Tips on Making Baby Food

I used ice cube trays to freeze homemade baby food. They were easy to pop out once frozen and I could make as much or as little as I needed for each feeding.

I used the book, Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron, as a reference when I made baby food for my kids. I used a blender & ice cube trays. It was really easy & economical. There are really good & easy recipes in there for when the kids get older, too.

i've always used a book called Super Baby Food. it tells how to make pretty much everything you'd want, including the first cereals. it's written by Ruth Yaron.

We've been making our daughter's babyfood for months and she loves it! First thing I would reccomend is to buy a Magic Bullet. I LOVE mine! You can puree just about anything in it.

Some tips I've picked up:
- When doing peas, run them through a strainer after pureeing to make sure you get the skins out
- Steam fresh vegetables as opposed to boiling, they will maintain more of the vitamins this way, you can also use the liquid you steamed them with (has some of the lost nutrients) when blending to thin out the food
- Try mixing things up like pureed baked chicken with applesauce or apricots
- Once your baby is older don't be afraid to use your homecooked meals for baby, like we did meatloaf with carrots and mashed potatoes one night, she LOVED it pureed (each seperately).
- Make sure you strain anything that has a shell (beans) or seeds (strawberries, kiwi, etc).

For freezing, we found it easiest to use an ice cube tray, fill each one up, wrap in freezer wrap, once it's frozen you can pop them out and place them in a freezer bag as individual servings. (dont forget to label the bags, you may forget what you froze)

I just take fresh fruits & veggies, cook the ones that are too hard to puree in their natural state, simply puree the ones that are soft on their own (berries, pears, peaches, cherries). Then pour the puree into a covered ice cube tray (you can get them at Linens n Things by OXO). Once frozen, take them out of the trays & place in a ziploc or some other storage container in the freezer. They won't stick together. Each cube equals to about 1 oz. I've fed my son peaches, cherries, apples, bananas, peas, roasted eggplant, avocado, spinach, etc. Hummus is a winner too. I always mixed the food with breastmilk and rice cereal little by little to increase the texture so he got used to thicker food. HTH!

I haven't read the other 53 responses, so sorry for any repeats... the only thing I would say is NOT to reuse the Gerber plastic containers - check the bottom of the container - I believe they are considered a "bad" plastic if I'm not mistaken - if you look in the little recycle symbol (a triangle) and see number 3, 6, or 7, it is "bad" plastic & can potentially leach harmful chemicals into the food. I wouldn't store food in there. Don't get me wrong, I have bought those before, but I do feel better about buying the jarred stuff! If you want to store in plastic, One Step Ahead makes cute little 1 oz cubes for storage & the plastic is "better" (2, 4, or 5).

Not sure if anyone recommended this, but go get the Magic Bullet from Bed, Bath and Beyond, it is the best way to puree your foods. I puree oatmeal, quinoa, millet, brown rice, fruits, veggies, etc. You can also make smoothies, grind coffee beans or flax seeds, etc. It is small and user friendly. I just made peas, asparagus and avocado for my 9m old, she loved it! There are food cubes you can purchase online at One Step Ahead, they close up and can be stored in the freezer, I agree, don't reheat plastic! Have fun!

Hi J.,
The easiest way to make baby food is to get a hand babyfood grinder and grind up small amounts of whatever Mom, Dad and/or Grandma are eating. It's easy. It's quick. There are no leftovers and baby develops a taste for whatever the rest of the family is accustomed to having. You also can hand Jordyn small amounts of mushy, easy to eat foods right off your plate (sweet potatoes come to mind, but there are many others).
Go for it.
M.

We made our own baby food for both our daughters (now 4 and 6). We loved doing it and our girls loved eating it! We would have a day here and there where we would go to our organic grocer and purchase everything we could - beans, broccoli, squash, sweet potatoes, apples, pears, carrots...whatever was bright, colorful and fresh. We would go home, cook the squash and potatoes in the oven and steam the rest. When they were cooked and cooled we blended them in the blender using nursery water to thin them out. Then we froze them in ice cube trays. When frozen, we popped them out and put them in separate ziploc bags. They defrosted quickly and even traveled well!

It takes a bit of work on the "baby food makin' days" but they were tasty and convenient! Our girls loved them, too!
Good Luck!!

