Making Your Own Baby Food - Terre Haute,IN

hi E.,
i made my two year old's baby food for a long time and saved a LOT of money doing it. I used a book called "Blender Baby Food" by Nicole Young and it was very helpful. Mostly i just made the simple recipes for vegetables and fruit, but i found that it was easy to put just about anything into the blender with some water and make it into baby food. I froze it in ice cube trays (i think 1-2 cubes is a serving size) and then put them into bags in the freezer, then microwaved then when it was time to eat. It was pretty easy. A lot of fruits don't even need to be cooked or peeled if they are soft enough to start with, like peaches and nectarines. I even used bags of frozen vegetables to make peas and carrots and green beans, etc. to save time. Hope this helps!

kristen=)

Hi, E.!
The best site I have found is www.wholesomebabyfood.com. It has great instructions & lots of healthy recipes.
Good luck!
A.

I too liked the Annabel Karmel books. She has a website with some useful information too...

http://www.annabelkarmel.com/

The best thing I bought for making my own baby food was The Original Happy Baby Food Grinder (I think it is made by Kidco now).

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

Have fun!

It's not brain surgery which is what most of those books want you to believe. Just take some fresh veggies, steam them until soft and then fork-mash. If you want to make up some ahead of time, just freeze in ice cube trays. Once frozen, pop out and put into labeled ziplock freezer bag. Then you just take out 2 or 3 as needed. Just fork smash stuff like bananas and avacados when you need them. You can get a cheap hand grinder to grind up meat. Once baby is 6 months old, just fork-smash or grind whatever the rest of the family is having for dinner and feed it to the baby. That's what most people around the world do. There's no need to stress over feedign your baby, it should be an enjoyable part of your day. If your family is eating healthy than the baby will too because they want to eat whatever you are eating by the time they are 6 or 7 months.

Oh, and don't forget all those recent studies that came out in the past year. They finally proved what many other countries have been saying for years -- it doesn't matter when you introduce foods. Many books are still outdated and will say no meat until 8 months and no certain veggie until 7 months while another book says the opposite. You'll drive yourself insane trying to figure that out. When you introduce a food (as long as it's over 6 months) has no bearing on whether or not your child has an allergy to that item. Just avoid peanut stuff and honey until at least a year old (the 2 that experts agree on). If a child has an allergy to tomatoes it doesn't matter if you give it to them at 7 months or 11 months -- he'll have the allergy.

you got a lot of good advice, I will second what another Mom said--don't worry about spices, baby can eat whatever you eat. Bland baby foods and formula feeding is what is leading to a lot of the picky eaters of today--they don't have any experience with other tastes than sweet/bland and then get too picky. your milk changes flavor depending on what you are eating--which starts the baby on learning to like different flavors. i used a hand baby grinder for some foods --like meat(mostly because of choking issues) but just let mine eat whatever we were eating when they started reaching for it-which starts hppening around 6-9 months for most babies. OF course you need to eat healthy food to follow this plan-lots of whole grains and vegetables, fruits.I never used any special baby foods and none of my girls are picky eaters and are appalled at how many of their friends are!

E.,
I have gotten lots of recipies off of wholesomebabyfood.com.
Also, for apples I just buy the all natural applesauce and feed my daughter that.
I found that once you get started it really is pretty simple.
Good luck!
K.

E., I got the book, Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron, that my friend Melinda suggested and I really like it! It has a time table even and tells you which foods to avoid for the first year. I've made sweet potatoes,green beans(I added too much H20),bananas, and avocados. I also try not to introduce more than one food at a time,so you know if they have a reaction, and if they have a reaction, I only give my son a new food during the week so his pediatrician's office is open! I hope that helps!
R.

You've already gotten some great advice so I will just say good for you. It's so EASY too make baby food. Plus she will have an easier transition to real food because she is already eating real food!

Good luck

Wow, lots of responses here. I second the food grinder. Munchkin makes a god one for around $10, you can buy it at Target. It saves times and $ since you grind what you eat (at the table) and feed it to baby. Of course that would require you to eat in the same way you want your child to eat which can be kind of tricky sometimes...

