I am going to be starting my 5+ month old on solids in a few weeks. We are going to be making our own baby food. Looking for a good cookbook to help us with this process, preferably one that also has advice on what foods to start when, etc. Any other tips on easily preparing/freezing our own baby food or any other things we should get would also be great. We are generally organic, natural food people. Thanks!
I used the Cooking for Baby cookbook from Williams-Sonoma. It had nice and easy recipes and good tips!
Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron is a thorough book on making your own food, when to start, what you need, and it gives lots of great nutrition info. I HIGHLY recommend this book. I've been to the websites mentioned, but find I use this book ALL the time as it breaks it down by month what to introduce and is a great resource to leave in the kitchen. Good luck and congrats on making your own food. You'll find it is really easy and convenient.
I love Anabel Karmel's books, especially "Superfoods," which includes handy tips on the nutritional value of the ingredients. They are so tasty and easy to freeze (try ice-cube trays and then dump the frozen cubes into a freezer bag).
Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron is wonderful. I made tons of food, but also bought organic foods too when it got to be too time consuming (Earth's Best, Healthy Times, Sprout, Happy Baby, etc.). The book is FABULOUS and has lots more than just a guide for what foods when...good luck!
I also recommend the wholesomebabyfood.com site. I liked it better than the couple of cookbooks I have.
Hi there. I didn't use any special cookbook or guide - just pureed healthy foods for her individually, froze them in ice cube trays (after cooling as I just couldn't figure out if ice cube trays might have BPA) and then would transfer them to plastic bags in the freezer as suggested by a previous post. It was absolutely perfect - I also tried to stick to organic so whatever I could find I would make. A few veggies I would buy the natures best pre-made baby food (or Gerber has a line of organic food). SHe had veggies first - yellow squash, sweet potato, butternut squash, zuchini, brocoli, peas ( i bought these already made - it was easier for me to use these than steam them and puree for some reason), carrots, green beans (again I used the natures best pre-made organic line), avocado, others I am sure. For fruits she had pear, apple, peach, banana, mango etc. I didn't buy any of those special baby food blenders - just used my regular old food processor and it worked fine. I also kept the food separate because that's how I would want to eat it - I know sometimes Moms just throw a whole bunch of stuff in the blender and give it to a baby but I made her stuff individually so she could learn to taste it. It worked really great because it was the same foods we were eating - I would steam a big pile of veggies and then just puree her share while we would eat ours. Fruits were a little more annoying since I wouldn't normally steam fruits but overall it was just a few months and so rewarding to know you were in charge of what you were giving her.
Good luck, it's fun watching them learn to eat!
Now at 22 months she's a great eater and eats most of those foods as solids (she gave up pureed food around 10 months)
Everyone else already suggested the website I used, www.wholesomebabyfood.com
I didn't buy any special baby food containers, I just used ice cube trays. About once a month, I would buy enough fruits and veggies for the month and cook, puree and freeze them in the ice cube trays, then take them out and put them in gallon freezer bags. Then I could just take out what I needed everyday. And because I was making my own, I could use any fruits and veggies at the store. I wasn't just limited to peas, carrots, sweet potato, etc... Because of this, one of my sons favorite foods is still avocado, at 17 months! BTW, avocado is an EXCELLENT first food. It purees really nicely and its full of good fats which help your baby's brain grow.
Remember to wait about 4 days before introducing the next food to help identify allergies.
Making your own baby food is so much fun :)
Hi S.!
HA!! I had already thought of, and was going to respond to your question with wholesomebabyfoods.com, but Ms. Meagan beat me to it! I LOVE THAT SITE!! :) Best of luck!
I also used Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron. But, you don't need much of a cookbook. Just take plain veggies that you're making for yourself, puree, add water until smooth enough (I would just compare thickness to the jarred ones) and feed to your little one.
A greast website is wholesomebabyfoods.com...It breaks down food groups and has a lot of info for everything. I found the best and easiest way to puree is using the magic bullet. It is such easy clean up and makes a good amount of portions. Good luck. M.
Check out onceamonthmom.com They have recipes for baby food and adult food and a plan for making them once a month so you have a freezer full! We are doing the regular menu next week and I can't wait to have it all in the freezer ready to go! I don't have a baby right now, but I will definitely use the recipes and plan for baby food when I do have another one! Good luck and have fun!
Hi S.,
An older book I used with my kids was by Sue Castle http://www.amazon.com/COMPLETE-GUIDE-PREPARING-BABY-FOODS...
The Complete New Guide to Preparing Baby Foods gave the ages you should introduce foods to cause the least reactions. I also would puree frozen fruits and veges with a bit of water, freeze them in ice cube trays and then put them in Ziploc bags. It cut the prep time a little. Enjoy the process.
D. C.
Mom of G17 & B15, 12 &9