I made my son's baby food, and what really helped was an immersion blender. That way you can steam the veggies/fruits or make you own applesauce in the crockpot, and puree it right in the same pot, adding water to thin it out if necessary. I bought ice cube trays at the thrift store and washed them in the dishwasher then used them to freeze the portions. Less mess, easier cleanup because the immersion blender attachments can go straight into the dishwasher. Also, I would buy organic baby food if on sale to supplement if had busy time when couldn't make enough. Fruitful yield sells it at a pretty good price, or once even bought a case from Babies R'Us at a good price.

I have been making my 9 month olds baby food for 3 months now and I am so glad I did! Check out www.wholesomebabyfood.com it's a great website to get started. They say to freeze the food in ice cube trays, as gerber does not suggest using their tubs, which worked well when he was only eating very very small portions. As he got older the best things i found were the steamfresh frozen veggies that steam in the bag in the microwave, then blended them, and then poured the purees into the little 8oz ziplock snap and seal containers (only the amount he would eat each time). Then i could just grab one out of the freezer and throw it in the microwave or in the diaper bag for the road. And the containers wash well for more uses. We have saved alot of money making it ourselves, the only downfall is more dishes to wash! Hope this helps!

I'm not sure if it's been suggested yet, but you can use ice cube trays and freeze them. Then put them in a freezer bag, and defrost servings as needed.

I bought some airtight freezer-safe containers from One Step Ahead (Onestepahead.com). They have a little tray and they're stackable.

I recommend the Magic Bullet for pureeing the veggies.

The possibilites are endless and sooooo much cheaper and healthier for your baby! Buy a can of organic veggies, no salt added, and put in blender. Or steam your own veggies and blend with a bit of the water you used(add until consistency you want). The water has many of the nutrients lost when the veggies are cooked. Do not put potatoes in blender, the starches get gluey. Use a food mill or food processer (you can buy a handheld mill for less than $10) Other fibrous veggies, broccoli, zucchini, squash, etc. should be blended first then put through the mill. Make your own combinations, fruit with vegetable, or a sweeter veggie with stronger ones until she is acclimated to the flavors. Once you make the puree, put into ice cube trays (or the gerber containers, but you will need a lot, just one can of veggies can make 20+ servings!) Once frozen, break out and into labeled plastic bags. Take out as needed! You can even freeze them separately and make different combinations at the time. You can even cook dried fruits a little bit to soften then blend those. Another note: many fresh fruits can be used without prep, such as banana, kiwi, avocado, mango, etc. Just mash very good with fork!

There are some great books on preparing baby food. Take a look at them because some will "speak" to you that may not have for me. I even went on the internet and did a search.

I prepared peas, squash, applesauce, everything - in my blender. I bought one of those Vita-Mix blenders that are really expensive; however it saved us a TON of money in the long run.

After pureeing, I poured in ice cube trays. It worked perfectly!

Good luck and have fun with it!

I made all my dd's food. It is lots of fun and so good for them.
Check out
www.wholesomebabyfood.com
Good luck!

this is really easy.

- cook fruit or veggies (I usually boil).
(banana and avocado do not need to be cooked of course. just mash with fork and a little water, formula or breastmilk)
-then put food in blender with some of the cooking liquid
puree and put in ice cube trays
- let freeze for a long time till really cold
- then pop out (use knife to help) and store in plastic ziplock bags
- heat up in microwave
- one or two cubes are the perfect serving size!

I usually mix them up - like one cube of sweet potato with a cube of carrot or applesauce

It is easy and saves lots money!

Use glass containers. YOu shouldn't reuse the plastic because chemicals can leech out into the food that is put into them. Reuse glass baby food jars or you can purchase glass jars at the container store.

I too make my own baby food and have had much success with my oldest and now youngest. The only thing I haven't quite figured out is green beans and peas. Can't get a good consistency. Mommy Made is a great cookbook as a reference. The library has it too if you don't want to buy it. First Foods is another good one. You can freeze them in something called "baby cubes" that have a snap lid but the Gerber ones work just as well. You could also just use ice cube trays and freeze them in a ziploc. Those Gerber containers are also great for cherrios and so forth as they get older! Good luck. It's so worth making your own!