I found an awesome website it is www.wholesomebabyfood.com it goes through how to make everything. I make all my own babyfood even meat. But a must have is the flexible ice cube trays you can get them at IKEA for really cheap!! Have fun

Hi E.,

We made our own baby food for the same reason you mentioned plus, it was ridiculously cheaper. We started with boiling simple veggies or fruit, then pureed them in the blender with a little of the cooking liquid. For storage, we poured the puree into ice cube trays. Once they were solid, we popped them into freezer bags labeled with the contents and the date. So easy to reheat later, just warm a few cubes in the m'wave, smush up and you're ready to go. Once we got the hang of it, the whole process only took 20 minutes or so for a few trays that would last for weeks. It was pretty easy!

My daughter's favorites were peas, mixed veggies, blueberries, peaches and butternut squash. Also, since she was breastfed and I didn't want to supplement with iron drops, I added a few spoonfuls of kidney beans and a 1/2 cup of brown rice to the veggies or fruit when I boiled them. When it's all blended up together, all it tasted like was the fruit or veggie - really! I tasted them! :)

A great starting place for "recipes" is www.wholesomebabyfood.com and this link, http://swistle.blogspot.com/2008/01/making-baby-food-its-...

has helpful pics to guide you too. It's what got us started!

Good luck!
J.

Hi E.
First I want to say congratulations on making the decision to make your own baby food. I did it with my now 2/12 year old daughter and doing it now for my 7 mo old son. Make it fun! Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron is what I really like. I find she can be extreme in some of her ways but take what you want from her book and go with it. It is easy! Good luck and have fun with it!

Top 100 Baby Purees by Annabel Karmel is a good one. I think the website I used most is wholesomebabyfoods.com
I made all of my son's stuff, until around 12 months when he was pretty much all on table foods. He will eat about anything you give him, and I attribute alot of that to the variety of foods I made for him. Good luck!
PS - I bought cheapo ice cube trays instead of the fancy "baby" ones - they work the same!

My husband and I had triplet girls 5 years ago born 9 weeks early and felt it was very important to limit processed foods as well. We steamed our vegetables and meats then pureed everything in a food processor. Fruits were typically done the same way only raw. We froze individual servings in ice cube trays and put the frozen food in freezer bags. I believe the frozen foods were good for 6 months. When it was time for the girls to eat, we just microwaved the cubes for a short period and it was quick, healthy food. I'm not sure of specific microwave times, but you can heat to the temp you want. I had a nice book but have since loaned it out and I am not sure of the name or author, but I do know I bought it at Border's books. Good luck with your new baby!!
A.

I saw you already had a lot of good advice, but wanted to add a little more. I did fruit primarily and just put it in the blender. For storing - I put it in ice cube trays until frozen and then just popped the cubes in a labeled ziploc bag until ready to use. I didn't do as much other foods - I checked the ingredients on the jars of baby food and for the stage 1 especially - Gerber just had the food and water. I tasted everything and it all tasted exactly the way it should - except for the bananas. As I had more kids (I have 3 now) I only made my own banana baby food. As they got used to chunks, I would just mash the banana with a fork right before feeding it to them. Good Luck!

Another recommendation for Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron. It was my bible. I stopped buying cereals and jarred food completely after I got this book.

Mostly everybody does it the same way I think. Don't spend a lot of money on kitchen gadgets - if you have a food processor, great but if you have a blender that works just as well. I just steamed vegetables, put them in the blender w/ a little of the water from steaming, pureed it, stuck it in ice cube trays and then stuck them in baggies after they froze.

Cereal is incredibly easy to make cause you can make a few days worth ahead of time and reheat it. It just takes a little longer to grind millet grains in a blender as opposed to a food processor. But it's worth it since it's so much healthier for baby and it lasts much longer too. Try to get organic millet or organic brown rice if you can. Good luck and have fun!

I made all of both my children's baby food. It is really simple. I mostly bought a lot of organic fresh produce, cook it in water, then blend with the boiling water to the right consistency. You can use the little plastic baby food containers and freeze most of it. I would just pull out a fruit and a vegetable from the freezer and mix with yogurt and other things as appropriate. When you are ready for meat, you can buy ground turkey or get your butcher to grind up chicken, cook and blend as above. Good luck!

