Making Baby Food

Do You Make Your Own Baby Food?

July 25, 2008

Many new moms fancy themselves the younger and hipper version of Martha Stewart. Wanting every morsel their tot eats to be fresh and nutrient filled, more moms are opting to churn out their own baby food. I tried my hand at it a few times and found that the grocer's supply of sweet potatoes was tastier than my own. With practice and the right utensils, I am confident I could have mastered making baby food. Next time around, maybe I'll give it a shot.

Did you make your tot's food from scratch?
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22 Comments

MaggieLei 4 years 42 weeks

I made all my son's, but it wasn't a big deal kind of thing. I just pureed what we were having for dinner (spices and all, but no salt)and then froze the leftovers in my normal ice cube trays and used them for breakfast and lunch.

fsquaash 4 years 43 weeks

I made a lot of my kids food, but I basically just steamed veggies and fruits and put them in the food chopper. The ice cube tray thing was great and I had bags of premade food always ready. After 9 months or so, I just blended whatever we were eating (lasagna, mexican, chinese, whatever). At that age, the kids seemed to eat just about anything.

Greggie 4 years 43 weeks

I didn't with my boys, but now that I'm home and have time I'll probably try it with my daughter. We're seriously considering delaying solids and just going straight to table food anyway, which would negate the need for any real purees, especially store bought. It'd be silly to spend money on jarred food when I could just mash up some of whatever everyone else is having.

PRSugar 4 years 43 weeks

I never thought I would be one to make my own baby food, but once my son graduated from the single jarred fruits and vegetables, I couldn't fathom buying meat in a jar. The Annabel Karmel books were lifesavers for me. They taught me good things to mix together and were relatively easy. I liked that her recipes included things like onion and garlic, because now my son loves those flavors. Like the others have said, ice cube trays work perfectly!

Mystofflyn 4 years 43 weeks

I'm plannign on making dinner as normal and popping some into the food processor for the baby. That way it saves money, and tastes better. I know it tastes better because I'm eating the same thing, just not pureed.

valancyjane 4 years 43 weeks

My parents did this and I probably will too. It seems a lot easier and cheaper. I don't remember what veggies they fed me but I know at one point they fed me (cooked, pureed) chicken livers. (Mom used to buy whole chickens for dinner, so the livers came with it -- they never ate liver themselves.) Makes me gag to think of it but they swear that's why I was so healthy as a child. I think my kidlets will have to go without that particular advantage.

meandtheo 4 years 43 weeks

I had very good intentions of making all of my baby food. Then I did it once and spent a better part of half of my day steaming and mushing and blending. I decided I would rather spend the day with my family then in the kitchen. I researched and found a very good organic brand that I love. I have deep respect for people that make their baby food, too much for me!

meandtheo 4 years 43 weeks

chicagojlo 4 years 43 weeks

I used to spend Sunday afternoons making up batches of baby food. My tip is to find the silicone ice-cube trays as the food comes out of them so much easier. I would freeze up a load of cubes then bag them up. When my daughter first started with solids she ate such a small amount that the portion cubes made life a lot easier than hand-making it each meal time. I found a few recipes online, since there weren't any books in any of my local stores back then, but I think it's become the latest thing in baby books so I'll probably invest in a couple for my next one.

chicagojlo 4 years 43 weeks

kikidawn 4 years 43 weeks

"I would steam some veggies and then store them in an ice cube tray and pop it in the freezer. The ice cube tray divided her food into perfect portions and it was easy to just pop one out and heat it up."I babysit a little boy whose mom does the same thing. It makes it incredibly easy when feeding him.A word of caution: it only takes about 2-3 seconds in the microwave when items are that small. Any longer and it can heat up the middle too much.

kikidawn 4 years 43 weeks

"I would steam some veggies and then store them in an ice cube tray and pop it in the freezer. The ice cube tray divided her food into perfect portions and it was easy to just pop one out and heat it up." I babysit a little boy whose mom does the same thing. It makes it incredibly easy when feeding him. A word of caution: it only takes about 2-3 seconds in the microwave when items are that small. Any longer and it can heat up the middle too much.

