Seeking Ideas for Baby Food I Can Make Myself!

Get "super baby food". It will give you everything you need to know, how to prepare, store, when to introduce what. I found this to be a huge help. So easy, healthier and less expensive.

Super Baby Food is the book we used with great success.
Also in a pinch or traveling there are good jar food alternatives: Earth's Best, Healthy Times...I recommend against Gerber organics because they are in plastic with pvc.

Good luck!

Check out "FeedBlitz" online - lots of great recipes!

Go For It! Making baby food is really easy! I would definitely encourage you to do so. My baby is 9.5 months old and I have only fed him the home made stuff. Basically all you need to do is steam the fruits and vegies and puree them. I freeze mine in ice cube trays for easy portioning. Then you can just pop out from the freezer and into the microwave what you need and voila! (Or take our what you need the night before if you don't like microwaving stuff). Organic veggies like Carrots, Sweetpotatoes, Broccoli, Mangos (frozen from Trader Joe's), Peas (also frozen), corn, Apples, Pears, etc. The Deceptively Delicious book by Jessica Seinfeld has all the instructions for making purees and "Top 100 Baby Purees" by Annabel Karmel are good for other ideas. You cna make a lot at once and store it in the freezer so it's not a big deal or daily event. Good luck!

SIMPLY NATURAL BABY FOOD by Cathe Olson

http://www.simplynaturalbooks.com/

I was a mother of twins and processed baby food was expensive so I purchased a hand grinder (they have electric ones now) and I washed the veggies real clean and steamed them and put it through the grinder....I also did the same with meat/chicken...turkey. (no spices)....if it comes out too dry...add some water when you are heating it so the baby does not choke on it. I actually made a batch and froze it cause I did not have time to do it every day. Good luck....

D.,
Good for you for wanting to make your baby's food! There are a couple of good books, "Super Baby Food" by Ruth Yaron and "Top 100 Baby Purees" by Annabel Karmel. They are good resources for getting started and knowing which foods to introduce first and how many days to wait before trying a new one. Get a mini Cuisinart. I got one by KidCo. I steam different veggies and then puree and freeze into cubes. This way you only prep once per week. I love Baby Cubes for freezing. They have the tops attached. http://babycubes.com/ they sell them at Rightstart.com. I also buy some store food. It's sold at Whole Foods and it's called Homemade Baby. It's all organic. They have apples, pears, peas, green beans, sweet potatoes, summer squash. My 7 month old LOVES them too. They taste like real food. Check out their website http://www.homemadebaby.com/
Good Luck and have fun!!
D.

Hi Debbie:
Try this book "Superbaby food." We eat organic and avoid the middle aisle altogether so no processed food for our family! For starters I would steam or bake a sweet potato and use the food processor (mini mill ok) and added either breast milk or formula then froze in cube trays, cover with saran wrap and foil. After frozen remove from tray and place in freezer safe bag, label ingredient and date. To thaw it is recommended to do it in the frig overnight. To use: warm up, add formula or breast milk and cereal of choice (rice cereal, etc.) until you have the right consistency. The book mentions what veggies and fruits are best to freeze and which one to avoid which if I remember are carrots and spinach.
BTW, avocados are great because you can just carry a fresh ripe avocado and prepare a nutricious meal right away.
But you can also freeze them! I freeze avocados when I have too many ripe avocadoes (due to a store special or when friends back in California send me some) and even if I make guacamole for the family I will not be able to use them all up. Simple steps: you remove the pulp, mash it, do not add anything, just cover and freeze in the ice cube tray, then remove cubes to store in a freezer safe bag. When you thaw them out they will be good for shakes, guacamole, sandwich spread, dip, thickening tomatillo salsa, or mixing with the baby cereal.
Good for the Brain!

Super Baby Food is an absolutely wonderful book! I made baby food for my two kids. It's easy, healthy and cheap! I used ice cube trays---after pureeing a sweet potato in the blender with a little water, fill the ice cube tray with the potato, put a layer of foil over and freeze. In a day or two, transfer them to a freezer baggie with the name of the food and the date. Easy! I tried every healthy food under the sun this way and my kids are still great eaters at the ages of 7 & 9. :)

Making baby food is one of the easiest things ever. Just steam the vege's for a few min & put them through the food mill or food processor. I would buy bags of frozen vege's (organic is usually best) and go from there. Try out Annabel Karmel's First Meals - great book! You can even make these ahead of time & freeze them. Then use later as puree's in baking, etc (Jessica Seinfeld's book). Good luck.

Hi debbie, my name is R. and i have a 6 month old baby who has been eating solids for about a month now...none of which was "packaged." I steam veggies and puree them in a food processor..i started with carrots and then went onto butternut squash( cut in half, take seeds out, and cook for 1 hour in oven 400 degrees face down) and green beans. Also for veggies you can cook apples and puree them and bananas are easy enough to just mash with a fork. All of these food need a little added water to get a smoother consistency. As the baby grows in age so can his food. You can puree almost anything...including meat. I package all my food in the small tupperware containers and only make food for a couple days because the food you make on your own will not last as long as the packaged food. One more tip...puree veggies for about 2 minutes in the food processor to insure all is smooth

Hi my name is K. and I have a two year old boy. I make about 70-80% of the food he eats (less cheese milk and fresh food).

One of my favorite resources is www.wholesomebabyfood.com. They can give you recipes ideas, how to's and when to introduce what foods.

All I needed was a pan to steam fruits or vegetables, a plunge mixer to puree and some ice cube trays to portion and freeze. Every two weeks I would make 2 or 3 vegies or even mac&cheese froze them in ice cube trays and tranfered them to ziploc bags. Turkey meatballs(with baby cereal as the binder) are still my boys favorite. Make a batch and freeze them and they can last 2 to four weeks. There are books out there but I found the website was all I needed.

Fresh is always best, but frozen is still good and can be easier on the prep challenged cook. Peas of course are always frozen. I used the frozen broccolli, spinach, butternut squash etc. Sometimes he would not eat just the spinach or zucchini so I would mix it with some sweet potatoes and carrots. Now he pretty much eats everything!

One last thing, I was always concerned about nutrition, and though I breastfed to 14 months I usually added a scoop or two of organic formula to everything I made.

Good luck! Feel free to email if you have any questions.

K.
SAHM 2 year old son

Hi D., My six month old baby girl just started eating solid foods. We bought Annabel Karmel's Top 100 Baby Purees. It provides you with all the information you need to make a lot of very easy purees and for varying aged babies (first tastes to food for babies up to a year). I love the book! My husband and I have had a lot of fun making the food. It's surprisingly easy to make most of the basic fruit and veggie purees. And so far our little one has enjoyed all the different foods we've made (carrots, avocado, sweet potato). Another good source of info is www.homemade-baby-food-recipes.com. Good luck and have fun!
S.

You have already gotten some great suggestions here about this. But here is my two cents worth.

I do half store bought and half homemade for my DD who is 9 months. I did about 3/4 store bought and 1/4 homemade for DS who is 3. For DS I would steam and puree everything and freeze them in ice cube trays and defrost 1-2 cubes as needed. But the trays took up a lot of space in my freezer. With DD, I steam and puree or hand crank them at store them in little freezer bags flat and that helps with the space issue. Then when I need one, I just defrost in the microwave, but a corner at the bottom of the bag and squeeze out the contents. Very easy. I make a few batches of food about once a week. Put half in the fridge for use over the next few days and the rest in the freezer.

The hand crank that I have was given to me by my friend who never used it for her kids. It's by KidCo. I love it. It even comes with a carrying case so you can put it in your diaper bag. All the parts are dishwasher safe and come apart for easy cleaning. I think it runs about $20 or so at Target or BRU.

Here are the foods that I have made for DD so far.

Baby carrots, spinach, applesauce w/ cinnamon, pear sauce, peach sauce, blueberries/peaches/raspberries together, bananas, strawberries and applesauce. Basically anything that she has already eaten I either buy organic fresh or organic frozen and steam then puree for her. It takes a couple of hours once a week to make enough for a weeks worth of feedings.

If you have a food processor, I think that works better at the pureeing than a regular blender. I have a regular blender and it takes forever to puree stuff. The hand crank works good too, but after a while your arms get sore from working it.

I know there are a ton of websites with free information about recipes and how to's for making your own baby food.

