Wic baby food recipes

WIC Homemade Baby Food Recipes

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On this page:
Preparing Baby Food
Storing Baby Food

Baby Food Recipes: Carrots and Apples | Sweet Potato Chicken | Mix & Match Meal | Babies like trying new combinations

Related pages:
Infant Food Recipes
WIC Recipes

Preparing Baby Food

Equipment Needed: A blender or food processor works best for making early foods smooth. As your baby moves on to more textured foods, a fork or food grinder is often all that is needed. Inexpensive baby food grinders are available in the baby departments of discount stores and on the Internet. Make sure all equipment and work surfaces are clean before you start.

Fruits: For soft ripe fruits such as bananas, peaches, pears and avocados, simply remove any seeds and peels; then purée, grind or mash.

For other fresh or frozen fruits:

Wash, peel and cut into small pieces.
Add 1 cup fruit to 1/4 cup boiling water in pan or microwave-safe container.
Cover, reduce heat and cook slowly until tender.
Next, purée, mash or grind the cooled fruit, adding water, juice, breastmilk or formula for desired consistency.

Peeled and chopped canned fruits packed in fruit juice can be prepared without additional cooking.

Vegetables: Wash, peel and slice fresh vegetables or frozen vegetables without added seasonings. Boil or microwave vegetables in covered container with 1/2 to 1 inch of water until they are tender.

Purée, grind or mash with some of the cooking water.

Meats/Protein: Remove skin, bone, fat and gristle. Cut in 1/2-inch cubes and place in cooking pan. Add water just to cover and heat until boiling. Reduce heat and cook slowly until very tender. (High heat makes meat tough.)

Purée or grind, adding cooking liquid, breastmilk, formula or water for desired consistency.

For cooked egg, cooked fish or cooked dry beans, purée, grind or mash finely with a fork. Add liquid for desired consistency if needed.

Storing Baby Food

Refrigeration
Store in tightly-covered containers and place in coldest part of the refrigerator for no more than 2 days. Meats, eggs, fish and chicken should be used within 1 day.

Freezing
Food Cube Method - Place puréed/mashed food into ice cube trays or a paper cupcake liners.

"Plop" Method - "Plop" spoonfuls of puréed/mashed food onto a cookie sheet.

Cover food with plastic wrap or foil and freeze.

Once frozen, put food portions in labeled and dated freezer bags. Store in the freezer for up to 1 month.

Before Mealtime, take out the food you want to serve. Thaw it in the refrigerator or in a microwave on defrost setting.

Reheating
Completely reheat refrigerated or frozen baby food to at least 165° before feeding. Allow food to cool to lukewarm. Stir the food and test its temperature to make sure it is not too hot before serving to baby. Throw out any uneaten leftover food in the baby's dish or the serving dish.

Carrots and Apples

1 cup carrots, peeled and sliced
1 medium apple, peeled, cored and cut in quarters
1/4 cup water

1 Combine carrots, apple and water in a baking dish or microwave-safe container.

2 Cover and bake for 45 minutes at 350°F or microwave for 8 minutes on high, until tender.

3 Purée or mash with a fork, adding cooking liquid for desired consistency.

Sweet Potato Chicken

1 small sweet potato
1/4 cup cooked chicken cut into bite-size pieces
1/2 cup cooked brown rice
1/2 cup breastmilk, water or prepared formula

1 Wash and bake sweet potato in oven 50 minutes at 425° or microwave for 5 minutes on high heat until soft throughout.

2 Peel and combine with chicken, rice and liquid (breastmilk, water or prepared formula).

3 Blend, mash or grind until as smooth as desired.

Mix & Match Meal

1 cup cooked, cubed or diced meat
1/2 cup cooked rice, potato, noodles or macaroni
3/4 cup cooked, diced vegetables
3/4 cup breastmilk, water or prepared formula

1 Combine and blend, grind or mash until as smooth as desired.

Beef, peas, and potatoes
Chicken, broccoli, and rice
Beef, squash, and macaroni

Babies like trying new combinations:

Apples and sweet potato
Banana and avocado
Beef and barley
Sweet potato and papaya
Carrots and potato
Butternut squash and corn
Chicken and rice

Updated Monday, 12-Sep-2022 16:13:12 CDT

WIC Infant Food Recipes - Minnesota Department of Health

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WIC provides pureed, jarred infant foods and infant cereal until one year of age. As babies get older, they are ready for foods with more texture. They prefer finger foods over pureed foods. This page contains practical tips for offering the WIC infant foods to older infants.

On this page:
Ideas and Tips for Jarred Infant Foods
Storing Leftover Infant Food
Recipes Using Infant Cereal (suitable for infants over 6 months of age): Cereal Pancakes | Rice Pudding | Meat Balls | Baby Finger Puffs

Related pages:
Homemade Baby Food
Other WIC Recipes

Ideas and Tips for Jarred Infant Foods

Here are some ways to offer the WIC jarred infant foods to older infants:

Make table meats moister:

Mix infant applesauce with finely chopped chicken.
Add infant beef to shredded, slow cooked beef.
Bake meatballs or meatloaf made from ground meat and an infant meat. Cut to appropriate size for infant.

More flavor: Add jarred fruit to infant cereal or to regular oatmeal.

Boost the nutrition:

Add jarred peas to mashed potatoes.
Try baked squash with jarred apple sauce.

Add-ins for main dishes:

Stir in some pureed carrot to vegetable beef soup or stew.
Add baby sweet potato puree to a pasta dish or cooked macaroni and cheese.
Use a jar of vegetables as a sauce over rice.

Make a "dinner":

Beef, peas, and small chunks of potatoes
Chicken, rice, and small chunks of cooked broccoli
Beef, squash, and macaroni

Easy snacks:

Mix jarred fruit puree with yogurt or cottage cheese.
Dip small pieces of soft fruit into fruit puree.

