Spinach Baby Food Recipe
Homemade Spinach Baby Puree Recipe for reusable food pouches by Little Mashies
Why is spinach a great baby food choice for reusable food pouches?
Giving your little Popeye spinach, you are providing him with lot of benefits: spinach has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects and thanks to a wealth of vitamin K it helps bone health too. So your baby won’t be immediately as strong as the Popeye character was, but your bub will be provided with all the health and vitality benefits needed for strength from an early age. For some reason many parents are scared to feed spinach to their kids. I think maybe it's from our own bad memories of sloppy food as children! Spinach doesn't have to be like that though. There are so many ways to make spinach attractive to kids but one of the best tips I have is just to start feeding green leafy vegetables like spinach to your babies as early on as possible because then they grow up with it, it's not a daunting task to introduce them to it. Spinach puree can be added to almost any meal. If you are using Little Mashies squeeze containers the monster works as a bit of a disguise if it is needed. For example if your little one wants a strawberry smoothie you can add a little spinach if it's served inside the Mashies squeeze pouch and they won't even know. It will still taste like strawberry but because they can't see the green they are none the wiser. To thicken spinach puree up for older babies, try adding a little mashed avocado.
Ingredients:
2 cups of spinach, stems trimmed
Instructions:
Step 1: Carefully wash the spinach and chop into 2cm pieces.
Step 2: Steam spinach until tender (about five minutes) in a stovetop steamer or a Beaba Baby Cook system. Drain, rinse with cool water for three minutes to stop the cooking process.
Step 3: Puree the spinach in a food processor or blender, using a little of the cooking liquid to get a desired smooth consistency (1 tablespoon). You can also use breast milk or formula to mix with the puree.
Step 4: If preparing your baby food recipe in bulk freeze the puree into ice-cube trays or spoon it straight into Little Mashies reusable food pouches and then store them in the fridge or freezer. For instructions on how to fill a refillable pouch you can read our blog. For info on how long to freeze specific baby foods for we have the information here.
Step 5: Label and date your homemade pouches so that you know when to use the puree by. There is a space on the back of the Little Mashies yoghurt and baby food pouches so that you can write all the details.
Step 6: To clean your reusable food pouches you can check out our Little Mashies video here. Little Mashies are see through when held towards light, so it is very easy to see that all of the food is washed out. Because of the specifically designed curved shape, all of the food washes straight out when held upside down under a tap. Little Mashies can also be used in the dishwasher and steam sterilisers, and are BPA free, Phthalate Free, and PVC free.
Want more Little Mashies reusable baby food pouch recipes?
Here is a selection of recipes from our bestselling Baby Food Recipe Book (see video flick through here). Right now, you can use the coupon code RECIPE to remove 100% of the price of the digital version (save $19.95). Simply add it to cart, apply the code, and pop in your details as though you were a paying customer. We only ask that if you have time after using our book could you please leave us a review. Thanks so much in advance!
For Baby Led Weaning recipe ideas
I still think puree spinach is great for any age. I honestly do. In baby led weaning the concept is that bubs pic up the food, feel it, play with it, put it in their mouths and suck little bits off but with spinach and other greens is this really possible? My daughter spat her baby spinach leaves out every single time, except when I put balsamic vinegar on them (then she licked that off first). But green leafy vegetables are essential for every human (babies, kids and adults) so thats why I think pureed greens are fantastic until bub eats leafy greens. Now I do have to stipulate here though..if you only ever give your child pureed greens how will they ever get used to normal leafy greens? So do a combo.. use a puree when you actually want to get the nutrition in, and always serve some leafy greens up (similar to how you would with an adult) after around 12-18mths of age, along with the pureed version! A lot of Little Mashies customers put things like spinach puree into our little Mashies reusable food pouches, or they blend it into smoothies and use our pouches for those. These are also good ideas but I warn you.. with food always do a variety of things. Don't get in the habit of only serving foods one way because then it's hard to break that habit.
Little Mashies reusable food pouch reviews
We Love Our Little Mashies
POSTED BY A CUSTOMER
We love our Little Mashies, my youngest has just started Kindy and has certain diet requirements. They love their Little Mashie in their lunch box, i often get told off if I choose the wrong colour...purple seems to be a favourite at the moment! It makes my life much easier. So easy to fill, clean and re use! Thank you :)
I Love That My Kids Can Choose The Pouch Color
POSTED BY LIZ FREDRICKSON
I love that my kids can choose the pouch colour they like. Very easy to clean and a good serving size. They make a great ice block for lunch boxes. I have added frozen berries to yoghurt and no issues getting out of the pouch. The name section is really handy and they look different enough my 4 yo packs them back in his lunch bag.
Children Love Them
POSTED BY PETRINA
I purchased these for my toddler nephews but found that my teenage children love having them as part of their lunch boxes too! I didn't predict that they would love them as much as the little ones do, especially when I freeze pureed mango.