Homemade baby food

Tue Dec 18, 2012 1:40 pm

Is anyone going to attempt making their own baby food? I am...except the meat flavored ones...I don't know about that...but I plan to pureee and make the babies food myself once he's old enough. I've read up about it online. This is definitely a goal of mine. Has anyone with older kids already tried it before?

Tue Dec 18, 2012 2:27 pm

Oh, I'm totally doing it.

We get a ton of free organic fruits and veggies from work! I couldn't imagine buying baby food with two little ones. It would get EXPENSIVE!!!!

I'm just going to steam some veggies and mash them up. I bet you could even make a larger quantity and freeze some into portions. ... Which may be easier than doing it every time.

Tue Dec 18, 2012 3:12 pm

Yes, I will. I didnt with the older 2 kids they are super picky to this day. Did with Polly, I just threw whatever we were having for supper in the blender. Literally, spaghetti, pizzza, veggies, fruits, whatever and gave her what we were having. She started baby foods at 4 months and hasn't looked back, she switched to sippy at 6 months and she is such a good healthy eater. Her favorite foods are salad and brocolli I AM NOT JOKING!! She literally ask for one or the other at every meal. She also eats very healthy other foods like salmon etc. I gave her any and everything basically. Hopefully she will stick with her eating habits and not fall into the picky stage

Tue Dec 18, 2012 3:56 pm

I am definitely making Caroline homemade baby food, I feel like since I will be staying home there is really no excuse to not take that little extra time and make sure whatever she is eating is the healthiest option possible. I have a baby food cookbook that goes into what combos go good together (and how much of each component to put in) which I found really interesting I also bought the NUK and gerber babyfood freezer trays, so I can have maybe one big cook day a month and freeze... we'll see how that works out though, I have a feeling it will be alot of trial and error for a little while

Tue Dec 18, 2012 4:05 pm

Courtney, where did you find the freezer trays? And what book is it that you're using.

MamaCas- that's awesome about Polly!

Tue Dec 18, 2012 4:36 pm

Lurker* You can use regular ice cube trays. You fill them up and freeze them. Then when frozen they can be placed in a ziplock bag. I did this with my kids a few times.

Steph. Mother of Eva-15,Jordan-10, Christopher-9, Abigail-6,and a angel son Joshua. Host of Pregnancy and Infant Lose board. Mummieeva@yahoo.com

Tue Dec 18, 2012 4:38 pm

Mama Cas, that is really cool about polly, i will definitely try that with Mikela! Also, last night a neighbor gave me her Beaba Babycook....it's like a steamer/blender combo thing. I'm really excited to start that... in about 6 months, ahaha.... ohwell i'm sure the time will fly!

Brittany

Tue Dec 18, 2012 6:13 pm

hmize1123- The cookbook I have is Cooking For Baby: Wholesome, Homemade, Delicious Food for 6-18 Months by Lisa Barnes. And I got the trays from Target.com, I like the idea of using them more than icecube trays because they have lids... I got kinda grossed out thinking about anything being in their uncovered... I know its probably no big deal, just a hang up I had.

Tue Dec 18, 2012 6:14 pm

.... being in THERE uncovered... can I blame bad grammar on baby brain?

Tue Dec 18, 2012 6:45 pm

I agree. I ordered some on Amazon earlier that had lids. Very cool. And I looked up the books while I was on there. There's several, and the one you have is one of them that have a ton of high ratings. I'd just been using the internet before. So excited about this!

Tue Dec 18, 2012 7:55 pm

I want to try as well! With 1) all the hormones and chemicals added to everything these days, the longer I can control what he eats and get his tastebuds set to what I want him to eat, the better and 2) the cost! It seems so much less expensive than buying processed crap! But I have done zero research/planning so far

I figure if I can juice for me, I can make food for baby!

Tue Dec 18, 2012 10:05 pm

I did it with my ds and I plan on doing it again. It was real simple actually. I got the baby bullet and it comes with a great book for recipes and a guide on when to introduce what foods and such. I also have another book of recipes but I can't think of the name right now. I used the containers from that plus ones I got from One Step Ahead and Amazon. Steamers are a great help as well and better than boiling in water. I only did the fruits and veggies because the meats and Mac and chess just didn't turn out right.

Wed Dec 19, 2012 3:31 pm

I'm a little freaked out by the meats too. I'm going to have to take a look at the recipes and see what I think. I'll probably try it but pureed meat sounds funky. I'm skittish about meat anyway.
I don't eat a ton of meat. Mostly just chicken. Occasionally beef, but very rare. I don't eat pork, or any other kinds of meat at all. I don't know why....I did as a kid...and I don't eat any meat that has a bone. So while I love Chicken I won't eat it off a bone, etc. My stepdad had to make the Turkey at our Thanksgiving this year because I just can't deal with meat on the bones.....
But my DH LOVES all kinds of meat so maybe he will do the food with meat that I can't do. I'm not trying to make the baby have my same taste buds. I'm not really picky about anything but meat, but I hope he's not.

Wed Dec 19, 2012 6:01 pm

Oh, I meant to share this site. It's awesome and has a ton of recipes, info on what stages different foods can be introduced, and nutrient info. It even talks about storage techniques, and if you want to thin your baby food with breast milk, etc.

Wed Dec 19, 2012 6:02 pm

http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/

Guess the link would help.....Geez....pregnancy brain!

Wed Dec 19, 2012 11:20 pm

I buy the organic gerber baby food. It's the same as if i made it myself-just veggies or fruits and water, nothing else in them. I know alot of people who have made their own and say how easy it is but i seriously do not have the extra time to make baby food, the extra time to be cleaning dishes/steamers/blenders from making it or the extra space to freeze it-we have a huge deep freeze and it's packed and I already have to run the dishwasher twice a day. I do the baby food for the first few months then start to finely chop up whatever we are having to feed them once they get the hang of mashing food in their mouth-so we don't do baby food for too long anyways. I like the super fast convienence of just grabbing a jar out of the cupboard at room temp, opening it, and feeding the kid withing 2 secs-no thawing, or warming, or anything like that. and i get a huge variety right there fast and quick. half the stuff i buy in jars my local store doesn't even carry at a decent price so i'd be paying more anyways or having to drive 45 mins to get it cheaper. some stuff my local store doesn't even carry half the time-like this summer they didn't have any cantaloupe-what kind of store doesn't have cantaloupe!! But for those of you that are going to make it, i've heard the baby bullet is really great.

David & Monica 8-28-00