Homemade baby food

[kelger]

Hello, all! I am the mother of 4.5 month old twins. We are not ready for solids yet but soon our doctor says. Before we get there, I want to explore the idea of making my own baby food. I'm wondering - is it healthier? Cheaper? And does anyone have any good resources? Recipes? -- Kim

[hoolah62]

I've been making my own baby food. It's VERY easy, and much cheaper. Once you get into the swing of it, it's a no brainer. Although I do keep Gerber jars for if we go out. I make veggies and fruit in batches and freeze them in trays and then just pop them out and defrost, usually I pop out a couple of fruit the night before for breakfast (put in fridge in bowl with lid) and a breakfast time pop out a few for lunch (put in fridge).

I use wholesomebabyfood.com for my ideas, they have a freezing suggestion section and nutritional info on each veggie or fruit and recipes for each (how to make basic puree and what goes well together). There is also a cost comparison between store bought and homemade, and a nutritional comparison chart.

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/

It's really handy as it gives you a guide for current thinking in age appropriateness for each food type. Sooper handy!

[kelger]

What do you use to freeze food in? I've heard ice cube trays work - but don't you need to cover them?

[hoolah62]

I PM'd you the link.

[oldrMomofJ&O]

I use the 2 1/2 oz. containers from OneStepAhead and ice cube trays for extra. Two of my ice cubes = ~ 1 container. For small batches of things like pureed blueberries, I fill the ice cube trays half full and use them as fruit toppers to other fruits like apples - yum. After the ice cubes freeze, just pop them out and store them in a freezer bag. A great practical book with reasonable recipes is "Naturally Delicious Meals for Baby" by Gerrie Hawes.

[Vermontjen]

Hoolah- Are you using a food mill or food processor? I am thinking of getting a food mill so I don't have to peel, core, etc. Thanks for the link for wholesome baby food. I'll check it out. My doc started talking about solids too - seems so early! I know we didn't start our older son on solids any earlier than 6 months. Thanks for the info.

[kelger]

For those of you who make your own baby food... do you ever use frozen fruits or veggies? Or do you always use fresh?

[TiffanyEastBay]

I used both frozen and fresh. Frozen peas, frozen blueberries, frozen mangos...just bought frozen when I couldn't get my hands on fresh (or too expensive).

I always used a food processor, you can get so much more in there than a food mill. But I believe with the food mill the food comes out much smoother.

I loved (ok not always) making my own babyfood. I found that you can't find certain foods already premade. I wanted to introduce a lot of different foods to them so when they started eating solids, their tastbuds wouldn't be in such a surprise. The main book I used was Super Baby Food. It gave me a lot of different ideas that I would have never made into babyfood. Even baby cereal: so cheap. I used ice cube trays in the freezer.

Go for making your own food!