It's WAY easier than some people make it out to bed. As long asyou wait until the recommended 6 month mark, you don't have to do purees if you don't want to. Small chunks of soft foods are find like potatoes, avacado, ripe fruits (bananas are GREAT!) are all fine. If you are really wanting to puree and freeze servings, all you need is a blender or food processor. Once you know your baby isn't allergic to individual foods, you can start to mix them. The one thing my son LOVED from about 8 months until around 14 months was when I put sweet potatoes, chicken, and thawed frozen corn in the processor and blended it all up together. It was a great meal-in-one and he ate it like he hadn't had a meal in days!
You can start meats as early as 6 months, fish (not shellfish though) is great because it flakes into tiny bites easily. Cook a whole chicken in a crock pot and use a fork to shred it in to small bits.
Cook with whatever spices you use in your family cooking and you will teach her to eat what you eat more readily so that when she's ready for table foods around 8-9 months you can just give her whatever you are eating in small pieces and she can feed herself.
Good luck! Have fun trying new things when the time comes:)

Oh, you may already know this, but there's no reason to start with cereal when you wait until 6 months and she's breastfed. Go straight to real food and don't water it down. Start with small amounts for her to taste and let her ease in to it and let you know when she wants more.

I made food for my son for 5 1/2 yrs, he is disabled so all he could eat was pureed. It is very easy. I would use only frozen veggies and steam them. When they are nice and soft I would food process them, with either milk, formula or juice. When doing fruit, I would use fresh fruit only. Fruit usually doesn't need anything to make it runny, only the veggies. It is really easy. Just stick in the food processor and blend until it is the consistency that you want. For little ones, you can make ice cubes and then freeze in baggies in the right serving size. For older ones, I would get the ziplock or glad freezable containers and freeze in that. I even did meat with veggies and potatoes and apple sauce when he was older, it comes out really smooth. It is so simple!
Good Luck
Jenn.......

Mashed ripe banana is a good first food for baby.
I used to puree peeled fruit and freeze small portions in an ice cube tray.
Then take the cubes and put them in a ziploc bag and take the air out.
Then you can take a cube or two out and defrost and give to baby.
Applesauce is easy to make especially now that apples are in season.
Or, you can just bake an apple and mash up the pulp for baby.
The best for me was a hand-held baby food grinder which I could take anywhere and put meat and/vegetables in with a little liquid and grind it up into a consistency for baby.
I could just bring it to the dinner table and/or use it in a restaurant.
It is easy to make mashed squash, carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, etc. since it is so easy to cook them in the microwave.
Good luck.

E.:
I made a lot of my own bby food. I used a book called Super Baby Food - it gave some good advice, but went a bit further than I wanted to - I tried some of the things, like the "Super Baby Food" mix, but it required some non-traditional foods, ones that you could only probably find at a health food store. (I recall spelt and millet, two grains) You might want to check it out at a library, just to get a few nippets out of it, I am not sure it is worth the $$$. There is one good page that I remember, it lists the best foods to use for your babies in at home prep.
I did it in my food processor and froze it in ice cube trays with Press and Seal wrap over it. When it was frozen (1 day later), I dumped it from the ice cube tray into Zip Lock Freezer bags. Worked well.
There are some foods that you should not do, particularly carrots - I found this weird, but there is apparently some mineral in them that babies easily get too much of, and when you buy it already jarred, some of the mineral is removed.
I did carrots as they got closer to a year, before that, I just mixed a very few baby carrots in with some other foods when I was food processing them - example, a small handful of baby carrots in with a large batch of green beans, just for some sweetness.
The ones that I did regularly were... avacados, greenbeans, carrots (as they got older), sweet potatoes, mangos. I also did ripe bananas, but just mashed them well with a fork when it was time to eat, and I ate the other half :)

I made my own from veggies and fruits and the whole freeze in ice cube trays, you can even use frozen veggies and refreeze, a blender and a little water make it very easy. You don't need a book unless you really want one, just simple foods do quite well, and are really all that babies need.
When mine were a little older, I used a chopper (the one you pound and the blades chop in different directions) and as toddlers my kids ate what we ate instead of buying those expensive juinor meals. They all came crawiling in for dinner when ever they heard the "bam bam bam" of the chopper going...you don't really have to go to that much trouble, and it is so much cheaper than buying!

Good luck.

