Homemade Baby Food

try wholesomebabyfood.com. it's awesome! I have used it with both my kids. there are so many ideas and menu plans. There is also wholesometoddlerfood.com that i use with my oldest. they are free websites, so you don't have to buy a cook book or anything.
hope this helps!

Mashed Avocado (4)6 months+
Peel and de-pit a ripe avocado
Cut "meat" out and mash with a fork
There should be no need to use a machine as just like bananas, avocados have a very soft consistency and texture. Avocados do not need to be cooked.
Puréed Apples (4)6 months+

1. Peel, core and cut apple into slices/chunks
2. Place slices or chunks into a pan with just enough water to slightly cover apples
3. Boil/steam until tender; be sure to check on the water level and stir, That's It! Easy Peasy!
4. Apples may be mashed with a potato masher to achieve a smooth applesauce consistency. If your masher will not achieve a puree type of consistency, then follow steps 5 - 7
5. Reserve any left over water to use for thinning out the apples
6. Place into your choice of appliance for pureeing and begin pureeing.
7. Add the reserved water as necessary to achieve a smooth, thin puree
8. Add cereal (if desired) to thicken up the
9. Ask your pediatrician about adding some cinnamon for new tastes!
Banana-Cado (4)6 months+
Peel and de-pit a ripe avocado
Cut "meat" out and mash with a fork
Peel and mash 1 banana
Place in a blender or food processor and puree until desired texture is achieved. Avocados and Bananas do not need to be cooked

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Sweet Potato Puree (4-6 months)
1. Wash and poke holes in sweet potato with fork then wrap sweet potatoes in tin foil - do not peel for baking/microwaving.
2. Place in a 400 degree oven and bake for 30-60 minutes or until soft

3. Remove skins by slitting the sweet potato lengthwise when cooled then scoop out the "meat". Use a liquid from your preferred source to puree or thin the sweet potatoes.
Carrots - Basic Purée (4-6 months)
1. Peel carrots and cut into small chunks
2. Place chunks into a steamer pan with just enough water visible through the steamer basket
3. Steam until tender
4. Do not reserve any left over water to use for thinning out the carrots if baby is under 8 months old as Nitrates may seep into the cooking water
5. Place into your choice of appliance for pureeing and begin pureeing.
6. Add water as necessary to achieve a smooth, thin consistency

Mashed Bananas (4)6 months +
1 Ripe Banana
Water, Formula or Breast Milk is desired
Peel and cut a ripe banana into small dices
Mash with a fork
There should be no need to use a machine as bananas, just like avocados, will have a very soft consistency and texture. Bananas do not need to be cooked.
Depending on your baby's age and stage, you may not need to add any liquid to the mashed banana. You may purée the banana in a food processor or blender if desired
Peach Purée(4-8 months)
1. Scrub fruit clean and carve an X into 1 side of the fruit
2. Place X side down in a pan with an inch of water
3. Bring water to a boil and steam until soft and tender
4. Peel skin from fruit and remove pits and/or seeds
5. move to step 6 below
6. Reserve any left over water to use for thinning out the fruits
7. Peel off skin if you have not done this already. Place fruit(s) into your choice of appliance for pureeing and begin pureeing.
8. Add the reserved water as necessary to achieve a smooth, thin puree
9. Add cereal (if desired) to thicken up.

Papaya Mash (6-8 months)
1. Peel and de-seed a fully ripened papaya
2. Mash or puree as needed for your baby's preference
You may wish to steam papaya chunks for a bit to soften them and enable easier digestion.

Butternut or Acorn Squash - Basic Purée
(4)6 months+
1 acorn or butternut squash
1. Cut acorn or butternut squash in half, scoop out seeds
2. Place halves face down in a pan and cover with an inch of water
3. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 40 minutes to 1 hour - be sure the "shell/skin" puckers and halves feel soft then scoop squash "meat" out of the shell
4. Place squash "meat" into your choice of appliance for pureeing and begin pureeing.
5. Add water as necessary to achieve a smooth, thin consistency.
6. You can also peel the squash, scoop out the seeds and then cut into chunks and boil/steam until tender (like when boiling potatoes for mashed potatoes) then follow steps 4 and 5 - this way is most difficult however and rather time consuming!

