Do you buy baby food for your kids? If so, then this may be an interesting read!
I have quite a few close friends of mine that find it hard to believe I have never purchased baby food for either of my little ones. Wendy is now 4, and never once ate baby food – same with Rylan (21 mo. old), he didn’t either – won’t touch it.
Since my first child, I steered clear of buying baby food. Why? Because I can make it myself. Not only have I always thought baby food was over priced, I figured with extra veggies at home I’d save a few bucks.
Rylan is now out of the baby food stage (21 mo old) but when he was little we shopped once a week at Superstition Ranch or Pro’s Ranch Market here in Mesa, where I bought alllll kinds of fresh veggies and fruit – for practically nothing.
I loaded up on butternut squash, carrots, and strawberries. Usually each evening we eat a vegetable at our dinner table: whatever was left over I used for baby food.
Then I took an ice cube tray (I have several) and poured the blended veggies in the tray, a little in each square. Tossed in the freezer. Later today, I’ll pull the tray out and pop the cubes in a labeled Hefty Ziploc (that I got for free after coupons!) and store in the freezer. Each time my child needed some baby food, I’d take a square and pop it in the microwave for a quick sec.
Folks – no need for a “special” ice tray- the regular plastic dollar ones work perfect. Don’t get suckered into fancy baby food ones online…….. not necessary.
Some simple “do’s” on making baby food yourself:
:: Bake, boil or steam the vegetables until they are soft. Add as little liquid as possible!
:: Peel & Pit the produce to remove seeds. Some fruits don’t require liquid, others may – be sparing. You can also add a wee bit of water, or breast milk (which is what I did).
:: Preparing meat requires that you remove the skin and trim all fat before cooking. Chop the meat up super small, and use your processor to blend it – you can add a bit of broth, or water to help the consistency.
Remember…when serving the food, you need to ensure that you serve it no warmer than body temp. If using a microwave, make sure you stir it evenly before serving (and test it too) – as sometimes the microwave can create hot spots. Dish out only what your child will need, as any extra saliva that remains in the food is open ground for bacteria.
You can even mix foods together, and if they are too runny you can always add a little rice cereal or oatmeal.
Remember, this is a great way to use up extra soup or stew – you can even have friends keep used baby jars, wash out & store the food inside. I prefer the Ziploc method, but you may be different.
I make my own baby food as well, my daughter loves her veggies!!!
This is what I did for my 3 kiddos, too! :) Great post, Sheryl! :)
I a making my baby food as well and am amazed at how easy, healthy and inexpensive it is!
I had this little food grinder from like the 1970’s that everything I ate so did my kids. I just put it in the grinder thingy and tada I had baby food. I did it with everything. great thing to have and I picked it up at a thrift shop brand new in box with original seals on it for a quarter.
I do the exact thing and shop at the same places! I love superstition ranch market! I go there once a week and stock up on fruit and veggies and cook them up once a week and freeze. Mekong market is another good place to get cheap veggies. I bought a bunch of little containers from the dollar store to freeze in. They are smaller quantities than using baggies and transport to the sitter better. We’ve probably saved thousands of dollars between making our own food and breast feeding. It’s healthy and there’s no preservatives.
I bought all my baby food with my oldest…WHAT A WASTE!! I now have a 9 month old and have made all my own food for him. It is SO easy to do!! I just buy whatever is on sale that week and will cook a BIG batch of it. Usually enough to fill 4 ice cube trays. Then I freeze them like you said and toss them into the ziplock bag and put them in the deep freeze. Every 2-3 days I take out a few things and put them in these little bowls that I got at the dollar store. They come in a 5-pack for $1 at Dollar Tree with lids! I just let the cubes defrost in the fridge and take them out as we need them. I have spent WAY less! A great resource for “recipes” for babyfood is http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com too!
That is exactly what I did with all of mine. My oldest is now 21 and when she has kids she says she will follow my lead. 4 kids later and I am teaching family and friends to do the same thing. I had a friend that got that neat baby food blender from the TV infomercial and she was like “who would bother to make their baby food?”. I would have loved that when I was a young mom!!!
I was making my own baby food too, but my baby just couldnt handle it. He just kept getting constipated. He has some bad tummy issues, we’re exploring more with the doctor in a few weeks. When I switch to jarred food, it clears up for the most part, I dont get it. I do still make carrots, squash and sweet potatoes. He’s 8 months old now and I’ve started table foods, but that does the same thing so we’re back to jarred about 80% of the time. It’s awful….
LOVE LOVE LOVE this post! I did not make my 2 year olds food, but my sister in law had a baby 1 day after me was on WIC and they gave her enough baby food to feed hers AND mine! PTL- I’ll take it! And it cracks me up that so many people get the $1 store containers because I do too! They are PERFECT for throwing a couple ice cubes in as I am running out the door, just don’t let your husband sit on them because they will break… ha ha ha ha. I totally buy all my 8 month olds baby food at the superstion ranch market too! It’s great. I think I spend about $30/2wks on all my fruits and veggies for cooking, snacking AND baby food! And idk etiquette-wise if I am supposed to mention this, but wholesomebabyfood.com has a LOT of info on homemade baby food if anyone needs help! I never bought a sweet potato before and it even tells you how to pick your fruits/veggies out! @Jennifer- my little girl is 8 months old and had the SAME problem! However, whenever her pooping starts to get difficult I quit feeding her rice, bananas and applesauce and make sure she’s getting plenty of spinach, peas, plums, peaches, etc as those naturally will help them get it all out! Check out the wholesomebabyfood.com page and they have a whole list of foods that will help your constipated little man (and a whole list of foods to not feed him when he’s constipated). HTH.
I love wholesomebabyfood.com. My baby had some problems with pooing when we first started solids. It was like her digestive system had to get used to the idea of digesting anything other than breast milk. We do a mixture of both baby led solids and purees. I cut carrots and sweet potatoes into strips and cook them up. I just defrost and give her a strip at a time to munch on. When I make apples, I peel, and then use a cutter to core and wedge the apples. I boil them, cut some into strips for snacks and flash freeze then bag. I throw a little bit more water in the pot, then put my peels and cores into the pan and boil it down. I strain out the liquid and freeze it. It tastes more like cider than apple juice. I make rice and freeze it, but I add more water to it before I freeze so it doesn’t dry out in the freezer and when thawing.I use the silicone ice cube trays to purees like peach, apricot, and squash. My baby isn’t a fan of purees, so I usually have to add some oatmeal, or sometimes even cheerios to it to get her to eat it.