Make It or Buy It

We smashed up food for them at the table. The only time I bought baby food in a jar was for long trips in the car when we would be eating a lot of fast food that I didn't want to give them as babies. Or camping.
What is a "baby food maker"? I thought that's what my boobs were for ;)

My first got Gerber baby foods. The second got a mix of Gerber and whatever we were eating. I think my last one got a steak dinner as his first meal :). KIDDING!!! But he was breastfed and ate table food.

Anytime you can make food from scratch the better. I use organic everything if the budget can bear it. We have a Ninja (combo blender and food processor), a regular food processor and a Magic Bullet. All three will do the job for you as far as making baby food. Make it on the fly and not for days at a time, the food looses it life and vitamins pretty quickly.

Basically any time you can avoid anything that has been processed by a factory the better - even with baby food.

Good luck!

You've already gotten a lot of good responses. I realize that the plural of anecdote is not data...but I will share the results of my kids. I fed my oldest jarred baby food and that dreadful prepared toddler food ("graduates") because I thought that's what I need to do. I was very young, and this was a million years ago. Thirteen years later he's still not a great eater.

My 2nd had jarred baby food and some homemade mash from 6-12 months. He's a pretty good eater but not super-adventurous and did go through a long picky phase at age 3.

My youngest started on solids at 8 months and I just pureed foods at home and froze them. He never had anything from a jar and is an amazing eater. He's in Kindergarten and this week for lunch had a grilled chicken caesar wrap on Monday, tuna lettuce roll ups on Tuesday, pizza on Wednesday, clam chowder yesterday and tacos today. My other kids wouldn't have eaten a salad or chowder or tuna if you paid them. He never had a bland or picky phase and is always willing to try new foods. I think that giving him real food full of flavor and texture from the beginning helped a lot.

I just fed him what I ate.

That. Simple.

I just added a little formula or chickenstock to things that were dry.

((Three purposes, 8KD, they're pretty, too.))

My kids hated "baby" food all around. They would eat it for the first week, after that they went straight to eating what we ate. Not pieces of meat, but soft cooked carrots, peas, bannanas, cooked apples, things of that nature. Sometimes I think baby food is overrated, but to each their own. All kids are different. I would make what you can at home. Then you would at least know what is in it.

I never bought baby food. Honestly, I never "made" my baby food either. I just gave him whatever fruits and veggies we were eating and mashed them a bit with a fork. (Before adding salt. Salt is a no-no for babies.)

It's my theory, that toddlers have such a hard time with textures, because they've only had purees in their formative learning to eat time. I also think they are really picky, because they've been eating watered down food. (True of bought baby food. Have you ever tasted it? It does NOT taste like the food it's supposed to be.) Truly my theory, I have no idea if it's correct! I never pureed anything. If I did, I would have just used a blender or food processor.

I love making my own, and I wouldn't waste the money on a baby food maker. I make everything except apricots (not cost effective) and meats. I bought myself a nice all purpose blender instead of a baby food maker and it purees beautifully. I use the babyfood ice cube trays and store the cubes in freezer bags. I make big batches and only have to make each kind of food once or twice before we are done with purees - then I cam make my own dices so they are ready for baby (actually I have carrots in the oven roasting to dice right now). I love making it because it gives me so much more variety, I can make it organic if I want. I typically buy fresh or frozen produce and steam them in the microwave. www.wholesomebabyfood.com has all the information you need.

When I buy baby food, I buy it for getting out of the house and I always buy the stuff in the bags instead of jars because by the time the kids are 7 months of so you don't even need a spoon. They will open thier mouth you squeeze a little in - easy peasy. More expensive, but then I only use occasionally.

Make it - you know what's in it and it's cheaper. You don't need any special baby food maker, just a food processor or a blender. Puree whatever it is that you are making for yourself and add water if you need to. You will find out quickly that a few things just won't work at first, but will when the baby can handle more textures. Also, my sister told me (brilliant) that she used the grater to shred lots of stuff when her kids were ready for finger food - meat and apples come to mind.

Make it!

