Do any of you moms make your own baby food?

Christianne - posted on 04/29/2011

Hey, I used to make my little ones food when he was younger and I normally only used jars if we were going away or out for a period of time. If it was only a short period of time I would put some cubes of food in a tupperware container for while we were out. It was easy once a fortnight or once a month I would have a day were I would steam about 4 different types of fruit or vege and then mash it when it was done and place them into ice cube trays. When they were frozen I would pop them out and put them in zip lock bags and label what they were and they date they were made. Now he eats what we eat :)

Sheri - posted on 04/29/2011

I made food for my first son and I plan on doing again for my second when he turns 6 months. It is easy...I used a food processor and did big batches and froze it in ice cubes. It is actually cheaper than baby food in jars and more concentrated...they add stuff to preserve the baby food in jars. So when you make it, they are getting better nutrition in my opinion. However, it is very convenient to have the baby food already made on hand...it is portable and less time consuming. Do whatever works for you...as long as he is getting a variety of good food is what is most important...good luck and let me know how you make out.

Annette - posted on 04/28/2011

I just used a regular blender. I cooked frozen veggies or fresh to soften. then blend and pour into ice cube trays. I always started my kids off with the green veggies then go forward to the yummier ones. by the time we made it through the list of veggies they were ready for soft foods in small chunks. My youngest ate canned, but only because we got it free through WIC

Katie - posted on 04/28/2011

i made all my daughters food saisburys and tescos baby clubs have some very good recepies and there healthy to.

Keli - posted on 04/28/2011

i baught the baby bullet tried it out today its awsome. ill be making the food until he is able too eat chunkier food. way cheaper then buying that jar food

Sharhonda - posted on 04/28/2011

OMG! Thanks you guys for all the great tips and advice! Now I'm super excited and can't wait until my baby makes 6 months in July!!! I really appreciate it! thanks again !!!!!!! :)

Donna - posted on 04/28/2011

I don't really do baby food, just give pieces of what I have if it is not inappropriate. This is much easier for all concerned, and has so far resulted in a fabby eater in my youngest!

Crystal - posted on 04/28/2011

I made my 2nd childs baby food it was alot eaiser than having to buy her food seperate from what we ate of course i had her vegetables and fruits stored but she also ate what we ate and you know it tastes alot better than the baby food in the jars it may take a little more time to prepare but it's worth it

Victoria - posted on 04/27/2011

Yes, I use the Baby Bullet, and it is a whole system that makes making your baby's natural organic baby food SO EASY...hahaha, just kidding. I do not. It is too much work and they only eat from the jars for a short period of time until they are eating what ever is on my plate rendering me hungry after dinner is over.

Teka - posted on 04/27/2011

Yes I did, one tip though if u use canned veggies purchase the NO SALT added. I also purchased a small food processor for about 10 bucks at Walmart. All four of my boys were eating regular dinners with their father and I by eight months I just pureed them :)

Liz - posted on 04/27/2011

My son is 7.5 months old and has never eaten any "baby food." I started him on avocado because it's nutrient-rich. I just mash it up with a fork. And instead of baby cereal, he has regular oatmeal which is a lot more nutritious than rice cereal. I make it thinner for him, of course. If that's still too chunky for your baby, you can grind up dry oatmeal in a mixer and make your own "baby" oatmeal powder. Really easy.



My baby also loves plain yogurt (not "baby yogurt" which still has added sugar). You can add your own fruit.



You can skip purees all together if you want: http://baby-led.com/

Lydia - posted on 04/27/2011

i did my own baby food and it is really fun and easy. most recipes could be done in about 20 minutes and I also made bigger amounts to freeze (in ice cube trays to have smaller amounts to thaw as needed). you can also store in fridge until next day... so it's enough to cook every other day. it tastes a lot better and more natural because it's less processed. it is really not that much work. mostly it is steaming veggies, cooking some meat and pureeing. I didn't puree for a long time, my daughter loved bigger textures pretty much from the beginning. from about 9 month on my dd pretty much ate what we ate, i just used less spices and little or no salt in the cooking (you can add salt to your portion afterwards)

some great ideas are:
-mashed potatoes with pumpkin and optional some ground meat (beef or chicken)
- mashed potato and carrots
- mashed sweet potatoes
- mashed potatoes and spinach
- (small) couscous with pureed veggies
- pureed pasta with tomato sauce
- there are lots of soups that work fine for babies...
- best starter veggies are the orange ones (carrots, sweet potato, pumpkin because they are slightly sweet and easy to digest so the babe will like it!)

