Hello,
I am a mother of 3 sons, now grown. I made my own baby food back in the day. I cooked the vegies and pureed them in the blender, this can be done with fruits, meat etc. Just as you prepare your own, only puree.
Nothing special, just healthy.
Hope this helps.
I was a mother of twins and processed baby food was expensive so I purchased a hand grinder (they have electric ones now) and I washed the veggies real clean and steamed them and put it through the grinder....I also did the same with meat/chicken...turkey. (no spices)....if it comes out too dry...add some water when you are heating it so the baby does not choke on it. I actually made a batch and froze it cause I did not have time to do it every day. Good luck....
Hi Debby,
I love making my son fresh food. It is super easy and takes very little time and is SO worth it. He is 6 months and he just started eating 2 weeks ago. I make him squash, acorn and butternut so far. You can puree them in the food processor. I have a juicer which works really well at pureeing the food. When I am done pureeing I then take about 1 TBSP and place it on parchment paper then place it in the freezer, so you end up making little squash cookies. When frozen I transfer to a container. You may want to check out a good website called wholesomebabyfood.com
Hope this helps,
V
I'm a first time mom with a soon to be 7 month old girl. We have recently started making homemade baby food. I am really enjoying the book Super Baby Food. I spent a couple of hours one afternoon and cooked/steamed veggies, pureed them in the blender, put them in ice cube trays to freeze. The book does a good job of listing foods to introduce each month. It makes our daily routine super easy. Hope this helps.
we never bought baby food - with the exception of cereal. we mashed up this and that or just fed soft things. our kids loved yams, bananas, really any mushy fruit and little cooked pieces of things that they can learn about using their little fingers with -- joe's os (the tj cherios) and little peas, even frozen. truth is, my daughters also loved nursing and nursed for a long time, so I never worried about what they needed. there are masher things. we had one and our kids didn't really like the food that way. try what you are eating mashed up -- see how they like it. save lots of money.
We made all of our daughters food when she was a baby. She is now 4 1/2 and we get more compliments that she is such a good eater. She will eat anything and proudly tell you her favorite vegetable is asparagus. Please go to freshbaby.com the have a "so easy"kit that is wonderful. It even has charts to help you when they aren't feeling well. We give the kit to everyone we know with a new baby, I think it made all of the difference in the world!
Good luck!
Debby,
I have a 3 year old and a one week old. When I had my first one, I made all of her food in a blender. Everything that they could eat (sweet potatoes, carrots, yams, etc) we cooked. We froze them in ice cube trays. Once frozen, we put them in freezer bags and thawed as needed. We would cook food for a week or so. As they get older, you can change the consistency and not blend it as much. Also, there is a book called Super Baby Food that was pretty good (I think that is the title-I will pull the book out for my second one).
PS-you can buy a meat grinder for meat.
Hi debbie, my name is rachel and i have a 6 month old baby who has been eating solids for about a month now...none of which was "packaged." I steam veggies and puree them in a food processor..i started with carrots and then went onto butternut squash( cut in half, take seeds out, and cook for 1 hour in oven 400 degrees face down) and green beans. Also for veggies you can cook apples and puree them and bananas are easy enough to just mash with a fork. All of these food need a little added water to get a smoother consistency. As the baby grows in age so can his food. You can puree almost anything...including meat. I package all my food in the small tupperware containers and only make food for a couple days because the food you make on your own will not last as long as the packaged food. One more tip...puree veggies for about 2 minutes in the food processor to insure all is smooth
Making baby food is one of the easiest things ever. Just steam the vege's for a few min & put them through the food mill or food processor. I would buy bags of frozen vege's (organic is usually best) and go from there. Try out Annabel Karmel's First Meals - great book! You can even make these ahead of time & freeze them. Then use later as puree's in baking, etc (Jessica Seinfeld's book). Good luck.
Get "super baby food". It will give you everything you need to know, how to prepare, store, when to introduce what. I found this to be a huge help. So easy, healthier and less expensive.
A great book I used is the Fresh Start Cworkbook by Joan Ahlers and Cheryl Tallman. It has a terrific chart for what foods are OK to start and when and even tells you how to pick and prepare each type of food. It takes a bit of time to make the food at first but is a GREAT investment. My son is now 4 and is not a picky eater at all! If you are going to undertake this venture be sure to have a good blender, a number of ice cube trays with large and small cube sizes and a food saver is also a good investment if you don't already have one. I would make batches of food, freeze it in ice cube trays and freeze 4-5 cubes together in one sealed bag - that way when you open a bag to make meals you don't have the risk of food spoiling. The food saver allowed me to prepare a lot more food at once and it keeps for a long time!
