Homemade baby food

[bear74]

So I am seriously considering making homemade baby food for my newest princesses. Has anybody ever done this? Any tips of things to not do or to definitely do. Any good recipes.

 

[anotherdismom]

made a lot of home made baby food for my son...
peas
sweet potatoes
yams
carrots

most are best steamed - check online for recipes
i had success with steaming, using the food processor to blend to smithereens and then freezing in an ice cube tray, putting the cubes in a ziploc - so I could grab portions and go

I think I did mashed bananas too.

loved having control over what my baby was eating *and* the cost savings vs. jarred baby food.

 

[LaDonna]

the best part about making your own baby food is it is SO SO easy, basically anything that they sell in the jar you can do yourself, ya' just put it in a blender. You can freeze it too! I saved so much money!

 

[GinnyEmma]

There are several good books with recipes, if you enjoy that kind of thing. Otherwise, if you eat healthy food, blend before spicing. This, of course, only works after your little one has been tried on the foods for allergies.

 

[collegejunkie]

my parents are from eastern europe and love making baby food for my new cousins. they also made it for us when we were younger.

lots of it was just blending after you cook them, as others have said. my mom mixes some, like banana and strawberry. she also makes some "weird" ones, like okra or eggplant lol. lots of yogurt mixed in to the vegetable types. a sweeter one is this type of biscuit thing she gets from our ethnic store and she just mushes it in warm milk. i was surprised at how easy it is.

 

[GinnyEmma]

i wold love to know how the okra works out. Slimy would be even worse mushed, imo. We used a ton of yogurt and so many better yogurts are easily available. My kid's favorite was advocado, too.

 

[adventure_woman]

Really really really easy.

I got the Super Baby Food from the library and read that. I have made most of her baby food.

I love my Ninja that I got after Thanksgiving...it is really easy. The blender had a little trouble with vegetables getting stuck.

Also w/ veggies I had to really thin them out with my breast milk (i think you could use water too if you wanted.)

I love that I am saving so much money by making my own!

 

[kkwis2]

made a lot of home made baby food for my son...
peas
sweet potatoes
yams
carrots

most are best steamed - check online for recipes
i had success with steaming, using the food processor to blend to smithereens and then freezing in an ice cube tray, putting the cubes in a ziploc - so I could grab portions and go

I think I did mashed bananas too.

loved having control over what my baby was eating *and* the cost savings vs. jarred baby food.

This is basically what I did as well. Super easy! I used a hand held blender to mix after I cooked the veggies or fruit. Homemade applesauce is so easy and doesn't need sugar like the jarred kind!

 

[Chelley00]

All 4 of my kids had nothing but homemade baby food (except peas. Peas are almost impossible to make babyfood wise!) I second the person who said Super Baby Food. She also gives you receipes to make your own cereal. She can be a little "super crunchy" but the book is worth it if nothing for the back section where she lists every fruit/veggie and how to chose them, how to cook them, how long to keep them etc.

I steamed pretty much everything, ran it through my food processor, then froze it in ice cube trays. So much easier, so much healthier and it even helped with dinner preparation for us as I could steam double the veggies, but only process half for the baby.

I did keep a few jars of Gerber stuff on hand just in case we were going to travel or something, but not often.

 

[java]

I lived by Bestfeeding your Baby. It gave all kinds of great tips.

It was easy peasy though. And my kids are all great eaters now. I eventually just would grind up whatever we were eating. Kept the seasoning low on certain things so it wouldn't upset tiny tummies.

Fruits were so easy. Bananas are one that can be fork mashed and mixed with either breast milk or formula. and avacados were another mash tableside kind of meal.

Congratulations! And have fun. They sell all kinds of better storage now than when I had my first 16 years ago. So take and go would be easy too.

 

[BabyTigger99]

www.wholesomebabyfood.com

Made all my own stuff for my little guy. The only thing I didn't make for him was applesauce, because it was just as easy to buy natural applesauce (with only apples and water in it).

And for whomever said they didn't make peas...I never had an issue doing peas. I would buy a steam bag of them, and then grind them up in my small Kitchenaid chopper.

 

[java]

just found this online so it must be true.

Some vegetables, such as carrots, green beans, spinach, squash, and beets, contain nitrates, which in high levels can be dangerous for your baby. Because you do not want to avoid these foods, you need to make sure that you are not increasing the nitrates that are found in them. Some well water will contain nitrates, so have your water tested or only use bottled water for baby food preparation. Also, avoid storing these foods for long after they have been cooked, unless you are going to freeze them, because this can increase the number of nitrates they contain.

Read more: http://www.articlesbase.com/home-an...-your-own-baby-food-946346.html#ixzz1DV3IXX4O
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

 

[bear74]

Really really really easy.

I got the Super Baby Food from the library and read that. I have made most of her baby food.

I love my Ninja that I got after Thanksgiving...it is really easy. The blender had a little trouble with vegetables getting stuck.

Also w/ veggies I had to really thin them out with my breast milk (i think you could use water too if you wanted.)

I love that I am saving so much money by making my own!