It was really pretty simple even though people thought I would tire of it. If you think about it, there's only a handful of months that a baby is on pureed food anyway. I bought a regular food processor/blender and usually on Saturdays would make up a few new things, puree, pour into ice cube trays to freeze, and then empty trays into labeled ziploc baggies. Voila! - Several servings of each food to last for weeks! Was really simple. I used this site a lot - mostly when I wasn't sure how to cook something before pureeing it... http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/index.htm

I say both. Use a blender for making your own baby food. It is pretty easy, and you can always pour it in ice cube trays, and freeze then put the cubes in bags in the freezer and repeat.

Buying a few to have on hand for going out is nice. I always liked to keep a few in the diaper bag and in the car for times we were out and away from home and for emergencies. You never know when you might need it.

Why do you need a "baby food maker"? My daughter would toss a can of no-salt-added canned veggies like peas or green beans (reserve the liquid, add a bit if needed) in a blender and puree' them that way. She then put the goo in ice cube trays. She usually got the equivalent of 3 jars of baby food out of 1 can of veggies. She also made things with sweet potatoes, acorn squash, avocado, and things like that. If she needed, she added some rice cereal to thicken it a bit.

Some veggies are easy to cook from fresh, also.... just do a bunch and puree' and freeze... very quick and easy!

She liked using the ice cube trays... after it was frozen, she would pop them out and put them in a zip lock freezer bag. She could then take 1 cube of several different things, and they thawed easily and quickly. If she had to take food out for her son, it would be thawed by the time we were somewhere, and she could spoon it out of the baggie.

Bananas are easy... just use a ripe banana and mash it.

Make it! I know I am being redundant, but it really is easy and you know everything that is going into it! I used the "Super Baby Food" cookbook as a great guide for when to give what as well as some fun recipes. The author tells you all of the things you will need - basically a food processor and some ice cube trays.

For my first I made stuff just special for him but for my second, once he was old enough for any food (10 months or so) but still wasn't eating things cut up I would just process whatever we were having that night. Didn't read all the posts, but I will say this, my oldest is a more picky eater then my youngest and I think it is because I really stayed away from any kind of seasoning in his baby food that first year but the youngest loves just about everything.

Oh and another thing you can do with purees if you want to make large batches of sweet potato or other such foods is incorporate them into other recipes ala Sneaky Chef - for example I add sweet potato or zucchini puree to soups, muffins and cakes all of the time for some added oomph and no one is the wiser!

All that being said, you really do just have to go with what works for you and it will be just fine for baby :)

I make my own baby food. I just steam vegies and mash them. You don't really need a special baby food maker. That is just a money sink. Do you have a blender? You can use that. I did have one of those non-electric baby food strainer things, which helped when we traveled, but I think I would have done fine without it. Just mash it up and you're good to go. Once I started making our own food, I regretted using the jarred stuff for my other kids. It's just so easy, and they get used to the stuff your family eats already.

Make it. The enzymes in the food will be in it to help your little one digest---the jarred foods lose that advantage. They simply are not as healthy.

Buy a vitamixer----you can use it for baby food, but also for smoothies, soups, hummus. We use ours almost everyday for something. We even use it to make nut butters (almond, sunflower seed, etc)

J. :-)

I made and froze ice cube trays of boiled veggies with my first--pretty easy and cheaper. With my second i started to but found that the Sassy teething feeder mesh bags were a great way to not have to spoon feed the baby everything. I just put a piece of banana, pear, cooked sweet potato, cooked carrot inside the bag and she holds the ring and munches away at 6 months. I also spoon feed her cereal with some frozen cubes for flavor too, but she loves to feed herself!

I seldom bought baby food...especially after I tasted it...blek. Except for rice cereal in the very beginning.

I bought a hand held baby food grinder, which was hard to find. It's a little cylinder device, where your own home cooked meals go into the middle, you push down and turn the handle simultaneously and up comes the perfectly sized food. I would add a little water or milk for a smoother consistency and feed right out of the top bowl portion. I loved that device. It went everywhere with us - to restaurants, parties, etc.

It was worth every penny.

I also tried making small batches of cooked veggies and freezing in ice cub trays for small portions...but those always got pushed to the side or the back and I seldom used those little pieces up in a timely fashion before freezer burn set in.