Good luck! I would do it again if I had another baby.
I raised both my children on boiled chicken breast, boiled mixed vegetables and rice or mashed potatoes. All cooked without seasonings, maybe add a little bit of pure butter for flavor. Once this is boiled to death, then blend it in the blender (puree). This of course doesn't last long because it is fresh and has no perservatives. So try to make jsut enough. BTW my kids are 11 and 13 with almost no food allergies (except hereditary lactose intolerance). Good luck and God Bless.
When my little ones were that age I used to steam fresh carrots, peas, green beans, and sweet potatoes then I would put them in the food processor and make sure the texture was really fine..then I would pour them into ice cube trays and pop them in the freezer..when it was time to eat I would pop them in the micro and it was ready to go..much more nutritious with no preservitives..also if needed you can add a little rice cereal in it..
I saw the suggestion for fresh start cook book. It is really a great way to go; but you don't really need it to get started. Basically all you need to do is steam any vegetable or fruit, toss it into a food processor or blender, poor into ice cube trays, and freeze. Then each day you remove 4-5 cubes of different types thaw in the fridge and serve when he's ready. You can also warm in the microwave and serve. It is very easy! Not only is it better for your baby, it also smells and tastes better. Good luck and have fun with it!
Jamie S
I used a book called First Meals. I loved it. It breaks the meals up by age. I would make the recipes and then divide them into icecube trays for portion control. It worked beautifully. My 3rd child never had store bought babyfood and he eats more foods and vegetables than my other two. And it made it very easy.
I have a 14 month old daughter who has never eaten a bite of store bought baby food, so it is defintely possible to make your own. I just chopped and steamed all her vegetables. I would then feed them to her or freeze them in ice cube trays, then transfer to plastic bags and keep frozen so it would last quite a while (broccoli, squash, sweet potatoes, peas, carrots, green beans, etc.). I would cut ripe fruit in tiny pieces and she never had a problem (bananas, pear, apple sauce, watermelon, cantelope, melon, peaches, apricots, etc.). Some people prefer to blend the food, but I didn't have to. There are lots of good charts and books out there to reference as well.
im only thirteen but i have a three year old brother and i jsut thought that maybe you could like smush or use the mixer on bananas or maybe peas and steamed carrots would work anything soft and squishable just a thought though, sorry if this doesn't work for you. hey maybe try borders or barnes and noble.com they have books that aren't in print anymore. i might add the used ones are alot cheaper than regular books.
Good Luck!
Hi! I per aid all my own food for our children very rarely did I buy store bought, that way I knew what they where getting. God bless.
Hi Debby,
My son will be 21 next month but I remember making his baby food years ago for him. For one it is better for them and two it is much more cost effective. Begin with communicating with your baby's doctor and introduce foods only as recommended. Science is a wonderful thing and they have learned that certain foods may cause more allergies as children age so they recommend staying away from them until baby's digestive system can handle them. Once you know what you can introduce... start with VEGETABLES not fruits. Easy to do. Steam or boil the veggie then puree it in a food processor or blender... I hear the Bullet is a wonderful thing too when making small amounts. Don't add salt. Butternut squash, Kabocha, Sweet Potatoes, Acorn Squash are great because they are naturally sweet. Peas, Carrots, are also great to start with. When baby is ready for meats you can do the same. At first boil the meat with very little salt then puree. Once you know baby will tolarte the new food item you can go to town making a combination of meals. I used to make Beef/chicken stew or soup in one pot for the family. Take out a small amount to puree before adding spices puree it and place in a ice tray and then finish off the big pot for the family with bay leaves, basil, etc...
As baby can you can do the same with any meal you make for the family. By using Ice trays and feezing it you just pop them out lable a zip lock bag and use as needed.
Hope this helped.
Gayle
It's easy. They sell little food mills (check baby stores or kitchenware stores. Choose organic veggies, grains, fruits: sweet potato, peas, broccoli, rice, potato, legumes, apples, pears, blueberries. Steam (don't overcook to minimize vitamin loss), and grind. Do taste tests if you want to mix say, blueberries and apples. No sweetners or salt needed so your baby can really taste the food. You do want to introduce new food slowly so if there is any problem (excessive gas, allergy etc) you can tell what the culprit is. I used to mix rice cereal from box with veggies or fruit and then move towards less cereal and more of the latter. Have fun!
Diane