You've gotten some great responses. For the first baby foods it's so simple. I usually took a bag of frozen veggies and microwaved it then pureed it and did the ice cube tray method. You'll want to steam your fruits (oh, and store bought adult unsweetend applesauce is so easy and cheaper than baby food applesauce). Now that my 9 month old son is into more of a variety of foods it takes a little more work. I ended up blocking out one whole afternoon and had my mom come over to help with the baby and we made 7-8 different recipes-doubled! It was nice to be able to get it all done in one chunk and that might be the last time I have to make baby food till he's on straight table food.
I used all Annabel Karmel's recipes from "The Healthy Baby Meal Planner" and "100 Baby Purees". I've read through Super Baby Foods and I'm not really a big fan of it. THere are a few helpful parts like the index in the back of what fruits and veggies babies can have when and I think the toddler recipes might be nice for later on. But in general the author goes into incredibly more detail than necessary and actually stresses vegetarianism. So if you're looking for a good baby food recipe book (especially if you want your baby to have meat) then go with Karmel's. I agree with one of the other reviews, maybe just get super foods from the library so you can look up a few of the helpful areas.
Ok, this got sort of long. Hope all these reviews help!

Hi, I made my own baby food for all 3 of my girls. I used a book called "Mommy Made and Daddy Too," by Martha and David Kimmel. One of them is a chef and the other is a nutritionist. The book is out of print now, but you can find it online or in the library. It was and excellent book that took you through food introduction and talked a lot about avoiding allergies and which food are the most allergenic. I used this book like a bible. What I liked most about making my own food was that I could control the consistency and texture. I introduced texture earlier than what the "store bought food" did, and my kids all eat amazingly well, and could chew at an early age. Occaisionally, I did buy store bought food and I was surprised and appalled at what was in those jars for young babies that they really shouldn't have. I work full time, and it really doesn't take that long. Just steam the food, whip it through the food processor and freeze it in ice cube trays. I would do about 7 trays of each food and one or two different foods a week, and I always had plenty of foods and a nice variety to choose from. The food tastes so much better and is also way more nutritous. Store bought food has lots of water and air whipped into it. It has very little nutrition.

Hi E.,
I love the book "Feed Me, I'm Yours." It gives you the basics on making your own food, and there are lots of recipes for infants, toddlers, older children. I've been making my food for my 10-month-old since she turned 6 months, and it's REALLY easy. You'll save a lot of money that way, too! (All you really need is a saucepan or steamer, and a food processor or blender. I puree stuff and freeze it in ice cube trays to thaw as needed for little meals.) Good luck!

Hi E.! I've been making my son's food from scratch since he started eating "real" food. It takes a lot of dedication, especially if you work full-time, but, it's well worth it. My advice is to buy a steamer for fruits and veggies and lots of little tupperware containers for freezing- you'll be amazed at how quickly she will eat through your stock. A cuisinart does really well....I bought a small "baby food blender" and that really only works if you are going to prepare each meal as it happens, although it's the purfect size for smoothies. For bulk storage, you need something hefty for pureeing! Border's has some great books with recipies- look for ones that talk about pairing foods to maximize nurtition. For example, carrots should always be pureed with butter or whole milk because beta carotene requires fat to be absorbed by your little one. To avoid sugar but give him flavor, I have always steamed his apples and pears with cinammon sticks and a little bit of pumpkin pie spice and he loves it. Always use a little lemon juice when steaming fruits so they don't brown on you in the freezer. Coconut Milk is also a great healthy subsitute for adding sugar to oatmeals and smoothies. Be careful with some foods like corn for a while...I noticed that the casings the kernels came in gave my son a lot of trouble until he could chew well. Be creative. My son's two fav foods for a while were baby lasagna (cottage cheese mixed with organic spaghetti o's) and baby palak paneer(pureed spinach, tofu, saffron rice, and cottage cheese). He also enjoyed baby guacomole when he got a little older- avocado, diced tomatoes, and lemon juice. He's now two and I still steam all his veggies and fruits and store them. I also buy organic soups and beef them up with some rice or more veggies and noodles to make them less runny and freeze these for quick meals. I'll make vegetable soup for him....puree the veggies and then add the mix and broth to rice for a casserole. Make lots of extras when she gets old enough to chew. One slice of french toast makes two baby servings and freezes well. Good luck!

FEED ME I'M YOURS by Lansky-- you'll want to own a copy

I used a book on Organic Baby and Toddler foods. Don't have it in front of me, but check out Amazon.com. I love it. I found it was actually easier to transition my second baby to table food. My first was just getting to the point he liked solids ( not puree) by his first birthday. My second is 10 months and eats what we eat chopped up very finely. You can add more variety to their diet that way. My youngest loves flavor that I couldn't get in jar foods. I actually make a lot of the recipes "big kid" version for us, and then fine chop it for our baby, which makes making food for your baby so much more convenient when it is for everyone else as well. Best wishes!

