Part of me thinks this is a silly post, but part of me thinks maybe some of you out there have been overwhelmed at the thought of making your own baby food and this post might actually put your mind at ease a little. [That was a long sentence.]
Baby food making can get more complicated and require use more expensive appliances, but plain and simple baby food is your food softened, mashed up, and occasionally requiring a little added H2O.
We have started all three kids at 6/7 months with homemade baby food [after exclusive nursing]. We skip the rice cereal & just straight into the fruits & veggies. I read Super Baby Food and highly recommend it as a one-stop-shop for all your baby food [and toddler] recipes, tips, questions, and concerns. Consider it your mom brain relief go-to-baby-food-bible.
We did make the suggested fancy "Super Baby Food" recipe for Nation, why, well of course, he was our first [insert loud laugh here], but as you well know baby #2 and #3 got nothing but too busy-lazy-mommy. It's wonderful for them, but it's wonderfully a lot of work and expensive. Sorry Moses you will miss out on liver & brewers yeast this go around [insert gage here].
To be honest, none of my kids really loved baby food, they love to nurse and mommy loves table food time. SO...our baby food phase is condensed as much as possible. Feeding babies food is SLOW and MESSY. Only cute for pictures! We just do it for a few months [if they want it] and then hit them up with small pieces from our plates between 10-12 months. Still healthy, but way faster and easier.
Speaking of healthy & fast. I'm starting you off with a great first food for babies, bananas. I'm going to prove to you that making baby food can be fast, easy and affordable. Oh, and without anything fancy. Just imagine what you will be making later in baby food making 202 with expensive appliances & gadgets.
This was Moses first feeding last week. Big brother Nation fed him bananas that took me a half a second to make.
As you can see all you do is take the softened food [sometimes requires baking it first, not in the case of bananas obviously] and mash with fork, and add a few tablespoons of water to get to consistency you want.
This is perfect for restaurants too. Just ask them to not put salt or butter on what you intend to feed the baby.
Above is one of my new favorite purchases, it's the Stay-Fresh Reusable Baby Food Containers. They are less than $10 for $12 of them and they hold 2 ounces each. They are BPA free and can be put in the dishwasher, microwave, refridge and freezer. Perfect for out and about and traveling too.
Did I mention they stack?
I hope this post helped you at least consider smashing up some bananas! I think making your own baby food is wonderful [even though I loathe cooking] because it's so cheap, and I know exactly what my baby is eating.
If only someone could draw a diagram and show me how much money I'd save if I made my own chicken nuggets and stopped taking the kids to Chick-fil-A. That would be real savings!
Did you see my chart above? You can make ORGANIC baby food for pennies. Plus, that 2 ounce jar will last me about 4 good feedings with Moses right now. Sure he'll grow into more, but why would I want to buy a $1 jar of organic to put to waste?
Do you make your own baby food? What's been your experience?
Thanks for the "Making Baby Food for Dummies" version. I am very nervous [yes I know that is stupid], about doing it. I have the "equipment", now I need to use it :)
ReplyDeleteyou're welcome, you're a genius, you'll do great. i hate to cook and i can do it. i'm not natural at these things and I figured it out. You don't have to do it often enough to worry either. I just make a few batches at once and am good for 30 days. By the time I start to hate it, baby food phase is over.
ReplyDeleteI toss a few scoops of our dinner in the baby food blender, pulse a couple of times and voila! With #1 I did fancy stuff, even baked pumpkin this time of year. I also buy organic baby food--hint: check the freezer section for the best quality, freshest pre-made baby foods.
ReplyDeleteEven easier with bananas... just slice them straight into a freezer bag and mash when you reheat single portions. I discovered this after many days spent whining about my wrist getting sore from mashing them before freezing. I love making baby food! 2-3 hours a month is all it takes for 30 days worth of food. And it's soooo much cheaper!
ReplyDeleteYou can do it Sarah!!
Thanks guys! I am sure once I do it, I will laugh at how easy it is. And try not to think about all of the money I have wasted buying jars of baby food with the first 4 children...
ReplyDeleteI know this post was from months ago, but somehow I missed it! Another great baby food resource is wholesomebabyfood.com. It provides nutritional content of various foods, when to introduce them, and how to prepare them. And then there's also wholesometoddlerfood.com. Great finger food ideas.
ReplyDelete