Storing Leftover Infant Foods

If you have placed a spoon in an open jar or container after it was in your baby’s mouth, you need to throw it out. If it’s unopened, unused, or untouched; it can be reused!

Store your leftover WIC infant food in small containers with a tight seal. This allows you to portion out just a bit at a time to avoid waste. You can refrigerate leftovers for 3-5 days or freeze them for up to 4-6 months. Use ice cube trays to make small cubes, once they are frozen, transfer the cubes to a freezer-safe bag. Labeling the bag with the date and what is inside is helpful.

Reheating
Completely reheat refrigerated or frozen baby food to at least 165° before feeding. Allow food to cool until lukewarm. Stir the food and test its temperature to make sure it is not too hot before serving to baby. Throw out any uneaten leftover food in the baby's dish or the serving dish.

Cereal Pancakes

1 cup flour
½ cup baby cereal (rice or oatmeal)
1(4 oz) jar of infant bananas (may use another fruit)
1 Tablespoon melted margarine or butter
3 egg yolks (the yellow part of the egg)
¼ teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
1 cup water or apple juice

Instructions
Mix all ingredients except the water/juice in a bowl. Slowly add the water/juice to make a batter. Lightly oil a skillet or frying pan, and then heat it up on the stove. When skillet is hot, carefully pour about ¼ cup of the batter into the skillet. When the pancake starts to cook, it will form little bubbles on top. After you see a few bubbles and it starts to look dry on top, take a spatula and flip the pancake over so it can cook on the other side, about 2-3 minutes.

Allow it to cool before you serve it to your baby. If your skillet is big enough, you can make more than one pancake at a time.

Makes approximately twelve 4" pancakes.

Store leftovers in a container or freeze for later use.

Apple Rice Pudding

1 cup prepared infant rice cereal
1 cup vanilla (or plain) yogurt
2 (4 oz) jars infant applesauce (may use another fruit)
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions
In a large bowl, combine the rice cereal and applesauce. Stir in the cinnamon and yogurt, mixing well. Spoon the pudding into dishes and serve.

Meat Balls

1 ¼ pound lean ground beef or turkey or chicken
½ cup baby cereal (rice or oatmeal)
1 cup of shredded white cheddar or mozzarella cheese
1 (4 oz) jar of pureed baby food vegetables.
1 egg beaten
Pinch of spice such as pepper, garlic powder, and oregano

Instructions
Place cereal and jar of vegetable in bowl and mix together until smooth. Add remaining ingredients to bowl and mix with hands until well combined. Scoop out small portions of the meat ball mixture and form into balls the size of small eggs.

Place the meat balls on a baking sheet and bake in a 400° oven until brown and cooked through (approximately 20-25 minutes). Wash your hands and kitchen surfaces well before and after working with raw meat.

Baby Finger Puffs

Spinach & Apple Puffs
1/2 cup rice cereal, single grain
2 large egg yolks
1/2 cup or 1 (4 oz) jar of pureed applesauce
1 cup spinach
2 tablespoon milk
1 tablespoon butter, unsalted
1 teaspoon baking powder

Sweet Potato Puffs 1/2 cup rice cereal, single grain
2 large egg yolks
1/2 cup or 1 (4 oz) jar of pureed sweet potato
1/4 cup or 1/2 (4 oz) jar of pureed applesauce
1 tablespoon butter, unsalted
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Instructions for making either puff recipe
Preheat oven to 350 F and line cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth.
Pour batter into a plastic zip-top bag and cut a tiny tip off one bottom corner.
Squeeze the batter from the corner hole onto the lined cookie sheet in small dots.

Bake at 350 F for 10 minutes, then lower the heat to 250 F and bake 20 minutes more.

Remove from oven and allow to cool. Pick up the parchment paper to loosen the puffs and pour into a glass storage container. Repeat steps 6-8 until you've used up all the batter.

Be sure the puffs are cool completely before storing in a zip seal bag or covered container.

Updated Monday, 12-Sep-2022 16:27:06 CDT

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Healthy Eating - Community Food Bank of Greater Pittsburgh

Why Healthy Eating Matters

When we asked the people we serve about the foods they want and should offer in the food pantries, they said fresh fruit and vegetables, chicken, eggs and milk.

We call these foods high value because they have a high nutritional value and because they tend to be more expensive at the grocery store. By providing valuable food, we ensure everyone has access to nutritious food and supports the long-term health and well-being of communities. This is important because we know that people who are food insecure have a higher risk of developing diet-related chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, overweight and obesity. Nutritional diseases are diseases that can be prevented, treated or reversed through a healthy diet that includes a variety of high-value foods.

68%

respondents reported that someone in their family struggles with high blood pressure

56%

reported that someone in their family struggles with being overweight or obese

54%

reported that someone in their family struggles with prediabetes or type 2 diabetes

47%

reported that someone in their family struggles with high cholesterol

57%

report that it is difficult to obtain fresh fruits and vegetables in their area

83%

report that fresh fruits and vegetables are usually too expensive to buy

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How to Understand the Nutrition Information Label

The Nutrition Facts label provides all the nutritional information you need to make healthy food choices.

MyPlate

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Pennsylvania Nutrition Healthy Pantry Initiative

The Community Food Bank of Greater Pittsburgh is working with other food banks across the state to increase the number of healthy food and drink options available in food pantries and encourage consumption of these foods through environmental change as well as direct nutrition education such as healthy food tastings, demonstrations, recipes and activities

Power Up

Adagio Health's Power Up Nutrition Education Program encourages students, adults, seniors and communities to make healthier food choices and lead an active lifestyle.