OK - so I don't breastfeed for any longer than 6 months tops. The newest addition didn't even get that.
BUT I do make homemade baby food. Can we say easy??? If you consider the cost per jar of baby food this really will save you some money (which I am wasting on formula). Not too mention there are no preservatives and you know exactly what you are feeding the baby.
Equipment:
Ice cube trays for easy storage
Food processor if you don't have one go and get a moulis, or a hand held blender
Then you need a stacked steamer or a collapsible steamer
Today, I was a busy mommy - Christmas decorations are gone and I got quite bit of baby food made and frozen.
Green Beans
Carrots
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Zucchini
Parsnips (sound yucky but rather good mixed with carrots)
I make these the same way. Prepare them and throw them into that steamer for 15-20 minutes or until tender. Then transfer to food processor, add some of the cooking water to get to a nice runny texture suitable for your baby. Save some to use now - put the rest in the ice cube trays - VOILA! Baby food.
Butternut Squash or Sweet Potatoes ( I had saved some of the cooking water from the carrots and green beans to add to the food processor)
Cut the squash in half - brush with melted butter cover with foil bake 1 hour @350. Transfer to food processor and freeze in trays.
Bake sweet potatoes @400 for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Peel, toss in the food processor, and freeze.
Once they have frozen in the tray - pop them out into labeled freezer bags - thaw and heat in the microwave or on the stove. DELICIOUS!
FRUITS
Apples
Pears
Peach
Mango
Plum
Now these you don't steam. You place the pieces of the peeled and cored fruit into a heavy saucepan with 1-2 Tblsp of water. Cover and cook over low for 10 minutes (apples) to 4 minutes (pears).
Blend in the food processor and freeze. Make sure the fruit is ripe and juicy!
You can use a banana, avacados, papaya, or melon - just make sure it is ripe. These fruits are not suitable for freezing and don't need to be cooked.
This is so easy friends! My babies all get so excited to eat. I'm also happy to report that they are not picky eaters now (almost 6 and 4).
So good luck! I promise it is worth the time!
**The fruits are yummy mixed with rice cereal**
**You can make a potato puree just don't use the food processor it makes the potatoes really starchy and gooey.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
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14 comments:
My hats off to you for making your own baby food. I tried doing purees to add into recipes and gave up. Kudos.
I wish I would've made my own baby food.
I did this as well, so easy! I used www.wholesomebabyfood.com for inspiration. They have a blog too.
I never managed to make my own food, hats off to you. I'm at the stage now where I have to find good ideas for my son's lunchbox!
Thanks for the comment! I'm following you now :)
Funny, I breastfed all 3 of my kids a minimum of 1 year but i could never commit to homemade baby food. I tried a few times...
Keep up the good work! I'm following you now too!
Right now I'm breastfeeding and have been making home made baby food. It's been an interesting adventure, but hasn't been all that hard and totally worth it. My daughter also prefers fresh foods to anything else.
I like your blog, so I've actually given you a blog award, and you can read about it here:
http://halemom.com/2009/bloggy/
Hope you and you family have a happy new year, and keep up the good job on the blog!
I am not much of a cook but I found making baby food easy and tried to do it as often as possible. Now they are bigger and its a lot harder pleasing them with food choices! I wish they'd still eat their veggies!
vising from MBC
www.lifeinthebatcave.com
wow good for you! I can only imagine how much it saves to make your own baby food.
Making baby food is a cost effective way to save money. We didn't make it all the time, but sometimes we did. You know those steamfresh microwaveable veggie bags? I'd stock up on them when they were 88 cents, and turn them into baby food. That got the veggies out of the way cheaper, and they only took 5 minutes in the microwave for 6 servings. :) p
I wish I would have seen this months ago!
Thanks for following me...I look forward to your blog as well!
My sister just had a baby, and is really into doing things home made, except for diapers...lol...I am passing this info along!
I made some of my own baby food when my kids were babies too. And it's so wonderful to find things that help them to not be picky eaters. (Though my son was a very picky eater up until just this year!) :)
I need to give this a try! We still have a few months to go before solids, but we could always make ahead and freeze.
Love your blog.
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