What I found easy was placing the baby food in ice cube trays after blending it up and putting in freezer overnight. Then put the frozen cubes in freezer bags to have about 1 oz cubes ready to defrost in microwave for about 30 sec. Squash and sweet potatoes have been the easiest to make by just cooking in the microwave. Peas and green beans I can never seem to make smooth enough for my baby to like. As for fruit I peel, pit and steam them with a little water on stove (or microwave) until soft, then blend all together with juice in pan. Our daughter really seems to like the homemade food and it is good for your budget and I just think they taste better too.

Sorry J....I didn't read the other responses before posting my own...so I apologize for the repetition. :-)

Check out the book "Super Baby Food" by Ruth Yaron.
It is my "Bible" when it comes to making my son's food.
It is very easy to make your own. For instance, for sweet potatoes all you have to do is scrub the potato to wash it, put some fork holes in the potato, put it on a couple pieces of white paper towel, microwave for 5 minutes, scoop the potato out of the skin and puree..adding some baby water or formula to the puree to achieve desired consistency. Then you can spoon into ice cub trays (I'm not sure if you could use the plastic containers...they might not be freezer safe) and once frozen, pop out into a freezer bag (and I learned you can make it air tight by sucking the air out through a straw inserted in the unzipped corner of the bag). Date it and you can freeze for up to three months. Then you just thaw your daily portions in the refrigerator or microwave your "food cube" and serve. Good luck!

K.

Hello J.,
First of all... don't re-use the plastic containers from Gerber. I get leery about re-using plastics and warming them in the microwave, etc...
Steam chunks of sweet potato, carrots, green beans, etc.. and puree with blender, food processor or magic Bullet! Freeze in small individual containers (Costco sells cups and lids for this.) Suggest you let the food cool down before putting into the containers. And remove from container when warming up in microwave. Put in a Corningware dish or glass dish or even a baby dish. Buy Brown Rice.... grind it up in the above mentioned grinders and stir in water to make baby rice cereal. I saw the prices of baby food and couldn't bear to not make my own baby food. Now my m9 onth old is eating our dinners pureed in the magic bullet every night (unless it is too acidic ie: spaghetti. Good luck and enjoy making healthy meals for your precious one. At least you know what goes into it.
Sincerely,
E.

J.,

I'm a very health Opa who has been enjoying a first grandchild for the past 2 1/2 years. She eats like a wellness poster child while others begin the slow, life long trek into the Western lifestyle and its self inflioted diseases.

Congratulations on a good start with your grandchild. I don't have any recipes, but a very readable, important book on nutrition. It's called The China Study by Dr. T. Colin Campbell. It will amaze you, and at times anger you how corporations sacrifice our health, youngest to oldest, in the name of profit.

One of my first requests would be for you to watch carefully the disease and overproduction of fat cells caused by animal products, especially dairy. The AMA finally recommended against cows milk for children under 1 year of age after it became irrefutable that it sometimes cause Type I diabetes. Even after age 1, try to put some distance between a child and milk (and other dairy products). They don't need the billions of extra fat cells produced.

For women a bit older, understand that the societies with the least amount of osteoperosis are those which use the least amount of dairy.

Spend some time with Dr. Campbell on behalf of your grandchild--and yourself.

I made my own baby food because of allergies and for health. Just cook things without the seasonings to start and puree with your blender. I use a seal-a-meal anyhow so I custom made the bags to freeze smaller portions for the babies. With some fruits like bananas it best to mix them with other fruit to freeze. And use no sugars or salts to get the child to know the natural taste.

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/

try this website, I have tons of friends that use it and I have used it to. It's real user friendly too!
Good luck!
T. McGrory

Hello-
Just a little FYI. The plastic Gerber containers contain the #7 on the bottom of the container which was just announced as containing a harmful chemical. I am not sure what it all means but I know we are supposed to avoid any plastic with the #7 on the bottom. It was all over the news last week.
Just one more reason to make your own baby food! Not that I do.....I just switched to the Organic baby food sold in the bottles.
Good luck.

Hi J.,
Making baby food is really very easy. There is a great book out there called "Super Baby Food" that is great. The author has a lot to say that you can take or leave, but it tells you how to prepare lots of foods and then how long they can be frozen. I find these tips very helpful. I good tip is to freeze the food in an ice-cube tray and then after they are frozen store the frozen cubes in little snack baggies in the freezer in whatever portion size your baby likes in a big freezer bag.
I suggest that you continue to buy the prunes and the sweet peas. Both were more difficult to make than I thought it was worth.
Good luck!
N.