I also will use the pureed stuff to sneak in veggies or fruits into our meals as well. I have the book "Deceptively Delicious" by Jessica Seinfeld. I haven't used any of her recipes yet, but I have read through the concepts and figured what my DH (not much of a fresh veggie eater) doesn't know about what's in his food won't hurt him.

S.

Hi D.,

My son will be 21 next month but I remember making his baby food years ago for him. For one it is better for them and two it is much more cost effective. Begin with communicating with your baby's doctor and introduce foods only as recommended. Science is a wonderful thing and they have learned that certain foods may cause more allergies as children age so they recommend staying away from them until baby's digestive system can handle them. Once you know what you can introduce... start with VEGETABLES not fruits. Easy to do. Steam or boil the veggie then puree it in a food processor or blender... I hear the Bullet is a wonderful thing too when making small amounts. Don't add salt. Butternut squash, Kabocha, Sweet Potatoes, Acorn Squash are great because they are naturally sweet. Peas, Carrots, are also great to start with. When baby is ready for meats you can do the same. At first boil the meat with very little salt then puree. Once you know baby will tolarte the new food item you can go to town making a combination of meals. I used to make Beef/chicken stew or soup in one pot for the family. Take out a small amount to puree before adding spices puree it and place in a ice tray and then finish off the big pot for the family with bay leaves, basil, etc...
As baby can you can do the same with any meal you make for the family. By using Ice trays and feezing it you just pop them out lable a zip lock bag and use as needed.

Hope this helped.

Gayle

I agree with Amy and Pam, I make my own Baby food it's not as hard as it may sound. Make a whole lot then freeze it. It's good for up to 2 months. So much less expensive and worth it, every penny counts when you have a baby. Here's a web site for all your ?'s and also helpful tips on prepareing certain foods. Good luck!

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/

We made all of our daughters food when she was a baby. She is now 4 1/2 and we get more compliments that she is such a good eater. She will eat anything and proudly tell you her favorite vegetable is asparagus. Please go to freshbaby.com the have a "so easy"kit that is wonderful. It even has charts to help you when they aren't feeling well. We give the kit to everyone we know with a new baby, I think it made all of the difference in the world!
Good luck!

Hi D.,

If you go to OneStepAhead.com, they sell a book titled First Meals, I do not remember the author, however, it is great. She gives recipes for different age groups and there are wonderful pictures of the meals that I find inspires me to prepare them. Great combinations that I would not have thought of too. Good for you for wanting to make the food yourself. L.

Hi D.,

After the usual rice cereal, we started with soft foods that could be mashed easily, like banana, avocado, well cooked peas, carrots, etc.

You can prepare just about anything in a food processor or with a baby food grinder. Just add a little water or milk (you can use your own breast milk if you're nursing and you express a little). Make sure foods are well cooked enough to puree well to smoothness and that they are not seasoned. There's no reason to get your little one addicted to salt and sugar.

Also, be aware of foods that are potential allergens, especially if you have a history of family members with allergy. The most common allergenic foods are milk, eggs, soy, corn, fish/seafood, wheat and tree nuts (peanut allergy is on the rise, too). These foods should be avoided for the first year to reduce the chance of allergic sensitization. Berries, especially strawberries, also tend to be highly allergenic and should be avoided for the first year, as should citrus. Any time you feed your baby a new food, it's best to introduce only one at a time for a few days and take note if you see a reaction. In infants, symptoms of allergy are typically hives, eczema and/or gastric upset, often seen as colic. (Infant colic can also result from GERD.)

It is very, very important that you do not feed your baby raw honey for the first 12 months as well. This carries botulinin spores (the bacteria responsible for botulism) and infants are particularly susceptible to contracting this infection, which can be fatal. Also, make sure that you keep all the food processing equipment clean. You don't have to sterilize it, unless you're planning on canning some of the food, but you should wash everything well with soap and hot water.

Talk to your pediatrician about introducing foods to your little one. He/she can help you map out a food introduction schedule that's right for your child. Keep in mind that baby's under 5 mos old have an inborn defense mechanism that will make them push anything thicker than milk out of their mouths. It can take some babies a while before they over come this. In general, if your baby is thriving on milk or formula, there is no need to feed solid until the baby is 7 - 9 mos old, and some nursing mothers successfully nurse exclusively for a year.

Enjoy your baby! I know it's hard with the first child, but don't rush things.

R.

The best book I've come across is First Foods by Annabel Karmel. It is very user friendly from infant food to 8 years old. A few of the recipes require more time than I have but most of them are fairly quick and can be frozen. She even includes a weekly menu planner for different ages. The snack ideas she offers are great!

Enjoy!

I made my own baby food for my now 15 month old twins and once I got the hang of it, it was so easy. We found two basic benefits, being able to control the quality of the food they ate and they are great eaters so they were able to eat some portion of what we were eating pretty much all of the time.

I got two books, The Petit Apetit by Lisa Barnes and Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron. Both had good suggestions and ideas but both also had some misinformation (like suggesting giving babies honey & nuts!) so I relied on my kids' Dr., reputable websites like www.askdrsears.com and aap.org and good ol' common sense with regard to what to feed and when but those books helped me figure out how to prepare the different foods and what not. Freezing prepared food is a huge time & food saver. You don't need special trays or anything, ice cube trays are the perfect size for single portions.

Good luck!

Hi D.,

I love making my son fresh food. It is super easy and takes very little time and is SO worth it. He is 6 months and he just started eating 2 weeks ago. I make him squash, acorn and butternut so far. You can puree them in the food processor. I have a juicer which works really well at pureeing the food. When I am done pureeing I then take about 1 TBSP and place it on parchment paper then place it in the freezer, so you end up making little squash cookies. When frozen I transfer to a container. You may want to check out a good website called wholesomebabyfood.com

Hope this helps,

V

It's great to make your own! I used "100 Best Baby Purees" by Anna Karmel as a starting point, then just started adding things together on my own. I epecially like adding some leafy greens (kale, collard, chard) to his favorite carrot/squash blend, because it adds nutrients your little one won't get from canned babyfood. If you go with the ice cube trays, I would caution you to make sure your purees are cooled, before putting them in- there is so much recent research about harmful chemicals from plastic leaching into food/drinks when there is heat involved. Since I am a bit of a purist, I use Kerr canning jars- you can get them in an 8oz size (=2 babyfood jars). They can be frozen, and refrigerated, then I just heat them in a pan of water. Good Luck! I have noticed our little guy likes my purees more than the store-bought kind, so that makes a mama very happy!!
S.

I use super baby food by ruth yaron. It is great, kinda jumbled reading but so very thorough. Good luck and have fun!

There are tons of cook books on the market. I've only cooked for my baby (he's now 12 months). Bananas, baked sweet potatoes, baked butternut squash, anything organic is so much less expensive and easy to prepare. Steam vegetables, chicken, fruits, puree in a food processor and you have a meal. Freeze the extras.

Yes, I have done this & so has my sister. Just take any fresh veggie & either steam it or cook it in a small amount of water until soft. Add very small amount of seasoning (sea salt or Kosher salt)& then put in your blender or food processor to the consistency you want. The seasoning is to make it palatable for your little guy, but don't overdo it.

My baby daughter, now 18, was extremely happy when I would take steamed veggies and other items and took a hand blender to them. Depending if they have any food allergies, you need to be careful. She loved the steamed broccoli, peas, green beans, soften apples in ovens, very ripe fruit etc. I never spiced while steaming. I would portion off some to be pureed for my daughter. Funny thing now, she doesn't like certain veggies steamed, she prefers them crunchy, which is better, vitamins and nutrients are all intact. Check with your doctor. I did turn her orange, she loved sweet potatoes, doctor told me not to worry and cut back on the sweet potatoes and carrots.

These are fresher and no preservatives. They will keep if properly refrigerated.

I have three boys and have always made my own baby food. What you need is a good small pressure cooker. Put all your veggies and meat and rice in their and cook. Then just puree with a hand blender. It was so easy and very tasty!

Hello there!
I made all of my daughters baby food. The only time she ate store bought food was when we traveled. I had great success with it. It sounds fancy and complicated but it is so easy! I found the book, Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron. The way the book is set up is very user friendly. It is categorized by age in months. On the first page is a list of all the foods your baby cab have at that age. Later when your child is eating more foods you can use the index and look things up by the food. It tells exactly how to prepare and how to store it. The book recommends using ice cube trays to freeze the food and then store in cubes. Don't worry, it explains how to figure a serving size by the cube. Also, I just used a blender or beaters since I did not have a food processor.