for snacks i made some apple sauce (or bought a brand that has no added sugar or preservatives - hard to find)
mashed bananas, avocado, mango etc.
sometimes i gave natural yogurt or cream cheese too, but in small amounts before one year old.

also cooking rice pudding, oatmeal etc from scratch is not that big a deal... it is much better than the instant stuff because it's not processed grain.

Carly - posted on 04/27/2011

I made all my kids' food and it is much better for them and tastes a lot better! i agree with others about not pureeing though, it doesn't need to be pureed to smithereens, just mashed with a fork. It is sooo easy, just cook up large batches of vegies, mash them up in diff combinations and freeze them in ice cube trays or similar. After a month or so add some mashed cooked mince (beef/chicken) and fish and off you go. Mango, pear, banana all good and easy to mash up too... Give it a go, very rewarding and bubs will love!

Georgia - posted on 04/26/2011

I made all my kids' baby food, but I didn't do the typical puree it to smithereens. My boys' first food was pear slices and they ate finger foods regularly, but I also made "dinners" processed in a mini processor. It's so much cheaper to make the food yourself, not to mention you know exactly what is going into it.

If you have a regular sized food processor, you can make big batches and freeze them in ice cube trays. As the baby gets older and eats more, you just heat up more cubes. It's not necessary to spend money on other devices, unless you don't have them already. Ere is also a small hand-held device you can use when you're out. I can't remember the name of it,but it looks a bit like a big, orange garlic press. It's small enough to fit into a handbag and works exactly like a garlic press, but the blades are strong enough to be able to cut most cooked foods.

Kristene - posted on 04/26/2011

I DID!!! it tastes WAY Better!! I got a magic bullet and it was perfect for making individual servings at a time. I also learned that you can make more and use icecube trays for storage. Each Icecube is a serving size. I fed chicken, pork, greenbeans, lima beans, corn, squash, bananas, all kinds of stuff! and there's no preservatives!

Becca - posted on 04/26/2011

We found pureed baby food to be a waste of money and home made purees a waste of time. Our son went directly to self-feeding finger foods like steamed carrot sticks, banana, toast or avocado. If you'd like to know more about what we chose to do check this out:
http://www.babyledweaning.com/some-tips-...

Evelyn - posted on 04/26/2011

is good doing the food at home,i have 5 kids and i made food for all of them.

Vegemite - posted on 04/26/2011

I never fed my kids from a jar. It was not that hard to cook some extra vegies when I was cooking our meals then storing them in the fridge for the next day. Steaming apples or pears in the microwave then mashing them takes a couple of minutes. Mashing a banana or avocado a few seconds.

Talea - posted on 04/26/2011

oh yeah I made it all the time look up the book super foods for babies I loved it and also did quite a few from a vegan cookbook I love

Sriwanti - posted on 04/26/2011

I cooked all my baby food coz i know the ingredients are cleaned properly and no additives :) u can buy a few small containers, divide ur baby food per portion and freeze them. But as for me i always cook it fresh everyday.

Nichole - posted on 04/26/2011

Hi! Good idea to make your precious baby fresh nutrients! I started with steaming sweet potatoes and butternut squash and carrots together, put a little water in it and puree it in a blender or food processor and this is very easy to freeze. Because to me ice trays portions were too small for my big eater I would freeze them in a silicon muffin tray and just put plastic wrap over it. I also use quinoa and brown rice to blend in with it. Quinoa has a complete source of protein in it. Banana and avocado are also great first foods! Enjoy!

Sherry - posted on 04/26/2011

I used the regular bullet AND the food processor. I used the bullet when just blending up what we were eating that evening for baby and for when we went out somewhere. The food processor I used for big freezer batches of baby food.

