy grains to your baby’s food, like quinoa or oats. They’re also great cooked in the microwave. Check out our complete guide for cooking grains in the microwave, then add them to your baby’s purées.
Always lift the knob on your Anyday lid before cooking
Anyday’s lids are tight-fitting to trap heat and steam, but also have a knob to release excess steam to ensure the pressure doesn’t build.
Lifting the knob before cooking is super important to allow that extra steam to escape. Otherwise, the lid may lift a bit — a safety feature we purpose-built — letting off too much steam. Rest assured, Anyday will never explode in your microwave.
Use an immersion blender for ease
Hauling out your countertop blender can be a hassle. Immersion blenders are easy to clean and allow you to make your purée right in the Anyday dish! Just place the blade on top of chunks you want to smooth out.
Have fun and play around with different ingredients
The good news about baby food is that it’s super easy to customize! Experiment with different combinations of fruits, veggies, dairy, grains, and even meat for well-balanced meals for your baby.
Looking for more inspiration? Here are some suggestions:
Author
Danielle Walsh
Danielle is the Brand Marketing Director at Anyday and a former food journalist, working for publications such as Bon Appétit, AFAR, and New York Magazine.
She loves experimenting in the kitchen and finding new ways to cook.
Microwave Cooking Homemade Baby Foods - Using a Microwave to Cook Baby Food
If there is one thing that may be missing in The Wholesome Baby Food Guide book, it’s instructions for how to cook each recipe in the microwave.
I believe in baking, roasting, sauteing, or steaming the foods that I feed to my family. Now please, don’t feel like you should tell me to take off my tinfoil hat (and tinfoil should never be used in the microwave – safety reminder!) because really, I don’t believe that the microwave will short circuit and/or re-wire my brain, fry my ovaries and/or cause my eyeballs to melt.
There are many “studies” that have been done claiming that microwaves will kill you, fry your internal organs, deplete all the nutrients from foods etc and so on. Other studies show that microwave cooking actually helps retain nutrients in many foods and show that microwave cooking is 100% safe.
Most of the dangers, if you please, can come from using the wrong containers when cooking in the microwave. Even in 2013, there are still no reputable longitudinal studies that have been published that show that microwave cooking is or is not harmful.
I believe that the healthiest way to cook foods is by using the methods that people have been using for centuries, all the way back to when fire was first created and cooking vessels were crafted.
Baking or roasting foods is my first preference. Using dry heat, food is cooked evenly and retains the most nutrients and, the full spectrum of a food’s flavor is enhanced and brought out. Steaming foods is also a great way to cook a large amount of foods while at the same time retaining nutrients.
I don’t include many microwave instructions quite simply because microwave cooking is mostly inefficient when cooking for a family and is often done using the wrong types of bowls or trays or whatever people use to microwave their foods.
Think about this:
- How easy it is to roast a whole chicken. leg of lamb or beef roast in the microwave?
- Have you ever tried to microwave a 3 pound butternut squash?
- How about batch cooking; when was the last time you were able to cook 4 sweet potatoes, 2 butternut squashes and 3 apples into your microwave?
I use the microwave for heating up my morning coffee, hot coco or other small items like reheating soup or a black bean burger. If I am pressed for time, I will cook swet potatoes or other veggies in the microwave too. This is just the way I do it and the way I feel about using the microwave. So without further ado, here are some microwave cooking hints and tips for homemade baby food.
Safely Cook in the Microwave:
- Always cook foods in glass dishes or on glass plates.
- Never wrap foods in plastic wrap and then cook the foods
- Never use cheap plastic containers to cook in the microwave – they melt and melting plastic is not good for your baby or for any member of the family!
- Keep aluminum and steel out of the microwave as they can cause sparks and result in fires
I have found that these methods work best when you are using the microwave to cook foods:
- When cooking sweet potatoes or even white potatoes, wet them and then poke holes in them with a fork – the moisture helps keep the foods moist and helps to speed cooking (as is my experience)
- Peel and cube or chop & dice foods like apples, potatoes, butternut squash, peaches, carrots etc
- Do not soak foods in a cooking liquid such as water, a little water will go a long way.
