You Can Make Baby Food

No, really you can. I promise you it's not that hard.  People may think I'm crazy for doing it.  Life is busy and I work full time but I wouldn't have it any other way.  The way I look at it is I make homemade meals for John and I so why not Joslyn?  I probably spend no more than an hour a week doing it and I try to do it on the weekends so it's really not that time consuming.  And some weekends, like this past weekend because I was sick, I don't make any at all if I have enough stored in the freezer. 

What do you need?
- Food processor/blender/hand blender.  They all will do the job. I have a food processor that attaches to my blender base.  John also bought me a Magic Bullet and I like using that to puree small amounts of food or combine two different foods, like pears and green beans or chicken and sweet potatoes.  For the big batch jobs, I use the food processor. 
- Masher
- Ice cube trays, any will do. I have two silicone trays that I bought on Amazon.com and I really like them.  They are easy to get the food out of, dishwasher safe and I know 1 cube is equal to 1 ounce.  
- Freezer Ziploc bags or small Tupperware containers
- Nice to have: a steamer pot or steamer basket and fine mesh strainer (this is good to separate the skins when making peas or green beans)
- Optional: a baby food cookbook.  I received this one as a shower gift and it's great because it breaks the recipes up by age groups.

I've heard good things about the book Super Baby Food too.  But I don't think you really need a recipe book because there are a lot of great recipe sites online, like Wholesome Baby Food (great advice and helpful hints on here too) and I've also found a few recipes on one of my favorite freezer meal sites Freeze Happy.  Babycenter.com also has a Homemade Baby Food Makers group that has been very helpful. 

What do I do next?
Cook (bake, steam or boil) whatever food you want to make, put it into the food processor/blender and puree until it's smooth.  Sometimes you have to add a little water or breast milk (or formula) to get the right consistency.  Joslyn doesn't like any texture at this stage so I always makes sure it's smooth.  Once it's done, I put it into the silicone ice cube trays.  I learned a little trick and put the puree into a pastry bag and that makes filling the trays go much faster.  Then I put the trays in the freezer. Once the cubes are frozen, I pop them out and put them in Ziploc bags and label the bag with what's inside and the date I made it.  Easy peasy!

Daily routine:
She gets one cube of either a veggie or fruit mixed with 2tbsp rice cereal and 2tbsp breast milk three times a day. If I combine green beans and pears or any other combo of fruits and veggies, I skip the rice cereal. When it's time to feed her, I take one cube out of the freezer and put it in a small glass dish and pop it in the microwave for about 40 seconds. Some people don't like to use the microwave because it causes hot pockets but I make sure to stir it thoroughly and test everything before I give it to her and I've never had a problem. For daycare, I give them three cubes, fruit or veggie, for the day in either a Ziploc bag or small Tupperware container. I also give them a box of rice cereal and they let me know when they need more. I guess I could give them a week's worth of food but it's easier for me to just give them what she needs for the day. I take each cube out of the freezer the night before and put it in the fridge so it's mostly defrosted the next day and they just have to heat it up a little bit before they feed it to her.

So far, I've made apples, pears, sweet potatoes, green beans (the only thing she doesn't like but she'll eat them if I mix them with pears), carrots, squash and apricots.  I try to make something new every couple weeks or so and follow the 4 day wait rule to make sure it agrees with her. She's also had bananas and avocado and those require no cooking at all! You just mash them up and they are ready to go. How easy is that?!  Her favorite is still sweet potatoes and those are very easy to make. I bake them for about an hour, take them out of the peel and mash them up with a little breast milk (water or formula works too).  Really simple and takes no time at all.  Next weekend, I'm going to make peas for the first time. We'll see if she likes them more than green beans. I also got some frozen mango at Trader Joe's that I'm going to try soon.  It's fun to try new foods and see her reaction.  At her 6 month check up, her pediatrician told us to start introducing meats but we've only tried chicken so far with mixed results. She liked it when I first made it (I baked it and then pureed it with water. This was kind of gross but I got through it) but the texture changed after I froze it and she didn't want anything to do with it. I've tried pureeing it again after defrosting it with sweet potatoes or apples but she still gives her disgusted look and gags when I feed it to her....but then she eats it. I think it's the chicken taste that she doesn't like. Maybe she's a vegetarian. I bought my first jar of baby food to see if maybe she liked the jarred chicken better since a machine can puree it smoother than I can but she still gave that same disgusted look with the first taste. I wanted to buy the organic baby food and at 99 cents a jar, I'm really glad I decided to make my own baby food! I think we'll take a break from chicken for awhile and see if maybe she likes beef better. I found a recipe for beef stew in the crock pot that I'm going to try next. Maybe the key is not freezing it because freezing does change the texture and she does not do well with texture. We still have some experimenting to do with meat but I'm ok with her only having a couple servings of it a week.

Now reading all that may seem overwhelming but it's so simple and I can't imagine not doing it.  I love knowing exactly what's in her food and I try everything I make for her.  I've smelled some of those jarred baby foods and I don't think I would taste some of that stuff.  It's worth it to me to spend the time making the food myself.  And seeing her face when she loves something I've made makes the extra time completely worth it!

Mmm, sweet potatoes!

Thanks, Mom!