Homemade Baby Foods

A couple people have been asking me about making my own baby food, so I thought I would make a post about it. I never thought I would be the mom that would be "cheap" enough to make her own baby food, but really, I realized that it's almost silly to buy a $0.75 jar of banana baby food when you can buy a whole pound of fresh bananas for just as much, and with very little preparation you can serve it to the baby. Right now I'm really only doing fruits, because the few veggies I've prepared, I've had a hard time pureeing to the right texture, and I'm not brave enough to try meats. So I'm still buying a lot of jarred food, just not all of it.

The rule of thumb for pretty much all fruits/ veggies is to peel them, remove any seeds or pits, steam them (until they're soft, about 10-15 min., usually) and puree them in the food processor, adding water or milk as necessary. Then you can freeze it in ice cube trays (ones with lids). One frozen cube is good enough for one serving. I usually defrost it overnight, microwave about 10 sec. to heat it up, mix it with rice cereal (optional, of course), and serve! Pretty easy. I still researched on a lot of websites about homemade foods so I made sure I wasn't doing anything dangerous. The only things they say NOT to home prepare are carrots & spinach, which have a high level of nitrates.

Here are some things I have tried:

• Pears


• Bananas (don't even have to use food processor-- just mash with fork & add breastmilk/ formula)


• Peach Banana (peaches are also good baked, in the oven with a little water)


• Pear Applesauce (use 1 pear & 1 small apple to make 8 oz.)


• Banana Applesauce


• Mixed Vegetables (I used the frozen kind & like I said, couldn't get them pureed enough. I'm going to try fresh next time.)


• Green Beans


• Sweet Potatoes (I really liked how these turned out & they are Leah's favorite.)

I haven't done a lot of research on just how much money I save doing this, but I'm sure it's at least a little bit!

Leah's been eating 3 meals a day for about 3 weeks now, and she is really a good eater. She has her days, of course, but many times she can't get it in her fast enough. I was concerned about how she'd do with someone else, like the days she's in daycare, but every time she's surprised everyone by eating an entire "Stage 2" jar (4 oz.). I almost always do a fruit with rice or oatmeal cereal for breakfast, a "dinner," like a meat with veggie or something more substantial for lunch, and then two different veggies (or a fruit & a veggie) mixed with cereal for dinner. I really enjoy planning out balanced menus for her (and they're probably more balanced & varied than my own meals!). I don't know if she's getting as much as a 7 month old should, but really at this point, according to her doctor, solid foods are more for practice than anything else, as she's still getting most of her nutrition from breastmilk.