Pumpkin Puree Baby Food Recipe (6-8 months)
1 sugar pumpkin
water
cinnamon, nutmeg (optional - sprinkle into the cooking water or when you puree/mash)
Pumpkin is best when baked though you may peel, cube and steam it! Bake a pumpkin exactly as you would bake a winter (Acorn, Butternut etc.) squash! Pumpkin is afterall a squash!
1. Halve the pumpkin, de-seed
2. Place halves face down in a baking pan with approx 1-2 inches of water
3. Bake between 375-425 F for approximately 40 minutes to 1 hour

Pumpkin Baby Food Recipes - Yummy Bananas & Pumpkin (6-8 months)
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
2 small bananas
Mash 2 small bananas
Add pumpkin puree
Mix thoroughly, blend if needed for your baby's texture preferences. Makes a yumy addition to baby's cereal or yogurt!

Also, check out www.wholesomebabyfood.com

Hi C.,
I am using The Petit Appetite cookbook. It goes from 6 months into toddler age. My son is a year old now and I've really enjoyed the cookbook.

Hope that helps!

I know the reason that my daughter is such a good eater today is because I home made all her food. One the one hand she got used to eating lots of different things and on the other she got a variety of textures. Store bought baby food is so watery and past the first couple of weeks on food they really need something more substantial to work their mouths around. I did alot of mixing extra small bits of shredded meat in with cous cous and finely chopped veggies. I would also steam carrots and puree them with chicken broth for flavor. She loved mashed up black beans and avocado. I would buy frozen fruit and thaw it a puree it with oat meal for breakfast and most orchard fruits like apples and pears can be boiled and mushed. Try parsnips instead of carrots for another taste. Keep lots of bannanas on hand because when you run out of stuff you can just mash it with a fork. Done!

i have a great book called first foods that i cant wait to try. my babys still on a liquid diet lol. but the book is very simple in its approach and seems very easy peasy

WELL I AM A MOTHER OF 2, GRANDMOTHER OF 5, & SPOUSE OF NONE.SEVERAL YEARS AGO I RAN A DAYCARE HERE IN MY HOMETOWN, WAS LARGEST 1 HERE & WE DID WHAT I SUPPOSE WOULD BE CALLED HOMEMADE BABY FOOD. WE USED A VERY GOOD BLENDER. THE BABIES FAVORITE SEEMED TO BE MAC & CHEESE, & RANCH STYLE BEANS. WE WOULD THIN MAC & CHEESE DOWN WITH MILK & BEANS NORMALLY WITH THERE OWN JUICE, OF COURSE WE ADDED A LITTLE WATER BEFORE HEATING TOO WHICH HELPED. BUT WE WOULD BASICALLY DO ANY FOOD THAT WE SERVED THE OLDER KIDS & WORKED WELL. HAMBURGER HELPER WAS EASY, GREEN BEANS DID NOT DO REAL WELL. BUT MIX WITH OTHER VEGGIE AS CREAM CORN & WORKED MUCH BETTER.
HOPE THIS IS OF USE TO YOU, IT WORKED FOR US.
D.

Super Baby Food, by Ruth Yaron is a great book! I found it at Barnes and Noble. She goes very in depth about nutrition, making your own baby food, and food for toddlers.

The only thing that you have to do with homemade food is, buy the fruit or veggies then steam them. Use the left over water to thin them out after you blend them(or breast milk or formula). I bought a couple of ice cube trays, then take the puree and put it in the trays. Let it freeze, then transfer the cubes to a freezer ziplock bag. This way you can make a large amount in a short period. Then you can get small containers and drop in a cube a couple days before and defrost in the fridge. A friend of mine would defrost in the microwave. I personally wasn't comfortable doing that. I got the ice trays and containers at the dollar store. Now my daughter plays with the containers and I always have extra ice. Don't bother with bananas they just turn brown when frozen, I learned the hard way. Summer squash, peas and carrots turned out really well. Also, I used some frozen stuff when I couldn't find it fresh. Baby sweet peas were a hit.
Remember that you should have your child eat only one at first for at least 3 days, to look for allergical reactions, then you can move on. I started with veggies(peas), they "say" you should start with fruit, but I thought it was to sweet and she wouldn't like veggies if we started there. Now she loves veggies and we are learning to like fruit now. But at 13 months its easier to like fruit, especially with oranges.

Also later on there are recipes in the back of the " What to expect in the first year" book, they mix stuff up. (We never did meat purees)

Good luck with everything and I hope this helps you!

A. and THE BOO!

I keep frozen veggies and when I made dinner I took some of the steamed veggies and put it in a food processor for baby. Same thing with fruit- I cooked it and blended it. Then I froze in ice cube trays and dumped them in ziplock baggies. Didn't need a recipe- easy as that. When the baby got to eating rice and pasta, I blended what we ate (spaghetti, casseroles, ect) and froze that too.