I lived by Bestfeeding your Baby. It gave all kinds of great tips.

It was easy peasy though. And my kids are all great eaters now. I eventually just would grind up whatever we were eating. Kept the seasoning low on certain things so it wouldn't upset tiny tummies.

Fruits were so easy. Bananas are one that can be fork mashed and mixed with either breast milk or formula. and avacados were another mash tableside kind of meal.

Congratulations! And have fun. They sell all kinds of better storage now than when I had my first 16 years ago. So take and go would be easy too.

thanks I will check them out.

 

[Colleen27]

I'll join the chorus - I did it with both my girls and it was so easy that I can't imagine why I was buying baby food when my son was that age. I never used a cookbook, just a few websites with recipes and some common sense. Most "Stage One" and "State Two" baby foods are just soft-steamed and mashed fruits or veggies anyway, and as the kids got a little older they "graduated" to bits of whatever we were eating, set aside before spicing if the dish was destined to be hot or salty, run through a little grinder for "Stage Three" baby food consistancy. I picked up a $15ish "happy baby" baby food grinder from Amazon that got a ton of use; it even came with a carrying case and was easy enough to rinse off that I'd take it to family holidays and such so the baby could enjoy the meal with us.

The early foods my bunch liked best were sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, banana, avocado, etc., and my homemade applesauce (sometimes with other fruits blended in). Then as they got older, pasta w/cheese or tomato sauces and poultry run through the baby grinder were favorites.

 

[jacksmomma]

My doctor told me not to make my own carrots because of the nitrate issue, but said everything else was fine. So i bought the jarred carrots.

Like others have said, get Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron...it really is the bible of baby food making. My little guy used to get excited when he heard the blender rev up!

just found this online so it must be true.

Some vegetables, such as carrots, green beans, spinach, squash, and beets, contain nitrates, which in high levels can be dangerous for your baby. Because you do not want to avoid these foods, you need to make sure that you are not increasing the nitrates that are found in them. Some well water will contain nitrates, so have your water tested or only use bottled water for baby food preparation. Also, avoid storing these foods for long after they have been cooked, unless you are going to freeze them, because this can increase the number of nitrates they contain.

Read more: http://www.articlesbase.com/home-an...-your-own-baby-food-946346.html#ixzz1DV3IXX4O
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

 

[BLAZEY]

When my DD was just starting new foods I would just steam or boil veggies & fruits and puree them in the food processor, put them in little serving sized conatiners and froze them. Easy to grab a couple to take if we went out. As she got older, about 8-9mths I would just start blending whatever we were eating for her too, leftovers were also frozen for her. I don't add salt ect when cooking usually, if I do just a small amout if a recipe calls for it. At this age I also didn't puree it until smooth, she could handle the chunks now.
Now I have a kid that eats almost anything, and loves her veggies!

 

[bear74]

just found this online so it must be true.

Some vegetables, such as carrots, green beans, spinach, squash, and beets, contain nitrates, which in high levels can be dangerous for your baby. Because you do not want to avoid these foods, you need to make sure that you are not increasing the nitrates that are found in them. Some well water will contain nitrates, so have your water tested or only use bottled water for baby food preparation. Also, avoid storing these foods for long after they have been cooked, unless you are going to freeze them, because this can increase the number of nitrates they contain.

Read more: http://www.articlesbase.com/home-an...-your-own-baby-food-946346.html#ixzz1DV3IXX4O
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution

www.wholesomebabyfood.com

Made all my own stuff for my little guy. The only thing I didn't make for him was applesauce, because it was just as easy to buy natural applesauce (with only apples and water in it).

And for whomever said they didn't make peas...I never had an issue doing peas. I would buy a steam bag of them, and then grind them up in my small Kitchenaid chopper.

thanks. BabyTigger99 that website is one of the ones I found

 

[LaurenLC]

I make all of my daughter's food and it is SOOOOO easy! I have utilized a few websites, but I also purchased a couple of books. My Favorite so far is Top 100 Baby Purees. Good luck!

 

[riley2008]

Okay, I have a little different experience. I didn't stay at home with my boys so time was certainly an issue. I would try to make their foods on the weekend and freeze. Yes, it worked great and I felt good about what they were eating. However, if it wasn't from our garden, when I broke down the cost per serving it was MORE than regular Gerber (without coupons) and only slighly less than the organic babyfoods (maybe 1-2 cents a serving). I found that I could feed the boys cheaper with good couponing skills and a lot less time overall.

Now, if DH and I were cooking something anyway, I'd cook for them too before seasoning. (Sometimes I wouldn't season in the pot at all - hoping for leftovers for the boys.)

 

[KayBella]

I made a lot of homemade baby food for our DD. Fruits, veggies, main meals, I just put them in the food processor with some water to water it down some.At the time, I worked in a daycare setting and saved all the food containers (and lids) that were brought in by other parents. I washed the heck out of them and then was able to make my own food and put them in those containers and freeze them. It worked out pretty slick. Not sure, some people might not think that is ok but it worked for us!