I can't say enough great things about my experience with this book and with starting my daughter on solids. She is a great eater even now at 2 yrs old! Good Luck - it really is easy!

N. S

I'd recommend buying a baby food grinder, one you can take anywhere. Then you can cook vegetable and grind them - adding water when the baby is very young. When the baby is older and ready to eat a more varied diet you can grind whatever you or your husband has ordered at a restaurant. Just throw the grinder in a zip lock plastic bag and
throw in the dishwasher when you get home.

Simple! What I did was steam vegetables and put them in the food processor until the veggies are smooth. Peas, carrots, broccoli, sweet potato is a little tricky because parts of the potato are stringy, but you just don't use the ends, or pick out the strings or whatever.

Puree a bunch of organic veggies and fruits and freeze them in ice cube trays. Put one out on the counter for a few minutes to thaw or pop in the micro. for 10 seconds or less.
Mom of 2 boys!

I'm a first time mom with a soon to be 7 month old girl. We have recently started making homemade baby food. I am really enjoying the book Super Baby Food. I spent a couple of hours one afternoon and cooked/steamed veggies, pureed them in the blender, put them in ice cube trays to freeze. The book does a good job of listing foods to introduce each month. It makes our daily routine super easy. Hope this helps.

There are so many things you can do! A great book that other moms recommended to me is Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron. You can get it on Amazon or at Barnes and Noble. She's a little over the top but her recipes and information on fruits and vegies, etc. are great. When you start solids, it's all about the purees and mushy foods. We started with oatmeal, avocado, bananas, and so forth and my now 13 month old LOVED it. She's not a picky eater thanks to all of the foods we introduced early. Also, when you freeze stuff, use ice cube trays for easy servings. You can find the silicone ones at Bed Bath and Beyond...food comes out of those soooo much easier than regular trays. Have fun and good luck! J.

I know you have received tons of good advice. It is soooo simple, my son Noah NEVER had even one jar of store bought food. It only took about one hour one day a week to prepare. I steamed or baked the veggies, depending on what they were. Pureed them with a little of left over water and breastmilk, then pour the purees into ice cube trays. Once frozed I transferred the food to Zip lock freezer bags and voila! Food whenever I needed it! Simple! Good Luck.

HI,
I made nearly all of my kids first foods, certainly for my daughter. Later on for my son I wasn't quite so crazy about it as the organic baby food at Whole Foods is excellent (and he was the 2nd child so I had less time!).

Having said that - to start with, buy a really good electric steamer so the veggies don't get overcooked and a Quisinart. You can then basically steam anything, add a little water and mix it up in the Quisinart. I made carrots, zucchini, lentils and rice, peas,squash and whatever else looked yummy and healthy. Sweet potatoes and yams are easy to just bake in the oven and mash up.

The other thing to do, is make a large batch of each thing and then buy those little ice cube trays that have lids. Spoon the food into each ice cube and freeze it. Once it's frozen I used to tip out the cubes into a large freezer bag, mark the date and what it is and then you have food at your fingertips whenever you need it, rather than having to make it each time. I also used to just put one or two of the cubes into tupperware to take with me when we went out so by the time I needed to feed them it had thawed. Of course the microwave also helps!

A great book I found is called "Into The Mouths Of Babes" but I don't know if it's still in print. It was all about organic and mainly vegetarian food. I think they have a good selection at Whole Foods too. Once it was time to introduce meat (chicken and turkey) I found a little food grinder and mixed the chicken into the other veggies.

My daughter is a fantastic eater to this day (she's 9) and loves all different kinds of flavors and textures. My son is 3 and a bit pickier but still pretty good. I think it helps to have home made food to begin with to broaden their taste.

Bon Appetit!
S. T
Woodland Hills

I made all my baby's food. I bought a couple of books by Annabel Karmel. Good books and she ate most of what I made.

Like you, I prefered my own cooking to the stuff in the jars. In the beginning, a mashed banana softened with a little breast milk is wonderful (and comes in it's own handy travel sleeve!). Avocado is also good, smooth, easy to mash too. I found that my two best helpers were my food processor and an ice cube tray. For example, if I made baked chicken and brown rice for dinner, I just put some in the food processor with a little bit of filtered water and hit puree. Then I filled the ice cube tray with the mush and froze it. Transfer the cubes into a freezer bag and voila, easy, all you have to do is defrost one or two cubes at a time. Labling is important as is dating because of freezer burn. My daughter savored a variety of tastes and this has led to a lifetime love of new food experiances. Some things that work really well are butternut squash, beets and carrots. Since I did this with almost everything I fed my older kids, I always had "baby-food" available. The health food store has some decent jarred foods for travel so that is a viable alternative too. Fondly, L.

you should look at the book "super baby food". i can't remember who wrote it, but it is AMAZING! it has a purple cover, and i know they sell it on amazon. anyway, it has tons of recipes and ideas. the author also gives charts for each month to show an example feeding schedule for the day (alternating solids and nursing/formula). i don't think i would have made it thru without this book. good luck!

Super baby food is a great book. I made my daughters baby food for awhile and it was pretty easy. What I would do is buy organic fruits and veggies and steam them and then blend them in a food processor. I would try to make about 2 weeks worth at a time. Althought at first he wont eat a whole lot so you will probably be able to make it last alot longer. Anyway after I blended it, I would pour it into ice cube trays and freeze it. After it was frozen I would pop the frozen food out of the ice cube trays and put it in labeled ziploc freezer bags. It really is so nice to know exactly what is going into their food.. if you read the ingredients of some of the store bought stuff its pretty gross!! Good luck!

Hi! I per aid all my own food for our children very rarely did I buy store bought, that way I knew what they where getting. God bless.

I made baby food for both my children, who are now 5 and 2. I made veggies and fruits for them- broccoli, green beans, butternut squash, pears, etc. I had read that carrots is something that you should always buy in a jar regardless (I don't recall the rationale for this, but you might want to look it up). We trained our children at a young age to eat veggies, and today, all our friends watch in awe and envy as our children ask for more broccoli (their favorite), green beans, asaparagus, brussel sprouts, cabbage, bok choy, and all other sorts of vegs during any meal (our 2-year old recently chose broccoli over fries). To make baby food in bulk: (1) Steam (not boil) the food so it doesn't get too mushy. (2) Puree the food in a blender. (3) Strain through a sieve/strainer to remove bits that might be choking hazards. (4) To store, fill each cube of an ice cube tray with the food. (5) Place the filled ice cube tray in a Ziplock freezer bag and freeze. (6) To serve, microwave the amount you want to give your child. If the food looks too runny to you, you can add a bit of baby cereal to thicken.

Good luck.

Hi D.~ I have two suggestions for you. the one that I use is called the "healthy baby meal planner" by Annabel Karmel It's so yummy & a lot of the recipes are great for adults too...before you mash them up that is! :)

another one that i've heard about is a new cookbook for kids by Jessica Seinfeld called "deceptively delicious".

I've got 2 boys with #3 on the way.

Good luck!

~mama C.

Hi D.,
First i want to encourage you to wait as long as you can before introducing solids, especially if your baby is being breast fed. Secondly children under the age of 2 do not produce very much of the enzyme necessary to digest starches/grains in their saliva, so try to stick to fruits and vegetables, in spite of what doctors suggest.
Third, making your own baby food is very easy and simple. You can do ripe mashed bananas, ripe mashed avocados, pureed apples, peas, carrots, cauliflower, green beans. you can even get organic frozen veggies and steam and puree it. I would discourage you from using ANY seasonings, so they can appreciate the natural taste of the food and if there is any reaction to the food it's easier to narrow it down to what caused it. I hope that helps.

There are books, although I couldn't tell you one offhand. BUT, I can tell you that for starters you can get a small food processor at Babies R Us for about $20. Peel and cut fruit or vegetables and steam them, then put them in the processor until smooth. THEN, scoop the rest into ice cube trays, freeze and then put into ziplocs and label. Keep those food jars from the store bought to take out with you. You could pick up a book at any bookstore or BRU, they also have recipes for making your own cereals and such. You will be happy that you did.