Me, personally, I thought it was the biggest pain in the butt to make and store baby food (except breast milk, THAT was easy, LOL)...

But on the other hand, I knew exactly what was going into my kiddo...

So peace of mind vs spending a few extra pennies on pre-made stuff... THAT is up to you. I ended up going 70% store bought and 30% made... and 20 of that 30% was breast milk...

Without hesitating, I would say that the best food is the freshly home made food with good ingredients if you have time. I used to use baby food only when we traveled or for some reason couldn't serve the home made food.
I don't know how old your baby is but a pediatrician should give you a list of what to eat at what age and the appropriate amount.
My two teenagers were breast fed and ate homemade food have always been in excellent health.

Good luck!

I have done both. Made baby food with my first and mostly bought with my second. I didn't buy a baby food maker- just used a mill/grinder I got for Christmas from my brother. It wasn't an expensive one, but it did the job. I enjoyed making his food, but I didn't have a lot of freezer space which made it hard to make a lot of food to freeze.
With my second, we both loved Beech Nut. They have a great variety and it comes in glass jars which makes it easy to just pop in the microwave. Her favorite was sweet corn pudding! The downside is that it's not available everywhere. And the favorite foods (such as sweet corn pudding) was always sold out. Also, it's a slightly more pricey than Gerber. But I always thought it was worth it. The quality was just better.
Either is fine- it's just what works best for you. My first had multiple food allergies and we had to watch everything, but my second didn't. She was also not a fussy eater like my first. And honestly, as a FT working mom with a baby and a 5 yo, I just didn't have much time for making baby food the second time around.

What ever we were eating for dinner that night, I put some in a blender and little bit of water and that's what the littles ones ate also.

Its SO much cheaper to buy canned or even fresh fruit and veggies and make your own. The amount of food you get from them compaired to the baby food jars compaired to the price is amazing! You will be shocked to see how much you save by doing it! Plus this way you know for sure what is going into your little ones belly.

Make it definitely! Just cook things till they are soft and mash them up. I just made stuff fresh each meal. I'd mash up what I was eating or I'd boil something else till soft. Or I'd mash up something like an avocado or banana. It just took a second and was easy - no big deal at all. I never bough a baby food maker. I did use our blender some and would freeze the mashed food in ice cube trays and store them in zip locks in the freezer. I did not really have to do that all that often. Usually I just mashed it by hand with a fork right before meal time.

I made mine up usually on a Friday night. I would make about 8 jars of each item and freeze them until needed. A blender and a strainer were the things that I used in the 70s. You don't need to go out and buy a special baby food processor (just extra money).

I enjoyed doing it and knowing what my kids were eating without all the extras put in the baby food to preserve it.

Good luck on whatever you decide.

The other S.

If you can make it, and it's cheaper, and it's better for your baby, then it seems like a no brainer, to me.

Just to give you an idea how much you can save on baby food by making your own, I purchased $20 worth of produce (sweet potatoes, rutabaga, carrots, parsnips, baked potato, 1 (16 oz.) frozen peas and 1 (16 oz) frozen corn, broccoli, butternut squash. I steamed all the veggies (boiled the peas and corn and then strained them after running through the food processor because they seemed too chunky), purreed them in a food processor and froze them all individually in ice cube trays and then transferred the frozen cubes to zip lock bags. I wish I could post a picture of all that I made. It was a lot of of food that I made and I made it all in two days back in October 2011. By the end of December, I still had a lot but started to replenish the ones that were running low, like her favorite butternut squash and corn. Initially, she was eating 1 cube a day for dinner, sometimes 2 cubes until her appetite and need for more increased to 4 or more cubes. Now my baby is 8 months old and is no longer just eating veggies. I have a baby food mill and that is how I grind up dinner for her. Whatever I make for the family is what she eats. If I make something too spicy or something that doesn't grind well, I rely on my stash of veggies for her in the freezer. I still have a lot left from my initial batch in October and that is 3 months ago on $20.