A friend of mine use to boil fresh veggies (peas, carrots etc), then mash them or put them in a blender, then put the veggies in ice cube trays. She would pop 1 or 2 cubes in the microwave when it was time to eat and VIOLA!

We made homemade food for our 2 1/2 yo until she was a year or so and are doing the same for our 7 mo old. My steamer is my best friend:) We steam all veggies and fruits and then blend them in a blender. We feed him everything (except for the no-nos like PB and honey). This weekend we gave him chopped tofu and he loves it! My best advice is to experiment. We gave our daughter no sugar until she was at least 18 mo and now she prefers fruit and veggies to sugary foods.

There is a great book out there called Super Baby Food - lots of great advice and recipes for your baby. I've used it for both of my children and I love the age appropriate recipes and the simple advice.

Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron.
It is a very comprehensive book that starts with making your own baby food and transitioning into more age appropriate food. Includes LOTS of recipes and nutritional information!
You will love it.
Good luck.
L.

I used a book many years ago called "Feed Me, I'm Yours", which began with pureed food for the beginning eating. It included all the way up to toddler tips. I loved it.

Hi, my children are teenagers now, but I used salt free, preservative free veggies and steamed them and either blended or mashed them with a fork. For the meat, I boiled chicken and used a blender of chopper to cut and added breast milk, applesauce or blended veggies to smooth it out if needed. My children ate it without a problem.

Hi,

Do you have a food processor? Anything that you eat can be processed into an edible texture for the little one. I cook lightly seasoned ground beef and some green beans separately, throw them into the food processor with a little broth (chicken or beef), blend until it's a smooth mixture and then mix that with some mashed potatoes or some well cooked white or brown rice. I also do the same with chicken and brocolli, maybe adding some cream of mushroom soup for the moisture instead of broth. My daughter LOVES it! Good luck!

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/

Check out this site. This is who I used.

I usually just mashed whatever we were eating, if for some reason it was highly seasoned, I saved some without seasoning for the baby. I would make extra and freeze it in ice cube trays occasionally. Mostly we just gave him some version of what we were eating depending on the age. The only reason I ever bought store bought baby food was for convenience on a trip.

I Annabelle Karmel books - there good and even have sample menus.

K.

Hello -

I really enjoyed the Super Baby Food Book. It had great recipes and some good activities, etc. Note that she is a Vegetarian, and some have said is over the top with cleanliness... with that being said, it is a good book to own if you plan to make your own baby food. I did this with our son and using the ice cube trays was a perfect way to measure out portions.

Good luck!

You can save yourself alot of time and worry, fix the veg. and meats that you want your child on. NO seasoning put through a food processor. You can chop to the texture that you want and need for the age. Worked great for me. Got to the point that I would just give my child the same thing that we were eating that night just chopped. Went from there to the foods that were seasoned and chopped. Good luck.

This website http://freshbaby.com/ sells a book and it's great! It came with a DVD so everything was REALLY easy!

you have had enough suggestions on what to make - i personally used annabelle karmel, then i would freeze the baby food in ice cube trays for a handy serving size

Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron!

The Annabelle Karmel book is great. She covers from 6 months to 3 or 4 years.

I bought mine in Barnes and Noble.

Hope this helps.
S.

C.,

I think that it is wonderful you are interested in making your own food! Remember your little person is only seven months old, and depending on how well they have responded to other foods, will still only need pureed veggies, fruits, and depending on your doctor's recemmendations, intro to meat! I just steamed the food at that stage and fed it to them pureed!

Hope this helps!

Hey C.,
I have a 7 month old as well. I have been feeding him homemade purees since he was 4 months old. Here is a great websites for this:
http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/

It shows you what to puree for each stage. I have a great little system that I use. It is super simple and very cost effective.
What you need:
1. Food Processor/ Blender (with puree option)
2. Frozen or Fresh Veggies & Fruit
3. Silicone Ice Cube Trays (they sell these at Bed Bath & Beyond - you get 2 trays, with 15 squares in each for $10)
4.Pots/Steamer
5. 1 Gallon Freezer Bags
6. Permanent Marker
Steps:
1. Peel veggie/fruit if it has a tough skin (squash, sweet potatoes,etc..)
2. Steam vegetables/fruit till tender
3. Strain veggie/fruit
4. Put your veggie or fruit in food processor or blender (my food processor works much better to get a very fine consistency) add a little water if you need it to thin it out.
5. Pour your puree into your silicone ice cube trays
6. Put in freezer overnight
7. Pop your little squares of your veggie/fruit out and put into your freezer bag.
8. Label the veggie/fruit on bag with the date it was made
Hints:
It is only good for 3 months in the freezer. Follow the recommended list of foods for each month of life. I got carried away and pureed a bunch of random stuff & it upset his stomach. Start small to see how much your child will eat. Each square is roughly 2oz. to give you an idea of how much he/she is eating. Don't boil the produce - it takes away a lot of the good nutrients.