Go for it!!! its so simple and rewarding- Just steam the veggies lightly and put them in a food proc. then its ready to eat- don't add any salt or seasoning of course- you can put extra in ice tray and freeze it (but don't make the batch too big because fresh is better) then transfer to a freezer bag- there are also these table top food mils that are manual and great for on the go, when baby is a little older and is starting to have table foods but not chewing too well yet, these make very small batches witch is perfect for a meal-
Oh stay away from steamed carrots for the first year, they have natural nitrates
and raw honey (most is) may have bactiria hard for the under one year olds
Go vegan at first at least (except breast milk of course)
Introduce foods one at a time with a few days befor you start a next one, so you can watch for alegies-
Happy eating- Bless

This is THE BEST baby food book out there. Your baby will eat such a wide variety of healthy food -- and she separates everything by month of baby's life! I always give this as a gift to new mom's! You can find it at Barnes and Noble, Borders or Amazon.

Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron
http://www.amazon.com/Super-Baby-Food-Ruth-Yaron/dp/09652...

I have 4 children 16, 14, 4, 1. I always made my own baby food. There is a cute little book "Feed me I'm yours" to get some ideas.
I always started with a banana. Just scrape it with a spoon straght from a banana. Next cooked carots (not too much water) and when soft put everything into blender or I like it hand held mixer. I always cooked more and then froze the food into ice cube tray . When frozen pop them into a ziplock bag. You can keep it frozen for up to 3 months.
I always made bunch of diffrent vegies and then mixed them together. Sweet potatoes are good too.

Later on you can add little meet to those veggies and cook it just the same. It works really good. It is easy. Don't be afrade to experiment. Try each food for few days. Sometimes it takes time for the baby to be ready. If your baby is not interested don't stress, sometimes they are not ready when you are. take a break and try it 2 weeks later.
My first loved everything my second hardly ate at all and my last two never ate any rice or oats ceriol. They did not like the tecture. Just be patient and have fun with it. J.
PS. I make my own yogurt too. If you are interested I will be happy to share. J

Some quick and easy ones are apples, pears and carrots. You want to peal and cut (remove seeds) and then steam on the stove until tender. The slower you steam the more vitamins remain. Once tender allow to cool and then put in a blender with some (just a little at first, you can always add more)of the water you used to steam, it's now like vitamin rich juice! Blend until smooth. You can make big batches and put in glass jars (never plastic) and freeze for up to 6 months. When you are ready for some just move from freezer to refrigerator a day before hand. And then fridge to counter to allow to warm to room temp before feeding to baby. Other easy ones to do the same way are squashes. Actually, you could pretty much steam and blend just about any hard fruit or veggie. Bananas are even easier, just buy a bunch of ripe bananas and smash one up on a plate before feeding baby! I bought very little baby food for any of my 3 kids, it was so easy to do myself. Plus you get the benefit of selecting what produce goes into your food, like all organic!

-J. (mom of 8 year old twin boys and 6 yr old daughter)

Definitely get Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron You can find it at Amazon.com
Good luck!

Mommy Made and Daddy Too is a great book for homemade baby food and toddler recipes. It tastes so much better than store-bought food and it will encourage your entire family to eat better!

if you get yourself a stick blender you can blend anything without all the mess of a big blender and the food is in a cup and you only have to make a little bit at a time. I used to use it for carrots, and other steamed veggies, banannas, pretty much anything you want to feed to your baby, you can make yourself. Just buy organic stuff because you never know what they put in veggies these days.

Hi D.. Like you I opted to make my daughter's food; here's a book that I found helpful Blender Baby Food by Nicole Young. Have fun!

I've made all of our baby food since my daughter started on solids, and it really hasn't been difficult at all.

At the start, I would just steam some apple, pear, carrot, broccoli, or whatever in the microwave for a few minutes - in a container made for the purpose, like a TupperWave jug, with a few tablespoons of water. Studies have shown that steaming fruit and veg this way actually retains more nutritional content than any other way you can cook. Drain, cool, and fluff/mash your fruit or veg with a fork. You can use a blender or mouli, but if you can't easily put a fork through it, it's not cooked enough. As to how finely mashed, start with purees, but don't be afraid to experiment a little - kids have different preferences.

If she didn't like something, I'd try again a few days later. She always changed her mind given a few (up to 10ish) tries - but I never pushed anything on her. She's now 18 months and eats absolutely everything, as long as I make an effort to keep some variety in it.

After some months, I started making concoctions using vegies, rice, lentils, etc. I'd freeze portions, so I really wasn't spending a lot of time cooking. I do like to make vegetable soups for myself, so I often mix a few tablespoons of soup with some cooked rice or frozen spinach - she loves that. By 10-12 months, she was pretty much eating whatever we eat, just minus salt.

If I'm not eating something easy to serve her, and don't have something in the freezer I want to feed her, a typical lunch would be steamed broccoli, corn, carrots, some bits of chicken or smoked salmon, tomato, and some fruit for dessert.

Robin Barker has a toddler cookbook that provides great inspiration when I'm short on ideas.

I didn't use this book because by the time I finally bought it,I was already hooked on the easy to buy baby food jars. I was also trying to figure out a food allergy and didn't want to go through all the work only to have to toss it all. But in this book I loved it's tips and recipes. My friend recommended it and used it with her first and she said she still pulls it out for some of the recipes (her son is going to turn 3.) It is called, "Super Baby Food" by Ruth Yaron. Good Luck!

D.,
I made baby food for both of my girls (4 and 1). I used "Super Baby Food" by Ruth Yaron. It is a fabulous book. I can't say enough about this book - it provided me an education on nutrition! And I think both girls benefited from eating fresh veggies and fruit - as did our pocketbook.
Good Luck

You need to read Super Baby Foods by Ruth Yaron. This is a great guide to feeding baby at all stages. I love this book.

Making your own baby food is great and sooooo easy! My favorite book is Super Babyfood by Ruth Yaron! She is awesome and her book breaks everything down for you. One of my favorite first food was banannas and avocados. I tried to stay away from the rice cereal for it is all carbs and I wanted to start my babe with real food like fruits and veggies!Enjoy!

I made all my son/s baby food. I referred to a book called "Super Baby Food" by Ruth Yaron

I used a mini chopper to puree food, ice cubes trays, and a frezzer. It is so easy. I am proud to say that my son (now 17 months) has never had a jar of baby food. I highly recommend giving it a try.

I gave my kids home cooked baby food. I had a manual "Baby Food Grinder" that was very convenient to take with us when we all went to a restaurant and of course used at home.

Today, I would use that small blender called the Magic Bullet. It has small containers you can store small amounts of baby food in with a lid.

When my kids were very young, I gave them very simple "meals." I started out with steamed carrots, broccoli, peas, winter squash or whatever single vegetable I saw in baby food jars at the store. I never added salt or butter. I never did anything different than what I ate myself.

I also gave them plenty of fruit that I blended myself. I never added any sugar.

As they grew older, I gave them whatever we were having for dinner, given it wasn't spicy or deep fried and just used the baby food grinder to make it smooth.

I haven't seen any books on the subject, but my advice is to feed your baby very simple meals that are not heavily spiced or salted. Use your judgment. Remember that simple simple meals are good for their digestion.

If you don't want to feed them what you are eating, you can always make a blend of meats and vegetables as if you were making soup and blend that.

You'll be surprised how really simple it is to make your own baby food. Plus you know what is in it and it is so much more cost effective than store bought.

Good luck!
L. R.

D.,
Making food for your baby is so easy. I did it with both my girls. All I did was cut up the food, I started with carrots, into bite sized pieces. Then steamed it until it was very tender. Throw it in the blender and done! Sometimes I would add the water that was left in the pan if it needed more liquidity and that is where there are more nutrients than regular water.
I applaud you for taking this step for your baby.
K.

I am making all of our baby foods and it is super easy and so much better than the store-bought stuff. In fact, we tried to feed my daughter some Gerber's over the weekend because we were in a pinch, and she wouldn't eat it. We just went on vegetable at a time and fed her that for about a week, and are just now moving on to fruits (the ped says vegs first I guess because it might help give her a taste for them and you know they will like fruits). Steam or boil them and then just grind/blend until pureed. We use a hand blender from Target- very easy. If it seems to thick, we'll had a tiny bit of organic chicken broth (sometimes we boil the vegetables in that as well to give it more flavor and it worked like a charm). Store in small tupperware- perhaps 2 large tablespoons a piece, and freeze all but what can be eaten in the next couple of days. There are so many vegetables to choose from: beans, carrots, corn, all squash varieties, yams, potatoes (sweet and reg)....so many. It's easy, much cheaper, and better for your baby. Have fun with it!

