Organic Baby Food

I work full time in a demanding career but made all my baby food organic and home made its real easy and real cheap
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You need a blender and an ice cube tray (or two)

3 organic pears cost lets say at 1.29 a pound total $2.00
if you cut the fruit - possible steam 2 minutes add in blender and add a little water you in like less than five minutes have 1 to 1-1/2 trays of organic baby cubes that are about 2 oz each - bananas even easier, plums same! Other fruits are mango. Honestly I buy the jar of organic applesauce its way easier than making applesauce plus some have apricots and some have strawberry added! I open the jar and put into ice cube trays.

I place cubes into plastic label freezer ziplock and use same bags over and over.

I also do green beans, carrots, sweetpotatoe and when older I put leftover crockpot meals in blender and make more complex foods!

I should mention you can make rice, barly, oatmeal, quinoa and millet (my babys favorite) and then put into cubes. Seriosly it takes like two minutes to add grain and water to a pan and another two to put it into cubes when cooked.
when baby is young you can blend the grain to powder it before cooking!

Have fun!

Hi J.---You can download a list of 100 different foods that are ranked from worst to best at www.ewg.org. They also have a link to personal care products, make-up, shampoos, sunscreens, etc that you should avoid. You can also input the products that you use and a ranking will appear for most of them. It's a really great, comprehensive website and you can request a wallet sized, reference card that you can carry with you when you go to the grocery store.

For example, potatoes should be organic, but it's not as important to eat organic with broccoli, cabbage and onions. Also, keep in mind, that it's more important to eats lots of fruits and veggies, organic or not, rather than avoid them because they are NOT organic.

I am taking a wellness class from a naturopath in Columbus OH. Dr. Popper also has her PhD in nutrition. I'd be happy to share what I am learning. I'd like to offer to facilitate an in-home wellness presentation with your family and friends. I do this at no charge. We just talk about the importance of whole food nutrition, do a little label reading and then see where that leads us in terms of learning how to feed our families more healthfully.

Just give me a call if you have any additional questions.
In health, D.

I see you already have a lot of responses, but here's my two cents that pretty much echos the others: Go organic! I never thought I would be jumping on the bandwagon myself---but becoming a mother almost 4 years ago, I started to look into nutrition and really embraced the responsibility of providing my family with healthy, nurturing foods. We just do not know the long term affect of pesticides, preservatives, food colorings, msg, etc--especially on infants and small children. In my family, it has been a process. We slowly have eliminated processed foods and really grown to have an all organic pantry and especially fruits and veggies. While it seems expensive at first, I have found by eliminating all the garbage that ends up in your cart from a typical Kroger or Meijer run, i don't find it to be that more expensive in the long run. But the key is that you have to be more active in the kitchen (and have the time to do it). A great place to start is amazon.com. Someone already mentioned Ruth Yaron's Super Baby Food book. It is an overwhelming amount of information but a great place to start. I actually started grinding my own grains and legumes--buying items i never have and really have learned a lot. Another book i have enjoyed is called "Simply Natural Baby Food: Easy Recipes for Delicious Meals Your Infant and Toddler Will Love". That one really calls for some different items and is really quite healthy--a little overboard but great for food ideas for the little ones. I have really gotten into the cube size frozen veggies which lends itself to the Sneaky Chef/Deceptively Delicious style of cooking. I add 2 cubes of pureed kale to scrambled eggs and it is the best green eggs you'll ever have! I'm getting sidetracked here... Lastly, i just want to say that the more we as a society demand quality ingredients and less chemicals, the manufactures will jump on board (American products adapt to European standards--a little research will shock you). Organic products have many benefits-- the animals, the land, the consumer--to me the price is worth it. We have to educate ourselves more and demand better for our future generations. gee, i must be more passionate about this than i realized. Anyways, start slowly and you'll be addicted to the quality and taste of going organic. And you're baby will thank you someday!