kellys 4 years 43 weeks

i make all the fruits and veggies (and soon meats!) my daughter eats, but i'm not a hippie by any means. something snapped inside me when i was pregnant though, and its important to me that my daughter grows up without being "built" with preservatives and fillers. like someone else said, i keep a few tubs of organic food around for emergencies, or long-travel days, but other than that, it's home-made all the way! it's incredibly simple: steam in the microwave, puree in the cuisnart, drop into ice cube trays and you're done! in about 20 minutes (most of which is waiting for things to finish cooking), you've got 15-25 servings of fresh food. you can make enough food for over a month in an afternoon. it's cheaper than store-bought, too! one piece of advice: invest in a good food processor. i had been using a cheap/small one for the first couple of months (the one we got when we got married), and wrestled with getting everything chopped evenly. after almost burning out the motor one day, we decided to upgrade. suddenly the puree step went from 10-20 minutes (had to do it in batches too, due to the capacity), to about 3.

kellys 4 years 43 weeks

i make all the fruits and veggies (and soon meats!) my daughter eats, but i'm not a hippie by any means. something snapped inside me when i was pregnant though, and its important to me that my daughter grows up without being "built" with preservatives and fillers. like someone else said, i keep a few tubs of organic food around for emergencies, or long-travel days, but other than that, it's home-made all the way! it's incredibly simple: steam in the microwave, puree in the cuisnart, drop into ice cube trays and you're done! in about 20 minutes (most of which is waiting for things to finish cooking), you've got 15-25 servings of fresh food. you can make enough food for over a month in an afternoon. it's cheaper than store-bought, too!one piece of advice: invest in a good food processor. i had been using a cheap/small one for the first couple of months (the one we got when we got married), and wrestled with getting everything chopped evenly. after almost burning out the motor one day, we decided to upgrade. suddenly the puree step went from 10-20 minutes (had to do it in batches too, due to the capacity), to about 3.

roxtarchic 4 years 43 weeks

ooh samnella... great idea... avocado... we'll be trying some of that this wk/end!

roxtarchic 4 years 43 weeks

ooh samnella... great idea... avocado... we'll be trying some of that this wk/end!

roxtarchic 4 years 43 weeks

schnappycat... it really is easy. i didn't buy anything except the baby cubes (which i love) but yeah ice cube trays'll do the trick also... i've been doing it for 4 months now. i'll steam a veggie while i'm cooking dinner... after we eat i'll blend it & freeze it. and just a side note: i'd recommend starting w/sweet potatoes or carrots we tried the greens first (as per the doc) & they didnt go over AT ALL he gagged em right back up! good luck! ;)

roxtarchic 4 years 43 weeks

Samnella 4 years 43 weeks

When my Ella started on solid food I made a lot of her food. I would steam some veggies and then store them in an ice cube tray and pop it in the freezer. The ice cube tray divided her food into perfect portions and it was easy to just pop one out and heat it up. You can have more of a variety if you make your own food...broccoli, asparagus, etc. I also bought her organic baby food for times when I was in a pinch. Another great tip. . . Avocado!!!! You can practically just scoop it out of the shell and feed it to your baby. It is so healthy!

pinkprincess1101 4 years 43 weeks

my mother did this with my kids i was okay with the store bought but she was more into making her own

Baluk 4 years 43 weeks

For my son, I tried making my own and started with carrots. They weren't as creamy or tasty as the bought, so I went the easier route and did store bought. However, I found it frustrating that there wasn't a lot of varieties, how much squash, carrots, peas and sweet potato can a little guy eat. So with my daughter for more variety we would make our own. This way she was exposed to more variety of vegetable then her brother and actually prefers broccoli over peas!

schnappycat 4 years 43 weeks

I answered yes, even though I am just planning to start my son this weekend on solids. I bought the Beaba Babycook from Williams Sonoma, a steamer/processor combo I've heard great things about, and am planning to make as much as I can. I might also end up buying some, but it sounds easy enough and healthy to at least make some of it from scratch. We'll see!

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