Susanne - posted on 04/26/2011

I tried but my babies never liked it so I used the jars until they were about 7/8 months when they switched to eating the same as us

Margaret - posted on 04/26/2011

I made all the 'baby food', but when you think about it 'baby food' need be no different to what is prepared for the rest of the family, only pureed where necessary. So when I was cooking veges for example, I would put some in the blender and puree it, then put in ice cube containers to freeze. The same with meat, etc...There is not that much extra work involved if one already is preparing all the meals anyway, and its easier to get the children to accept a regular diet as they mature...God bles.

Natasha - posted on 04/26/2011

i make most of my babys food when jayden was six months i made vegetables and fruit and baking

Bethany - posted on 04/25/2011

Charlotte is 2 now, and I made all of her food. It's just so easy, I never saw the point of paying for and feeding her packaged food. I bought her one jar of pears once when we were out and I had just started feeding her solids and kept forgetting to take food with me, and she hated it and didn't eat it anyhow, same goes for a "cottage pie" jar a year or so later. Blechh!!

Big saucepan, meat cubed, veges of a couple of colours, bit of water, simmer until all soft and cooked, hit it with the blending stick. I was given some great ice cube trays that were for this purpose, rounded on the bottom so they can be popped out easily. Then you can nuke them as needed or pop them in a little saucepan to thaw and there you go.

I did use packaged baby rice cereal, with breastmilk, at first, you can use formula for that too. Then would squash up bits of my dinner, squash, potato, whatever. Just go easy with new foods each time, to watch for allergies. Don't mix foods together until all the components have been given by themselves for a week or two, and you know they're safe, then go for it.
Once he's up towards 1, you can cook some pasta spirals that are easy to hold, and grab onto the food themselves so more veges get eaten. or steam rice and when it's still hot, squeeze it into little pats and little balls for little hands to grab.
Check out the net for baby's first food recipies, and the library has heaps of books on babies and toddlers food too.

I'd cook up a pot of meat and vege and it would last weeks in the freezer. I was never out for whole days or anything, so the food kept fine, but you could always pop some cubes in a little thermos to keep them frozen then reheat them when you needed. As it's already cooked, if your kid is teething, they might like to even suck on the frozen vege cubes.

Michelle - posted on 04/25/2011

I like the baby bullet. It's just the right size for keeping at home and taking places. I like the different size cups it comes with. I wasn't sure either but then I decided to just do it and it's worked really well for me. The big difference between it and a processor is the size. For me the smaller size was the big seller. I don't have a lot of counter space and I like having something that I can take with me if I need to.

Nikki - posted on 04/25/2011

Is the baby bullet worth buying? How does it diff from a regular processer?

Sherry - posted on 04/25/2011

Yes I made my own baby food for the twins and also for my 3rd. It's so easy. Try not if you are to be overwhelmed by doing it. Get yourself a food processor and a bullet. As baby gets older you can bring the bullet with you when you go out to eat and just give baby what you are having (within reason of course ; )
I started my kids with Avocado and for that you don't need to put it in the processor at all.... just cream it with your spoon. Next I did all the orange/yellow veggies. Carrots and sweet potato and squash. Buy a couple of squash and some sweet potatoes and at the same time just bake them in the oven. Cool a bit scoop out the flesh and blend with some nice chopped spinach or cooked kale. Couldn't get any healthier than that!! : )

I didn't introduce any grains except rice until they were almost 10 months old. Organic rice cereal is good but the other grains can cause quite a bit of bloating especially at first.

If your breast feeding and you need to make anything more runny just pump and pour some in the food with whatever you are making or just use water. If you are freezing the food don't add any breast milk to it then as breast milk has a shelf life. Add it when you are ready to serve.

I would make large batches of stuff and freeze mini portions for if I needed something in a hurry or wanted to go out I always had a grab and go. The avocados were a great meal to bring with you because it's self contained and acts as its own bowl. All you need is a spoon and a knife to slice it.

All that to say,... I did it and it really wasn't hard and I had the peace of mind knowing exactly what my baby was getting without any preservatives etc etc...