Hi J.,
If you are able to afford it, organic is a good way to go. I did organic for my daughter in the beginning. What I would suggest is making your own baby food... That is the most natural there is, and it really isn't as hard as everyone thinks it is. Each time I would make a different fruit/veggie I would make a bigger batch, grind it in my happy baby food grinder and freeze it. (Like another poster said, maybe cook new things once a week...) Ice cube trays work great for freezing, then just pop the cubes into a ziplock bag. Then, you just pull out the cubes you want for each meal and thaw them, so there's no cooking/grinding, etc. at every meal. I also liked it because the flavors are most natural because there is no preservative changing the flavor. Good Luck! :)

Hi J.,

I started feeding my daughter organic food as soon as she was old enough to try solids. I really like the Happy Bellies organice cereals, and more importantly my daughter does, too. I googled organic fruits and vegetables to buy and basically found that if you're eating the skin (or it is thin skinned) you should buy organic (peaches, nectarines, apples, potatoes, etc). The thicker skinned foods that you peel (butternut squash, avocados, bananas, etc) you can buy conventional. Hope that helps, making baby food is fun!

I agree with other posters when they say to eat organic whenever you can and as much as your budget allows.

One more thing to consider, is that organics are not genetically modified (genetically engineered). This is a really controversial topic that is experimental in my opinion. Europe has a moratorium on all genetically modified organisms and has restrictions on them, requiring all foods to be labeled as GMO if they are. Here, the agricultural businesses fight the same regulation, saying it would put a stigma on their products. It is all political. And at the expense of the consumer's health.
You're doing a great job by seeking more information on this sort of thing! A lot of people just write it off without learning more. I take a precautionary approach to the whole thing. I don't know enough about it and am not convinced it is safe - so it will not be the norm of my family's diet!

We are all organic when it comes to the baby.

Visit the site of Enviromenta Working Group for the must get organic list

We also make our own baby food- saves a ton of money- you don't need a cookbook and there is a ton of stuff online- but I love the book the Petit Appetit....you can get it at the library....

Good luck!

While you are at it- check out the site skindeep.com to see how your baby's soap, lotion, etc rate...you may be surprised....

Hi J.,

I try to buy as many organics as possible. When I can't buy organic fruits I wash them thoroughly before giving them to my daughter. In addition, we don't eat pre-packaged foods... only very very rarely. I cook a lot from scratch to ensure I know what is going into my family's stomachs.

Here are my thoughts on the whole thing:

There are so many things we can't control like air quality. For many of us it is wayt too cost prohibitive to purchase organic clothing ... so there is that issue of toxins. Toxins are everywhere in our life.... we just have to live with that. HOWEVER, we CAN control what our little ones (and ourselves) eat. They are born so pure. I want to give my daughter the best possible chance at life possible. I want to make sure her body is strong and able to handle the onslaught of environmental, physical, and mental stresses she WILL face in life. So, I make sure she has a good balanced diet of wholesome foods and I try to keep them as free as possible of artificial chemicals, pesticides, and hormones as possible.

There is no way we can ensure they are getting NONE of the nasties (unless of course we all start our own farms, have pure soils, raise our grains to feed our livestock etc....). But, we can minimize it.

Helping our children develop healthy bodies with healthy immune systems (providing a good balanced diet does a great deal to this end) provides them with many of the tools they need to fight off the toxins they will encounter. It helps them grow into healthy strong adults.

There is a great website that you can reference for nutrition information:

www.nourishmd.com

It is run by a nutritionist and pediatrician. These ladies are great, have great information and provide lots of recipes.

In addition, you may want to look into "baby led weaning". Google it and you will find some good info on it. Basically, no purees... baby gets table food from 6 months. I did this with my daughter. It was GREAT! Babies need to get the majority of their nutrition from Breastmilk or Formula for the first 12 months. Solids are basically 'practice', particularly early on. I started with veggies like broccoli. Soft cook it... a little longer then you would for yourself but not so long it looses all it's nutrition. I steam it with a little water in the bottom of the pan. Works great. Then, you just start introducing other foods as they get older.

There is as much of a chance of a baby choking on purees as there is soft cooked foods. Also, their gums are VERY hard... so if the food is soft cooked, it will be no problem.

As I said, we did this with my daughter. She is now 19 months old and literally eats just about everything. If she doesn't like something, she at least tries it every time I give it to her. She is familiar with all these foods because she's been eating them all along. Plus, it saves SOOOO much money!!!!! No buying extra food just for baby.

Another good source for baby food info is:

www.wholesomebabyfood.com

Congratulations on your baby. It's so much fun!

I found that Target had significantly lower prices on Earth's Best jar food, crackers, etc. compared with Meijer...