For example, use a 1/4 cup water for 2 cups of chopped carrots - Cooking times will always vary so begin with a 5 or 10 minute interval and then continue cooking the food in intervals
- Use a glass plate to cover the glass dish you are cooking in so that eruptions don’t dirty your microwave and the heat is trapped to help faster cooking
- To cook meats for baby food, cube the meat and then add in a bit of water to help retain tenderness
- Always allow any food or liquid that you have cooked or heated in the microwave to cool before serving.
- Thoroughly stir foods to avoid any “hot spots” that could cause burns
Microwave Sweet Potato Puree for Babies – Peeled and Cubed
- 1 Large Sweet Potato
- 1/2 to 1 cup of water
- 1/4 tsp. cinnamon (optional)
- drip of vanilla (optional)
- Wash and scrub the sweet potato clean
- Peel sweet potato
- Cut sweet potato into 1 inch chunks
- Place sweet potato chunks in a large glass microwaveable cooking dish
- Pour water over sweet potatoes and add spices if using, stir to combine
- Cover dish with glass plate
- Microwave for 10 minutes on high
- Check sweet potatoes and continue to cook at 5 minute intervals until sweet potatoes are soft and tender.
Microwave Sweet Potato Puree for Babies – Peeled and Cubed
- 1 Large Sweet Potato
- 1/2 to 1 cup of water
- 1/4 tsp. cinnamon (optional)
- drip of vanilla (optional)
- Wash and scrub the sweet potato clean
- Peel sweet potato
- Cut sweet potato into 1 inch chunks
- Place sweet potato chunks in a large glass microwaveable cooking dish
- Pour water over sweet potatoes and add spices if using, stir to combine
- Cover dish with glass plate
- Microwave for 10 minutes on high
- Check sweet potatoes and continue to cook at 5 minute intervals until sweet potatoes are soft and tender.
When using the microwave, here are some tips from Harvard Medical School Health Publications :
- Most takeout containers, water bottles, and plastic tubs or jars made to hold margarine, yogurt, whipped topping, and foods such as cream cheese, mayonnaise, and mustard are not microwave-safe.
- Microwavable takeout dinner trays are formulated for one-time use only and will say so on the package.
- Don’t microwave plastic storage bags or plastic bags from the grocery store.
- A recycle symbol does not mean a container is safe to use or reuse in the microwave oven. Only a microwave-safe icon or wording to that effect does.
- Before microwaving food, be sure to vent the container: Leave the lid ajar, or lift the edge of the cover.
- Don’t allow plastic wrap to touch food during microwaving because it may melt. Wax paper, kitchen parchment paper, or white paper towels are alternatives.
- If you’re concerned about plastic wraps or containers in the microwave, transfer food to glass or ceramic containers labeled for microwave oven use.
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Steamer and microwave - what's the difference?
There are many different tools for quick cooking or simply delicious cooking if you know how to use them.
From innovative appliances like the air fryer and slow cooker to other inventions like the steam oven or microwave oven, it's helpful to understand how each one works and how they differ.
What is the difference between a steamer and a microwave oven? The main difference is that steam ovens use highly heated steam to cook food quickly and efficiently from the outside, while microwaves emit water molecules inside food to generate heat, cooking food from the inside.
In this guide, we take you through a complete overview of the steam and microwave oven.
Let's take a look at how each of them works, compare cooking time, cost, and even talk about the taste of food cooked with them.
Contents
- Steam and microwave ovens
- How they work
- Microwave
- Steamer
- Cooking time comparison
- Ease of use comparison
- Cost comparison
- Cooking performance comparison
- Conclusion
Steam and microwave ovens
Steam ovens are still quite new in the industry, so there is a lot to learn.
We're going to highlight specific categories of interest, and then break down the differences between the two instruments in each of those categories.
How they work
It's best to start with the basics. This is really what will dictate the food you can expect at the end. Understanding how each of these devices work is also an important part of understanding their differences. nine0003
Microwave
Let's start with the microwave. Over 90% of kitchens have a microwave oven. This is due to the fact that they are small, handy, and generally available at a price of .
