Blender Baby Food

I've been making my son's baby food since he was 6 months old (he is now almost 10 months old), I use the book "Blender Baby Foods" and I find with some recipes if I put it in the crock pot everything gets nice and soft, easy to blend and I don't have to think about it. I also use my smoothie maker to blend food then I can use the dispenser to put it right into popsicle makers and freeze it. Have fun! I love seeing my son eating my nutritious creations :)

I've been doing my own baby food as often as possible.

Veggies are great but you may want to have a little fruit (peaches, applesauce, the like) on hand incase Finnegan doesn't immediate take on the veggies.

What I do is either buy fresh, canned or frozen veggies and fruits, heat them if they're frozen or fresh and then stick them in my Magic Bullet with a little water once they've cooled a bit. My baby's almost 11 months now and so instead of water I'm using beef or chicken broth to help get her acquainted with the meat flavor and she LOVES it, but Finnegan's probably a little young for that.

Keep it simple. I usually get peas, corn, carrots, beets, squash (you can cook butternut and acorn in the microwave), lima beans, green beans (mix those with something else) and potatoes.

As for fruits, you can get the no sugar added (and I don't mean splenda) applesauce in a big jar at the grocery store, that's a good place to start for fruits and peaches are always a winner.

Good luck and e-mail me if you need any more advice!!!

I LOVED making my kids baby food! I basically purchased all organic fruits and veggies, steamed them, blended them to the texture they liked using the water from the steamer (later chopped with Pampered Chef chopper for toddler) then I poured them into ice cube trays. Once frozen, I'd pop them into a zip lock bag and pull cubes as needed. Good luck and LMK if I can help further! :-)

Look in to books. "Super Baby Foods" is supposed to be really good. There are books on baby purees as well. Check the Le Leche League site, they sell a book that covers baby and family.
Good Luck!

*A cost-effective note on organic produce. I heard on the news just recently that it's only worth getting organic versions of things that don't have peels because you eat what chemicals touch. Things like bananas don't matter because you are taking off the peel and the fruit inside is "virgin". Mostly organics are worth it for veggies since they have no peel and fruit like apples and berries where you usually eat the peel (I understand you may choose to peel your apples.)

Ahhh, he wants the good stuff. Ok, go to wal-mart or k-mart and they have this little bullet thingy almost like what you see on tv. It can grind between 4 and 6 ounces of food at a time. If you're one of the moms like me that make sure every meal is propperly balanced then cool go for it...just grind up what ever the rest of the family is eating. It's tastier than babyfood, cheaper than babyfood, your baby will like it better than babyfood, but I have to give you a tip...try not to season your food until it hits your plate. Or if you want certain seasonings cooked into your food, then pull out enough for baby before you put the seasoning in as the baby doesn't need alot of salt. You can grind the food to the consistancy that your baby prefers and make combinations that your baby likes that the jarred foods may not make. And if you want to grind in advance like say a week worth of food or more, you can pick up ice-cube trays from a dollar store to use just for the baby food. Grind the food up, pour it in the ice cube trays and freeze it. Then you can pick out what the baby wants and defrost it as you need it. I would buy a jar of meat, a jar of fruit, and a jar of vegetables and put them in the diaperbag incase he wanted something when we were out and about...I only needed to purchase another of any jar that he used from the diaperbag if we had gone somewhere and that was it. If I gave my baby a jar of gerber spaghetti he would spit it at me. But if I gave him spaghetti that I ground up in his babyfood blender, he would eat it all and beg for more. But have you smelled the babyfood in the jars? It smells like dog food.

i made babyfood for my girls 1st foods. very easy. just make sure its not too thick. hope it works out for you.

I did with my other children and will with my 4 month old when he is 5 months. I would cook frozed veggies with no seasoning and blend it up. good luck!

It's really easy. I would buy organic if possible or just wash well any veggies. I used fresh avocado, frozen pes, fresh green beans, acorn squash, yams, etc... and steamed or baked them, then used a hand held blender to puree, then froze in ice cube trays and once frozen kept in freezer bags labeled and dated. It sounds like a lot of work ,but I would make at least a month or two supply in one day.

Yes, I also have to recommend The Super Baby Food Diet.

Start with orange and yellow vegetables, then move to green. After you get through most of the veggies then and only then would I move to fruits (apples, bananas, pears). You can loosen the consistency w/ distilled water or thicken it with rice cereal. Throw away unused portions after two days in refrigerator and never add salt or other spices. Also, introduce one at a time and give it for two weeks before introducing a new one.

Great idea! If any of your friends use baby food, ask them to save their jars for you. If you're breastfeeding, put veggies in a processor and add a little breastmilk (if not, you can use formula) until it is the consistency you want. Use a used baby food jar to figure out how much it takes, then fill ice cube trays with the food, cover, and place in the freezer, noting how many ice cubes it takes to fill a jar. By doing this, you can make enough food for an entire week. In the mornings, take out 1 ice cube and let it thaw (you can fit it inside a baby food jar while it's unthawing). You can take out the food for the day in the morning. It only takes one day a week to make your own food if you do it this way!

Good luck!

Sarah D. hit the nail on it's head. "Super Baby Foods" by Ruth Yaron is EXACTLY what you need. It tells you EVERYTHING you need to know! How to make up your baby food and freeze it in cubes--how long you can freeze it until it expires, etc. It tells you about the 4 day wait rule for introducing foods b/c of allergies. It gives you guidelines for when to feed them, how much to feed them, what to feed them at certain ages, etc. Plus, it's got a lot of great ideas otherwise. It also runs through the toddler years. It really isn't that hard to understand or do... I have been doing it for 4 months now and don't mind at all. There's something about KNOWING what is going in my babies mouth and knowing that she can handle it well. :)

There's no secrets or recipes for baby food. Just take wahtever your family is eating for dinner, mash it with a fork and give to baby. I've discovered (my kids, kids I was a nanny for and friends' children) that most babies do better with slightly chunky food. It has substance so they can actually move it with their tongue. When it's super-runny like water or formula (like those stupid stage 1 things) it frustrates the child and most of it runs back out. There's nothing there for them to practice on. They need to practice moving food from front of mouth to back of mouth with their tongue... you try doing that water!

Good first foods are banana, avacado, pasta and oatmeal.

The ice cube method and organic foods is the way to go. Super Baby Foods is a great book. I love my Cuisinart 11 cup food processor from Costco.

It is SOOOO much fun! My son is 9 months and I have made his food all along. He has tried SOO much more than what they offer in jars!

Go to wholesomebabyfoods.com. They have everything you could possible need. They have recipes and answer so many questions. You are deffinately not alone in wanting to make your own baby food. A lot of moms are doing it. I started out just feeding my five month old organic applesauce that you would buy for yourself. The ingredients are just water and apples so I know it is okay. But everything else I have made myself. On that site they also tell you how to do it with a blender if you don't want to go buy anything to puree with. A blender is all I have. Good Luck and if you have any more questions you can email me at ____@____.com.

My son is 7 1/2 months and I make a lot of his food. When cooking vegetables just be sure to cook or steam them a little longer than you might if you were cooking for yourself. If you don't they may be too chunky and not blend as well.

I too made my son his own food. It is really quite easy but I suggest getting a book. There are several out there but the one I used, and really liked, First Meals by Annabel Karmel. Good luck!