J.,
You are already, in my opinion, going in the best direction, all natural. Easy ideas; steam or blanch your favorite veggies, bake sweet potatoes, put in food processor or blender and puree. What works very well is putting the veggies into an ice cube tray and freeze. They thaw nicely and you only pop out the cubes you are going to use. Also works well with fruits. I am a believer in Whole Food Nutrition. Shape young childrens tates now and this will allow them to cary this craving for whole food into their growing years.
In good health!
N. - Nutrition Naturally
www.jp4ahealthieryou.com

Hi J.,

We bought fresh produce, steamed it if necessary, and then ran it through the food processor to puree. Put it into ice cube trays to freeze for 24 hours, and then transfered to ziploc baggies labeled with the contents and month of freezing. Frozen produce is only good for about 6 mos. You'll want to defrost 2 cubes at a time for a child that age. 30 seconds in the microwave usually does the job nicely for 2 cubes. The only two foods you shouldn't do yourself are beets and carrots. It's not possible for consumers to test for nitrates in the soil, and the levels sometimes aren't safe for babies. Gerber, et al. do test, and only make their food with carrots and beets that are safe.

I'm going to second the person that suggested "Super Baby Food". I have used that book to make food for several of my kids. I freeze little portions in ice cube trays and put them in baggies. I buy organic brown rice and oatmeal at Whole Foods (it's not expensive when you buy their bulk items) and grind it into cereal. I cook it up every couple of days and mix in a couple of frozen cubes of veggies. Ruthie loves to eat!

My son is about 5 months old, so I'm not quite ready to make baby food, but planning on doing it. I book suggested to me was "100 Best Baby Purees". I haven't looked at it yet, but the other mothers I've talked with love it and have gotten some great recipes.

We are planning to use a lot of the suggestions from "Super Baby Food" by Ruth Yaron.
My husband is a chef, and he thinks a lot of this is good advice in the book. However, be warned that you should always do cross-research. Every book or website will have "ultimatums" on what is best for your child. Other than being aware of slow introductions to help avoid allergenic reactions, I would say that no one word of advice will be the golden standard.

Have fun, it'll save money and make you happy to know exactly what your child is eating.

We started feeding our daughter food at that age and we only ever gave her 3 containers of baby food. We just gave her the soft, blander food from our plates and mushed it up if needed. We also fed her baby cereal mixed with breastmilk or plain yogurt. You may not need to even worry about making baby food. You could get the food mill by Kidco and used it. I bought one, but never used it since she did so good just eating food. She wanted to use her hands and didn't want us spoon feeding her for long. :)

Before you begin, I would recommend reading First Meals by Annabel Karmel. It provides a great deal of information (for now and later) that is very easy to understand and apply.
We have been buying and making baby food for our little girl since she was right at 6 months. There are certain things that we don't make because it is far easier to buy them (like peas), but there also are certain foods that we would like to expose her to early (like cauliflower) that aren't sold at the grocery store.
It really doesn't take any time and does ensure that you know what you are feeding Jordyn. With cauliflower, you chop it up, steam it until very soft, blend it until smooth (and maybe add a little of the steaming water to it). Very easy!
The only additional thing I would add is that the gerber containers likely aren't the best freezer container for numerous reasons (including plastic quality, sterilization, etc.). The best way to freeze baby food is in an ice cube tray. You freeze it into cubes (and depending on space can add them to a ziploc or another container once frozen). You can completely sterilize the tray when finished, and it allows for you to work in smaller amounts now and then add a little as she is ready for it.

J.-
I have been making baby food for my 6 month old for about 2 months now. The following website has been a GREAT help for different recipes. I have baked and steamed many fruits and vegetables. Unfortunately, peas and green beans don't get as smooth as they are in store bought jars, but my son does not seem to mind the texture. I did have some luck steaming green beans for one hour & pureeing them in a blender.
I have used a blender (works great for fruits) and a Cuisinart to puree fruits and vegetables.
I use Ice trays to freeze the baby food. Each cube is one ounce. I am sure the gerber containers will work.
I suggest spending 3 or 4 hours baking/cooking about a months worth of food. It is so nice to have a stocked freezer full of food!!!

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/

Happy cooking!!!
B.

