Homemade Solids vs Store Bought

Nawd2288 · September 2013

So...I can't decide which one to go with! Anyone want to offer their opinion?

I would love to make baby food at home but is it too time consuming for a working mom who's husband is on a totally different schedule?

capstone52501 · September 2013

If I were a working mom I would more than likely do store bought baby food but since I am not I chose to make my own. I am not going by any "schedule" or "how to" list/site. I make me a bowl of oatmeal (quaker oats) then I take a spoonful (before I add sugar or milk) and put it in the food processor along with half a banana and a spoonful of applesauce(the applesauce to help thing out the banana and oatmeal). There are days he will eat all of what I made then their are others where he will only eat a spoonful and he is done.

I have also been feeding him cooked vegies, I just smash them a bit and feed them to him.

lilbit0910 · September 2013

my original plan was to make my own. i was even gifted a super neat cuisinart baby food processor which i was so excited to use. I have to say that i have yet to use it. I bought some baby food at the store once and it's so much easier. In part i feel guilty but being a full time working mom i just dont have the time.

ClandestineX · September 2013

If I was too busy to make most of his foods I would buy jar foods. If you look on the back of them, they are just basically the fruit/veggie and water. Just it is like 70% water. For the ones that have added things that you do not want, you could possibly make at home during your days off.

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capstone52501 · September 2013

ClandestineX said:

If I was too busy to make most of his foods I would buy jar foods. If you look on the back of them, they are just basically the fruit/veggie and water. Just it is like 70% water. For the ones that have added things that you do not want, you could possibly make at home during your days off.

This.
If it helps, I found these neat little plastic cups with lids that hold maybe 1/4 of a cup at walmart. So when I make up some oatmeal I can put it in the cup and in the fridge it goes and lasts him a couple days. The only thing that does not do well after you mash it is bananas, they turn brown really fast. I have not tried adding the applesauce to it then storing it to see if that helps or not. Sorry about the rambling, my point is that you can make up some stuff when it is convenient for the next day or two, then you are not feeling like you are in the kitchen all the time.
I guess in the end it all depends on what is most convenient for you and your situation. What ever you choose your LO will do just fine. My daughter and oldest son grew up on store bought baby food and they are doing okay.

Ornery, but okay

Lhyacinth888 · September 2013

We used to spend a few hours about once a month and froze food in batches for my first LO. Then we just had to pull a few ice cubes out of the freezer if we didn't have time to make something fresh. It didn't take long at all. But there's nothing wrong with buying baby food of course! :-)

AMJ6511 · September 2013

I started making my own. My goal was to introduce her to solids that I made first since she isn't eating a lot. When she is eating a lot more, I might start buying it. I just find that it is a lot cheaper, and I like that I can water it down with breastmilk.

Kate_C · September 2013

Ditto @lhyacinth888. We would do one or two afternoons a month of several batches and freeze. Presumably your LO will only get solids once a day at home and daycare will handle the balance, so you won't need much. Which also means it isn't that expensive to just buy it! Don't feel guilty either way.

trevinosnm · September 2013

I thought the same thing, being I work full time and go to school but I've found it pretty easy so far. Yesterday I went grocery shopping and bought some fresh fruit. Made J apples and froze it. Once it's frozen I then either defrost when I need it or put it in a small container to take to daycare. He's just starting to eat solids so he's still not eating it as much and its only in addition to his breast milk but so far it's working for us. It's really a lot easier than I thought it would be. Bananas and avocados are the easiest because those you can just mash up right then when you need it and no need to freeze it. You can always try it and if it doesn't work out then buy the jar stuff. Nothing wrong with that at all. As long is your baby is getting the nutrition he/she needs that's all that matters.

Angela814 · September 2013

I'm doing BLW, so DD3 gets some of what we're eating. We started a bit early since she was grabbing food out of my hands if she sat on my lap. She's had apple (basically sucked on an apple I was eating), cucumber, watermelon, bell pepper, and cantelope. She's really just sucking on the food and getting some of the flavors now.

shadysladyWed98470 · September 2013

I am a teacher, so I work 40 hours a week, plus grading papers and lesson plans on week nights and weekends. My husband also works second shift and doesn't get home until 930 each night. I have decided to make LO's food instead of buying. This past Saturday night, after LO was asleep, I made green beans and carrots for LO. It took about 20 mins to boil them, and another 10 to purée with the magic bullet, then another 5 to pour it into ice cube trays. The next morning I took another 5 mins to pop them out and put into freezer bags. Now I have 36 frozen servings of carrots and green beans, all taking about an hour total and costing less than $5. So I will be making his food every other weekend for us. Very happy with how quick it was done.