With fruits, I bought mango, strawberries, assorted dried fruits, avocado, and apples and steamed/prepared various fruits to make blends. Avocado does not freeze well so don't attempt but I made some yummy fruit blends for her as well. If you want recipes, if I have time, send me a personal message and I'll be happy to share "recipes." It's time consuming to make the food but if you set ONE day to do it, you can do it and you'll save a bunch of money and you'll know that your baby is getting fresh wholesome foods with no added preservatives, starches, etc.

I made baby food in bulk in my food processor, then froze in smaller containers. Combinations like: chicken, rice and spinach; or beef noodles and carrots.

Buy it-get organic-the quality control is amazing. A baby's kidneys are so tiny-salt is very detrimental to them. Commercial baby food production is a highly regulated industryand again , the quality is important especially in the beginning.

If I could have made it myself, I wiuld have, but it wasn't an option for me at the time. I used Earths Best babyfood instead.

People seem to over complicate this issue. I never bought or really "made" baby food as much as just smashed up food we were already eating or was already on hand.
I think people start kids on solids too soon, if you wait until 6-7 months all you really need to do is smash up healthy food, a hand held food chooper is handy or just use a fork.
Other than baby cereals I never bought baby food mainly because it seemed like a bother and I didn't want my kids getting used to that as "food". The easiest thing in the world is just feeding what you're eating anyway. If I was feeding the baby when the rest of the family was not eating it would be baked sweet potato, smashed peas or other veggies, smashed black beans, tofu dog strips, rice or other cereal, oatmeal, pasta, applesauce etc.
In the beginning you only need a short list because you will slowly introduce new stuff, they can eat one thing for a while and it is still interesting because the whole eating thing is brand new. Let's face it the first few weeks most of it is on them instead of in them anyway!

I buy some and I make some depending on what we are having for dinner. I will usually just mash up a serving by hand.

I am not brand loyal to the baby food that I buy. Some of it is gerber, some is earth's best, some is a diff organic brand that I found at whole foods the other day.

Ultimately, you need to do what is best for you. If you have the time/energy to make your own, then go for it. Not feasible? By all means, buy it. No wrong answer here :)

I made, because there was no comparison with the color and texture from the stuff in jars. We had a few on hand in case we went out, but we almost never used them. I had some tupperware covered ice trays. I'd steam whatever while I made dinner (or make for us and puree the extra) and then use a hand-blender to puree. Simple and quick. I can't understand why people think it is too much effort. It took so little time. Maybe 15 minutes of effort to make weeks worth of food.

I tried making it - pureed, froze organic fruits, veggies..sterilized everything blah blah blah. My first baby wouldn't touch it. I ended up using Jessica Seinfeld's cookbook to hide the pureed stuff in our food to increase the veggie content and bought Gerber organic fruits and veggies, which he loved. Why organic? I was doing research on the pesticide use in American food and the standards of "acceptable levels" were all based on the average adult male, not a growing, tiny infant.

I am wondering why you would want to make baby food? It is an odd idea to me. Why make it when they eat normal food anyway, just chopped up more.

If you are talking about food that you would feed an infant then make it yourself but always nurse or give formula first because babies need the nutrition in the milk for the first year. It is full of vitamins and nutrients for brain development and to help them grow strong. Baby food usually takes away nutrition from the baby. It has little nutrition and they end up loosing out due to not getting enough of the nutrients in the formula or breast milk.

I always made ours.
They ate what we ate.
I usually just mashed what I needed like bananas
I have always made applesauce, still do. Pears cook up the same.
At dinner when I made squash or potatoes, I would freeze some then.
I did buy the cereals for babies.

Make it. You don't need a baby food maker. You just need a food processor.

Check out wholesomebabyfood.com

I used to make most of it because my son was a huge eater. So I would
spend a few hours making things and then freezing them in baggies. Used
baby food when I was in a hurry or out. This was before microwaves (I am
old what can I say). I do the same for my grandchildren. When I used
baby food, it was Beech-Nut or Gerber because that is all there was.
However, all four were on table food by 15 months. Oh and when I made it
I initially used a blender beecause he was only 5 months. Then I would
just mash things up and freeze.

I agree with everything Alexis said, plus you save money. Even if you buy organic.