We made a lot of our sons baby foods when he was little. Our doctor highly recommended do this. How I did this was a cook up foods (fresh produce) and then put it into a food processor. We did not add any spices (salt/pepper). You can buy natural fruits in a jar with no sugars added and use the processor to mash them up. You should not need to buy any kits other than a very good food processor. I say fresh is the best so I would not make very much up a head of time. I would make fresh every day.
Stay away from fruits and veggies that a considered gassy foods. You can always just look what Gerber offers in there selection and copy.

Good Luck

Making baby food is pretty easy. You cook whatever it is you want to make and then puree it either in a blender, food processor, or hand food mill, adding enough water when necessary to make it a good consistency. I found that little things, like peas and cut up carrots, worked best in a hand mill, though I do not have a food processor (so I was either blending things or hand milling them). Apples, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, chicken, etc., worked great in a blender. I just cooked them, cut them into pieces, and blended them. Some things need a lot of water added (like chicken) and some don't need much, if any (like apples and squash). I then froze the food in ice cube trays and, once frozen, put the cubes into labeled ziploc bags. That way, you have perfect serving-size cubes of food. Each night, I would take out food for the next day and put it in the fridge so that it was thawed by morning. You can also combine things that way. So, for example, I would put one cube of squash, one of chicken, and two of apple in a tupperware bowl and mix them together once thawed. A good website is www.wholesomebabyfood.com. Hope that helps!

Sounds like a great idea, but you'll want to check into which foods are OK to introduce in the first year. There are a lot of fun baby "cookbooks" out there. They include recipies and information about storage and preparation.
Also, my pediatrician warned me against making my own babyfood with carrots. Apparently carrots pick up a lot of nitrates from the soil which is then passed on to baby. Baby food manufacturers use carrots made in nitrate-free soil, so carrots are one veg you'll want to buy. Have fun!

I've never done this before, but I babysat for someone who did. They used ice cube trays to freeze the food. Once frozen, they would empty the trays into large freezer bags and defrost as needed. Good Luck!

Hi J.,

I had read that the gerber containers are not good for freezing food. We bought little cubes from One Step Ahead but ice cube trays actually worked the best. I am a working mom, so I wasn't sure I would be able to keep up with the demands of making food but it actually wasn't so bad. I felt really great about feeding our son the freshest fruits and veggies butif we were in a pinch, we would use the premade (after getting the fresh, he would often turn away from the Gerber). We got a big food processor and I spent an afternoon steaming and pureeing foods for almost a two week period. It was definitely cheaper and this will be a great time to get some good produce. Are you close to Caputo's or Fresh Market? I would stock up there before the cooking session. I also found a great cookbook by Anabel Karmel for when he was ready for some meats. There are some delicious chicken recipes in there. Good Luck!

Hi! What a great grandma you are! I am just repeating what others have said - you've gotten plenty of good advice. The book, "super baby food" by Ruth Yaron is the best! It really is so much easier than one would think to make baby food - esp. if you do it once a week or every other week and just freeze the cubes. You're busy for one day but have food for 1-2 weeks. I agree with those who warned against re-using those plastic containers. I just used ice cube trays to freeze and then transferred to freezer bags. Also, I agree with the advice on the carrots (nitrates). Good luck and have fun!

Hi, J.. Great choice! It's healthy for Jordyn, and hopefully you'll have as much fun experimenting with it as we did. It was daily comedy for us!

We went organic for my son. When he started on solid foods, we bought organic fruits and veggies and mashed or blended everything. Mostly he LOVED everything I made and sucked it right down and demanded more. Some things-- like asparagus-- he had no problem letting me know were unacceptable. :)

Use your own containers. I don't think you're supposed to re-use those Gerber ones. As a matter of fact, it might even say "do not reuse" on the container itself. We bought Rubbermaid single serving cups and they were really reasonable (like 7.99 for a pack of 15 or 20, maybe?) You can freeze those and microwave them with no problem, but they do discolor with foods like sweet potatoes and squash and strawberries.

Wow, you just made me miss seeing my David in his old highchair waiting for his next "taste test". Have fun!

Hi J.,

it is very gratifying making your own food and it's such a snap!

