Home made Baby food?!

Kat - posted on 10/04/2010

Frozen foods are the easiest to start with. Place food in blender (i.e. peas, carrots, beans) and add a little water. Blend until nice and smooth. Pour into ice cube trays and freeze. Once frozen they can be cracked out and placed in zip lock baggies. When you want to use one, remove one cube from freezer and place in microwave safe container. Cook long enough to thaw out food and make room temp. Test first before feeding to baby. You can also do this with bananas, apples (blend, cook, freeze (it lasts longer)), pears (same as apples), plums, peaches, nectarines. Have fun, make your own mixtures.

Tram - posted on 10/02/2010

Hi there,
I've started introducing solids to my daughter about a month ago, she's now 7 months and I make my own baby food. It is recommended that you start with single root vegetables such as sweet potatoes, carrots, butternut squash, acorn squash because they have a natural sweetness which babies enjoy. I usually steam my veggies because it retains more nutrients than boiling it. I use a collapsible steamer which you can easily buy at Walmart. Steam for about 15-20 minutes (time may vary depending on the veggie, a good way to test is to prick it with a fork), and I usually just puree it using my Magic Bullet. Yes, I have one :) It's really easy to use, it doesn't take up counter space and easy to clean. Also it's easy to control the thickness or fineness of the puree. I would recommend it. When you puree, if the food is too thick use the water at the bottom of the steamer. Try to batch cook, this will save you tons of time. To store the food, simply put the puree in a clean ice cube tray and place in freezer bag, then place in the freezer. This will last you a month if need be. If you're batch cooking, do not mix your puree with milk as it can cause the food to go bad even if you're freezing it. You can mix the puree with milk if you're planning to feed your baby right away though. When you're introducing a new food, feed it to your baby for about 3 days to help rule out any allergies (I got this tip from a registered nurse). After you've tried the different veggies, you can go on to fruits and then try different combinations. Certain fruits like avocado, bananas, mangos, etc do not need to be cooked ;) so they're a good instant puree. Hope this helps.

If you need more recipes, an excellent guide book that you can purchase is "First Meals" by Annabel Karmel. This book contains A LOT of easy do-it-yourself recipes for babies 6 months old to 7 years old toddlers. She also has a website: http:www.annabelkarmel.com.

Jennifer - posted on 10/01/2010

i'm doing that now..it's easy. i boil whatever vegetable it is then mash it up in a food processor or blender. if it seems dry just add formula and if its too liquidy i add cereal. freezing it in ice cube trays is cheap and easy. it'll last for a long time when you freeze it....and my doctor said to start with orange/red veggies first, then go to the green ones...then start in on the fruits. change the veggie/food every week to 2 weeks and watch for allergic reactions.

Kate - posted on 10/01/2010

I make most of my baby food and have for all three kids (my youngest is 7 months). I buy Gerber for on the go, but make everything else at home with the Magic Bullet. It works great using the small/medium capsule. I steam carrots and green beans in a glass bowl with a plate over it in the microwave, the poor the veggies along with the water into the MB and blend away. Basically, I make everything they sell in the store. When fruit starts to get too ripe (like bananas and peaches), I toss them into the freezer and use when I need them. I let them thaw and put them in the microwave for 20 seconds, then blend. She loves it all. When I do a plain baked chicken, I take some of the breast (no skin of course) and blend it up with some water. You can mix it with some applesauce too to help...sometimes the babies don't like the thickness or the texture of meat, so the fruit or veggie mixed helps a lot. I would stay away from boiling the veggies because all your vitamins will be boiled out...also why I use the same water I steamed them in. I hope that helps.

Callie - posted on 09/30/2010

Oh for ideas on foods I did sweet and white potatoes, yellow and butternut squash, zucchini, broccoli, green beans, peas, carrots, mangoes, papaya, peaches, pears, plums, avocados, bananas, raspberries and blackberries. I found that it was easier to just fork mash the amount of avocado and banana I needed rather than freeze them. For some reason they didn't want to come out of the icecube tray.