ClandestineX · September 2013

phill027 said:

I'm doing it but mainly because I want to control the ingredients. I want to use fruits and veggies that are in season and I'm hoping to avoid the picky eater phase by including a lot of baby safe spices. But I'm not at all opposed to the jar stuff and if I didn't have the support I have at home (I'm a working mom as well), this probably wouldn't get done. Hell, it may not get done anyways. We are just a few days in with solids. Edit: I have heard that babies who start with homemade may reject the jarred stuff if you try to offer it later! Also, there's a lot of great info about this on the wholesome baby food website including recipes for purées that freeze well.

I feed mostly homemade things, Connor doesn't fancy the jarred version of stuff because it is so watery.. I buy the stage 2 anyways. I can't seem to find stage 3 of only one product though or I would get that so it won't be like.. going from chewing to drinking lol.

Mommymorticia · September 2013

What lhyacinth said. It's not time consuming at all if you take a few hours once a month and make freezer cubes. Zap it in the mic a min, add water to the consistency LO likes or even add cereal too. I'm not against the jarred though.

Sol1790 · September 2013

shadysladyWed98470 said:
I am a teacher, so I work 40 hours a week, plus grading papers and lesson plans on week nights and weekends. My husband also works second shift and doesn't get home until 930 each night. I have decided to make LO's food instead of buying. This past Saturday night, after LO was asleep, I made green beans and carrots for LO. It took about 20 mins to boil them, and another 10 to purée with the magic bullet, then another 5 to pour it into ice cube trays. The next morning I took another 5 mins to pop them out and put into freezer bags. Now I have 36 frozen servings of carrots and green beans, all taking about an hour total and costing less than $5. So I will be making his food every other weekend for us. Very happy with how quick it was done.

I kinda do the same. I did try store bought first but she did not like it. So on sunday's we go grocery shopping come home and make the baby food for the week. It only takes about an hour. Super easy!

pinottoparenthood · September 2013

You don't have to do one or the other exclusively! Make food when you have time, but keep some store bought baby food on hand for when you don't have time to make it yourself.

tondraluv · September 2013

AMJ6511 said:

I started making my own. My goal was to introduce her to solids that I made first since she isn't eating a lot. When she is eating a lot more, I might start buying it. I just find that it is a lot cheaper, and I like that I can water it down with breastmilk.

This all the way

JSS1002 · September 2013

I'm a full time working mom. I spent one 3 hour chunk on one Saturday in the kitchen and probably made enough to last 2months (frozen in ice cube trays).

However, I also bought some at the store.

I'll probably do a mix -- BUT, I absolutely adore tinkering in the kitchen, it is one of my favorite hobbies,so it was fun for me!

Debbie0580 · September 2013

I made all of DS food but this time around I'm doing a mix. I'll do avocado, sweet potato, squash, banana, applesauce, and pears for sure. I had a harder time puréeing veggies (especially peas and carrots. I could never get the right consistency and they ended up chunky usually) and I hated doing meat (blech) so I will likely buy those.

kristalg25 · September 2013

Debbie0580 said:
I made all of DS food but this time around I'm doing a mix. I'll do avocado, sweet potato, squash, banana, applesauce, and pears for sure. I had a harder time puréeing veggies (especially peas and carrots. I could never get the right consistency and they ended up chunky usually) and I hated doing meat (blech) so I will likely buy those.

This is probably what I'm going to do when the time comes. I agree about the meat, it kinda weirds me out

CoachTay · September 2013

I plan to make & freeze my own of SOME foods (carrots, green beans, peas...) and by others. I'm not opposed to the store bought by any means, but am going to make what I can to save on $. My SIL had my nephew in Dec 2012, so I get a lot of info from her. She said making fruits (other than bananas) is not cost effective, so I'm not even going to bother with those.

I hit up Target last month when they were clearancing out their Gerber & Nature's Best organic baby food, so I have a pretty big supply of those.

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