Home-Made Baby Food -- Recipes?

canavara · July 2016

I just bought a Beaba Babycook, hoping it'll make cooking our own baby food easier (even though this won't be an issue for a good half year after LO arrives!). The first couple of months of solids sound maybe a little boring with just basic purees, but beyond that... so many possibilities.

Anyone else planning on going the home-made baby food route, any fun recipes?

We're using ours currently just to make some fun stuff for ourselves before the baby arrives and I was really happy with mango puree + plain yogurt + chia seeds.

stumptownmama · July 2016

I loved the wholesome babyfood guide. I have the book but there is also a website. I followed her progression of introducing foods and recording reactions. There are charts you can print off. And there are lots of recipes for mixing purées as well as when they are ready for a bit more texture. it was a fun adventure!

susykat77 · July 2016

I definitely want to make baby food but I haven't started researching anything yet. My SIL would make a random vegetable purée and freeze it in ice cube trays and then she'd pull out a few cubes of random veggies and heat them up together. It always tasted great to me!

stumptownmama · July 2016

I did the ice tray thing. It made perfect portions. I suggest getting the silicone ones so they are easy to pop out and put in a bag or container to store.

SunsetSky · July 2016

We plan on using stuff from our garden to make our own food. We haven't looked into it much, but I assume it's easy with a decent processor.

JennaLee1486 · July 2016

I used a regular ice cube tray, it made about 1oz portions. I used just 1 type of fruit or veggie in each cube. At first he only ate 1 cube or 2 a day and gradually increased to 4 per meal. I started with a single fruit/veggie so I could watch for allergy reactions (tons of allergies in my family). Once I knew he was OK, I combined a few cubes to make my combos. That way I could make strawberry mango one day and strawberry banana the next without having to make a million cubes. He loved banana avocado. He also loved eggplant and ground beef (I know, weird kid). And anything with mango was a thumbs up (beware of mango poop though, eeeeew). I used my ninja blender and a steamer. I did have the infantino squeeze station, the pouches were nice for on the go.

AlabamaRedhead · July 2016

With DS I made all his food. I used a stick blender from Wal mart and would set aside time on the weekend to cook, mush and package--especially as he got older and more was needed. I put it in small bowls and would send it to his daycare. I plan on doing the same this time. It was pretty easy!

KimC85 · July 2016

I just made extras of whatever veggies we were eating and either blended them with a little breast milk or I just lightly mashed them. I didn't do anything fancy and I didn't combine anything

mrshuse525 · July 2016

I loved making all my DD's food. We received a baby bullet as a gift and it rocks but a normal blender would work just fine. I also used ice cube trays for storage and they worked out perfectly. It only took me a hour on the weekend to prep almost a whole month of baby food. My DD loved bananas and spinach combo and just plain avocado on its own. There are so many options/combos!

I will say that it's best to intro one new food and then wait a week to make sure there are no allergies.

Overall, I absolutely loved making my own for DD. Taking the time to make it myself made me feel like I was giving my daughter fresh, healthy foods. I was also able to go all organic for cheap since you get a ton of servings out a couple pieces of veggies/fruits. (1 sweet potato makes like 10 1oz servings)

ThePax89 · July 2016

I made TONS of purees. Turns out, my daughter didn't like purees. She went right for table food. Something that worked well for us was doing 1 ingredient cubes (Apple, pear, sweet potato, kale) and then mixing them while reheating. A popular one was apple or pear mixed with raspberry or blueberry purée, sometimes I added oats. I always used water, because she acted like my breast milk was poison if it didn't come straight out of my boobs.

TinaBelcher · July 2016

We'll definitely try making food (a friend is giving me her baby bullet) but I'm also interested in learning about BLW... But I'm so overwhelmed with twin stuff that I'm not researching food yet lol!

ThePax89 · July 2016

@TinaBelcher with twins especially, BLW is the easiest, and in my opinion, the most natural, and best for their motor skills. I'll probably do blw with this one from the start just so that during dinner, the baby is occupied, and I can attempt to shove some calories into my face.

canavara · July 2016

TinaBelcher said:

We'll definitely try making food (a friend is giving me her baby bullet) but I'm also interested in learning about BLW... But I'm so overwhelmed with twin stuff that I'm not researching food yet lol!

I keep hearing REALLY good things about BLW! Mostly how great it is for encouraging personal independence since it leads to them self-feeding from the very start and learning on their own how much food they need to eat rather than spoon-feeding and forcing. I'm still so so torn on going that route because I've read it also can lead to picky eaters since they can reject what's put in front of them (but I guess you can have that with spoonfeeding too!) Can't wait to learn and drive myself crazy trying to figure out what does and doesn't work lol.

nolemomma14 · July 2016

We did a combination of puréed and BLW. We had an all in one steamer and blender and also used ice cube trays to store. At home we mostly did BLW and I usually packed some of the baby food for when we were out and about. Probably around 10 months he wanted nothing to do with purées and just stuck with the BLW.

