Making Your Own Baby Food

September - posted on 02/15/2011

We did and it worked out great! I knew what was in the food and how it was prepared. Our son loved it and still does. However now at 2 years old he helps me cook it now too! :)



Edit to add: I never pureed meats. By the time our son was eating meat he could eat it in small bite size pieces.

Blandine - posted on 02/15/2011

I have been making both my babies baby food since they were 4 months old and they love it . It seems to me that babies tend to eat more when it is homemade because it taste better. Its much easier to put some variety on their food, and its fun to do it :) you can make many in advance and freeze them so you dont have to cook for them everyday.

Jessica - posted on 02/15/2011

cook book called "feed me I'm yours" is great for options!!



ps. it even has ages/stages of what they should be eating and how much:)

Cyndel - posted on 02/13/2011

I did with my son and he loved it, I would often puree what we ate, or buy frozen veggies, we couldn't afford fresh very often.
I bought a few cans of baby food a week for when I was out and about. I sometimes brought my manual pureer which was great at my moms or grandmothers. I usually brought canned baby food to restaurants though because they add to much salt etc to their food.

Stifler's - posted on 02/13/2011

I used to puree whatever we were having too except meat.

Julie - posted on 02/13/2011

We've done it with all three of our kids, the youngest just now beginning solids. Pre-making and freezing is ok, but I've found that using a baby food mill right at the table, and feeding the veggies/meat that the rest of us are eating is very helpful. Starts them off right away knowing that what's on the table is what's to eat...no short order cooks around here!

Kendall - posted on 02/13/2011

I loved making my own baby food! You can stock up your freezer and combine different things. I am really excited to make it again with my son!

Nicole - posted on 02/12/2011

Thank You everyone for all your advice I'm really excited about doing this!!

Lisa - posted on 02/12/2011

I made all of my daughters food and found it very easy and WAY cheaper than buying the jars. A great website with info and recipes is
wholesomebabyfood.com
I got basically all of my info there on how to make, what to make, and when to feed what foods. Good luck!

Tricia - posted on 02/12/2011

I loved it!!! I did for my twins and saved soo much money making my baby food. I would make big batches on the weekends and freeze them in the ice cube trays and once they where frozen put them in big freeze bags and labeled them so we when what it was.

Deborah - posted on 02/12/2011

my lil girl is 5 months on thursday i have always made my own food it is more nutricious for them, my eldest is coming 3 and she has always loved home cooking, i only use jar food if i know i am gonna b home late from town and buy one but it does not satisfy my baby like home cooking does

Hannah - posted on 02/11/2011

My son, at 3 years, still has a texture love affair going on with baby food. I make a lot of my own babyfood because it is cost prohibitive to buy it in the jars - he can consume 4-6 jars in one sitting.

There is a GREAT book, "Super Baby Food" which has TONS of great recipes and info on nutrition etc.
http://www.superbabyfood.com/

have fun!

Rachael - posted on 02/11/2011

I never had a hard time with freezing baby food. Be careful with using canned foods as the lining of cans often contains BPA which is a known carcinogen. I always buy the freshest in season and organic FRESH produce, meats that my husband and I ate, and yogurt. I truly believe that making my own food saved time, and money as well as making the transition to table food much more seamless. when we went out to eat I would take pieces of my food mash them and thin it out if need be with a little breastmilk. (water would work too, but breast milk was right there) these days my son is 22 months and eats everything from hot and spicy wings to sushi to spinach salad and EVERYTHING in between.

Stifler's - posted on 02/10/2011

i did. it was fairly easy

Ashley - posted on 02/10/2011

i did it worked great.

*Fluffy Bunnies - posted on 02/10/2011

It was very simple and I liked knowing exactly what she was eating. I bought a tray that looks like an ice cube tray with a lid. I steamed the veggies or fruit, pureed them and then put what I wasn't going to use quickly in the tray. One oz (about the size of an ice cube) is one serving. It froze well for me and I would either pull it out early to defrost or microwave it a little and let it cool. Some foods I just steamed and chunked (instead of pureeing) and those did well in the freezer too.

Sarh - posted on 02/10/2011

We bought baby food, but I also made some sometimes. It was nice, but I never made it all because I heard from many moms who had made all their own baby food that it didn't do well if frozen and it seemed to go to waste quick. But if we had a can of peas with dinner I'd mash them up for CJ. I bought a couple avocados and mashed those up for him because you can't find baby food avocados in the store, but it is really good for them for brain development and high in fat which is great for babies just not so great for us adults. I'd say it would be much more cost effective!! A small jar that only feeds them 1-4 times (different meals) is what a dollar something and you can get a whole pack of fresh carrots for probably about the same price, here at least.
Also, I don't believe that they don't have to use preservatives, baby food is good for a very long time... I don't see how it is possible w/out preservatives which are bad for everyone no matter the age!

Rachael - posted on 02/10/2011

I loved it, Alexander loved it, and others are constantly complimenting our son's pallet. The food I made was whatever we were eating only softer and smaller and sometimes a little blander. Alexander has never had jar food because we will not feed him anything we won't eat ourselves. I was also able to feed Alexander what was in season, and what was organic and delicious. Good luck!

Kimberly - posted on 02/10/2011

I make all my own veggie/meat combos and I found it great because I knew what was in it, make different combos then the store bought stuff, could make smaller sizes so there was less waste( freeze in ice cube trays then put in a bag worked great) and really only had to spend an hour to get so much more food for so much less! I still bought my fruit puree just cause they were so nice. Unfortnately my daughter is a shocking eater and didnt really take to solids but when she would try stuff it had to been homemade wont even look at the store stuff. good luck!

Marylea - posted on 02/10/2011

I made my own baby food and my daughter and I loved it. I liked knowing exactly what was in the food she was getting and she seemed to enjoy homemade baby food better than the jarred stuff. I definitely will make my own if I have more kids.

Marylea