Callie - posted on 09/30/2010

I've made all of my daughters baby food. I use the Super Baby Food book as a guide. I cook her veggies in a steamer because it has a digital timer on it so I don't have to watch it. But you can steam stuff on the stove. Boiling will actually cause the vitamins to leech out into the water. You should bake or steam them. I used a blender when we first started out and then used a food processor when it needed more texture. I also made 'large' amounts of food and froze them in ice cube trays and then transferred to zip lock bags. 2 cubes is about the same as a jar of baby food. I now cut stuff up into finger food size and freeze in on baking sheets so she always has veggies and such to eat. I definitely found it easier to make food ahead of time and freeze it (usually 1-2 times a month). Good Luck! It's really not hard at all and its so much more nutritious than jarred baby food. Plus you know exactly what they're getting and there are so many more options to give them.

Chantal - posted on 09/30/2010

a blender even a small food processor work great! Just boil and blend use some of the water to thin it out let cool and freeze in ice trays. Best foods are green beans, carrots, peas, sweet potatoes, apples, pears, even berries. Once baby is old enough to eat meats include chicken in the blender. Have fun and its safe to and spices.

Heidi - posted on 09/30/2010

I started doing this also this time around. Bananas and avacados are the easiest just puree. most fruits have enough juices in them to just put them in a blender to puree (i'm now to the mashing stage instead of puree). I steam most of my veggies put them in the blender with some of the water used for steaming (thats where alot of the vitamins and nutrients go while steaming so use this water!) you can refrigerate for 3-5 days depending on the food. and freeze for a couple weeks. This saves so much money and really isn't very difficult I think Gerber just tries to find more ways to take our money!

Lisa - posted on 09/30/2010

I have decided to make my own baby food this time around too ( #4). So far I have made sweet potatoes, carrots and peas. I boiled and puree'd with my blender. So far she loves them all. I also freeze in a tray, i bought a baby dish for this, but ice cube trays do the same thing and cheaper. I take two out of the freezer in the morning and voila, lunch at lunch time. I plan on doing up some blueberries and plum in the near future! I wish I had done this with the other 3!!

Colleen - posted on 09/29/2010

I'm just venturing into this same thing right now! So far I've done a lot of roasting veggies and fruits in the oven, and then blending them up. I'll actually freeze the blended food in ice cube trays, then just pop the cubes out and keep them in ziplocks (my sister-in-law gave me that tip).
--Wrap sweet potatoes in foil and bake them at 400ish for an hour or so. Let them cool a bit in the foil after you remove them from the oven. Unwrap them and the skin will just peel right off. Mash or blend with enough water to give them the right consistency for your baby.
--Cut peaches in half. Remove the pit. Bake them cut-side down in a baking dish with about an inch of water in the bottom, at 375ish for maybe an hour. Remove from oven and let cool. Use a paring knife to remove the skin (much of it will peel off). Blend the same way as with the sweet potatoes.
--Got this recipe from one of Tyler Florence's cookbooks and my son loves it: Apple-Cinnamon Oatmeal. Cut and core four golden delicious apples. Place them cut-side down in a baking dish. Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes, or until they puff up. Remove the skin. Meanwhile, cook oatmeal (I used old-fashioned oats, but next time I'll just use the plain one-minute-cooking ones), enough to make 2 cups. Blend (or use a food processor) the apples and oatmeal together with a teaspoon or two of cinnamon (I used one because it was my son's first taste of cinnamon) and water if necessary.
--Also from Tyler Florence's cookbook: Bananas and brown rice. Bake three bananas, peels on, in a baking dish at 350 for about 30 minutes. When cooled, remove peels. Meanwhile, cook enough brown rice (I used brown Minute Rice) to make 2 cups. Blend or process bananas and rice together with water if necessary. (The recipe includes cinnamon, but I didn't use it.)
--I've also bought frozen peas, cooked them in the microwave, and blended them together with a little of the cooking water. My son LOVES them.
--I'm going to be trying carrots next; I think I'm going to roast them because that seems to be bringing out a lot of good flavor. Plus, I don't have to babysit the oven like I would a pot on the stove.
--You can also just feed your baby raw avocado. My son loves that, too. Cut open an avocado, scoop out the flesh, mash it up, and serve!