Microwave ovens are known for being fast and convenient, as well as being versatile. There are many options to choose from and they can be bought to put on the counter or installed in cabinets and other places in the kitchen.
First of all, most microwave ovens generally operate in the same way, but some have different features or functions than others. They also have different power levels and capabilities.
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The microwave oven uses powerful radio waves. These waves are what cooks your food so fast .
Waves cook your food using radiation, so the microwave oven is designed to contain radiation.
Microwaves act on food molecules, effectively heating them and creating thermal energy .
They can cook, reheat, reheat, defrost and more . Microwave ovens don't need to be preheated, and they also don't stay hot like ovens do.
Microwave ovens are compact so they don't take up much space and are usually fairly easy to clean with regular maintenance. They are easy to understand and operate.
Steamer
Steamers are about the size of a microwave oven. There are some traditional ovens that actually have steam options, but a real steam oven is built just like a microwave oven. nine0003
They have been around for many years, but they are becoming more and more popular and are getting better over time.
Steamer combines radiant heat with superheated steam to cook and reheat food . Using steam provides a completely different approach that can sometimes be more effective as well as healthier.
When using steam, there is no need to preheat the appliance as in a microwave oven.
There are various cooking modes you can use and it works almost like a microwave oven in terms of simplicity and convenience, although it may take a little longer. nine0003
Here the steam helps to brown the food efficiently without drawing all the moisture out of the food, as the microwave oven does.
Cooking time comparison
When it comes to cooking time, the microwave is all about speed. It's quick and convenient and usually cooks or reheats food in minutes, sometimes seconds.
The steamer does not require preheating or anything like that, and it works quickly and conveniently. However, a steam oven will generally take longer than a microwave when compared to 9 cook times.
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Steam ovens are faster than traditional cooking ovens, but slower than microwave ovens, so this is something to know if time is of the essence.
Ease of use comparison
Both microwave and steamer are incredibly easy to use . In this category, they are quite competitive.
While both may have different options that include different features, sizes and styles, the end result is still easy to use. nine0003
Price comparison
The cost comparison between a microwave oven and a steam oven can depend on many different factors. For example, you can get a cheap and simple microwave that costs somewhere around $50.
This is great if you're on a budget or just need a quick approach. At the same time, there are microwave ovens with extra features and special models that can cost $1,000 or more!
As you can see, there is a wide range of prices for microwave ovens.
After all, with you can find a good microwave oven with good quality and good features for between $100 and $200 .
The steam oven is slightly more expensive than the microwave oven. Typically, the average price range for a steam oven is somewhere in the $2,000 to $4,000 range.
There are also high-end models that cost closer to $8,000. nine0003
At the same time as , you can find some simple countertop models that also cost closer to $500 . Ultimately, you can expect to pay a little more for a steam oven, regardless of the type of model you're looking at.
Cooking results comparison
When you compare how your food turns out, you will quickly fall in love with the steamer. The microwave oven is not known for producing quality results. nine0003
It's quick and convenient, but eventually the food will dry out or get soggy . While you can do a lot in the microwave, the end result isn't always amazing.
In comparison, a steam oven gives much better results due to the use of steam.
You can get crunchy steamed foods.
Your food will not be raw and eventually dry . You can also cook a wide variety of dishes, including pastries, just like you would in a microwave oven. nine0003
Conclusion
Steam ovens and microwave ovens are very similar in design. Both can be incredibly convenient, and either device certainly has its pros and cons.
In the end, they work completely different , but the steam oven is the clear winner if you're looking for the best cooking results.
Does the microwave spoil food?
Almost every house has a microwave oven, but sometimes we use it with caution - isn't it harmful - after all, there is electromagnetic radiation ... How does it affect a person and food? nine0008
Does the structure of food change in the microwave oven?
Some people believe that microwaves change food at the molecular level. In this case, vitamins and protein structure are destroyed, and the products themselves become carcinogenic.