Check out this website. I made my own too and this place gave me all the info and ideas i could need. especially the importance of blanching certain foods and steaming others with very little water, and using the water to add back in to adjust the smoothness.

http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/

I would not suggest using the containers though for freezing. they're not airtight and will freezerburn quickly in a self defrosting freezer. I used ice cube trays to portion out and freeze and then i popped them into freezer bags.

Also those containers arent great for traveling, unless you can guarantee they stay level - they're not spillproof either :)

Enjoy! Happy feeding :)

let me know if you have any specific questions, i may be able to help out :)

~J.~

hi J.-
how fun for you!
i would definitley not use the plastic containers for storage. there is a lot of info on plastics and leaching on line.
we used Super Baby Food ( it was also recommended today.
it had a great schedule and fun recipes. if you can (and we do)
try to store your goodies in glass. we found small conatiners at the bed, bath beyond and linens and things.
anyway- how great for your grandaughter that you are doing that!!!

Hello,
I think it's awesome that you want to make your own baby food. I highly reccomend the book Blender Baby Food. It has simple recipes and tips on storage. The best method (for me) has been to steam the food to retain as much nutrition as possible, stick it in the Magic Bullet or food processor, and add enough water from the pot to the mix to create a desired consitency. You can freeze them in ice cube trays and then store them in a plastic ziploc bag. It's really not that hard or time consuming and it has so many benefits. Good for you!

I made my own baby food for my son (now 3 1/2 years) and am doing the same for my daughter (8 1/2 months). It's super easy. With veggies, I just dice them, then boil them until I can mush them against the side of the pan. I puree them in a food processor using some of the water they were boiled in and put the mush into ice cube trays and freeze them. Once their frozen, I just store them in labeled ziploc bags. My ice cube trays have one ounce cubes, so I still know how much I'm giving her. It's easy to mix the food as well by taking a cube from different foods and just defrosting them together in the microwave. With fruits, a lot of times you don't even need to cook them. Most ripe fruits will mash easy with a fork or in the food processor. With my son I used all fresh fruits and veggies (I had a bit more time with only one kid). This time, though, I'm taking a little shortcut with canned fruits and veggies. If you do choose to use the canned stuff, only get veggies that are NO SALT ADDED. Babies certainly don't need the extra sodium. The ingredients should have only water and the vegetable. They have fruits canned in 100% JUICE as well instead of that thick sugary syrup. So, those are what I use. I hope that helps! Good luck!

Hi,
I made fresh baby food for my 3 1/2 year old and have started to make it again for my 8 month old. The way that I made it was to steam the veggies then put them in the mini food processor with either a little hot water or baby white grape juice (to thin in out a bit). Then I froze them in little containers - I got mine from One Step Ahead, but I also used an ice cube tray. If you use the ice cube tray just transfer the cubes to plastic baggies and seal for frozen storage. When I was ready to use them I took them out and either microwaved the cubes or let them thaw (if we were going out somewhere and I was taking it with). There is also a great book called Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron that has some pretty interesting recipes in it for healthy first foods. Best of luck!

Hi J.,

My daughter is 10 now but I was all about organic food for her when she starting eating solids. I started out by boiling down things like carrots, sweet potato, pumpkin and various types of squash until they were soft enough to puree in the food processor. I made sure not to boil them down too much so I didn't lose all of the nutritional value. Peas only work if you take the shells off first. With fruit, obviously you can just use the blender or food processor to puree apples and pears. That's all you should do for a while anyway. Green veggies and darker fruit or bananas can wait a while.

Later I'd make stuff like blueberry pearsauce or apple pear. When her gums were harder I'd boil down carrots, sweet potato, squash and then just mash them up instead of puree them. She didn't start eating table-food until she was a year.

Hope that helps, and sorry if this is all over the place but its been a long day and I'm tired!

I made my own baby food and it was surprisingly simple. I used organic vegetables and fruit. I steamed or baked them first, then put them in the food processor and froze them in ice cube trays. I would have a day or two of cooking and wouldn't have to do it again for a long time. They eat so little in the beginning that it went a long way. Then I just pureed them less as the kids were better able to chew. My kids loved them and I think it saved a decent amount of money.

K.

Hi, J..

