Need Advice from Healthy Savvy Moms on Baby Food

I made all my own purees too but I sure did buy me some Gerber cereal right off the shelf! ;) I think Gerber is fine but I know people who use Earth's Organic and like that too.

Also, just a note on carrying food with you....I put mine in ice cube trays and then plastic bags in the freezer so I had a variety of cubes on hand. If I was going out I usually just threw the frozen ones in a bowl with a lid and left the house. They were usually thawed by time I needed them or if I was going to someone's house I just threw them in the microwave. It's way easier than you think! If I was going someplace without a microwave I would sometimes pop them into my microwave just before I left for half the thaw time so they would start the process on their own. This way they were cold enough to be 'safe' and still be thawed when I needed them. I only used the jarred stuff when we traveled out of town for ease of use! If you're going to make your own stuff try and use it as much as possible, that was my motto! Good luck, either way your baby will be good!

I never gave my kids rice cereal, especially since we live in a society where diabetes is rampant. Rice is pure carbs and breaks down into pure sugar. Veggies and fruits have plenty of fiber and have more nutrition than rice.

Earth's Best seems to be better than even the Gerber Organics.

You may even consider this website which gives a lot of different options for healthy pre-made baby food:
http://www.thefamilygroove.com/mar09_BabyFoodForThought.htm

You might just want to try your local heath food store and see what they have. I think I tried Earth's Best. And there was one (EB?) that was brown rice and may have had added DHA...can't recall. Anyway, most importantly, I'd look for something organic. Although this is baby's first "solid" food, they'll have soooo much more of many other things to come. At this point it just a fun experiment in texture..

Yeah, Earth's Best has whole grain cereals with added iron. I know some folks are anti-cereals, but I don't see anything wrong with whole grains personally. Right now I'm happy to buy the cereal b/c of the iron (I'm breastfeeding). I believe that's the brand I use for pureed meats, too (I'm not a meat eater, so I'm not so good at cooking that). They come in glass jars and are organic. You may already know, but wholesomebabyfood.com is great for tips for making the foods that you do plan to do yourself. We're in this stage again, and it's really fun. :)

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/

If you want to make your own food, this site is awesome. It has 'recipes' (even though most are just a basic puree) It has the nutritional info for each individual fruit and veggie, and it has info for grains and proteins too. plus the best ages to introduce and the safest way to prepare. (Like carrots... I didn't know that you had to watch out for the nitrates in them until the site told me so...)

I buy earth's best organic, and (I think its called Plum??) Anyway, its the organic baby food that comes in squeezey packages. They have it at Babies R Us, and Target ( here in Texas) You'll have to check your stores. I love it, and I'll freeze them in ice cube trays. I don't use rice cereal at all because I find that it constipates the baby.