I use a book called Super Baby Food as a guide. It has useful information about which vegetables to avoid making yourself (e.g. don't cook carrots because of a concern about nitrates) and about which foods kids can eat at which ages and a handy index in the back for how to cook various foods.

Good luck!

I suggest taking a few hours on a Saturday or Sunday and making the purees you want for the coming week and then freezing them in ice cube trays. I found this much more time effective than having to do a fresh puree every day.

super baby food book

on amazon

awesome book, I've sent it too friends
good luck

Hi, D.!

Wow! It looks like you've got lots of great ideas other moms!
I liked the Seinfeld book as well, and I wish I'd had Yaron when I was doing this.

I made most of my baby food for my first son (9), and quite a bit for my second (3). My best advice is to stock up on ice cube trays. They make for wonderful one-serving portions.

I pureed all kinds of foods, but the easiest, of course, were veggies and fruits. Some of my son's favorites were butternut squash, red pears, peas and carrots. I highly recommend spinach as well, though be prepared to buy three or four bags to make one ice cube trayful.

You've already got plenty of how-to, so I'll sign off. Best of luck, and enjoy the boy!

K. S

Hello,
I am a mother of 3 sons, now grown. I made my own baby food back in the day. I cooked the vegies and pureed them in the blender, this can be done with fruits, meat etc. Just as you prepare your own, only puree.
Nothing special, just healthy.
Hope this helps.

you can buy some sweet potatoes, peas, carrots, boil or steam them till soft and blend them in a food processor and add water if necessary.

See if you can find a combination steamer/pureer. There is a French brand that is awesome -- BabyCook, by Berchet. You throw all your ingredients (including meat, if you like) into the bowl, add a bit of water, cook it, insert the blade into the same bowl, and whammo -- homemade baby food. Make extra and freeze.

I just made my own organic food. My kiddos are older so, I didn't use any books, just kinda figured it out on my own.

I would steam and puree a number of veggies and fruit and then blend. Then I would put them in ice cube trays to freeze until solid. It was the perfect portion size too. After they are frozen you can put them in a labeled ziploc and you are good to go. :)

It's so easy to make the baby food yourself. You can puree up most anything you cook for yourself by just adding a little liquid and running it through a blender or food processor. There are cookbooks out there but really they're not necessary. If you puree fruits, vegetables, etc. you can freeze them in ice cube trays and just take out what you need for an individual serving. I would definitely recommend doing this, especially with fruits and vegetables. It's much cheaper than buying all of those little jars.

Hi D.! I have a 3 month old boy too! My pediatrician recommends Super Baby Food by Ruth... can't remember the last name & baby is sleeping on me right now. It's available at Amazon & it has a purple cover. Good luck!
M.

Super Foods for Baby is a great book and includes everything and more you will need to know about making your own baby food! I am using it again on #2. You can get it a Borders...

Good Luck

I use a book called 'FEEDING BABY simple, healthy recipes for babies and their families' by
Joachim & Christine Splichal.
It is filled with healthy, fresh, delicious recipes and you can freeze unused portions in ice cube trays to use later. I also liked using a manual food mill, it is so easy to grind small amounts of food into edible mush with easy clean up.
My daughter is now 4 and we still use the book!

I have a 14 month old daughter who has never eaten a bite of store bought baby food, so it is defintely possible to make your own. I just chopped and steamed all her vegetables. I would then feed them to her or freeze them in ice cube trays, then transfer to plastic bags and keep frozen so it would last quite a while (broccoli, squash, sweet potatoes, peas, carrots, green beans, etc.). I would cut ripe fruit in tiny pieces and she never had a problem (bananas, pear, apple sauce, watermelon, cantelope, melon, peaches, apricots, etc.). Some people prefer to blend the food, but I didn't have to. There are lots of good charts and books out there to reference as well.

When my kids were at the age to eat solid food, I rarely fed them from a jar. (Only on occasions when we would be out of the house at food-time for convenience.) For my oldest, I had a hand crank baby food grinder that I used at home to grind/puree whatever veggies we had with our own dinner .. and took it to restaurants when we would go out and fed him food from this from our plates. It is very easy to mash up potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots and peas that you cook with dinner. A small food processor will suffice as well for those un-mashable veggies such as green beans. It is really very easy to stay away from shelf food. The hand crank grinder is wonderful though ... very handy and you can take them anywhere! Don't forget bananas and fruits!

When mine were younger, I had that mesh bag you could put apples, bananas, (softer fruit) in and gave it to the baby. It had a screw on handle. The baby chewed on it and was able to eat the little pieces of food that came through the small mesh holes. I will look for the name of the product for you and get back to you.

There is also this little grinder you can put boiled chicken, steamed veggies in. You turn a lever and the food comes out in small grounded pieces.

I was told to feed my baby whatever I was cooking for my hubby and I as long as it wasn't super spicy! We just threw the chicken or vegies in the food processor and pureed it. Of course, you can only introduce one new food per week to make sure you know what they're allergic to if they have a reaction. A serving for an adult goes a long way for a baby and I bought good storage containers and stuck the leftovers in the freezer once they were prepared for my son. We had no problems and the doctor was absolutely right! He was great because his focus was on first time parents - he really knew how to calm our fears!
Good luck!

There is a great book out called Super Baby Food. It is full of information on all kinds of baby nurtition. I have made both my children's baby food using this book. Hope it helps.

I used a book called First Meals. I loved it. It breaks the meals up by age. I would make the recipes and then divide them into icecube trays for portion control. It worked beautifully. My 3rd child never had store bought babyfood and he eats more foods and vegetables than my other two. And it made it very easy.

The best thing is to steam the vegetables and puree them then fill a ice tray to freeze the food. then it is always on hand when you need food. Some books are

baby and toddler meals for dummies by simmons, dawn
and
Child of mine: Feeding with love and good sense by Satter, Ellyn
You should actually start with baby food. It is just the food pureed with added water. no sugar or preservatives. That way your baby is familiar with it and convenience in an emergency. You actually should try the foods in a sequence to watch for allergies or nontolerated foods.

I didn't go throuhg all the responses, but here's my two cents:

I used the "fresh baby" baby food cookbook, and it recommended microwaving the food because the faster you cook it, the less nutrients are lost. Streaming is next, then using canned foods and then boiling. Boiling allows all the good stuff to go into the water. If you use the water though, you're ok.

Not only is the food going to be more flavorful and nutritios, but it will save you money. The time it takes isn't much more than a trip to the store... sometimes it's actually less!

When I became a first-time Mommy, I thought I'd make my own food, too. I started when my doctor gave the okay for food,
that was at six (6) months. Ice cereal and bananas. The cereal was bought but the bananas I hand cranked! Tghere are
now good food processors to do the job! I would reccommend that you speak with your pediatrican before feeding any solids. As a rule, bland is best and do not salt or sweeten anything. Once they get are past the apple sauce, try plums and peaches! Asparagus, peas, carrots are all great! BUT, as I cautioned, speak with your doctor. I hope this helps.

My daughters are now twenty-four and twenty-one, rescetively and very healthy! They still love veggies and fruits.

:)A

I make all my own baby food and it's really easy. You'll need a really good blender - that's key because it can be frustrating if your blender doesn't work well. I cook up batches at a time of peas, sweet potatoes, butternut squash - you name it and then throw the cooked veggie into the blender. Most fruits don't need to be cooked - like pears, apples etc. Then I freeze it in these ice cube trays that have lids on them (I got those at Bed, Bath & Beyond). Once they are frozen, I put them in freezer bags. This way you can take out the portion you want and let it thaw in the fridge. Other foods don't need any prep - like avocado or banana - just mash it up with a fork and serve it like that. Good luck!

I made all of my own baby food for my first daughter and plan to do the same when my second born (1-month-old) starts eating solids. It was super simple, thanks in part to the baby food processor we received as a gift. Even if you have a regular food processor or a blender, the baby food processor makes things so easy, especially clean up.

My mother in law gave me a great book that helped me get started. FIRST MEALS by Annabel Karmel.

Basically, steam veggies, blend them and add a little water from the steamer. Sweet potatoes were Cassidy's favorite for a long time. The book also gives advice on weaning and moving from pureed foods to more textured solids.

I really appreciated how much money we saved by not buying processed baby food (aside from the occasional emergency jar!) and you'll know exactly what your child is eating.

Good luck.

