Homemade Baby Food

jessica_gail2 · August 2013

Talk to me about it...how much should we make? We're using fresh veggies from our garden or buying from a farmer's market now and cooking/pureeing them then freezing. LO is 4 months right now so not eating solids yet. So how much should I do?? What kind of veggies have you used? Any good tips for them? Do you just let them thaw on their own if you're going out to eat or something and will feed LO there?

TIA!!

BabyRN2006 · August 2013

I've been doing small batches so far to see what she likes. We started when she turned 5 months. So far she has had banana, avocado, sweet potato, apple, pear, squash, carrot, and peach. She's liked pretty much everything, except she wasn't a huge fan of green beans and she hates squash.

I've learned that green beans did not thaw well, they are watery and gritty. I will just puree those fresh from now on. Everything else we have pureed has thawed well. We also have plums, peas, and blackberries in the freezer to try.

We freeze in ice cube trays and then put in a freezer bag, I just set out a couple of cubes the night before or in the morning to thaw. If I forget I just give it a few seconds in the microwave and stir well to make sure there are no hot spots.

ccam · August 2013

I believe that the rule of thumb is 3 months in the freezer, so just keep that in mind when making purees, especially since in the beginning they only eat a cube or two. I loved making DS's purees. I felt better knowing exactly what he was eating. We started with avocado, but then moved to stuff that we could freeze like sweet potato, buttnernut squash and pears. I found that roasting a lot of his fruits and veggies brought out more flavors than if they were steamed, like the sweet potato, squash and even peaches.

I used to take out a few cubes the night before and let them thaw in the fridge or, in a pinch, I would throw them in the microwave for a few seconds. Or I would put them in a reusable pouch and let them defrost in the diaper bag if we were out.

I used this website all the time when making purees, it was so helpful! https://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/index.htm

Have fun!!

Mr. & Mrs. Woodtick · August 2013

I think the PPs have given you great advice. I loved making DS food and knowing exactly what he was eating was comforting to me. I mostly used fresh veggies, but I do recommend using frozen peas. My DS was never a big fan of green beans and I also found them to be gritty. Peas were also hard for me as I could never really get the shell to puree. Maybe I was doing something wrong.

Another benefit of wholesome baby food site is it has a list of what foods are appropriate for what age. The lady who runs that site is amazing!

The only thing I would add may not even be helpful since you have already started making food, but don't buy a babyfood maker. They are a complete waste of money in my opinion. Hindsight is 20/20 and looking back I never would have bought one. You can do the same thing with a steam basket and a blender.

Good Luck!

mcgeeva · August 2013

Mr. & Mrs. Woodtick said:

I think the PPs have given you great advice. I loved making DS food and knowing exactly what he was eating was comforting to me. I mostly used fresh veggies, but I do recommend using frozen peas. My DS was never a big fan of green beans and I also found them to be gritty. Peas were also hard for me as I could never really get the shell to puree. Maybe I was doing something wrong.

Another benefit of wholesome baby food site is it has a list of what foods are appropriate for what age. The lady who runs that site is amazing!

The only thing I would add may not even be helpful since you have already started making food, but don't buy a babyfood maker. They are a complete waste of money in my opinion. Hindsight is 20/20 and looking back I never would have bought one. You can do the same thing with a steam basket and a blender.

Good Luck!

I agree with all of this. Peas never did it for me either yet my son loved any peas that were in the gerber packs. We loved doing sweet potatoes, squash etc but used the stand up blender you just stick in a cup and it worked great. Once he was able to move to meats I would make chicken soup and puree that - noodles and all so he got his proteins etc and he loved it.

pb_bride · August 2013

jessica_gail2 said:

Talk to me about it...how much should we make? We're using fresh veggies from our garden or buying from a farmer's market now and cooking/pureeing them then freezing. LO is 4 months right now so not eating solids yet. So how much should I do?? What kind of veggies have you used? Any good tips for them? Do you just let them thaw on their own if you're going out to eat or something and will feed LO there?

TIA!!

I make all of M's food. We started puree at 4.5 months, but by 6.5 months he decided he didn't want to be spoon-fed anymore. I still have some frozen puree cubes in the freezer! So I guess it's that don't make TOO much.

I also use fresh veggies, but this was back in the Spring. DS's favorites were sweet potato, cauliflower, carrots. Asparagus was just coming in then, so I also made asparagus puree. I also pureed fruits that are "harder", eg, cantaloupe, pineapple. DS was able to swallow fork-mashed pears and mangoes so I never pureed those.

FWIW, I think many books recommend steaming/cooking fruits (except banana) before pureeing, but I never bothered with that, and DS tolerated everything without any issues.

If I remember, I'll let it thaw in the fridge, but a lot of times I ended up zapping the cubes in the microwave for 15 seconds. I freeze them in ice cube trays and then store them in qt yogurt containers, and wrote what it is with a marker pen on the clear lid.

When DS first started on solids, I always bring his own food. It wasn't until we switched to BLW when I let him eat foods from what I order. Even then, I usually will pack something that I know he'll eat, just in case there isn't anything from the menu that I can give DS.

BabyRN2006 · August 2013

With the peas I pureed them and then pushed through a mesh strainer to get rid of the shells. It worked great! We tried them today and she loved them

Agreed on the wholesome baby food site, its been my baby food making bible!

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