Baby Food

I made my 1st daughter's baby food. It was fun until I got pregnant when she was 7 months old. I felt bad about not being able to keep up with it but I just could not. My 2nd and 3rd kiddos eat store bought food and I must say that it is very easy to go to the store and pick up that little jar and be done with it. I did both, homemade and store bought. The babies do not care. My advice to you would be to have fun making the food if you can. If it gets to be too big of a job do not feel bad about buying baby food. Do not miss out on play time and other important things because you are making food. Have fun! Time flies!!

Ditto to the other responses! Also if you go out to eat much or go to frieds houses you might like a babyfood mill. This is at Target.com, "Food Mill with Carrying Case $14.99". It works great for table ready food. We would grind up some of what we were eating & feed right out of the "bowl". It is easy to take apart & clean, including throwing it in the dishwasher!!

Bon Appetit, S. K

I made about half of all my son's food when he was ready. It really depends on the food. I suggest a small food processor and an old fashioned ice cube tray. The ice cube tray is for freezing the food. Make a ton, put it in the ice cube tray, when it is frozen put them in snack size baggies and take them out when needed. Easy ones:

Bananas=just mush real good (do not freeze)
apples=boil, process, freeze
plums=you can process pieces then strain
macaroni=boil longer then reccomended and process
most veggies=just boil, process, & freeze
potatoes=boil, mash, do not freeze

It depends on the food, but there are websites with more info

http://www.fabulousfoods.com/features/babyfood/babyfood.html
http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/

Hope this helps.

H. :-]

I have a almost 5 month old and I am going to try to make her baby food when she starts eating. Lots of people have told me about Super Baby Foods book. I am going to give it a try but it can't be to hard just steam and puree veggies.

I did this for both of my boys. I just used frozen veggies for most f it. You just cook them, and put it in the blender and add water to make it the consistency that you want. Some things you have to strain at the beginning, like corn and peas.

I have heard to steam veggies and then puree them in the blender or food processer and you can even freeze them in ice cube trays so as to have individual servings when you want to thaw them. There is a book called "Deceptively Delicious" for when you start to want to mix in pureed veggies in regular food if your child doesn't eat veggies well. But she tells how to steam and puree. I bet you could just get on the Internet and research. It seems easy, although I haven't ever done it! lol GOOD LUCK and KUDOS to you! I think that is great that you are doing that for your baby!

Sure, just getout your food processor or blender. Steam or bake the veggies... don't add salt, and when they are tender, throw them in the food processor and puree. It is as simple as that.

Super Baby Food is a good book to give ideas and what foods their little systems are ready for. But you can also just steam veggies and then puree them. Ice trays make a great way to freeze portions so that you have plenty made up ahead of time.

I always blended up a little of whatever we were having. You can google "baby food" and find several sites that are dedicated to making your own baby food.

Hi there! Two books that I found helpful for recipes and suggestions were Mommy Made (and Daddy too) by Martha and David Kimmel and Naturally Delicious Meals for Baby by Gerrie Hawes. Also, a big time saver for me was an electric steamer. It works much faster than the stovetop method and you are able to do several veggies/fruits at one time. As was already mentioned, organic is best.

We made all of my daughters food. She NEVER had a jar of baby food. It is really easy. Just get a mini food chopper and place in it whatever you are having for a meal. My daughter now eats a HUGE variety of foods. She doesn't know the difference between McD's and Chick Fil A restaurants. She mostly plays there but is not the kid who only asks for chicken nuggets. We love that about her. It makes it so much easier to go out to eat and to let her eat with friends and relatives.
I highly recommend doing it for your babies too!
It is really simple.
As a side note, we used the ice cube tray method too....blend up more than your child will eat and freeze it for convenience later. We just left them in there long enough to freeze and then put them in a ziploc bag.
Hope this helps!

I make all my daughters food except the meats. I started reading the book "Super Baby Foods". What I do is buy frozen veggies and cxanned fruits. I rinse the fruits then put them in the food processor. For the veggies, I steam them then put them in the food processor. I freeze them in Ice cube trays, then when frozen I turn them out into a ziploc bag and write on it what it is and the date. This works great for on the go or daycare. The super Baby foods book is geared towards veggitarians, so it goes into legumes instead of meats. With my son, after I introduced most everything, I started processing what we had for dinner. Stuff like goulash or stew. The book will let you know what foods to introduce and when.

