Making Own Baby Food

get a mini prep blender to make life easy. If you freeze foods (I never did that) you can always make ton and put it in ice cube trays, let it freeze then transfer to a big bag.

It helps to try things many times, not just decide he doesn't like something because he tried it once and didn't like it.
Make or buy LOTS of applesauce. You can add it to just about any food to make it sweeter and thin it too. Make all the food thick and then you can thin it out.

My kids' favorites were: squash, sweet potato,peas (which can be hard to get smooth),applesauce alone or in any combo. I also used "Better Baby Food" book which has lots of recipies for as they age that you can eat too.

I also made spears from zucchini, sweet potato and squash that were steamed and they could hold. i know someone whose child ate eggplant too. Try anything you would eat.

Hey S.,

The Magic Bullet is wonderful for that and for other things that the whole family will enjoy. I love mine because it is SO easy to use and SO easy to clean.

www.onestepahead.com has a really cool cook book full of ides from baby's first food all the way up to five years old - including family meal ideas. This has been the best cookbook I've ever been given!

I made all of my son's baby food and was commended on how "gourmet" I was. It was very easy. Once a week I would go to the store and buy the freshest produce. Take it home, wash, steam and then blend in the food processor. I used ice cube trays to freeze the food then popped them out into frezzer bags. When I wanted to feed my son I defrosted 2-3 cubes in the microwave then served. Very easy and inexpensive. Check out the book Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron. It will guide you month by month what is best to feed your little one. Good Luck.

I have an 8 month old, and I am the mom of 3. I have used a baby food grinder for all my kids, very simple.. Whatever you cook, put it in baby food grinder and feed it to the baby. Just do not give the baby any crust of any kind (hard for them to digest0, as well as no corn ( take it from someone who learned the hard way.. causes major belly pains. Take care and good luck. feel free to send me pm with any questions. Oh btw, you can find those baby food grinders at babies r us for 13.00 !!

I highly recommend "Top 100 Baby Purees" by Annabel Karmel.

You probably do not need to buy any specialized equipment. Most of the recipes call for boiling or steaming the food, then pureeing them with a blender, food processor, or immersion blender. I did buy flexible, silicone square ice cube trays so I could 'pop' out the food easily.

Have fun introducing your baby to new foods!

yay another mommy like me! I have never given my son baby food out of a jar and I swear he is a better eater because of it! Ok so here is what I did...I just boiled whatever veggies and put them in a blender until smooth. some of the veggies would turn out runny so then I would just sprinkle a little bit of instant mashed potato flakes in them to thicken them up...THEN I would put the blended food in an ice cube tray and freeze them, pop them out and store them for 2 weeks in a freezer bag. Each ice cube is about an ounce of food. 1 sweet potato will make like 2 ice cube trays of food. my son loved the broccoli and potato mix the best! regular potatoes don't work well but you can just mash those up easily with a fork anyway.

Not much equipment is needed, really. Ice cube trays (several) and a blender or food processor is about it. To save money, due to the cost of fresh fruits & veggies, I use frozen or canned (no salt added) fruits & veggies. You can mix and match flavors, according to your baby's likes. Just cook, place in food processor or blender, puree, pour into ice cube trays, and freeze. Pop them out once frozen, and put in labeled (name of food, date made) freezer bag. It's as simple as that. :-) I have had great enjoyment doing this with both of my boys. I even made chicken pot pie and pureed it (the old fashioned soup kind, not the pie crust kind). You can make pot roast, taters, carrots, celery and puree it too. If you find you've pureed it too much, just use some infant rice cereal as a thickener. I use the 'juice' from the veggies to puree with. For canned fruits, I drain & rinse all of the juice and I use the "light syrup" kind.

Any kind of food processor, potato masher, or hand mixer will work. Simply steam veggies and mash, process, or mix the food well until smooth or slightly lumpy when baby is older. I used to mix mashed fruits with any one of the following: baby cereal, apple sauce, yogurt. I would mix mashed veggies with baby cereal or mashed potatoes. Sometimes I would add a bit of apple sauce to veggies to sweeten them. Sometimes veggies are too bitter by themselves for babies or adults.