Please email me if you have any questions & good luck. I really enjoy doing it for my little boy. ____@____.com

J.

My favorite one is Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron. We still make Super Baby Porridge for our whole family and my oldest is 7! It is a wonderful resource.

"Mommy Made, and Daddy too" an awesome book with lots of great ideas. They even break it out into age groups (by month)for introducing your child to each food! They have recipes for toddles and grown ups too! Great to have if you have a friend or relative with food alergies... great alternative recipes as well. Hope this helps!!!

I have a 6 month old and am just starting him on solid foods, so I am right with you!

I too try to buy fresh organic food when I can and prepare them one at a time. I steam the veggies and use a hand held blender to puree them. I usually keep the water that it was steamed in and then add it to the right consistency.

The ice cube tray idea is perfect-- I just popped three trays of sweet potato mush (our favorite!) into ziplock baggies. I mix them with formula/breast milk and rice cereal. Yummo!

A quick easy trick: get canned pears packed in juice and they are blender ready.

They also have those tiny tupperware type containers-- really small ones-- I freeze some foods in them as well to take along.

Good luck!

J

Super Baby Food!! It is a great book and very easy.

Hi C.-
I struggled with this with my son as well. But really what I did was make all sorts of things and freeze them in ice cube trays and then put them in ziploc bags in the freezer. Then if I thought that a pea cube and a carrot cube sounded good for him then that was what he had. I think your little one needs to be a bit older for meat. But my Mom would just grind up whatever she made for meals and that is what we would have. Really I had to be creative since I could not find anything as well. I don't really think that I answered your question though.

Hi C.,

My daughter is now nearly 2 1/2 and I have made all her baby food. She didn't eat anything but raw, unprocessed foods until she was nearly 2. I fed her mashed/grated organic avocado, banana, mango, peach, apple, pear, and any other fruit that I could mash or grate. She did well with her food not being as smooth and slick as baby food and that's probably the reason she is less sensitive to textures than many toddlers. I also juiced carrots, beets, spinach, and other veggies, strained them with a cheese cloth and mixed with breast milk or water.

While you might not go as far as I did with the raw food theme, it's extremely healthy, so I would encourage you to encorporate "real" foods into her diet everyday - your son too. My daughter has been sick only once in her life - a relatively minor cold/runny nose - and has not been to the doctor since her initial well baby visits at about 3 months! She's also very smart and agile, so I know it's been good for her. Good luck!

The book "Super Baby Food" really helped me. I checked it out from the library first and then when I knew I would use my own copy I bought one.

It tell you how to make baby food from day one of solids on into the pre-school years.

Hope this helps.

Well in dealing with baby food, just give her whatever you are eating only in smaller bites. At this age, my kids were eating steak and anything that we were eating, just in smaller pieces and portions. The whole food thing is what you think they are ready to eat. Many people have told me to watch what they eat simply because of the obesity issue but my kids ate meat, veggies, fruit and pasta at 7 months old so its up to your disgression.

When I was making homemade baby food all I did was make sure it was single foods at first. I would steam sweet potatoes, peas, carrots, pears, apples, etc until they were soft and then put them in the blender with a small bit of the steaming water to make it the right consistency. I would then save a few portions in the refrigerator then freeze the rest in ice cube trays. I was still using baby cereal mixed with breast milk or added to the fruits and vegetables. I also fed the baby ripe banana and avocado smashed up with a fork. Blended pasta is good too. After twelve months I introduced yogurt and some mixed things like blended spahetti & meat sauce (be careful of sensitivity to tomato based food) It's good to make a simple chicken soup with rice or pasta & vegetables then blend it up with very little juice. My rule of thumb was not to add salt/pepper or any seasonings to baby's food. The baby's not used to the taste of the new foods so it's better not to overwhelm their little taste buds with added seasoning. I also tried hard to use fresh/organic produce in making the babyfood.

Good luck & happy feeding!
D.