I currently make baby food for my 7 month old daughter. I buy a lot of fresh and some frozen fruits and veggies. I started my daughter out on canned pumpkin (make sure if you buy it, it is pure pumpkin and NOT pumpkin pie mix), and she loved it. It's still her favorite. I buy frozen peas and green beans and just cook them until tender, puree them in a blender and freeze them in ice cube trays covered with plastic wrap (ice cube trays work great and are inexpensive). After they are frozen, I put the cubes in freezer bags labeled with the contents and the date frozen. You should be sure to use all frozen cubes within three months of freezing. I use the following website to help with ways to cook certains fruits and veggies and for ideas of what to feed her at which age: www.wholesomebabyfood.com. I've gotten all of my recipes and baby food making ideas from this site. I hope this works for you. I find it to be much cheaper and much better for my baby. She definitely prefers my baby food over the store bought. Good luck!

H. C

My, what a lot of fuss folks make about this! Just take a little bit of whatever you're eating, mash it with a fork (you can use a grinder if you just want to, but it's not necessary). Special cooking and equipment are totally irrelevant. What do you think people did before commercial baby food came out? Start with mashed banana, which stains something awful, by the way, so make sure to cover the baby first if she's wearing something you like. If you eat other fruits and veggies raw, just steam a little bit in the microwave for the baby and mash. If you have eggs, scramble one in a glass bowl and microwave, then scramble again. Takes about one minute. Cookbooks, grinders, ice cube trays - anything like that is your own choice, not a necessity.

Hi J.,

My Mom bought me the, "Magic Bullet". It's like a hand held blender but I bet you could blend the fresh veggies from the garden with any blender. Then I filled several ice cube trays with different fruits and veggies. After they were frozen I put them in zip locks, dated and labled in the freezer. I hope that helps.

Good luck,
D.

I think you are very wise to make your own. I did it with my last one and she was the healthiest of the three. It's so easy to do. I just prepared in my blender to the consistency she was using at the time. First the veggies, then I would put in a small amount of our meal in little portions with water or a little broth. However, I caution you on the plastic containers. There was a study put out by Johns Hopkins last month warning us not to use any plasic containers in the microwave because they create a gas that is a carcinogen. Actually, I still prepare much of our food in larger quantities and freeze indiviual meals for lunches, quick dinners, etc. which helps us avoid the fast food chaos. I just purchased a neat little sealer at Meijer's in Rolling Meadows. It's like those storage bags that you suction the air out with your vacuum and shrinks the size by taking the air out. This is a little handheld machine that costs about $15. The bags are pricey but they can be reused. The bags have an opening that you stick this little machine in and it removes the air from the bag so you can freeze the food. You can just run warm water over the bag and remove frozen food before placing it in a microwaveable dish for heating. Food like this I would warm at 50% power for a longer time rather than cooking it quickly on high. Babies, kids, or adults, doing this gives us less sodium, chemicals, and all the other junk they put in food for storage. I also prefer freezing for using at a later date over keeping in the fridge. There is too much variance on temperatures and I feel the quality of the food in taste and nutrients is lost in the fridge. Hope this helps. You sound like a very conscientious grandma.

I would buy the fresh baby kit off of baby center. My daughter is 8 mo old and I have been using it for three months. I highly recommend it. Too, I would purchase two extra trays (four in all) so you can make large batches at once and freeze. Your baby is getting healither food, it's always on hand, and it's significantly cheaper.

I also absolutely loved the wholesomebabyfood.com website - using that, and others, I never even needed to purchase a book. And I would REALLY advise against using the Gerber containers for freezing - they aren't meant to be frozen (and I think that there is even info about that on their website). Ice cube trays work wonderfully - meant to be frozen and perfect for portioning. Besides being healthy with no worries about plastic or additives, etc. making baby food (even with organics) really has saved us money :)

I made baby food for my twin boys, and it's actually pretty easy and convenient as long as you do it right. The best tools to have: a Magic Bullet (it usually sells for $50, but it's well worth it), a food mill, and ice cube trays. The best way to go about making baby food is to make it in bulk, and then freeze the food by putting it in ice cube trays (simply put the trays in a plastic bag before putting them in the freezer). Then, when it's mealtime, all you have to do is defrost/heat up however many portions you need. I would highly recommend the "First Meals" cookbook by Annabel Karmel (you can usually find it in any bookstore, or you can order it online at onestepahead.com). She goes into detail about how you can make baby food convenient, nutritious, and tasty. She also has a lot of great no cook ideas, like combining fresh avocado and banana (sounds weird, but it actually tastes good). Hope this helps - good luck!