It will all work out. Good luck Sharhonda!!

Michelle - posted on 04/25/2011

I used this book, http://www.amazon.com/Super-Baby-Food-Ru... when I was making baby food. It is a great resource for making baby food and has good sections on homemade activities like playdough and such. It also tells you how to pick out vegies and fruits. How to introduce foods and at what age.



Making food is easy. Cook it, put it in a blender, pour it into ice cube trays, and then put in freezer bags with date and what it is. When I was traveling I would put one or two frozen cubes of food in a little plastic bowl with a lid and normally when it was time to eat it had thawed.

Michelle - posted on 04/25/2011

I've been with my third. The first 2 got jarred food. I got one of those baby bullet things and it's been great. It's pretty easy. I cook fruits or veggies, toss them in the baby bullet, stick it in the freezer or refrigerator and I'm done. I don't waste food like I used to because it's easy to just have what I need. I can take it with me if I go somewhere. It's a lot cheaper and I always know exactly what she's eating. It's great.

Judi - posted on 04/25/2011

at six months they get to eat 1 thing at a time, some pureed pumpkin or apple. and have you smelt a jar of baby food, blah. It's easy steam and blend. Or for those really lazy days mash a banana or avacado. Rice cereral with baby milk (yours or formula) - done, freeze the extra in ice cube trays in a bag and you're done.

Amanda - posted on 04/25/2011

I always made all my own food for both my kids. I never liked the idea of jarred food. I like to know exactly what my kids are eating
I made it in batches and froze it in individual portions. I found it so much easier and worked out alot cheaper and much healthier

Penny - posted on 04/25/2011

I did this for all 4 of my kids and don't regret it for a minute. I'm not over the top organic, so sometimes it was just blending up a can of regular veggies. Most of the time, however, I would blend up whatever steamed veggies we had for supper that night. My oldest 2 went to day care when they were young and I would just freeze the blended items in an ice cube tray and then send them in a covered bowl. My personal take is that the kids who eat homeade baby food tend to transition to regular table food quicker. The cost of jarred baby food adds up very quickly and it wasn't much work at all to make homeade. My recommendation is to invest in a good blender and some ice cube trays and have fun.

Tyrae - posted on 04/25/2011

I do. It's so much cheaper and healthier for bub to make it yourself. I use this site for all its resources and recipes for foods. It has so much information on baby foods.

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/babyfir...

√v^√v^√♥ - posted on 04/25/2011

Yeah it is reallly easy. You just pretty much puree (blend) whatever veggies you are eating that night (or do it beforehand and freeze it) and then give it to them. So far, I found that you can freeze the baby food in ice cube trays so I did this and I went to the store where they sell teether things you can put baby food into so they don't choke on it.. I was worried my son wouldn't like it or get it but the first time I shoved a frozen chunk of sweet potatoes in there he knew right what to do and gnawed on it for the next 15 minutes. It was awesome.

Elfrieda - posted on 04/25/2011

I found it to be easier, except when going out to a fast food place. It made us eat MUCH healthier, because we were always thinking, "Do we want baby boy to eat that?" and made sure we had vegetables at every meal.

My mom gave me a hand-cranked mill for grinding food right at the table. It made it really simple. Take it off your plate, grind it up and spoon it into the little mouth. I probably bought only about $20 worth of jarred baby food, and that was when we were going somewhere where I wasn't sure what my son could eat, plus the prunes that I sometimes had to mix in his food to when he was constipated.



edit: actually, we went through about a million jars of applesauce but we just bought the regular kind, unsweetened, after we ran out of the hundred jars of homemade applesauce my mom had made.

Sharhonda - posted on 04/25/2011

Hubby and I were talking about it and I know it's a good idea and probaby be easier but didn't know anyone who actually did it before....it's ok that you didn't save them....Hopefully I'll know some resources before then lol.....Thanks Jennifer

Medic - posted on 04/25/2011

I made all the baby food for my second child, my first ate jarred and the work was worth it. In a few hours one day every few months I had food for 2 or 3 months done. One of the moms on here, Sarah D helped me. She has some really good resources, I am sorry I don't still have them saved.