Anyone else planning to make homemade baby food?

[wishfulone]

Hey all? Is anyone else going to be making baby food at home? I want to feed my baby the least amount of preservatives and most natural food as possible. Homemade food will carry most health benefits. Not to mention, I think it will be much cheaper to process fresh veggies and fruit at home.
Anyone going to do this or have done it in the past?
I am looking for some pointers on this! Thanks!

 

[TMonster]

I am planning on it, at least as much as possible.

 

[sheldonsmommy]

I did this, it's really easy! I used a Baby Bullet, but you can mash it by hand. Really thin consistencies at first by adding a little water used to cook the veg or fruit, then thicker as they get better at eating. You can make it in batches, then put extra in an ice cube tray to freeze it, then I stored it in a sealed bag in the freezer. In about 30 mins you can have food for the week! I never bought any jarred baby food.

 

[sheldonsmommy]

Some things freeze better than other though, like zucchini would get a little watery upon thawing.

 

[impatient1]

I tried with my dd but she was a difficult eater and preferred jared food so I ended up having to always throw out what I had made. I am hoping to stick with it this time and hopefully have a better eater.

 

[surprisedmama]

I did with our daughter and I ended up disliking it. Preparing and storing wasn't hard, but lugging around the jars of baby food while out, having to find a place to warm them, and needing to keep them cold just got to be too much.

We eat a lot of what would be considered "first foods" anyways. Carrots, squash, avocado, etc, so we ended up feeding her tiny, mashed bites from our plates.

I am going with baby led weaning with #2 and skipping traditional baby food altogether.

 

[iwantabub]

i am comboing it... some foods in jars are great... apple pure and banana and those are still fine in jars... but after i cook a serve of carrots and potatoes and other veggies for dinner why not cook a bit extra and put it through the food processor (i have a hand held one and also a big one ... big one too big and messy to clean... little on ok but im gonna buy a baby bullet i rekon coz i like the containers too )

its all trial and error...

 

[LockandKey]

I made all of DD's food myself once she started solids, and I plan on doing the same with #2. It's actually really easy to make, all you need to do is peel (if it has skin) chop, boil in hot water, and then blend until velvety smooth, and majority of the time you end up with multiple servings. I think one apple would last about 2 servings, and they are much cheaper than jarred foods, and it's so comforting knowing exactly what is going in it. I have a baby food book that was my best friend while making DD's food. It had so many great ideas on what foods I can combine with what

One time I had cooked down an entire butternut squash for DD, had so much extra food that I could freeze it, and bust it out later on when I needed it! So great!

 

[Bluewings]

I do plan on doing that with our second child. I didn't with DD because she was on a feeding tube and that was just too complicated and already stressful...

A friend of mine does the Baby bullet and just does it every Saturday, or every other Saturday. She makes large batches of all kinds of foods for her baby and stores it. The only reason why I am considering this for our next child is because we are adamant about organic foods. I don't mind buying organic jarred foods, but if it is cheaper to make at home then i will try to do that as well. I hear freezing them in ice cube trays is really convenient.

If you want to go all the way, you could use a canner and can them yourself. I think this is too much work, especially with a new child in the house, but some moms don't mind finding the time to can their own homemade baby food.

 

[mrs_park]

I made 90% of Isaacs food. I would say a food processor and baby food freezer storage trays are a necessity. It really is quite quick and easy to make and I loved knowing exactly what was in it. I found a brand of pouch food for when we were out that was all natural and organic so I would feed him those when we were out.

I will do the same with this baby

 

[sweetavenue]

We are definitely going to do this. I prefer to know exactly what is going into my child's food. DH and I are looking into local organic produce delivery so we can use that to make it.

 

[tlk71411]

I have both baby bullet steamer and blender. Love them both and glad i didn't do hardly any jarred food. Saved a lot of money too!

 

[Amygdala]

I made most of LO's food last time and will again when the time comes for baby 2. A lot of the jarred foods has extra additives or combinations that aren't ideal in my view (eg rice flour in veggie jars or too much meat in "meal" jars etc). Also, after tasting some ready made food and our homemade fresh stuff, I didn't really want LO to have to get used to jars. We used some organic pouches when out and about though. Typically, the steamed ones taste ok.
In terms of pointers, here's what I found out when doing my research:
- steaming food is better for nutrients than boiling
- use twice as much potato as meat, and twice as much veggies as potato (eg potato-carrot: 25g potato, 50g carrot; broccoli-potato-chicken: 100g broccoli, 50g potato, 25g chicken etc)
- add a little orange juice or some fruit high in vit c to make iron available.
- add a little high quality oil (eg canola or olive) for essential fatty acids and some vitamins

When out and about, I found it useful to just take a tub of frozen homemade food. That way it would keep cool all day and all you need is someone to heat it up for you, eg at a cafe or restaurant.

 

[MrsH1980]

We did this but also used some jars too - we made up ice cude trays of all sorts of combinations but also used the jars if we were out and about.

TBH, we found that once Myka ate the homemade stuff it was quite hard to get her to eat the jarred stuff - our homemade food was always much more flavoursome (we added tiny amounts of garlic, herbs etc) and the stuff out of the jar is pretty bland. Some of the fruit desserts are nice though

xxx

 

[jojo_b]

We did Baby Led Weaning with Fin and will be with this baba too. Waaaaay easier than making purée etc, and Fin is a really good, adventurous eater xx

 

[Misscalais]

Yes!
So much better for baby.
I use jarred deserts when they are older but veggies made by mumma, nothing better than that

 

[Dragonfly]

Thats how it should be far as I see. I blw with my second to and with my first sadly he had some jars but we did our own food to. My youngest always lifted my food when he was ready then got his own dinner which was same as us.

 

[heyluu]

I did it when my 2 year old was in that stage. I used the baby bullet. I really enjoyed it and it was an awesome feeling knowing exactly what was in her food. LOVED it! Oh and the Baby Bullet is pretty awesome.

 

[TMonster]

I do plan on doing that with our second child. I didn't with DD because she was on a feeding tube and that was just too complicated and already stressful...

A friend of mine does the Baby bullet and just does it every Saturday, or every other Saturday. She makes large batches of all kinds of foods for her baby and stores it. The only reason why I am considering this for our next child is because we are adamant about organic foods. I don't mind buying organic jarred foods, but if it is cheaper to make at home then i will try to do that as well. I hear freezing them in ice cube trays is really convenient.

If you want to go all the way, you could use a canner and can them yourself. I think this is too much work, especially with a new child in the house, but some moms don't mind finding the time to can their own homemade baby food.

Not to burst anyones bubble but I think canning baby food is a really dangerous idea. The babys digestive system is very sensitive early on and cannot cope with things like botulism spores. Its why we don't give babies honey until they are at least 1 years old. Infant botulism is very scary and homemade canned foods are more prone to botulism. The foods would HAVE to be pressure canned and even then its risky with low acid foods (peas, bananas, green beans, carrots etc.)

Low acid + Anaerobic environment + High moisture + Room temperature = Perfect breeding ground for botulism

I am also pretty sure canning pureed veggies at home, from my understanding, isnt considered safe at all, even for adults and veggies should be canned normally and then pureed after opening which kinda defeats the purpose. Boiling homemade canned foods after opening for additional safety is also recommended for additional safety which depletes the nutrients even more.

I know some people swear by canning their own homemade baby food but infant botulism is very serious so please please please consider the risks.

 

[midori1999]

We did Baby Led Weaning with Fin and will be with this baba too. Waaaaay easier than making purée etc, and Fin is a really good, adventurous eater xx

We will be BLW again this time, so not using any purees at all. Definitely much easier.