Hi A.,

Here's a great site: http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/veggiefruit.htm

I would go organic if possible. I also found that using the food chopper I got from Pampered Chef was a life saver!!!

HI, there is really no recipe, all you do is cook the raw veggies, then puree with some water to a thickness you want then put in containors and freeze.

Start with veggies because once you add fruit they often dont like the veggies as much.

Good luck- A.

My kids are not fans of jarred food. Lintels are very nutritious. I also cook other beans...Half of a small bag makes enough for weeks. Just separate into several containers and always have one in the refrigerator...the rest in the freezer. I label it and make sure it doesn't stay in there for over 5 days. I add onions, garlic, olive oil, cliantro and cumin and cook it with enough water to keep it covered. When the beans are finished cooking boil off excess water and puree in food processor. I also serve mushed fruit and veggies (avacado is a favorite). Rice pudding is 1000X better than rice cereal. Otherwise, for dinner I will often just puree what the rest of the family is having ( as long as it isn't anything allergenic).

You don't need a book. There are recipes on line for free. I didn't even bother with recipes. I just cooked for us and would put extra in the food processor (not altogether, separate). Carrots, brocolli, sweet potatoe, chicken with a little broth. Puree it, put them in ice cube trays, freeze, then ziploc. One cube = 1 serving. Just defrost or carefully microwave so it's not too hot for baby.

I have to say that I still bought the unusual kinds.... like cherry berry and stuff like that.

I made both my daughters baby food from the moment they could eat it. It was simple, easy, affordable and much better for them. As a result, my children have no food picky behaviors or allergies or weight issues. They enjoyed nearly all the same foods we did but it was blendered and liquified with fruit juices. Then I froze it in ice cube trays. You just popped out a cube, heat it up a bit and you were ready to go.

I bought a book at Half Price Books years ago and just used their recipes. Now you have the internet for research so you are lucky! WARNING! When you start your research be ready for the dissapointment you will feel at how manufacturers can get away with selling their baby food garbage. You will see that your child will be so much more nourished with your homemade foods.

I would do it again...no questions asked!

W. M.
www.startgettingresults.com

Just seconding the advice for www.wholesomebabyfood.com

That website was my food bible for my first little guy.

Super Baby Food was my favorite book. I had friends who used www.wholesomebabyfood.com, but I think the book is worth the money as it has a wealth of information, and I liked to take it with me to the grocery store as a resource. You can find Super Baby Food at some bookstores, but I bought mine at amazon.com. Good for you, mom, making your own food!

First stop is to the store to get a small but mighty little chopper or cuisinart. I think I got mine for around $15, but that was years ago. Instead of having a tall blender and trying to scrape everything out of it (not to mention the blade), a little cuisinart will allow you to remove the blade and not waste all the "stuff" that gets stuck in the bottom of a blender!

Next just start trying different things. My first few attempts were really thick (with veggies) so I started adding either low sodium chicken broth or 100% apple juice until I figured out the right consistency. Sweet potatoes + apple juice. Green beans + broth. etc :) Good luck!

I am making my DS's food, as well (as I did with my DD) and LOVE wholesomebabyfood.com. It has a ton of great info that is easy to read and understand. I also highly recommend a stick blender. I had one for DD and it burnt out right before I started making DS's food and I am going to get another one soon. I have a great KitchenAid blender, but that stick blender just makes like easier! I also use ice cube trays that have a lid so I can stack them easier in the freezer. GL!!

Hi A.,
I made our oldest son's baby food. I loved it! I usually looked at what foods were in the baby food jars and tried to match that. For veggies, I steamed or boiled them, sweet potatoes I baked, and then put them in a blender with a little of the water that was used in cooking. When the pure' was made I scooped it in to ice cube trays and froze it. After they were frozen, I would put them in a freezer bag. When as he was ready to eat it, I would defrost 2 or 3 cubes depending on how much he would eat. When he was ready for something new I looked at the combinations on the baby food jars and just copied what I saw. My son loved sweet potatoes, peas, and carrots. When he was ready for meat, I added a little bit of browned beef or turkey or cooked chicken to the blender while making the pure'. I never added seasonings mainly because when you read the ingredients on the jars, it never mentions any. Sometimes if we had leftovers that would make good baby food, I would pure' and freeze that, so it had some seasonings, but that was after I had introduced everything and knew that he had no allergies.

I never did much with fruit. It was easier and cheaper to buy the big jars of unsweetened plain applesauce. It was also very quick to mash a fresh banana.

Good luck and love every minute of those baby months!