I got a book at Barnes and Noble called "The Everything Infant and Toddler cookbook. It's become like a bible to me :) Best advice I ever got, If you can eat it [generally] they can too. Something my daughters nutritionist told me though is sometimes it's better to used canned vegetables because the "fresh" ones in the grocery store are treated with a lot of pesticides and chemicals to help them keep their color and "fresh" appeal. Local fruit and veggie farms are great starting points.

Hi E.,

I think that it is wonderful that you want to make your baby’s food. It really is the healthiest and cheapest choice! It’s also very smart of you to start studying up on the subject now. I had no choice but to make my son’s baby food. I am originally from Richmond, Indiana, but currently live in Japan. My husband is Japanese. Japanese baby food is really terrible. The starting foods that are in baby food jars here all have multiple ingredients, many of which are allergens or simply easy to upset a small baby’s tummy (eggs, shellfish, citrus, corn, cabbage). When I introduced solids to my son, my mother sent a few small jars of Gerber baby food, so that I would understand how much to puree the food. I think I had two of each type of food. After that, I simply boiled the fresh vegetables in as little water as possible until they were tender and ran them through a baby food grinder. A steamer is also good. Unfortunately, I don’t have one. My mom sent the baby food grinder to me as well. I think she got it at Meyers for around $10. I bought some small ice-cube trays that hold 1 tbsp of food per cube and froze the pureed veggies and fruit and stored them in freezer bags. When my son got a little older, I simply used a potato masher, so that there would be a little more texture. Then I found some great cookbooks and learned more about making baby food. Here is a copy of a reply I made a few weeks ago for another mamasource mother asking about ideas for dinner. These books are great because you can turn the baby food recipes into recipes for the entire family. It saves so much time in the kitchen. I haven’t had the cookbooks for very long, but everything that I have tried is really delicious! I’ve made about 80% of the recipes in the Top100 Baby Purees book. You can use these for an older baby as well, if you don’t puree, but mash the ingredients at the end. My son loves them. It would be a good starting book for you. If you like it you could try the other books as well. It certainly has been a big adventure making my son’s baby food, but I don’t think I would do it differently for my future children. My son loves everything I have given him, and he has never been sick. Not a single sniffle! I think it has a lot to do with his food. He is now a very healthy, strong, energetic 14-month old.
Here’s the copy of the other reply I sent:
I've been using 3 of Annabel Karmel's cookbooks. They're great for having leftovers to freeze for later in the week. She also gives us lots of tips on how to make meals healthy and fun for the kids. I have three of her cookbooks. My only complaint is that some of the recipes are duplicated in the books, but she more than makes up for it with the other information she has included with each recipe. Her recipes are easy and fairly quick to make. Most of her recipes take less than an hour. Many are around 30 minutes cooking time. I like cooking, but I have a disability with one of my hands. I was originally left-handed, but now have to do everything with my right hand. I accidentally cut the tendon in my left thumb. Anyway it greatly slows down my preparation time when cooking, yet I can still manage to get these recipes done fairly close to the times she has suggested. I guess that any of her books are going to be good, but here are the ones I have and what I like about each one.
Top 100 Baby Purees: I made my son's baby food. He loves all the veggies that I have given him. Some of the recipes in here are so delicious that I have adapted them to make adult food, by simply not pureeing them at the end and adding in some extra veggies.
SuperFoods for Babies and Children: This book is full of useful information on how to make meals more nutritious. It has tips for coping with fussy eaters, meal planners that help keep me organized, and some of the presentation ideas are eye pleasing to children (and adults too), which helps to make eating fun for everyone.
Favorite Family Meals: The best thing about this book is that she starts out with how to organize a healthy pantry, freezer, and refrigerator to always have food on hand that can easily be transformed into many different meals that kids will eat. The book has chapters on breakfast, lunch, and dinners, as well as some low-fat recipes, vegetarian recipes, and desserts. Some of the recipes can even be made with the kids helping!
When I ordered these, I was worried if it was going to be worth the money and effort to read them, but I have been completely satisfied. It is such a good feeling to cook healthy home cooked meals for my family. Plus, I don't really have to think about what I am going to make for dinner anymore. I know that I have the ingredients on hand. I still make my old favorites sometimes, but her books have become my staple on cooking. You can check out her website at www.annabelkarmel.com to see some samples of her recipes.

