Home made baby food

oceanangel0502 · April 2014

I know we all have some time before we start introducing foods but I was wondering if any one is planning on making their own baby food or if there's any stm's who have made it and if you have any recipes you want to share or insight on it. I am considering doing this but want to know what your experiences were?
Thanks in advance

sebullows · April 2014

I am wanting to do this too. No idea where to start tho.

AriaAmante143 · April 2014

When the time comes my friend is letting me use her Baby Brezza. She said basically every Sunday she'd steam/purée a few different veggies and freeze them in either ice cube trays or the storage trays they sell. Her machine came with a recipe book. I'm do excited to do this, I think the canned baby food is so gross

BrideNamedMeg · April 2014

I made most of DD's food and a lot for DS - though not quite as much

Wholesome Baby Food is a great resource.

Making baby food is really easy. I never had any special equipment for it...mostly it was just cook or steam whatever you want to give them, puree it and then freeze. I'd freeze portions in ice cube trays, and then transfer them into ziplock bags. When they got older I'd mix food together (1-2 cubes of pears plus a cube of blueberries or sweet potatoes or whatever).

There are also thing you can just mash up raw and give them like avocados and bananas. Those were the first foods we tried for both of my kids.

ring_pop · April 2014

Yes, I did it with DS1 and will do the same.

At first, I would steam veggies separately, puree them, and freeze them in ice cube trays.

This went on for a couple of weeks before I wised up and just started planning our own meals to include veggies that DS could also eat (sweet potatoes, peas, butternut squash etc.) Then I would just set aside some of his food before seasoning it or doing whatever with it. And I quickly realized that I didn't really need to puree it to a pulp, mashing it with a fork was just as good. Very easy!

sebullows · April 2014

Did y'all find this money saving? I think that's the biggest incentive to me if it is. That and I know exactly what my baby is getting. But, money is tight around here so I'd love to know if it would save me $.

ring_pop · April 2014

sebullows said:

Did y'all find this money saving? I think that's the biggest incentive to me if it is. That and I know exactly what my baby is getting. But, money is tight around here so I'd love to know if it would save me $.

We had virtually no noticeable increase in our grocery bills when DS1 started on solids because he was eating what we ate anyway. The only baby food I really bought was those applesauce pouches for stashing in the diaper bag, and things like puffs and mum mums.

Andreabills · April 2014

I want to buy a Baby Brezza, one of my friends has one and loves it. I know it's kind of expensive, but I think the convenience is worth it.

akflutterby · April 2014

Thanks for asking this I was wondering the same thing. I love the ice cube tray idea and feeding baby mashed whatever we're eating veggie-wise. I was hoping to keep Cooper more or less organic and whole food based, so if we can save a few dollars at the same time (by giving her veggies we eat) that's awesome.

erios329 · April 2014

I made all my own food with ds. It was super easy, I would invest in a good food processor. I made big batches so I would only have to do it every few weeks (would freeze and store in ice cube trays like others said) so a nice big food processor worked best. I also kept the book 'super baby food' handy as it was a great resource. It definitely saved us tons of money and its really easy.

ProudMommy030614 · April 2014

Yup I have made all of my own baby food for my 2 older boys and will this time too. Steam, purée, freeze it's super easy and quick. I only do a weeks worth at a time though so it doesn't get the freezer taste.

Babykawash · April 2014

I'm a FTM and plan to make homemade baby food for my LO. I got the entire baby bullet system at my baby shower. I hope she likes her mamas cooking!

CactusGirl · April 2014

Wholesome baby foods is a great website. I did homemade and it actually tastes good (unlike the nasty baby food in jars!). It isn't hard and I just used a regular blender (and froze in single portions in ice cube tray). I definitely recommend trying it!

teachermommy9967 · April 2014

I made most of my girls baby food it was super easy with either the baby bullet or my food processor. however they preferred jars of peas, bananas and blueberries to my homemade. I also found it handy to have a few jars of baby food for outings as ice cubes of food aren't always easy to heat and serve

amdecker1016 · April 2014

I'm doing it! I got my "cookbook" and am going to use my own blender! I cannot wait!

SurpriseAt39 · April 2014

I made all DD's purees, just cook, purée or mash, freeze in cubes.
I agree that jarred looks and tastes gross.
Homemade was yummy. I could leave it a little chunky when she was ready. I could add whatever spices or combinations I wanted. I could use fresh seasonal fruit. I bought a jar or two of fruits that were really expensive that I wanted her to try.

We did BLW with DS1 and will for DS2 as well. So much easier.

pepperedmoth · April 2014

@ring_pop‌ that's exactly what I planned to do! Just pull out a little food for LO and mash it with a fork. Glad it's not a crazy idea!

TradeMama · April 2014

It's super easy and does save money. Steam foods, puree in blender/food processor, then freeze. I started with avocado with DS, which doesn't need to be steamed, and then pureed in the bullet. Other "first foods" were sweet potatoes, bananas, and butternut squash. It did save money vs. purees-- the thing that I bought packaged was the baby oatmeal, since milling it is a PITA and boxed baby oatmeal is cheap.

ETA: It was only money saving because I already owned the Bullet. If I had to buy a lot of special equipment, it would not have saved me anything, since DS was on table foods and no longer ate purees by 9 months... so he only ate purees for 4 months or so.

KariB509 · April 2014

I have a Baby Bullet that I only used a few times when I had ds. It was easy but took a little time. This time, now that I won't be working and stuff, I'm going to try again. I did bananas, which was really easy since they're soft enough to just put straight in the blender. I have a steamer too so I did apples and carrots. Like I said, I'd like to try it again.

Eta: the Baby Bullet comes with everything you need to get started--a recipe book, two blender attachments and two different blades depending on the food you're making, and storage containers. I'd recommend it.