The thing with organics is that they are produced under organic guidelines, no pesticides on the veggies/fruits, no preservatives or additives, no hormones, etc.

So what you put into your body as well as your baby is important. It's a matter of do you WANT all those bad things in your/your baby's body? Because it's where a lot of the plagues of today start.

Shop Whole Foods and/or Better Health. That's where you'll find your healthiest edibles. To their credit, Kroger does have a small area of organic products too. And remember, if you aren't much of a veggie person, you can always juice your veggies and get the nutrients that way. I've been doing it for several years now.

Hi J., At five months our son got all organic baby food. Now that he's older we buy organic bananas, grapes, green beans, carrots, blueberries, applesauce, yogurt, cheddar duck crackers, fruit bars & cookies by Earth's Best, milk, animal crackers, and as much as I possibly can. It can be more costly but there are health benefits and that can be long term savings.

Organic is definitely pricier but I think it's worthwhile if you can do it. What I try to do (to fit into my budget) is to stick to fruits and veggies that are organic. It's also pretty important to have your meats/dairy products either be organic or at least no extra added hormones. Trader Joe's has a lot of dairy that is no added hormones and decently priced (their milk is only $1 more a gallon than Kroger milk that is taken from cows who receive added hormones - whereas a gallon of organic milk is almost double the price). I think baby food is especially important to try to do organic since most babies start with pureed fruits and veggies and non-organic fruits/veggies have harmful pesticides (those pesticides are especially damaging to babies' still-developing immune systems - which is thought to be linked to the epidemic-sized increase in disorders like Autism, ADHD, Allergies, and Ashtma).

I believe Babies R Us carries cases of Earth's Best organic baby food (in jars) - this is probably your best shot at a good price (rather than buying individual jars). Like anothe poster mentioned, I've noticed that Target has the best price on individual jars of organic baby food (which is unusual - I would have though Meijer would have been cheaper but it's not). When my daughter was eating baby food, Costco carried cases of Earth's Best but I think they've sadly stopped.

Overall, Whole Foods and Trader Joes are great places to shop for organic/all natural foods. Whole Foods can especially be on the pricey side so I typically try to stick with their in-store brand called "365". At Trader Joes, not EVERYTHING is all-natural but many of their foods are.

I tried to feed them organic when possible. As another poster said, if you eat the skin you should go organic. Sometimes financially this is impossible, but I try when I can. I do recommend making your own babyfood. It was really easy (seriously! it is! We picked a few things to make every week on Sundays and froze them) and since we have twins, it ended up being a great way to save money. Seems like now thwere are a lot more choices for organic jarred food, when my kids were babies there were a lot fewer out there.

Hello,

We use organic food. I did some research as well and I found that I like the Earths Best jarred organic food best. They come in a ton of varities too. It also comes in cases of fruit, veggies, brakfast, lunch and dinner. Which I really like. the cases are about 10 dollars each and single jars range from 75 cents to 88 cents. The only issue is that most stores don't have a huge selection, I normally get mine at Meijer, and they can be ordered online. They also have a great website- check it out it was very helpful for me!

Good luck!
If you have any more questions feel free to message me!
A.

Apples, strawberries, peaches - organic. Sooo many pesticides on them. The Environmental Work Group has a website that list the top offenders.

I used Earth's Best and/or made my own food (Super Baby Food book). I found Earth's Best at Babies R Us and Coscto for pretty good prices. Meijer carries it too.

I highly recommend the Super Baby Food book. Great recipes that are easy to make.

I buy a lot of organic food and some foods I will only buy organic. My daughter is 17 mos and my son 5. I worry more about her...b/c of the hormones and the effects on girls. I guy organic milk and yogurt always. I mostly buy organic fruit, esp. grapes and berries. I also buy a lot of organic veggies-- fresh.

Trader Joes and Papa Joes in ROCH Hills have a good selection of organic baby foods (or foods that are easy to feed a new eater).

I tried to feed my twins as much organic food as possible as infants. It may cost more, but I think it's the MOST important time to spend that extra money.

I also wanted to mention that I bought a lot of Earth's Best at Target - and often got a good deal there.

I also use Earth's Best for cereals and make my own organic pureed food for my 8 month old son. I think it is important, not only for the little ones, but as a way to protect the environment.. We vote with our money every day!