So we're going to give homemade baby food a go. Could be great, could be a huge PITA. What have been your experiences with making your own baby food? A good book recommendation on the subject would be appreciated, as would be tips & necessary equipment suggestions.
Thanks, mommas!
There's a fun baby food steamer/processor that I've seen on Amazon.com and Williams-Sonoma called the Beaba Babycook. I've never tried it, but it looks like an easy and convenient way to make baby food at home.
LL gave great advice. Thats what I do and #5 dd will be 6 months old in 4 weeks so we are about to start solids again!!
I start w avacoados ..they are full of essential nutreients for brain and growth they are soft enough to just cut them into tuny pieces and make first finger foods too.
But steaming and masking is great. I just feed them from my own plate as well. We are about the only culture that feeds from jars and not from the table so bits of your own food are a great begining! Its actually much easier than buying ang lugging around jars. K
Kind of like breastfeeding...once you get the hang of it its much easier , convenient & economical!
Good luck anf have FUN!
K.
mom to 5
I just started myself about a month a go making baby food for my son. I really enjoy making it and my 3 yr old loves to help too. I found a great book , Cooking for Baby by Lisa Barnes and I got it at Barnes and Noble. I really love this book so much great information on the food itself right next to the directions on how to. There is another book I bought called Blender Baby food by Nicole Young. I really love both books. It is so rewarding to me to make his food and he loves it. I did find it hard to find ice cube trays at Walmart so I think I will try to get some from One Step Ahead. I did purchase a steamer pot at Bed Bath and Beyond for 24.00 and I have a great blender. I would suggest trying to cook most of the food at once for a week or month at a time so your not cooking every day but since you stay at home it may be easier. Remember when you put the food in the freezer bag to label it and date it. I have purchased produce at the local farmers market since it is fresher and the food in season I have made and frozen for him like berries and peaches. Good luck to you and enjoy.
I made my daughter's baby food, and loved it! I started her on foods when she was 6 1/2 months old. I did an avocado first, just mashed it with a fork and put a little breastmilk in it to thin it. Then moved on to a sweet potato (baked in the oven, then mashed and a little water to thin it.) The only equipment I needed was a steamer basket and a blender. I had a food processor, but found the blender was better at pureeing than the processor was. My daughter is 16 months old now and never had any jarred food or commercial infant cereal. It was seriously super easy. I bought the Jumbo Baby Cubes from One Step Ahead to freeze stuff in, and when we went out just took a few with me and thawed them in hot wter. My daughter eats great; her favorite food is broccoli and sweet potato, as well as cottage cheese. I found www.wholesomebabyfood.com to be a wonderful resource, as well as the book Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron.
Go for it!!! You will save money and enjoy the fact that you made it yourself. All you need is a pan to cook in, a blender (strainer) and a jar or two or the ice cube tray. I used the glass fruit jars from the baby fruit and put the food in them and froze it. Your baby will get real food that has flavor and vitamins and no extra preservatives from the commercial producers. As baby grows you can cook bits of meat and incorporate it into a soup or stew for them. You can also spice up the food with onions and celery when you cook meat to cut the bland taste same as you would your older family members. Good luck to you and enjoy the adventure. The other S.
Congrats on your decision! Making your own baby food is the best. I used to steam the veggies and later on added chicken or ground meat. My son loved it! There are a lot of books about it, but as mentioned before, whatever your family eats your baby can eat it too (and it will help the whole family to eat healthy) The best thing about it is that they will get used to it, as of today my son prefers broccoli than french fries and it all started when he was a baby. I applaud you on your decision!!! It's better for your baby, your family and your wallet :-)
There has been some wonderful advice offered to already so I would just like to recommend my favorite baby/toddler food cookbook to you! "Superfoods for Babies and Toddlers" by Anabel Karmel offers so many great (and easy) recipes for first foods and beyond and also incorporates tons of wonderful information on nutrition for your young one!
It's super easy and not a pain. The only things you really need are a fork, a steamer (like one you can fit in your sauce pans), a blender or a food processor. A lot of things, like bananas, avocados, pears, baked potato, etc. you can just squish up with a fork or whirl in a blender. Pretty easy. I would cook things, mush them somehow (food processor, blender, fork, whatever) and then freeze it in the ice cube trays. Once frozen, I'd just pop them out and put them in ziplocks for later use. I'd just pull one or two out the day before, put it in the fridge and voila! I think the best book on it is Super Baby Foods. The author is a little over the top imo, but it's an invaluable resource of what to feed babies, when, how to prepare it, etc. I actually made the baby cereals in the book and my son loved them way more than the packaged ones. They were less constipating too. Keep in mind, anything you cook for baby, the family can eat too. So you can cook the veggies or whatever, take some out for baby, and then season, etc for the rest of the family. Good luck! It's a lot of fun and you can control what your baby gets.