I hope that you can find something useful out of that. I’ve also kept a complete daily log of everything that I have fed my son since his birth. I plan to use it as a guide for my next children, so that I won’t have to feel nervous introducing a new food. I hope this helps. If you want to ask me anything about how I am making my son’s food, feel free to send a message anytime.
D.

I would take fresh fruits and veggies and puree them and freeze them in an ice cube tray and then when they are frozen move them to a freezer bag. You can mix yogurt with the fruit, bananas and avocados are a little weird you need to add some citrus juice so they don't turn brown. When I had a bunch of leftovers I would puree it all and then you don't have to do it every day. You can also just do what you are eating and do it one meal at a time. Then just pop them in the microwave and heat them a little, but make sure there are no hot spots.
The Magic Bullet is great for making baby food. It makes smaller portions than a regular blender, but I think it works better than a blender.
Good luck

it's pretty easy actually...if you use can veggies all you do is mix themin a food processor until pureed(no lumps) for stage one, you eave more texture as she gets older. for frozen or fresh veggies it would be better to steam them first so they don't lose very many vitamins/minerals then puree them as above. i didn't want to get into the whole canning/jarring baby food, so i just made enough for the day instead of a week or more. the makers of the BALL canning jars have a baby section on there website if you want to learn how to do that. good luck.

I'm in a healthy interest group with some friends and we discussed this very topic this month! You might find the recap on my blog helpful:
http://beanland.wordpress.com/2008/08/19/healthy-mind-and...

I have a 9mo little one. I used the book Super Baby Food. I followed several of her recommendations. I would look into figuring out which foods will cause constipation and which will cause runny stools. I still haven't gotten the hang of that with the solids. I would recommend that you get a steamer and a blender or food processor. I have read several good things about the Magic Bullet processor (I think that is what it is called). I received a small baby food processor that I don't care for. I can't find the name of it on the machine but it doesn't work that well. I would go with good brand that has a small container option. You'll be using that A LOT and you don't want to end up with small chunks (choking) in the baby food until you purposefully make it chunkier.

Anyway, good luck to you!

I also like The Super Baby Food book by Ruth Yaron. Definitely worth checking out.

A lot of great suggestions. Just something to add: We received a Magic Bullet for Christmas right after my son was born, not having a clue what to use with is... Ta-da! The perfect baby food grinder! We steamed veggies, then processed them through the Magic Bullet, and stored them in little cheap Tupperware or Glad(?) 4 oz containers (the "disposable" ones you can by at the grocery store) in the fridge and freezer. We stocked up every weekend, and the food would last throughout the week - everything from squash, carrots, green beans to peaches, and kiwi. Good luck! It's fun to see them try "first foods"!

E.-

There is a wonderful book called "First Foods" that can help you with making your own babyfood. You will need some "equipment" but it should be pretty easy.

The basics are steaming or blanching the foods then whirling them in a food processor, you can even push the food through a china cap (fine mesh sieve) to make sure there are no chunks. A ricer will help in the process as well.

Best of luck!

When I made baby food for my oldest, we steamed veggies and then we put them in the food processor to break them down. Then I put them into ice cube trays and froze it. Then after they are frozen, you can just pop them out like ice cubes and store them in like ZipLock bags and just pull out the cubes as needed. They make nice serving sizes though, perfect for a baby just starting out!! For my second son I only bought him organic baby food. It was a little more expensive, but I didn't care, I just wanted him to eat healthy and I didn't have the time to make the baby food like I had before.

Good luck with everything!

I make my own baby food for my 7 month old. I did not buy a book but I often looked at the website www.wholesomebabyfood.com
I found it very helpful in giving recipes, advice, and information about when to give what foods and why. I used a food processor and froze the puree in ice cube trays. Then placed them in labeled zip lock bags. Now I just grab a couple of cubes and either let them thaw to room temp (if I think that far ahead) or microwave them for 20 seconds until warm (make sure you stir well). It is super easy. Feel free to contact me with any questions.

Whatever you make for you and your family, you can put into a small food processor with a small amount of water if needed and puree up. Start with single foods of course. Steam some fruit or veggies and give them a whirl. Thats all it really takes.

