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Parenting after 35
If you make your own baby food...
Do you have a special baby food making machine or do you just use a steamer and food processor? What do you store/freeze the food in?
I have been slacking on the solids thing. We fed C rice cereal twice and then kind of stopped. I was lukewarm about starting so soon and without me prodding him, DH doesn't bother. However, when she gets closer to 6 months I would like to start on some veggies and want to make them myself (especially with the report this week linking pesticides to ADHD).
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Re: If you make your own baby food...
I have a friend who makes her own and she told me that she just uses a food processor or mixer. She freezes the puree in ice cube trays then pops them out and stores them in freezer bags.
We are planning to do this (or either buy organic already made) when it's time.
We were gifted a Beaba. I like it but I think you can easily do without it. Sometimes I would dump a batch in my blender to make it smoother than the Beaba can do. We were also gifted some little cube containers in trays to store the food but ice cube trays work just as well - I would let the stuff freeze and then dump it into a freezer storage baggie.
We didn't start solids until 6 months but found that it wasn't very time-intensive to do this and so it didn't interfere with anything else in our schedule. In some cases, if I couldn't find what I was looking for fresh and organic or if it was too much work to peel, seed etc. then I would buy it prepped and frozen (apricots, cherries, peas...almost anything really).
We have the Baby Cook but quite honestly, I used it once and she wouldn't eat what I made with it. I think because of the texture. So I have been bad about trying it again.
Good point. I am planning to feed organic and am mainly concerned with cutting down on the number of "middle men" in the process. Saving money though, I like that.
When weighing the costs of making your own vs. buying jarred foods... don't forget to factor in your labor. If it takes an hour or two to prep, cook, package and clean up, suddenly opening a jar makes more sense.
And to answer the original question.. I plan to make some of his food but probably not all of it. Since we just started solids, tho, I bought jars so we can have smaller amounts to just sample. Plus, I can reuse the jars, if needed.
I use the babycook, and I love it, but I don't think you really need it. It takes almost no time at all to peel the apples/pears/sweet potatoes or de-string the green beans, then you just chop 'em up and throw 'em in. I'd say it takes me about a half-hour to 45 minutes for about eight meals worth of food. the babycook purees are not fine enough for some babies, at least at first, but I found Margaux got used to the texture within a week and now she has no problem with it.
My sweetie got the beaba freezing tray for me, but ice cube trays make more sense when the baby first starts eating. Plus, that way you can mix -n- match for later. I freeze the servings, then wrap them in saran wrap and put them in a labeled ziplock in the freezer.
I've just been using our steamer insert and blender. It is simple and takes no more than 20 minutes and so far i've generally gotten between 1 and 2 ice cube trays full (i'm feeding Ellie about 4 cubes a day). I peel, steam, blend (add some of the steaming liquid for some things like carrots, peas, greenbeans), pour into ice cube trays, freeze and a few hours later transfer to freezer bags. I can generally make one food while I feed ellie in the am - and have it mostly cleaned up, aside from the blender, in the 20 minutes. I've made: apples, pears (took the longest to peel), mango, pumpkin, peas, green beans, sweet potato, blueberries, peaches, and mashed up avocado and bananas. It's been a lot of fun to mix and try different combo's!
I have bought a few bottles of earth's best - and she loves their bananas.
I did this with DD. Very easy!!
I either bake things like squash, or cook/steam in the microwave (sweet potatoes, carrots). I use my regular food processor to puree, adding in water as needed. I freeze the purees in ice cube trays, then pop them out and store in ziploc bags.
Unlike Peppernut, I am lazy and don't make my own things like green beans or peas, because they require things like de-stringing and straining, so DD gets a mix of homemade and store bought.
I did this with my first son. Second time around I would just cook and puree his food every 3 days or so and keep it in the frig.