Making your own baby food?? Anyone know how?

Senior Member Joined: Aug 30 2007 Posts: 159

My twins are just 5 months old and are just about ready to start eating solids. Although we cant start anything untill their next doctors appointment in 2 weeks I was just wondering if anyone made their own baby food as opposed to buying baby jars.

I really dont want to have to buy baby jars but have no idea how and what to make.

Any ideas would be amazing!

Executive Member Joined: Nov 11 2008 Posts: 250

I only made my own baby food its quite easy. what I did was go to the isle for ideas, than I would make them. basically boil the veges and then puree them. with fruit I usually just puried them but I do make my own apple sauce also. if you want to make in advance I would freeze it in ice cube trays and than put it in sandwhich bags and thaw it in hot water. any other questions pm.

Take a look at what baby foods they have in jars- boil/steam those veggies/fruit. Blend with as much water as needed to make it baby food consistancy.

Examples- sweet potato, carrots, zucchini, butternut squash, etc...
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Moderator Joined: Dec 18 2008 Posts: 3612

my baby is 7 months old and I make my own food for her. I puree carrots, potatoe and zucchini. then also some chicken and mix them 2 gether. she loves it. my doctor said no salt or suger it all has to be natural.

Diamond Member Joined: Sep 02 2007 Posts: 2715

I cook up a huge pot of "baby chicken soup". It has lots of vegetables and I throw in chicken bones for flavor and some drumsticks. Then, keep the broth for future cooking, but puree the chicken and veggies. I save those glass jars (still have from my oldest kid!) and freeze mini portions in them. also, I freeze in plastic cups. microwave for 2 minutes and a meal is ready. yum!
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Silver Member Joined: Feb 09 2009 Posts: 793

yep I make bb food, its less $$$ than jar but a pain in the tush!!! I got this great baby cooker at bed bath and beyong, its expensive but worth it if you gonna have a lot of kids, its a steamer and mixer all at once so you dont hve to take 100 pots to make food...its call beaba baby cook.
I started with sweet potatoes, organic carrot ( I heard you need to buy organics when it comes down to carrot...dont know why but I did it), then apple sauce, bananas ect...
introduce 1 food at a time for about 2-3 days and see if any signs of allergies (rashes and staff) then move on to the next.
a good solid to start is rice cereal
good luck feeding them its fun!!!!!

Executive Member Joined: Oct 18 2007 Posts: 395

it's really not such a pain.
at the beginning they are eating such small amounts, and it's only once a day for the first little while, that even without making huge amounts, if u freeze it, it will last a couple of weeks.
they recommend to start with one food at a time and only mix them once u know your child can tolerate each individually.
I started with butternut squash, either boil or steam it, and puree with an immersion blender. I kept a couple of portions out and divided the rest into little containers to freeze. I kept doing that with each new food, zuchinni, carrot, sweet potato, (half my fam made fun of me b/c almost all the food I was giving ds was orange...) and some fruit, apple and pear etc. so that he would get a variety and once he could have bigger portions I mixed them together.
don't fogrget also, avocado and mango, some foods don't need to be cooked.
once ds was up to chicken I did the same as shaklee, except after I took out the vegies for ds I seasoned the soup, boiled the bones a bit more, and we had soup for shabbos.
I didn't find it to be such a bother to make baby food. it's only for a few months, after a while they can start to eat what everyone else is eating.

Executive Member Joined: Oct 09 2007 Posts: 405

Got this as a gift. It is a great product, really simplifies making baby food Smile

http://www.williams-sonoma.com.....%5Fsrc=SCH

Posted: Tue, Jun 02 2009, 9:09 pm Post subject:

just curious, what happens to our babies who love butternut squash and pureed carrots? when do they suddenly realize that bamba and taffy is much better?

Platinum Member Joined: Jan 01 2006 Posts: 48159

Gold Member Joined: Oct 27 2006 Posts: 2416 Location: NY

Posted: Tue, Jun 02 2009, 10:45 pm Post subject:

For making small portions I used frozen veggies and then I could boil a cup of peas, etc. I used to squish the peas with my garlic press in my pre-food processor days, now I can't eat peas too much, ick! hehe.

Otherwise I usually just take a little out of whatever I am making for the rest of us. Mashed potatoes, take out some of the veggies before I make a kugel or soup. We'd all eat cooked fruit for dessert, or I'd use the rest in a cake recipe I have.

I did buy jars for on the go since they are sealed.

I made my own baby food for a while. I baked a sweet potato/butternut squash/zuchinni in the oven for about an hour, then just scraped it out into a jar. no food processors, no water, just plain. for carrots and other small stuff, I would throw it into my weekly chicken/veg soup and mash with a fork later.

Silver Member Joined: Feb 09 2009 Posts: 793

I made my own for all my kids (6) and never found it to be a pain
I usually just took whatever we were having for dinner, and smushed it up to the consistency the baby could handle. At the beginning, you need to spend a little time on it, since its one food at atime, and they eat such small amts... I was actually not such a purist, I would take the carrot from the soup and smash it, and call that 'just carrots' even tho it had touched the other stuff.,..

Posted: Wed, Jun 03 2009, 10:18 am Post subject:

I never made special baby food ... just mashed up real food ... babies need a little spice in their life too ... try your own chicken soup with it's veggies ... a sweet potatoe, anything that is soft ... besides a new baby might stick to mushy bananas at first and rice cereal ...
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Gold Member Joined: May 11 2009 Posts: 1292

Yes I made my own baby food (I also had jars as back up)
I started the first meal with pears (I read it somewhere what order to do)
Then I added baby rice cereal.
Then I added cooked apple, carrots, sweet potato, butternut squash, zucchini...

Its very simple:
Boil vegetables in water. when soft put vegetable with a bit of water (many veg lose some of their nutirietns when boiled, but the water has them) in a sutiable container and blend with immersion blender (or similar) until very smooth.
I didn't cook pears, but I did cook the apples and other acidic food at first (ex plums)

I like to cook baby food in batches and freeze in small portions (either use an ice-cube tray or in plastic cups). I alway lable what it is and the date it was made. although I've notice that white potato does not freeze well (and anyway its very thick for young baby's palette)

its ideal to defrost in the fridge over-night, but I usually forgot and defrosted the meal in the microwave or in hot water.

I was told to introduce new foods at lunch time (11am - midday) as opposed to eveing meal as you dont' want baby digesting new foods at night, when he might get disturbed.

I think thats weaning 1st stage in a [large] nutshell

ps my DD is 8 months. she likes most food, but not keen on white fish

good luck keep us posted.

Posted: Wed, Jun 03 2009, 7:25 pm Post subject: