Making Your Own Baby Food - New Baltimore,MI

I used my existing cuisinart full size food processor at first, then just used the potato masher when my girls were older and ready for more texture. I also had inherited one of those hand-crank KidCo baby food mills, which are great for giving your LO's a little taste of whatever you're eating. If you have an immersion stick blender, I think that would be handy b/c then you could puree the food in the cooking pot instead of having to transfer to blender/food processor.
and another rec for the http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com site - lots of practical tips

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I had twins and made their food in the small black and decker tiny food processor....which I already owned. It was easy. Agree with others who freeze in ice cube trays. Also, I would make food for all of us and just blend the babies' food before I seasoned it. It was a minor amount of incremental work.

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http://www.mystrollers.com/shop/product.aspx?ref=froogle&...
I used this one, the Kidco Electric Food Mill and liked it. For next baby I bought the Beaba Babycook, but ended up returning it. With the new frozen, organic babyfood options, I just can't justify the time spent and it's just a few short weeks/months before he'll be eating chopped food anyway.

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I used a standard food processor and made an assembly line out of it. It was very easy that way. I steamed organic veggies, let them cool a bit, tossed them in the food processor, then in BPA free ice cube trays to freeze the put the cubes in freezer baggies. But after I took the first batch off the steamer I put another batch right on the already boiling water.

Here is a great site with ideas, tips and info:

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/index.htm

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I used a cheap generic food mill that came with three different plates.

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i just used a standard food processor

oh and heres my very own yummy recipe for you, this is for 6 months on

boiled and peeled yams, agave nectar and greek yogurt (the consistency and amounts is really up to you, oh and when she got a little older i put flax meal in it, just for the omegas

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I used just a blender and a potato masher. Once you cook the veggies/fruits they get soft enough to mash them up with even just a fork, depending on the texture you're looking for. Wholesomebabyfood.com was a life saver for me and it so easy for me to make baby food at home and I know that I will NEVER have to buy jarred baby food for any future children. It is also SOOOO much cheaper and better for them.

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I used a small food processor. It worked well. My son loved sweet potatoes. He liked most things. I cooked it first and then chopped it in the food processor. It is much better to make it then buy it and it is so much better for them and winds up being a lot cheaper. I think the food processor was about thirty bucks but was a present from my mom.

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I used my Kitchen Aid Food Processor. It worked like magic.

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I use my food processor and a few ice cube trays. That is literally all you need ;-) You will only be making "Baby" food a few months, as they start finger food around 8-9 months, and by 12 months they should be eating everything you are eating, just cut up more.

Love wholesomebaby.com.

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I used a baby mill http://www.mothernature.com/p/Baby-Food-Mill-1-ea/129661.... con: mommy power :) Pro: goes anywhere :)
What ever we were eating I put in it. Made us eat better :)
What out for carrots (nitrates) and sodium content in foods :) Congrats on making your own food your baby will love it! In a pinch sprouts is yummy. http://www.sproutbabyfood.com/

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My husband and I used our Magic Bullet and food processor. The Magic Bullet (blenders are the same, essentially) was great because it needed to have more liquid. For the first stage of eating, it was a great way to know that we were getting the food thin enough. After that, the food processor was really useful because it chopped things up rather fine but it was not as thin.

The other tools we used a lot to make our own baby food were a steamer basket, fork, knife, ice cube tray, and cutting board. Making your own baby food seems a lot more difficult than it actually is. I would just make up a whole bunch of food, freeze additional portions in the ice cube tray, and pop them out as needed. It worked great.

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I see you have many great answers so far. I used a small baby food processor from Babies R Us. For many of them I would thin them a bit with formula and then freeze it in ice cube containers. I found split peas worked great, too. I just cooked them according to directions and then, again, processed them with some formula to thin them.

There are a few types of foods, though, that you should NOT make at home. I don't remember them all, but I know that CARROTS was a common one. They might contain too high of level of nitrates which interfere with the baby's blood carrying oxygen. The baby food companies screen for it. Not a big deal when the kids are older, just when they are babies :) I think I found the list of foods to not do at home in What to Expect When You're Expecting.

There are also great books at the library that have ideas for making baby food. You can just check them out and jot down a few favorites.

I also found that Kroger had frozen cooked squash that had NO added salt or sugar. Natural applesauce was a great thing too. A huge jar for the price of two tiny "baby" ones. I got the ones that were natural so there was no added sugar.

I also bought the foods with meat in them once we were at that stage, because I just found that easier. And I kept some commercial jars on hand just for convenience when traveling.

We loved making our own food! You don't need anything fancy at all. We cooked most of it in the microwave, used our food processor, then froze over night in freezer trays and transferred to freezer bags.

The only thing I bought was the ice cube trays and a recipe book. I am not handy in the kitchen, I liked "so easy babyfood cookbook" because it was very simple and gave ideas of combinations as baby gets older. I just bought this as a shower gift for a friend too.

We made babyfood once a week.

A good blender is all you need! I purchased one jar of baby food for each "stage", so I had some idea of the texture and consistency that was appropriate for the babies, as I wasn't really sure what I was doing... it helped a lot!

Ex. peaches - purchase fresh, canned or peaches in a jar (look for the light or no syrup or just rinse them really well to get the extra sugar off the fruit).
Place the fruit in the blender, add some water, blend it until it has the texture and consistency you are seeking. If it is too thick, add more water.

Next step - freeze the food in clean ice cube trays. Once frozen, pop them out, wrap them in wax paper (NOT PLASTIC, as research is consistently showing how plastic is leaching chemicals into our food with direct contact), then I would wrap them in tin foil, and store in plastic bags.

I think that two "cubes" equals one small jar of baby food.

When you cook a meal for yourself - save the extra vegetables and blend them down for the baby.

You will be amazed how easy, fast and cheap (along with being so much healthier!) it is to make your own baby food! Plus, it is for such a short time, as they progress onto "real food" so quickly!

Have fun!

We splurged on the baby food maker from William Sonoma (sp?). It was convienent in that you throw in the veggies to be cooked, had a timer, and was pureed all in the same container. Was it worth the cost? No. Our Ninja food processor would have worked great. I typically made his food separately from ours, so it would have been no big deal to steam it in a pot. Originally I thought I'd just throw the veggies from our dinner in there to cook a little longer. That ended up taking too long, and his would be way to hot when we sat down to eat. There's always a fix to these solutions, but I'd say save your money. I didnt' tough the recipe baby food book either. I do love Super Baby Foods book. by Ruth Yaron. full of everything you need to know about feeding your baby.

N.

I found the food processor didn't do the trick, it was too gritty. I used a blender and that made it very creamy, just like the babyfood jars. I have a bosch mixer and blender, but I don't think you'd NEED to have something that high powered. I need it for blending up nuts and seeds, but the veggies and fruits should do fine in a normal blender.

I make food for my 9 month old twins and while it is time consuming I think it is so worth it. I try to make HUGE batches so that I only have to make it once every 3-4 weeks. I use a steamer so that all I have to do is add water and push a button. Then I puree it all in a regular food processor. It has worked really well

I used a food processor and ice cube trays (to freeze small portions) for my first two. I have just started making food for my third and have found that a food mill results in a nice, smooth texture that a food processor can't acheive for things like peas. Not sure how much food mills cost but if you don't want to buy one, you could always use a spatula to push the food through a mesh strainer, which I've done before. Or you could skip the food processor and just buy a food mill. That's what my mom used to make baby food in the 'old days'. Depends on if you plan on using the food processor for other things.

I use a blender, food processor, and hand food mill by Kidco - depending on what foods I am making.

A few cons I've run in to are: One- It's time consuming. But if you make big batches it's really not that bad, if you have the freezer space. Two - feeding when going out to eat (restaurant, picnic @ the park, etc...some place w/o a microwave to warm food) can be a bit challenging. But...there are also ways around that too by planning ahead (i.e. hand food mill for bananas, avocado, pears, blueberries, etc.) And three - the "shelf life" (freezer life) of homemade is not nearly as long as store bought food, but that doesn't really seem like a con, does it? ;) It's gonna get consumed anyway, and not just sit, and sit, and sit....

I've found far more pros in making my own baby food:

-I'm actually having fun in the process of making new recipes, combos of food, etc. It's a unique challege.
-And seriously...it's CHEAP!!! For example, I can make 8-10 servings of fresh bananas for the price of one store bought two-pack. Seriously.
-The food truly tastes and smells better
-summer time = YUMMY and even cheaper produce!
-I find that my youngest is willing to experiment with a wider variety of tastes and textures than my oldest two did, who ate mostly store-bought food. And, we're in the process of transitioning to some table foods, and I also think my homemade food has helped make it easier.

Feel free to contact me if you need resources ~ I'm happy to share :)

I definitely agree that the handheld immersion blender is the way to go - you can blend it right up in the dish that you cooked it in and save a lot of dish washing from the blender or food processor. Worked great for me on everything I made! =)

I made my own baby food for both my kids. The food processor worked great for things like meat, spinach, green beans, corn, etc. I also used a regular hand potato masher for things like potatos, sweet potatoes, carrots after cooking them well. it works great and so much easier to clean! After making a large batch I froze them in ice cube trays and then would just heat up one to two cubes at a time. works like a charm! good luck!

I used a blender and also a tiny Black and Decker chopper.. Both worked great. I never purchased baby food from a jar. I was so shocked at how easy it was.

I also froze the baby food in ice cube trays. They defrosted so fast because of the small sizes.

I use an immersion hand blender for things like sweet potatoes, carrots, cauliflower and zucchini. It works awesome and the clean-up is quick and easy. I also use a food mill - especially for peas.

I just used a blender and it got the food nice and smooth. And it was a cheap blender at that. I was surprised at how easy it was, and I felt much better feeding my son homemade food than the stuff from the store. Good luck!

I believe a standard food processor would work fine. I did not have one when I made all my daughters baby food. She never had store bought baby food. I bought the book "Super Baby Food" and for about $20, I bough a baby food mill. I also bough new ice cube trays to freeze the baby food in. That and some stackable Ziploc container for the freezer to keep the food from getting frost bite. I would spend one day a week making food for her for the entire week. I will let you know if you steam carrots it take a lot longer than you would image to break them down. I would encourage the food processor for them.

I hope this help. It was very easy for me and very rewarding to be able to make all of my daughters foods.

Best of Luck,
E.

I love love love my hand held blendar (not the kind you would use for baking). Not sure the exact name of it, but you can just blend the food right in the pot so there is no extra clean up! My original one broke after using it for years to make baby food. I bought another one and I use it when I make homemade jams/jellies to puree the ingredients right in the pot. So convenient. I think they might be called wand blendars??? You should be able to find them almost anywhere for less than $50. Also good for mashed potatoes!

We used a margarita blender collecting dust in a cupboard. It was a blender with a spout on the bottom. Boil veggies, blend in blender, dispense into ice cube trays and we're done! I wouldn't buy anything, food processor will work just fine. Good luck and I hope you find what works for you!