Making Your Own Baby Food?

March2013FTM · March 2013

I'm looking at options for spending some gift cards. I'd love to have a way to make my own baby food once LO can eat it (I know, 5-6 months away).

Anyone have a suggestion? I'm considering just getting a nice, small, food processor and calling a spade a spade. I don't see a need for something that steams and chops - I have limited storage space. Thoughts/opinions?

mm&mm · March 2013

I made all my baby food using a food processor and freezer trays. I just used what I had and it worked great for me!

Oh, and I loved this site for info and ideas...
https://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/

angelfire02 · March 2013

I have a cuisinart food processor and it has worked great. I didn't have the space for all of those extra things, I have done fine just steaming/baking/roasting things and then pureeing them in the food processor. I then freeze it in ice cube trays and store the cubes in gallon size zip lock freezer bags. Easy easy easy.

chardonnay24 · March 2013

I just used a steamer basket and a food processor. My son was only eating purees for about 3 months, so it didn't seem worth it to spend a lot on a silly appliance that has only one purpose. I still use the food processor all the time.

ellewoodsSC · March 2013

March2013FTM:
I'm looking at options for spending some gift cards. I'd love to have a way to make my own baby food once LO can eat it (I know, 5-6 months away).
Anyone have a suggestion? I'm considering just getting a nice, small, food processor and calling a spade a spade. I don't see a need for something that steams and chops - I have limited storage space. Thoughts/opinions?

I think that's a good plan. We had a very short window where I we were pureeing the food (maybe a few weeks) before we decided to start baby led weaning as DD was not into the mashed foods. Steaming or boiling in a pot and then blending in a processor or blender (we used our existing bullet blender) was pretty efficient and required no additional gadgets or expense. You can freeze the food in silicone or plastic ice cube trays and then transfer to bags or containers for storing portions. The wholesomebaby food site mentioned by pp was very educational. I'd also recommend getting some sort of recipe book/preparation guide. The type of food and the order in which some things are recommended can be really confusing and contradictory. Ask your pedi for a good resource that's in line with their recommendations.

abell77 · March 2013

I agree that you don't need special baby food gadgets. All I would say is that when you say "small" if you are referring to one of the mini food processors, I think you will want to consider something bigger. If you are planning to do large batches and freeze, it will be time consuming to use a mini processor. But if you have the choice between a normal or jumbo processor, normal is just fine. I chopped myself and steamed in my own pots with a simple steamer basket.

Angela814 · March 2013

We did baby led weaning with DD2, so we completely skipped purees.

I'd just get a regular food processor that you will be able to use for yourselves.

wifeyvana · March 2013

You definitely don't need a fancy baby machine! I got one for my shower and ended up returning it for a food processor, which worked perfectly. I did end up keeping the special freezer trays for baby food making. My little guy never really let me spoon feed him, so I'm glad I got a food processor (that has multiple uses).

happytotmom · March 2013

For puree storage, I highly recommend Baby Cubes. They are BPA free and have individual lids to allow you to defrost just the portion you need. They come in a variety of sizes and sit in ice cube trays so they stack on top of each other. We love them!

https://www.healthyhappytot.com/puree-storage/

StephenW4 · March 2013

My Mom got me the Beaba baby food maker for Christmas. It's basically a mini food processor with a steamer attached and a steamer basket that fits inside the cup. It works really well and we have used it alot. Don't know that I would have bought it for myself b/c it is pricey, but if you've got giftcards to spend, it might be something worth buying. We definitely love ours and we make all our baby's food.

vindaloo · March 2013

I used the Green Sprouts silicone freezer trays and really liked them. I plan on buying more. They are great for 1oz portions and you can fit 16 cubes perfectly into a quart freezer bag.

I also liked the Wean Green brand glass storage containers. They come with airtight plastic lids and are dishwasher safe. They never, ever leaked, even when bumped around all day in my diaper bag. I especially like that they're glass so I could nuke them without worrying about BPAs getting into the food!

jrosehistory · March 2013

We just had a small simple food processor and a couple of freezer trays and it worked great. The trays had a cover over them and they were just like ice cube trays. We made all our daughter's food it was less expensive than buying and better for her. It was also so easy to make and we would just whip up a batch for the whole week. I remember we went on a trip and I had to buy the ready-made food and she hated it. She was so happy to be back home and have her homemade food.

aboynamedbarry · March 2013

I used my kitchen aid food processor and steamed or baked everything. The nice thing about this particular food processor is that it has a smaller bowl that sits inside the main big bowl for smaller batches or things you wont be making in mass quantities. For example, peaches, apricots, pears etc did well in the small bowl because I only made say one tray at a time. However things like sweet potatoes, squash peas green beans I used the big bowl because I would make a LOT of those at once. When you first Start making it you might think too that you would never use the bigger bowl, but they start plowing through food quickly and then you'll hardly be able to keep up lol

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