Homemade Baby Food Makin'

We've been amazed at how much money we save by making our own baby food...we figure it is close to 15x more expensive to buy Gerber jars.  We have also found it to be super easy, and FUN!  There are many different ways to make it, but these are the "tools" that we use:

• Food Processor
• Super cheap steamer basket that sits in a pot w/a lid
• Ice cube trays with lids (We use Fresh Baby)
• Freezer bags

So far, little man has only had one jar of Gerber food.  Oddly enough...it was the one meal he refused to eat!  It was peas.  A couple of days later we offered him our homemade baby peas, and he scarfed them down like nobody's business.  Interesting stuff!

The cooking: Baking or steaming fruits and veggies are probably the two best choices for preserving nutrients. We tend to steam just long enough to soften the food up a bit, then run them through the food processor.  You can add a little breast milk while pureeing, but note that you shouldn't use frozen milk for this and then refreeze.  Either use fresh milk or freeze the food without any milk and add milk after the food is thawed. 

The freezing: After pureeing, just spoon the food into your ice cube trays.  When they're frozen, pop them out into a freezer bag and label with date and type of food!  The trays can run through the dishwasher, and you are ready to go for another round of goodness.

The thawing: The safest method is probably to take a couple of cubes out the night before and let them thaw in the fridge overnight.  You can also run the bag of cubes under cool-warmish (not hot) water.  If you are comfortable microwaving, you can certainly thaw them that way.

Most of the foods we have made so far are fairly basic, since our little man has only been on solids for one month.  We did introduce spinach, egg yolk, and chicken this weekend, though!  Here's how.  The spinach: We took raw spinach leaves and steamed them until they looked wilted.  Tossed in the food processor and ready to rock!  The egg yolk: We hard boiled eggs and popped the yolk out (babies under 1 year should not have egg whites according to many).  We mashed the yolk up with a fork and mixed it with applesauce.  I realize this sounds disgusting to most adults, but he LOVED it!  The chicken: we cooked chicken all day in a slow cooker with nothing but water and carrots.  Pureed the shredded chicken with carrots and breast milk!  He loved this, too...but the texture was a little gritty.  Next time I will use more veggies with it, I think.

I will be adding more recipes as we try them out.  In the mean time, check out www.wholesomebabyfood.com for great meal ideas, tips, and other homemade baby food resources!