Do you make your own baby food? Would you like to? Making baby food can be easier than you think. No, it doesn’t require hours chopping vegetables, slaving over a steaming hot stove, and then working tediously with a food processor. Making your own baby food can save you a huge amount of money, and it’s a good way to accommodate food allergies or to eat organic on a budget.
Making your own baby food does take some work. The key is to integrate this work into your normal meal preparations and supplement your meal with frozen food if necessary. Young babies who are nursing or on formula don’t need a huge amount of food, nor does it need to be a perfectly balanced meal. Early eating is about learning how to chew and swallow food and exploring flavors and textures. Breast milk or formula provides the bulk of nutrition, but you introduce food to let your baby explore the world of adult food.
We started our daughter on packaged rice cereal, but she quickly let us know that this was not going to be a staple of her diet. Frankly, she spat it out and would turn away when I made the cereal. I took that to be a sign that we should try other foods. We tried yams, mashed peas, and my favorite – parrot – a combination of mashed pear and carrot.
What equipment did I use? Some use a mortar and pestle to mash baby food. Others use a meat grinder, although this can get rather sticky with fruits. I used a baby food grinder that I could crank around a few times. I also used little baby food cubes to freeze extra portions of baby food. The cubes have lids, so the food won’t get freezer burn like it would in a real ice cube tray. This was especially handy when I returned to work – I could give my daughter’s caregivers a selection of fresh and frozen food in containers.
I chopped and steamed whatever we were eating for dinner, as long as it was baby friendly and non-allergenic. That way, I saved time, because I didn’t have to prepare another meal! I tried not to stress out about the contents of the meal, but I did put a fruit and a vegetable at each meal. Whether my daughter ate it or not…that was another question. Some foods are more fun to mash than to eat!
Have you made homemade baby food? How do you do it?