I raised both my children on boiled chicken breast, boiled mixed vegetables and rice or mashed potatoes. All cooked without seasonings, maybe add a little bit of pure butter for flavor. Once this is boiled to death, then blend it in the blender (puree). This of course doesn't last long because it is fresh and has no perservatives. So try to make jsut enough. BTW my kids are 11 and 13 with almost no food allergies (except hereditary lactose intolerance). Good luck and God Bless.

I started making baby food when my son was 6 or 7 months old--after a few months of spending a lot for not as good quality! It is so easy to make and very nutritious. You can purchase freezer containers, but what is cheaper is to just use ice cube trays, freeze the stuff after you puree it in your blender with a little water, and then you can pop the cubes out, stick them in a zip loc bag, and store them in your freezer. I would be the frozen fruits and veggies at Costco and then puree some once or twice a month and do this. saves a TON of money. Good luck!

we never bought baby food - with the exception of cereal. we mashed up this and that or just fed soft things. our kids loved yams, bananas, really any mushy fruit and little cooked pieces of things that they can learn about using their little fingers with -- joe's os (the tj cherios) and little peas, even frozen. truth is, my daughters also loved nursing and nursed for a long time, so I never worried about what they needed. there are masher things. we had one and our kids didn't really like the food that way. try what you are eating mashed up -- see how they like it. save lots of money.

Hi D.. My daughter is now 3 (only child) and I made ALL of her baby food. It was fun and easy and if you have the desire, you will succeed. The book that I used all of the time is "The Healthy Baby Meal Planner" by Annabel Karmel. I believe this edition has been revised and the name changed slightly, "complete baby & toddler meal planner". I used a food processor, not a special "baby food maker". I bought some fresh fruits/vegetables and some frozen (stay away from cans). I'd shop at Henrys every Wednesday for their double ad specials. I saved money making the food and it was way healthier. The moms in my playgroup loved it so much that I started selling it! Good luck.

I made all of my sons baby food and now he is six years old. I would go to farmers market and get fresh veggies and boil them in a tiny amount of water. I would keep the water with the food (that is where the vitamins end up) and then I would put it in a food chopper. Now I would make enough on Sunday for the entire week because I did work full time. I would put it into Mason Jars and freeze it for the week. As he got older I would make Chicken and Rice, Beef and Potato and he loved it. He ate only my cooking for his entire life until starting Kindergaden and eating school food, most of the time he would rather have me pack him a lunch. My son is now a little on the short side (normal for my family) but his weight is normal leaning toward thin (my entire family including myself is over weight) My son is really healthy and he was born a very sick premie, I would make all the baby food if I were to do it again!!!!

Annabel Karmel has written some great books about feeding babies and toddlers. I used Top 100 Baby Purees- I think you can get it on Amazon. She's British so the measurements are different in my book but I think they sell an American version.

I made food for my daughter when she was really small all the time! I made her carrots, sweet potatoes (her fav), strawberries, mangoes, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, kiwi, all sorts of fruits and veggies. I either steamed them or boiled them (veggies that is, not the fruit) and then put them through my Cuisinart (food processor) until blended smooth. As she got a little older, I'd leave it more chunky for her to have more texture. I stored the food I made in used (but clean) baby jars and froze them. Just don't fill jars too much or they'll break in the freezer. I also did the ice cube tray thing and after frozen, popped them out and stored them in plastic baggies. The strawberries & bananas I did were the best. I added 1 or 2 cubes to plain whole yogurt and she had homemade yogurt that I knew was good for her!
D.

Processed baby food has not been around THAT long. I am 67. My mother fed me what the family ate minus the spices and salt when I was old enough. I also was nursed for close to a year before solids were introduced. Fresh steamed vegetables, potatoes, oatmeal or rice cereals with out preservatives are best. Meats are much to hard for a baby to digest anyway. Fresh soft pureed fruits are also good. Homemade applesauce with out added sugar works well. Peachs or similar fresh fruits that you peel and puree also would work. . Again, all foods should be pureed. Thank you Lord for food processers.
Recent knowledge suggest starting a baby out on solids to soon can lead to food allergies. I would certainly suggest you consult your peditrician carefully on this subject. If you are nursing, I'll bet he has the best of all possible foods for many months yet anyway.

G.

Hi I did this for my son who is now 12. I cooked all kinds of veggies and then put it in the food processor. Peas, turnip, carrots,etc...
I also did the same with fruits. I would make enough for a few days at a time and keep it in the fridge. Hope this helps.
S.

D.,

I have a 3 year old and a one week old. When I had my first one, I made all of her food in a blender. Everything that they could eat (sweet potatoes, carrots, yams, etc) we cooked. We froze them in ice cube trays. Once frozen, we put them in freezer bags and thawed as needed. We would cook food for a week or so. As they get older, you can change the consistency and not blend it as much. Also, there is a book called Super Baby Food that was pretty good (I think that is the title-I will pull the book out for my second one).

PS-you can buy a meat grinder for meat.

Check out the book "Super Baby Food." You will find it super helpful.

Hi D.! I made all my own baby food. It was great my boys loved it! I didn't have a book though, and don't know if this is what you mean but all I did was just cook fruits and veggies and then puree them. I would keep some frozen and then just let them thaw out overnight for use the next day. I also have a garden and grew a lot of my own produce. Good Luck!

Hi there!!!
Making homemade baby food is easier than you think. There are some really great books on the market two of which are Cooking for kids and Deceptively Delicious. But I found what really worked best for me was taking the everyday food I was making for my family and making it baby friendly. For example, if we were eating chicken and mashed potatoes and vegetables I would just puree whatever we were eating and mix the chicken in with the veg or potato. I know some books recommend setting aside a day to make all your purees and freeze them, but I don't know about you, but I never have a Day to set aside. My alternative to that is as I am cooking what we are eating that day, I make extra portions and keep in refrig or freeze for later. If you are roasting chicken do twice as much, or roast potatoes or vegetables for a meal later in the week. Steam cauliflower, broccoli and carrots all at once and save for later use. It is much easier if you take the extra time, when you are working it into your everyday life, than trying to put aside a afternoon or day to do it all at once. Spend five extra minutes a day and save that extra time for your baby.
Hope this helps and good luck.
G. S

A great book I used is the Fresh Start Cworkbook by Joan Ahlers and Cheryl Tallman. It has a terrific chart for what foods are OK to start and when and even tells you how to pick and prepare each type of food. It takes a bit of time to make the food at first but is a GREAT investment. My son is now 4 and is not a picky eater at all! If you are going to undertake this venture be sure to have a good blender, a number of ice cube trays with large and small cube sizes and a food saver is also a good investment if you don't already have one. I would make batches of food, freeze it in ice cube trays and freeze 4-5 cubes together in one sealed bag - that way when you open a bag to make meals you don't have the risk of food spoiling. The food saver allowed me to prepare a lot more food at once and it keeps for a long time!

Good luck! I would do it again if I had another baby.

HI D.,

Starting solid foods is such an adventure! My little guy is now 2, and a book I love is called: Child of Mine, by Ellyn Satter. She has great feeding advice from newborn - toddler. I found her approach to be wonderful, and it really took away the anxiety of "is my kid eating enough of XYZ, too much of this, too little of that??"

Have fun with your little one!
C.

Aloha Debbie-

Good for you (and baby.) With my first child I bought a jar of baby food,ended up throwing it out. It was awful. I then bought a hand-cranked baby food processor which I absolutely loved. It was so portable. Since I'm from Hawaii I ground sweet potatoes, papaya, bananas and poi from taro. If veggies like green beans ended up a little dry, I just added a bit of breast milk. His favorite was zucchini. As he got older and was able to eat more solid food, I just ground what we were eating for dinner: chicken, broccoli, corn, mashed potatoes, etc. I did the same for my second son. Neither or them has ever said "I don't like..." They eat broccoli, brussel sprouts, asparagus,zucchini, etc. and will try anything. Neither of them particularly like sweets and seem to prefer fresh veggies. I think having "real" food helped to develop a more varied palate.

Not only is is convenient, doesn't take up storage space, it is cheaper and in these days that's something to say.

Enjoy your baby (boys are such fun), they grow up much too fast!

C.

