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Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Homemade Baby Food

I'm not Mrs Organic or Whole Food Fanatic, but I have always made my own baby food.  I've done it for a few reasons.  First, I feel more comfortable if I'm the one preparing my child's first foods.  This way, I know exactly what is going in to their tiny tummies.  Secondly, I quickly discovered that store bought baby food is EXPENSIVE!!  I can make three times as much for the same price of a few of those little containers.  Typically, they are about .50 each.  Thirdly, I can portion it out.  I can choose to do one, two or even three cubes at a time.  Less waste. 

Gotta love that!

Homemade Baby Food







Ingredients:

Any fruit of veggie you plan to feed your little tot. 

Directions:

Steam your choice of food until very soft.  Place in a food processor with some of the water used to steam and puree until a smooth consistency. Depending on the food choice, you may decide to peel first.

Portion out in ice cube trays and freeze.  Once frozen, transfer to ziplock bags and store in freezer until needed. 


*Be aware, some foods are not suppossed to be fed to an infant.  Check with a trusted source or your pediatrician as to which foods are good to start with. 

*I try to get fresh foods when I can.  Occasionally, I'll buy frozen.  I try to check the ingredients to make sure there isn't added salt. 

*If you choose a food with skin, it may be harder to get a smoooooth texture.  Notice the pictures of the peas I made.  

*Some foods I regularly make are:

Sweet potatoes (without skins) (These I cook in the microwave)
Squash
Green Beans
Peas
Carronts
Corn
Pumpkin (this is the easiest!  I just buy it already pureed in the can NOT PUMPKIN PIE MIX!)
Broccoli
Apples
Pears
Bananas (Don't steam these, just mash up once they are good and ripe)

*I typically don't season these foods.  I like my babies to get just the basic foods so I can monitor an allergic reaction.  SOmetimes I'll add cinnamon to the bananas or sweet potatoes.  I almost ALWAYS serve with baby cereal. 




2 comments:

  1. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! I will definitely be using this. I've been thinking about when I start to feed him solids and I don't want to just throw money away. I will be referring to this often.

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  2. I agree! Making your own baby food is so good! My daughter-in-law does it all the time. I used to, also. Great ideas here, Julie. Thanks!
    -Donna

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