I would make extra amounts and freeze a couple ounces (a single serving) in plastic bags. You can bring out enough bags for the day the night before to thaw in the fridge. Then just nook in the microwave during day for the meal. It's a lot quicker than trying to make home made baby food per meal. Just make a large pot of potatoes and put a few ounces into baggies. Do that for all sorts of veggies, fruits, etc. Then you can mix one baggy of home-made food with baby cereal and you're set for the meal or the day.

My daugther ate a lot of butternut (and other kinds of) squash. I would cut it in half lengthwise, and lay the cut side face down in a glass dish with 1/2" water, and microwave it until it got soft. Usually only half fit in the microwave at a time.
I've also done it in the oven (same method just takes longer) or cube it and steam it on the stove. They all work. Then, once it's soft, I put it in hte blender with some water until it's a good consistancy. It makes a ton of servings. I'd put some in the fridge and some in the freezer. Sometimes I add cinnamon for a different flavor.

I got bags of frozen chopped spinach and just blended them a it more in the blender and portioned them out. My daugther loves spinach.

I liked doing frozen veggies because wehn they thaw, they're already soft. I tried doing fresh carrots, but had to cook them forever to get them soft. THe frozen ones worked pretty well though.

I portioned my baby food into the tubs that Gerber Stage 2 baby food comes in, and I'd freeze, heat, everything out of the same container. My daugther isn't eating much baby food anymore, so I have a ton of tubs and clean empty baby food jars if you want them. Just shoot me an email. I'm in Mill Valley Marysville. ____@____.com

I didn't use any books or recipes. You need a hand blender. It's a little hand size mixer with a long neck and has a plastic blade on the end. They cost under $20. You use that after completely cooking veggies or whatever and then put them in to ice cube trays unless you are needing to feed the baby some immediately. Then when it's time to feed you just thaw it out in a bowl. After they are frozen you place them in freezer bags and store in the freezer. You can do this with your dinners you make for the family. You should take the babies portions out before adding any seasonings or salt.

I have a steamer/rice cooker that I'd do veggies/fruit in and then I'd blend them up using my 'Magic Bullet.'
We didn't do 100% homemade baby food, so if you're planning to do that, maybe you'd want to check into all of the baby food grinders and stuff (not familiar w/ them) but our simple method worked well for us.

Hi! The easiest way is to just feed her small bits of mashed food from your plate. Babies don't need purees after they lose their tongue thrust reflex (4-6 months) so as long as people wait until the recommended 6 months to start them, there is no need for jarred food.
That said, I did like to make some purees of mixed foods. A food processor is helpful but a blender works as well. I would put sweet potatoes in a pressure cooker with a small amount of water. Then peel the cooked potatoes and put them in the processor with the cooking liquid left plus chicken and corn.
I also would puree fruit and freeze it and then use it as ice cubes to cool down oatmeal (I didn't buy the baby food cereal, just bought the canister of quick oats). I also put the cubes in a food feeder/teether netted thing when it was hot and let my son have a sort of popsicle.

The thing to remember is that they don't need bland foods, so giving babies portions what what you make for yourself is good and will teach them to have a more diverse pallet as they grow.

La Leche League has a book "Whole Foods for the Whole Family" which is good. You can buy all kinds of books on making baby food, but it really isn't a hard science and you only use the books for a couple moths so I thought it was a waste of money.

Good Luck! :)

you will need a baby food grinder ( babies-r-us or online) or a food processor. Plus the easiest way for storage is ice cube trays, or baby food trays (which are ice cube trays with lids) There are lots of great recipes out there for baby food. If you want, email me personally and I will send you a document I made up of recipes with links to websites that have more ideas. From turkey meatloaf sticks to baked bananas and strawberries. I loved giving my baby that great start!
____@____.com R.

I would just make sure you research using root vegetables when making your own baby food.

Good for you - I had a lot of success using The Super Baby Food book by Ruth Yaron. Lot so finfo about nutrition, ect. It is a little daunting at first, but thumb through it a few times and you'll get the hang. All you need is basically a food processor and a steamer basket. A blender is also useful to grind the grains to make cereal. As for recipes, you'll find yourself getting pretty creative. One of my son's favorites is mashed avocado with broccoli, fresh cilantro, and little sea salt and plain yogurt. I make his cereal out of quinoa, millet, brown rice. It's been a great exploration, and I've learned a lot about new things I can eat as well!