It's so easy--I have four daughters and never bought baby food. Some things are so simple, mash a banana, mix with rice cereal or baby oatmeal. I found the easiest thing was using ice cube trays. Get yourself a stick blender--easy clean up in the dishwasher and it comes with a large measuring cup. Roast or cook veggies, blend them then put it in the ice cubes trays, after they freeze you can put them in freezer bags and label them. Mashed or sweet potatoes, peas, carrots, green beans, whatever you like or want your baby to try. Fruit you can blend and then just serve, it doesn't freeze as well. My kids are great veggie and fruit eaters. I think it is because they actually tasted what those foods really are like, did you ever taste jarred baby food? It does not taste anything like the real food---yuck! When my girls were younger I would make all the food in one afternoon, freeze it and then I was done for a week or two, after that you just pull out two cubes or so. It's easy to take in tupperware to a picnic, relatives house, anywhere. Good luck to you!!

I also used the Super Baby Foods book and loved it. Not only did she go through everything step by step, but she also tells you which foods to introduce fisrt, and explains why. If you can't find the book I saw similar ones at the library, or I would be very happy to give you mine...if I can find it!! Good luck!

L.

When my daughter was about 6 months old I started making her pureed feed. Whatever we had is what she had so she could start getting used to everything we had. For the liquid to puree I used her formula. I also did this for my day care kids. I never had any problems getting kids to eat.
mddhf

E., making baby food is super easy, my son is 11 1/2 months old and I have always made him baby food. Of course it requires some prep time and all that, but once you make a batch of it you can freeze them, so you are doing baby food all the time.

Go to http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/ this is a great website to get started and all the things that you can give your baby with receipes by month. Hope this helps!

Hi E.,
I'm sure you'll get tons of great responses from this request...but I too made all my own baby food. All you need is some kind of food grinder (there are hand ones for like $6) or food processor or blender. I used ice cube trays to freeze it in batches. The book called Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron is a wonderful guide. Good luck! I found it extremely satisfying to make your own baby food :)
K.

I made all of my son's baby food and it was very easy. Just buy the freshest produce, steam, then puree. He loved it. Sweet potatoes, and carrots were his favorite. A great book is "Super Baby Food" by Ruth Yaron was great, she has ideas for the whole family. "100 Top Baby Purees" by Annabel Karmel was great as well. I found it quick, easy and very inexpensive and I was controlling what my son ate and he is such a great eater, he LOVES all of his fruits and veggies. I also didn't want to give him any of the added preservitives or who knows what, I knew if I didn't want to touch it why would I feed it to my son. The easiest way was to make a huge batch of puree and freeze into ice cube trays, when frozen transfer cubes to a large freezer bag and pull out 1-3 pending serving size, mix and match to create many food combinations, such as chicken, rice and carrots. Have fun with it. Best of luck, S..

The Super Baby Food book by Ruth Yaron. I buy it for all my friends that are expecting. Great ideas on how to make foods and a list of foods kids can eat month by month. It also has some good Foods for toddlers. Also, invest in a good food processor and you can make large batches. I used a blender at first, but discovered it was much easier with a food processor. The food grinders they sell at Babies are Us are a pain. There are cup size food processors that are great for making a meal for right now. Also, Babies R Us and One step ahead sell the cubes that you can store and freeze baby food in.

I've done it for a year now and it's by far the cheaper way to go. :)

I began collecting baby food jars from other people who had older kids around me when I had just started breastfeeding. Then, I'd freeze breastmilk in those jars. Once she got old enough to start solids (we started around 6 mos), I started storing simple fruits and vegetables in those same jars. Mostly, I'd buy frozen, throw the entire bag in the blender on puree and then divvy up per jar. From there, I started combining ingredients to give her more variety, only adding one ingredient at a time. Now I mostly do whatever we make for ourselves, but soups and stews are very economical and very easy. One pot of stew makes for 12-15 large jars of baby food, plus leftovers for my husband and I and they freeze very well. Of course, we did use organic jarred baby food for convenience at times when we did long trips and didn't have the convenience of a freezer.

Good luck!

I am not sure if anyone has suggested this but, I just bought a "Happy Baby" Baby Food Grinder. Our boys ate what we ate. Meat is tough to grind but, add a little water and it's a bit easier. We have three boys who are 8,4 and 2 and all good eaters. Good luck!

I use a hand blender to puree the cooked food. It is so easy to do, and it makes cleanup quick and easy. I do a big load at once (freezing in ice cube trays and popping them into freezer bags) to save time. The homemade food tastes exceedingly better than the jars. Have fun!