First you need to understand how the microwave oven works. The magnetron can be considered the "heart" of the device, it emits short non-ionizing microwaves, such as are commonly used in cellular communications, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. These microwaves act on polarly charged water and fat molecules, which begin to spin, changing their position 5 billion times per second. They rotate randomly in different directions, colliding with each other, and as a result, they heat up themselves. The water inside the cells can even boil. But microwaves do not have enough energy to break molecular bonds and knock electrons out of atoms, only ionizing gamma waves, which we call radiation, can do. They certainly have nothing to do with the microwave. Well, so that the food does not become harmful, do not heat it in plastic or polyethylene, use special dishes for microwave ovens, preferably glass. nine0003
Does food lose vitamins after being microwaved?
On the contrary, the microwave oven is more gentle on food than other types of cooking.
For the experiment, one apple was baked in the microwave, and the other in the oven. And what do you think - in the first one there was 20% more vitamin C! Since the heating process is faster in a microwave oven, nutrients, including vitamins, are destroyed more slowly.
Scientists from Spain decided to test how the benefits of broccoli are preserved in several cooking options. In the first place in terms of benefits was a double boiler, in the second - a pressure cooker, in the third - a microwave oven. “In the pressure cooker, the amount of bioactive substances has decreased by 20%,” says Cristina Garcia-Viguera, professor at the Spanish Research Council. - In the microwave, we lost 80% of vitamin C and 50% of other components. Then we started to reduce the power from 1000 watts to 500 and found that in this case more vitamins were retained, even if the cooking was slower.” nine0003
Some scientists recommend cooking in the microwave, in particular red cabbage, because in this case more antioxidants anthocyanins are stored in it.
Microwaved cauliflower does not lose the antioxidant quercetin, while cooking does. And one more thing - cooking in a microwave oven reduces the number of bacteria, so this is a good way to disinfect food.
Is it safe to heat baby food in the microwave?
Some articles state that if infant formula or breast milk is heated in microwaves, the amino acid proline is converted into a toxin that can damage the baby's nervous system. All this is another myth. Here is what Olga Bagryantseva, a leading researcher at the Federal Research Center for Nutrition and Biotechnology, says about this: “Scientists conducted research and came to the conclusion that heating baby food and breast milk in the microwave is completely safe.” nine0003
Is it dangerous to stand next to a microwave oven?
They say it's very dangerous to be near this furnace - they say it irradiates us and increases the level of radiation. Environmental engineer of the test laboratory Anton Ayukasov measured the radiation from different microwave ovens.
They really are, but within reason! As a result of measurements, it was found that at a distance of 20 cm all radiation is absolutely safe. With increasing distance, the electromagnetic field weakens, and there was no more radiation within half a meter, where it is recommended to be during the operation of the equipment. In addition, it is no coincidence that a grid with microscopic holes, the so-called Faraday cage, is built into the microwave oven door, blocking electromagnetic studies. By the way, similar handbags are also produced for gadgets. The only threat can be a damaged grid of a microwave oven, altered in such a way that the microwave oven can work with the door open - this is sometimes done for spectacular experiments. Low-quality, faulty, and too old microwaves can leak radiation, so if you use such equipment, stand as far away as possible during its operation. nine0003
In general, a fully functional microwave oven studies energy no more than a Wi-Fi router. In addition, standards have been developed for manufacturers of microwave ovens to limit radiation, while the power density must be 5 mW / cm2 at a distance of 5 cm from the oven.
For comparison, the power density of most mobile phones is 10 mW/cm2. But for some reason, no one refuses mobile communications ...
Is it true that expensive microwave ovens are safer?
When comparing the electromagnetic radiation emitted by microwave ovens of different types, there are no differences between branded and budget models. However, some cheap microwave ovens from obscure brands have not performed very well in terms of electrical safety. nine0003
Will plants die if they are watered with microwave water?
Another myth is that water heated in a microwave should not be watered on plants, as they will die. Well, the water from the microwave oven was sent to the lab, and nothing special was found in it. Water heated in the microwave and then cooled is the same water before heating. Plants were watered with this water for a week, and they continued to grow and were not going to fade. In particular, in 2008, scientists conducted a study with chickpeas and found that water heated in a microwave even increased its growth and seed germination.