There is a baby food processor at Babies-R-Us for under twenty dollars. It made my life easier! Start out with boiling apples, peaches, pears, green beens, sweet potatoes or whatever. Buy them fresh, or buy them frozen. Just look on the back of the frozen to make sure the only ingredient is water. Put it in the processor. Then get ice cube trays and pour it in the ice cube trays. Freeze the trays. Once they are frozen, pop them out into a large ziplock back and date and label it. Before you know it your baby will have a HUGE variety to eat. And you will get really creative with what you make.
Later, as your baby gets older, you can put the supper you make for the rest of your family in the processor (Spaghetti, chicken, hot dogs/hamburgers, even ham and cheese sandwich!) My little girl loved it. I saved a fortune and didn't have to buy ONE of those annoying baby food jars!
Good luck!

I made all of our baby food.
I used "the magic bullet blender." You would probably seen the infomercial. It doesn't take up much space, its quick, and I use it for other things now that my son doesn't eat baby food anymore.
I second "Super Baby Foods" book. But you can also find alot just browsing the net. My boys favorite was "Pumpkin Pie," which had pumpkin, a drop of maple syrup, a sliver of butter, and (sounds weird) but a pinch of black pepper. He couldn't get enough.
I think the one thing I read was not to make your own carrot, but for the life of me I can't remember why.

Another resource to try is wholesomebabyfood.com - they have a lot of recipes and good ideas. onestepahead.com has wonderful baby food cubes that can go from freezer to microwave - they held up well even though used over and over for about a year. You have made a great decision, even though it can be a little bit of work it's worth it to know exactly what your little girl is eating.

I never bought a jar of baby food!!! I had a book, far outdated now (my kids are 14 and 16), but I'm sure you can find one in a good book store. I simply steamed fruits and vegetables and processed them in the blender. Poured them into ice cube trays and froze. I then put them in freezer bags. It was very easy to grab a couple cubes, microwave, stir and serve. If I needed to sweeten, I added karo syrup before freezing. It is easy to do this! You don't even need to peel anything, after you steam the plum, apricot or apple, the peel comes off easily. Peas, yams, beans, beets...my kids had them all. For meat, just finely chop what you are eating that evening. My kids have always been great eaters and I think it is because they started with nonprocessed "tastes" early on. Hope this is helpful!!!

It is the easiet thing ever. You need ice cube trays with covers(babies r us online), blender, fruits, veggies and water. All I did was search for reciepies on line. Good Luck

You can use regular foods to feed your baby. Just get a chopper or blender and puree the food. This is one way to make baby food without having to buy baby food.
D.
I am 31 and have been married for almost 12 yrs. My husband and I have 3 boys ages 10,7 and 4.

It is really easy to make your own baby food! I just use my blender nothing fancy but I make sure to buy organic fruits and veggies. If it gets too thick I just add a little water. I make a bunch then put it in single serving containers and put it in the freezer! My baby is only 3 and a half months old so he hasn't even started eating yet but when he does I will be ready!

i sat our children at the table with us when it was time and fed them what they could eat off the table, if we had roast beef i put it in the blender, back then they were huge and alot of work to clean now i would opt for a mini blender. you can also put small portions in ice cube trays to freeze, then tranfer to microwave when ready to use. hope this helps.

Someone got me the Fresh Baby babyfood kit as a gift. It was wonderful. It had recipes and ideas about when to introduce which foods. You can check it out on line: http://freshbaby.com/

YEAH, S.! Making your own baby food is actually really fun and so healthy for your baby! I utilized two books, First Foods by Annabelle Karmel, and Super Baby Foods (I can't remember the author's name right now) to learn how to make my daughter's food. The recipes in Karmel's book are super easy and excellent. When we travel though, we utilize "Nature's Best" organic baby food and fresh bananas. Good luck!

I made my own for a while but with twins and working full time it was a lot of work for me. But I just steamed on the stove or in the microwave and then put it in a food process or blender till smooth. Put the puree in ice cube trays till firm and then put the cube in baggies, then you just pull out a couple cubes at a time and microwave till thawed. It was awesome.

I made my sons baby food forever. At seven months I would still stick with pretty bland foods. I used a food processor. I would do all the meat first, then add veggies and potatoes. I would add apple juice, applesauce, milk or formula to make it a bit thinner and not so textured. As your baby gets older, you can make it thicker and more texturized. It would take about 2 hours but I would have food for a month.
Good Luck!

