Anyone Make Their Own Baby Food?

We had a Kidco Baby Food Mill (look on amazon.com)that worked great--you could really put just about anything into it! As our second-born got older and we had leftovers, we would turn that into his next day meal. When using corn or green peas, it leaves the outer skin of the vegetable in the grinder. The texture was very nice too. We would mix the veggies together in the grinder. It was MUCH less expensive than all of the money we spent on baby food on our first son! I think it went right in the dishwasher too, but now I can't remember since that kid is 3 1/2 now...good luck!

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I also have the book Super Baby Food, by Ruth Yaron (2nd edition, revised).

I used her instructions, which are easy to understand, simple to do, and healthy to boot, to make baby food for my son. He really liked most of what I made for him. I made big batches and froze them according to her instructions.

She has a month-by-month feeding guide built into the book, so you can start right where you are. I recommend reading or at least skimming through all the intro stuff to get a feel for what the book is like first.

Her book also has tons of fantastic ideas for toddler finger foods and other healthy snacks, plus a whole section on Fun Stuff, with food decorating, cake & party ideas, and arts and crafts.

There's a section on food safety, so I was able to gently re-educate my mom on choking hazards etc.

This book is fantastic for exactly what you are asking- it will answer all of your questions quickly and you can implement her ideas immediately. (from what I remember from the book, you do need a blender, and a chopper is handy though not necessary. You do not need a food processor or anything else fancy).

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Hi D..

I made all of my daughters food and would love to share the process and the results!

My daughter was strictly breastfed- which is also great for the budget since I didn't have to buy formula or new clothes, post-partum (it helps take off the weight).

She started on solids between 10-11 months, when she became interested in what we were eating.

We began with steamed and then pureed organic sweet potatoes mixed with breast milk that I would pump that morning and store in a glass bottle in the fridge. The consistency was thin like store bought baby food. A couple weeks later I added some pureed steamed organic kale to the mix. And soon, just kale alone with the breast milk. Then came spinach, brown rice baby cereal, collards, a lot of green and yes, bitter stuff mixed with breast milk- which sweetened it up a tad. Then we added apple and pear.

I wanted to begin with veggies because the ones we used consist of less sugar and more essential nutrients. We also wanted our daughter to have a palette for good veggies and ethnic foods- not just the sweet stuff and it worked! She eats everything at 2 years!

I always made sure to use the "steaming" water in the puree process to thin the veggies out and make the blending easier. And yes, I would get an old glass blender, or a new one, and puree the food to baby food consistency. I say glass, because you'll want to avoid putting anything warm in a plastic blender since it can leach harmful chemicals (xenoestrogens) into your babe's food.

Lastly, I would make enough food for the week,store and freeze it in 4 oz glass jelly jars which can be bought at any conventional grocery or hardware store. The breast milk would be pumped fresh every morning. The rice cereal would be added fresh as well. The only thing I froze was the veggie puree.

Good luck!!

A.

A. R.
Free Market Organics
http://www.freemarketorganics.com

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Hi D.,
I made my own baby food for all three of my children. Yes, you do need a blender to get the food pureed enough for baby. A GREAT book to get is "Feed Me I'm Yours". It is a book made by 5 moms with great and simple baby food idea's let alone many ideas for young kids (treats, snacks, holiday ideas). I used this book so much it was falling apart!! I usually just threw what ever we were eating in the blender for baby and baby ate what we were eating (after we did one food at a time). It is great and a lot cheaper and healthier (no preservatives). Many moms don't realize just how easy this is.....I also froze the food in ice cube trays and when we were out and about put a cube of food in a jar and by the time it was time to eat, it was thawed and ready (if not, I ran the jar under some hot water). Hope you can get the book, its so helpful. Good luck and bon appetit! C.

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I made my own baby food with my third baby. I found this book that answers all of your questions about making baby food, and was a great resource. It's called Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron. I checked it out from my local library, but I kept on renewing it, because it was such a good book to have on hand, so I would definitely recommend buying it. It tells you all the things you need to know about making food for your baby.

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