I made all of my daughter's food. She's now 16 months and eats everything we do. If you have the TIME it's pretty easy. I checked books out of the library so I don't have any specific titles to recommend but they all have the same information. Instructions on how to puree. I would recommend using a food processor instead of a blender and steamer. First you peel, then steam and finally puree. I would suggest making large batches at one time and freezing the puree in ice cubes trays for individual servings. Once they have frozen pop put and place in FREEZER plactic bags. They'll keep for several months. Some fruits and veggies are easier than others but it's all worth it. I would start with Golden Delicious apples (least acidic apples) and sweet potatoes (you can bake them). Books do have a suggested list of fruits and vegetables to introduce at specific ages. I hope this information helps. I'm a SAHM and did all my baby food on days that we had left overs ( I try to cook 1 meal for 2 nights). :-)

I'm so glad that you're choosing homemade!
I didn't use a book - I just chose what sounded good to me. I made sweet potatoes (easy to cook w/o peeling in the microwave), peas, applesauce (just cut up and cook in a little water), etc. If you have a food processor, pureeing is a snap (otherwise, use a hand or stand mixer). Then, spoon a little of each vegie or fruit into the sections of an ice tray. When they are frozen, pop them out and store them in the freezer in tupperware or freezer storage bags. When your baby is ready to eat, it's easy to grab one or two "ice cubes". You can thaw them out in the micro, or pack them to go in the morning and they'll thaw by lunchtime. Good luck!

It's easy. They sell little food mills (check baby stores or kitchenware stores. Choose organic veggies, grains, fruits: sweet potato, peas, broccoli, rice, potato, legumes, apples, pears, blueberries. Steam (don't overcook to minimize vitamin loss), and grind. Do taste tests if you want to mix say, blueberries and apples. No sweetners or salt needed so your baby can really taste the food. You do want to introduce new food slowly so if there is any problem (excessive gas, allergy etc) you can tell what the culprit is. I used to mix rice cereal from box with veggies or fruit and then move towards less cereal and more of the latter. Have fun!

D.

I'm a firs time Mom with a 10 1/2 mo old girl. I asked around and did some research, First Meals by Annabel Karmel is a great one. I found one on amazon, used. My Dr also suggested (when he gets older) : mashed potatoes but to use formula instead of milk and of course, no salt or butter, or boiled rice and smashed up with formula. Soft tofu is another good one. Tofu has no flavor and it absorbs the flavor of whatever it is in so formula would be best.

As for your 3 mo old, I would stick to the basics right now. I didn't start baby food until she was 6-7 mo old. We started cereal at 5 mo. I heard over and over that formula and or breast milk is the most important for the 1st year and that they really don't "need" other foods until 13mo. The longer you wait to feed them food, the better their digestive system. That's just what I have read and have been told by my Dr. All Dr's are different. Have fun, it's gets better and better. I really miss that newborn stage but I also love this stage too.

I just got an email from Simlac about blending prepared formula with bananas and or fruit and making baby smoothies, no ice.

I found that my kids would eat the food I made myself better than the store bought. I have a hand held food processor which makes this easy (the Majic Bullet processor would also work.) When I make dinner etc. I would grab some of the ground turkey from the pan after I cooked it, but before I added any salt or spices. Then I would grind the turkey in the food processor for dinner. The same for the vegetable (like broccoli) you can also add all the ingredients together in the puree (i.e. turkey, broccoli and rice.) Then, I would make a bunch and freeze in an ice cube tray and then transfer to baggies. This way you don't have to go through the whole process for each meal, and it is easier to leave for a babysitter.

Hope this helps!

I would just puree what we were having for dinner. But you can look at any books on canning. These would help you if you wanted to make the food and store it for any length of time.

I make all my food for my little boy.. he is now 11 months old and I know he loves all the fresh natural food I make for him. I have a vitamix blender (a little expensive.. but definitely worth the money) but I am sure you can use a regular blender for anything you make, just have to make sure it is blended good. Bananas are the easiest, but make sure you start him with vegetables first or he will like the sweet fruits he wont want the veges later. Anyway.. just make whatever you are going to serve him soft, by either baking it, like sweet potatoes or regular potatoes, or steaming it like peas and green beans and apples. let me know how it goes and if you need any ideas or help. L.

Hi D.-
It is as simple as what you are eating and a food processor. Any left over vegetables from dinner and soft fruit. You may add sugar,salt or spices during the processing or cooking. I suggest a larger processor not the "baby" choppers as they do not often have the power to puree. You can then freeze them into ice cube trays as he will not eat much at first. As he grows and eats more you can move your food into small canning jars.

Hard to believe that I can remember when we did not have much baby food choices in the supermarkets so it was just something we did!. All my kids were fed from home made foods and only if we were "out" did we use the store bought food. With all the options of books now days, I am sure that there is a book out there.

I saw the suggestion for fresh start cook book. It is really a great way to go; but you don't really need it to get started. Basically all you need to do is steam any vegetable or fruit, toss it into a food processor or blender, poor into ice cube trays, and freeze. Then each day you remove 4-5 cubes of different types thaw in the fridge and serve when he's ready. You can also warm in the microwave and serve. It is very easy! Not only is it better for your baby, it also smells and tastes better. Good luck and have fun with it!

Jamie S

Yes, I did this when my 12 y.o. girls were babies.

I usually prepared organic vegetables or meat in batches and then pureed them w/ a little of the cooking water. After a cooled a little I would put them in small(snack size)ziploc bags and put them in the freezer. when it was time to use one, I would submerge the plastic bag in hot water to defrost, cut the corner of the bag off and squeeze the food into their bowls.

Also, I found one investment invaluable. For when our kids were older and we wanted to just puree what we were having, I used a mini-food processor (mine was a Krups , I believe). This worked well when my girls were past the "food testing stage, when we were just giving one food at a time, and the mini-food processor was a breeze to clean after mealscompared to a typical food processor. You can also use a blender.

I was not aware of this book when my girls were little, but I've heard the book "Super Baby Foods" or something like that is a great read. I think you can find it readily on Amazon.

Best wishes and happy feeding!

R.

Hi D.,

I have given store bought to my older daughter, and fresh homemade to my younger....and guess who is the less picky eater?p

I steamed rice, various veggies, and chicken. In the beginning, I kept the flavors simple. After steaming or boiling to a soft consistency. I pureed the veggies and the chicken; which can be frozen in small covered ice cube trays for later use. For rice, I steamed it for my husband and me. Then I cooked the rice a little longer with water for the babies. Keep it till it has a soupy, mushy consistency. Again, can be frozen for later use.

As they became older, whatever steamed veggie for our dinner, became theirs as I could just cook a bit longer until the food is "mashable" with a fork. As the year went on, I added the spices and seasonings (we are a low sodium, mostly veggies type of eaters) that I would use in everyday cooking.

Veggies used: carrots, potatoes, kabocha (japanese pumpkin), green beans, broccoli, broccollini, cauliflower, cabbages, bok choy, sugar snap peas, snow peas, yams, onions, zuchinni. Fruits: bananas, boiled apples, pears, berries (strained.)

Often I bought from organic farmer's markets or organic from the store.

As for apples, I made a standard applesauce without the cinnamon or sugar.

Tip for the green veggies, if it turns a dark or army green color, it's too cooked. Keep the nutrients in the veggiees by steaming them so they are just soft, and still vibrant in color.

Some fresh fruits I simply grated them. I had a battery powered baby food maker that burned out after one week. We used it too much! So.....stick with arm power or your food processor!

Both my young kids today eat exotic flavors, such as curries and salsa and their all veggies, though the one is pickier. I believe that was due to being introduced to bland jarred baby foods for her early months.

Good luck to you!

I made my own baby food with my daughter. I bought some ice cube trays and used my food processor to finely blend sweet potato, carrots, peas, green beans,bananas and pears. I divided the blend into the ice cube trays, and once frozen popped them into a freezer zip lock bag. They were perfect one ounce sizes. I took one or two (as she grew) cubes and microwaved it about 10 seconds or so. It stirred easily into the mash and then was slightly warm. Perfect.
I never ventured into meats so hopefully other moms have ideas for you there :)

Hi D.,

I too was looking for a different solution to jars. My friend turned me onto this website which gives great how-to instruction.

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/

Don't get too overwhelmed now though. I also tried to prepare ahead, but found that by the time she was ready to eat I had to read it all again anyway. (you really have 2 or more months until "go" time).

Good luck!

Making the food is so easy and worth it! I dabbled in the book First Meals by Annabel Karmel. They offer first meals through toddlerhood. My 1st son took to food great! My 2nd son isn't really liking food so well. He's 9 months old and is very texture picky...?? Hopefully, he will grow out of this soon. :) Have fun with the food processor! And use ice cube trays is cheapest and easy.