Hi S.! I'm 57 years old, so my advice may be outdated. In my day, I had a little white plastic grinder that sat right on the table next to my plate that I just put a piece of potatoe, carrot, or anything else I wanted to serve baby before the spices were added. Many times I could just mash something with my fork if it was cooked almost too much. Of course, pudding is already smooth enough, and babies loved that!
Have fun and enjoy baby!

I made my son's food and it was so easy. I just cooked the vegetables with nothing added and mixed fruit like it was. I stored it in very small Tupperware containers, each container was 2-3 servings. I worked full time and it was great to be ableto take to the sitter's house and eay for her as well.

When my sons were little. I used a food processer and just Pureed what ever I was eating. Money was tight and now they are like pro football players and there babies do well with the same process. If something is a little thick then add a small amount of water to thin it to the consistancy that is needed. You can use formula, milk, gravy instead of water if you wish.

get a baby food grinder - I don't remember the name or brand that we had. It worked great though - I used to take it out to eat with us, too.

It was an hour glass shape and you could feed your child right out of the top after you ground the food.

Just found a site for you to check it out...

http://www.happybabyproducts.com/kidcofoodmill.html

Hi S.
I recommend Super Baby Food book by Ruth Yaron. I used it for my now 2 1/2 year old and she will eat almost anything. I am using it again for my five mo. old. Ruth tends to be somewhat extreme but do as you wish following her recommendations. I also used my doctors recommendations with food also. I made all of my dauthers food and I am planning on doing the same for my son. It is very rewarding and much, much cheaper. Good luck and enjoy making your 7 months food.

A food processor or blender and an ice cube tray are about all you need. You can freeze the pureed food into ice cubes and thaw them to nice sized little portions. Fruits and veggies are perfect for this and as you start adding more grains, dairy and meat, you can make simple dinners for your family and puree the baby's. It's really easy.

Congratulations on making the decision to make your own baby food. It's so easy, and you can truly know what you're feeding your child. First Meals by Annabel Karmel is a great book. Lots of info and awesome recipes.

Hi S.,
I have a 7 month old, also, and a GREAT book called "Feed Me, I'm Yours." It's got really simple recipes for babies, toddlers and kids. I use a strainer and a food processor, and you could get by with just a strainer. I steam the food, so a simple steamer basket also is good to have, although you can boil, too.
N.

I made my own baby food. I first started with a jar of already made baby food just to see what my son would for sure eat then I got the veggies and fruits the like. I either boiled or baked the foods then put them in a big food processer, then put them in ice cube trays and froze them over night. I didn't season anything untill he was around 9 months then I would add little bits of seasonings like cinniomon and pepper and a few others. I would only do one seasoning at a time. I actully found my son on some of the foods liked it plane. I would stay away from salt or multiple seasonings until later. once he was about 11 months I would take what we are eating and either process it or cut it up real small. it made preperation much easier and less leftovers. I did find that he moved to table food really easily.

The book Super Baby Food is great! And I'd recommend the KidCo food grinder and storage trays. I know they have them at Babies R Us and they might be at other places too. It's easy and kind of fun-and it's nice to know what your sweet baby is eating!

Get the book FEED ME I'M YOURS by V. Lansky

I made all home made baby food for my daughter and would urge you to buy a decent food processor ($30-$35 range)and one or two of those plastic icecube trays. Since we didn't have any "baby food jars" I bought a couple packs of those tiny Ziplock reusable containers and 1 "icecube" fit perfect (after taking the trouble to make quality baby food you don't want to put it in the microwave, just bring to room temp). Otherwise buy fresh local/organic fruits and veggies, clean, steam until tender and puree, freeze for a couple hours in icecube trays then pop into ziploc bag and label. 1 cube is about 1/2 a jar of store baby food.

There is a book called the Super baby food book by Ruth Yaron (I believe) that helps with all that. Some is a little overboard for me, but with the basics it was great!

Does she have teeth?
Get a baby food hand grinder.
You can put almost any table food in it and turn the handle and there is food for your daughter.
Especially handy when eating out.
OR
use a blender to puree veggies or meat(make sure to put in water or juices, mash up ripe fruit(no skin)
Freeze portions in ice cube trays.
Defrost and serve heated a little or at room temp.