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Working Moms
sgrl
member
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Do you make your own baby food?
sgrl
member
in Working Moms
I'm a member of another message board with a smallish membership, and all the moms of infants on that board make their own baby food. So I was feeling like that was something I SHOULD do, which made me feel mildly overwhelmed, but then I realized that they are all SAHMs (or work PT). Do you ladies make your own baby food? Is it quick/easy, or is it one of those things that I should just let go and buy at the store in order to preserve my sanity/free time?
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Re: Do you make your own baby food?
It was so easy. And so much much cheaper. Store bought baby food is far overpriced (and doesn't taste that great, IMO).
All you need is a counter food processor. I used to just buy frozen peas, microwaved them, and then pureed them. Or no-salt-added canned vegetables. Some you had to strain (green beans) but others were perfect the way they were.
I was able to make peas, green beans, peaches, bananas, pears, apples, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, carrots, canneli beans, tofu, cauliflower, berries....just about anything. And then froze them in ice cube trays, stuck them in plastic bags for storage, and would take out a few each day to thaw. You could do the same with 'real' recipes as they get older: mash up pasta and sauce, rice, etc.
Piece of cake. Cheaper.
I was just searching online for recipes and to see if it really is super easy.
I never did make any with my 1st baby, but now, #2 eats 4 jars a day and could easily eat more so I thought I'd give making it a try to see just how much cheaper it is....
I plan on giving it a try tomorrow.
It takes about 10 minutes a day, if that. Or I would just spend 20 minutes on a Sunday and make a bunch.
Really, no time at all. Just blend whatever it is your family is eating.
This- I have no qualms about feeding our LOs the jarred organic food that we use. The $$ is worth my sanity.
Matthew Kevin
7/31/83-7/20/11
Met 1/8/00
Engaged 4/21/06
Married 9/29/07
Two beautiful legacies: Noah Matthew (2 yrs) and Chloe Marcella (8 mos)
Day Three
I do. It is a huge savings and the food is so so much better. I was completely overwhelmed at the thought, but once I did it, it is so easy. I use frozen peas and green beans and just steam them in the microwave and then run them through the blender. For carrots, I buy a bag of baby carrots and steam them and then blend. Sweet potatoes get cooked in the microwave, scooped out and blended. I add formula instead of water so everything is a little more nutritional packed.
To get started I bought a "ninja" which is similar to the magic bullet thing, but was cheaper and I bought the ice cube trays that have lids. I got everything at Bed Bath & Beyond.
Check out wholesomebabyfood.com for info. I am not a big cook or homemade food person, but this is easy and when you see the difference between what you make and what they sale as babyfood, you will be surprised.
good luck.
I have not and now that DD is moving towards table food, I won't do it either. I don't feel guilty by giving her canned food. Our days are way too hectic to add more to it.
Anyway, I buy Earth's Best when it goes on sale so it is not that bad.
If you have 1/2 hour a week on a Saturday or Sunday to throw some veggies in a food processor, blend them, and put them in ice cube trays, then go for it. If you don't have that time and you don't care about the cost, stick with canned premade food.
Um, no. I made some of it, and never buy banana or applesauce baby food because smashing a banana is easy enough and buying no sugar added applesauce is the same thing. But I bought mine. I made it at first and it was a huge PITA in my opinion. That is not something to feel guilty about at all.
ETA: I don't mean any disrespect to anyone, but the ladies on these boards seem to be much more in to making baby food than people I know IRL. The ten or twenty minutes a day it takes to make baby food I feel are better used to me working out, cleaning the house or spending time with my H and DS. That's just me. But I feed my kid Gerber, so what do I know?
DD #1 passed away in January 2011 at 14 days old due to congenital heart disease
DD#2 lost in January 2012 at 23 weeks due to anhydramnios caused by a placental abruption
I did the same thing for DD and it worked really well for us. I would spend 1 - 1.5 hours one week-end per month and have enough to last the entire month. I'm planning to do the same thing for #2 when the time comes. However, I would NOT beat yourself up for doing jarred foods. Maybe give it a try and see if you like it. We like that we save money and can control the quality of the ingredients. Plus, I always enjoyed the process of making it and feeding it to her. If it doesn't work out for you, no big deal.
I also highly recommend www.wholesomebabyfood.com
I did and it was so easy. I made a few batches on the weekends and froze them into ice cube trays and then stored them in freezer zipper bags. It was so much cheaper than store bought food and she actually ate what I made for her. She did not eat solid food until 6 months and was eating finger food about 10 months or so (even with no teeth) so I only made it for 4 months. Totally worth it.
I did fruit and veggies. I did give her some jar food to give her a variety since I couldn't puree everything I wanted her to try and would not puree meat. My mom used to just make whatever she was making for dinner and puree that up and feed it to me.
I just made my first batch last night. DS is not on solids yet but I baked, pureed, and froze some sweet potatoes for when he's ready in a few weeks. I found it to be a very satisfying activity for some reason. Plus, and this is the big benefit, I made the equivalent of about 10 jars of stage 1 baby food for about $2.
At this point, I don't intend to make every morsel that goes into DS's mouth, but it's so easy and jarred baby food is so expensive, I don't see any reason not to make at least some of it. Tonight I'll make some peas.
I don't even have a food processor -- just an immersion blender, which worked great.
nope, and I did not feel guilty at all about it- I would have loved to make his baby food, but I was a resident and then studying for boards while working FT in private practice and didn't have ANY free time. We used all Earth's Best and supplemented that with unsweetend applesauce, ect. I only bought it on sale buy one get one free so that helped keep down the cost.
If we had an extra freezer for storage I might consider it next time- but i honestly don't see it happening. Our freezer was packed full of breastmilk so we didn't have room anyway.