The Book First Meals by the author last name Kimmel. Is a good book. It has ideas for food up to childhood and beyond. I especially liked it in the beginning because it gave sample menus and told me how much my daughter should be eating. My only tip for making you own food is make sure to add enough water in the beginning and really cook the food first. Good luck
Mom to a 15 month old daughter

Dear D.,

I had a baby food grinder - a plastic tube with a plastic column that fit in it, pushing the food up through it while you turned the handle on the top - very simple, very easy. Anything that isn't soft enough to go the grinder can be steamed - it's pretty much common sense - you'll get it. I'm trying to remember if the grinder came with ideas and suggestions. This was nearly 20 years ago. You could probably use a food processor if you wanted - whatever is easier for you. The thing I wanted to pass on is that I would do more than a meal's-worth at a time, and I would freeze the puree in ice cube trays.

Have fun!
B.

Hello D.
I'm a mom of 3 with number 4 on the way. I'm pretty old fashioned in regards to food. I think our children should eat what we eat. So that's what I did: When I prepare food I don't put a lot of spices in it (I'll spice it up later), being especially careful with salt. Then before serving I just pureed, mashed or cut up the amount I needed for my baby. I did the same for snack time. I would just puree the fruit and my boys soon started eating soft fruits like bananas in little junks pretty soon (you wouldn't believe what they actually can chew with only their gums). It's a good idea to start your baby with veggies first since they like the sweet taste better and if you give fruits first they may resist eating veggies later on. I hope this helps. Good luck.
M.

When my little ones were that age I used to steam fresh carrots, peas, green beans, and sweet potatoes then I would put them in the food processor and make sure the texture was really fine..then I would pour them into ice cube trays and pop them in the freezer..when it was time to eat I would pop them in the micro and it was ready to go..much more nutritious with no preservitives..also if needed you can add a little rice cereal in it..

You can buy a little baby food processor that you throw in whatever you are having for meals and it purees it. Of course, you can leave out or add anything you want that is age appropriate but this way you know exactly what is going into your baby's mouth. We usually keep it simple..fruits, veggies, rice, oatmeal, and a little meat.

Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron. This was the best book I found about how to make it yourself! I didn't make my own cereal or anything, but making the other foods was simple. The book goes through it in great detail, but the basic idea is: cook or steam whatever veggies or fruits you want (individually). Let them cool and run them through a food processor or blender (I used my Cuisinart). Pour them in ice cube trays and let them freeze. Then take them out of the trays and put the individual cubes in one big ziplock bag for each type of food. Write the food type and date prepared on each ziplock bag and store in the freezer. When I was ready to feed them, I would take out 1-2 cubes, place them in a microwave-safe dish, and heat them up. You can make squash, peas, green beans, carrots, pears, applesauce, peaches, plums, etc. this way -- lots of variety. When they were ready for meats, I would cook chicken or beef in a stew with carrots, potatoes, and any other veggies you like, and do the same thing with puree'ing and freezing in cubes. My kids never had the baby food meat dinners and only when we traveled did they have the jarred fruits or veggies. The food was so good you wouldn't mind eating it yourself! Have fun!!

Hi. I use the Super Baby Food Diet from Ruth Yaron. It is a vegetarian book for the most part, but it is a good basic book with a schedule for which foods to introduce, Preparation, and suggested daily combos of foods. Just don't pay much attention to how much your baby should be eating. My baby is 85th percentile and never eats as much as she suggests. It is fun and easy, even for working moms. Have fun!

It's really easy to make your own food- I did it and so did many of my friends. The best part is that you never get it perfectly smooth so your child will be really well adjusted in regards to texture in food. You just steam whatever fruit or veggie you want and then grind it up with water in a food processor or a Happy Baby food grinder (manual). Bananas can be easily mushed by hand with a fork. A really helpful feeding book is "Child of Mine: Feeding your child with love and good sense". Have fun!

im only thirteen but i have a three year old brother and i jsut thought that maybe you could like smush or use the mixer on bananas or maybe peas and steamed carrots would work anything soft and squishable just a thought though, sorry if this doesn't work for you. hey maybe try borders or barnes and noble.com they have books that aren't in print anymore. i might add the used ones are alot cheaper than regular books.

Good Luck!

I have 2 children myself, one who is now 15 years old, and the other turning 4 years old this year. When they were at that age when they started eating, I started off with vegetables, and fruits I used to make and eat, and ust to put the food in a blender or proceesor to a puree consistancy. It works pretty well. good luck.
A.

There's a great book called "Blender Baby Food" (Here's the link to it at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Blender-Baby-Food-Recipes-Homemade/... )
I've been using it for several months now (I have a 9-month old) and my daughter loves everything that's come out of it. She's eaten curried cauliflower and chicken with pumpkin and cinnamon and lentil barley pilaf. The food is delicious--I often eat it myself as I'm feeding her--and very simple to make. I also think it's important to get her accustomed to different flavors and spices, as well as simply "adult food." She loves spinach sauteed with olive oil, garlic and onion! (Pureed, of course...)

I made all my own baby food. First thing to know is fresh carrots and banana's are a little too harsh and it's better to use the actual baby food until they are at least 12 mos old. Canned and even frozen have too much salt in them so always use fresh. I steamed and mushed up every vege you could think of. When mine was just starting on solids, I filled ice cube trays and froze it then just took one, or how ever many you need, cube out at time. When they got older, I put it in ziplocks to freeze, then once thawed, I'd cut a small hole in the corner and squeeze it out. I also stored the made-up food in actual baby food jars. One thing I used and loved was the Pampered Chef food chopper. I'd warm and chop the food to desired size all in the food chopper, it was the greatest tool, easy to carry around. As my child got a little older, they could have anything we were eating, wherever we were because I toted that thing around. I used it to death :)

I made my own baby food. There are several websites on it. I don't have the address, but you'll find alot on it. Some sites will tell you you need to but certain containers. I found that ice cube trays worked well. They hold about 1 TBSP each. I used a rice cooker/steamer. I found that microwave steam did not make the food soft enough to grind. I also used a hand mixer, and food processor to grind to my desired consistancy. Just a note that I did for convience, when my baby started on mixing vegs and fruits, I started to buy frozen foods, also all natural applesauce (no sugar or preservatives.) My baby is one of the best eaters because of this. The only thing I was hesatant on doing was meat. I think this is the best decision you can make, I wish I had done it with my two older children.
Good luck and happy eating.
K. E

hello,

my daugher is 8 months old and has been eating baby food since 5 and a half months. i was giving her only store-bought organic foods but recently started experimenting with making her food at home. i learned that i can steam almost any vegetable or fruit until it becomes soft enough to mash up with a fork, to feed her. some of her favorites to eat this way are carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, zucchini, summer squash, pears and apples. i also mash up bananas for her, which don't have to be steamed because they are so soft already. so far she seems to like pretty much everything. sometimes i mix the mashed food with a bit of water to give it an even softer consistency.

if you have a food processor with a puree setting, you can also use that. i have made peas this way, but i find the steaming and mashing to be quicker and less messy. i store portions of food in the baby food containers from when i store-bought them. portions also freeze well for later use.

i have heard some other moms say that they store portions in ice-trays, and defrost as many cubes of food as they need per feeding.

good luck!

There's a great book - The Baby Bistro Cookbook by by Joohee Muromcew that gives you a few basic recipies. It's very easy to make your own food; I did it for both of my kids. Just always buy organic, and when you can't make sure you peel the fruits and vegetables. I also used frozen peas - just steamed them, added a little bit of lemon, placed everything in a food processor (or the bullet you see on infomercials) and puree. If it needed more liquid I would add some of the water that I used to steam the veggies or bottled water. For fruits I would add a little bit of pear juice and water (50/50). I bought the "ice cube" baby food containers to freeze everything and I'd make a batch for the week, sometimes two and I'd be set. You can find the storage containers on the One Step Ahead website.

There is a book the Jerry Seinfeld's wife put out about cooking with puree foods. You can take any frozen veggy and use a blender to make it into puree. You can also use fresh veggy's & do the same. You can freeze and pull it out as you need it. I am sure you could do this with fruit but I don't think that holds up as long. I will be trying it with my three month old too, when she is ready. Best wishes to you and your new arrival. I have three kids so I am a bit seasoned by now but no expert, only with my own. And trust me my first (now 12) was a ginny pig of sorts with my parenting efforts. I am glad we grow with our children.