We we started with sweet potatoes and then did squash and green beans before trying some fruits. After a few days of no reaction we moved onto the next food. Never really used recipes, would just mix what we had on hand. Apples and pears I found were good to mix with the veggies because they were runnier and balanced out the thicker veggies.

canavara · July 2016

ThePax89 said:

because she acted like my breast milk was poison if it didn't come straight out of my boobs.

Oh man, I hadn't even considered that that could be a thing that happens. Were you able to breastfeed as long as you wanted (I'm guessing she didn't like pumped milk in bottles!)?

AmyKDuffy · July 2016

I don't want to fully commit to making my own baby food as I have no idea how busy or exhausted I'll be, but I definitely want to give it a shot!

ElleMF728 · July 2016

Like @ThePax89 DS2 hated being fed. He has always preferred to feed himself with finger foods which I love so we went with BLW with him.

DS1 had a texture issue. My plan as originally BLW but he really struggled with finger foods and would gag and vomit from just touching anything except puffs (even those took a while to get used to).

Unsurprisingly, DS1 never put anything in his mouth, I could leave him in a room with Legos all over the place and he would have been fine. DS2 crawls around all day eating anything he can find: ants, paper, stickers, everything goes in that kids mouth.

stumptownmama · July 2016

We did purées from 6 mos to about 10 mos and then did more BLW. Hardcore BLW will say you can't do a combo but it worked for us. DD is a great eater at 21 months and she eats whatever I make us for dinner. She's not the best veggie eater but there are lots of ways to disguise them.

KimC85 · July 2016

I only did the puréed and mashes for about a month. I would put little cut up pieces of things on her tray too so she could figure out how to pick them up and eventually feed herself. I also gave her a spoon of her own every time she ate and she mastered that at a fairly young age. She always tried to take my spoon so it was the only way I could actually get food in her without a mess.

Wholesome · July 2016

You don't need any fancy baby food making machine, just your blender. We puréed whatever vegetables we were eating and added some breastmilk to it. Sometimes we did fruit. Eventually, we started adding meat to his diet as well.

we didn't start baby food until 9 months but I believe the minimum recommendation is 6 months. We tried baby led weaning but a lot of what he was swallowing wasn't digesting and coming out almost just as it swallowed in his diaper, so we went back to purées.

we slowly made his food more chunky over time and eventually stopped using the blender and made sure it was mushy enough in tiny pieces. Then just tiny pieces, etc.

ThePax89 · July 2016

@canavara still nursing her at almost 21 months. She did take a few bottles, but we never really had the need to give her bottles because I've been home with her. What you said about blw causing picky eaters is extremely interesting. I never thought about it. My daughter is crazy picky, however, she ate even less prior to BLW. With purees she would close her mouth and not allow anything in. It's not our gig to force feed the little monster, so for now, cheese will have to count as a vegetable.

scgirl6113 · July 2016

nolemomma14 said:

We did a combination of puréed and BLW. We had an all in one steamer and blender and also used ice cube trays to store. At home we mostly did BLW and I usually packed some of the baby food for when we were out and about. Probably around 10 months he wanted nothing to do with purées and just stuck with the BLW.

This is what we did except sort of the opposite. We did BLW when we were out and mostly purees at home. We didn't want to deal with having to bring food while we were out. I think it was also around 10months that ours started to reject purees too and go only for BLW.

CJSampson · July 2016

I used a hand held blender that worked perfectly to make thousands of meals for happy, healthy well fed little bodies. I think the Sweet Potatoes were always a favorite, and probably second was the Applesauce and Pear sauce. Squashes always work well, the green beans and peas can be a bit difficult until the child gets a bit older without a very good blender. The tough outer coat of the peas and green beans can be too much for a younger eater and you may not be able to introduce these until 12 months or later. Beans were always popular as long as they were very soft and well blended.

ChaoticWolf · July 2016

I probably won't try to make home-made baby food because I'll probably be too exhausted, but I just wanted to say @canavara the purees might not be as far off as you think. My cousin Beth was instructed by her pediatrician to start giving her son one veggie puree serving cup a day (a different one each week to rule out allergies) at three months old.

Smiley-1980 · July 2016

I'm going to try a combination of BLW and purees this time. I just did purees with DD and it was hard to get her to eat "real" food later on, she loved the purees and ate so much so I didn't force the actual solids until it was almost too late and she kept rejecting them.
I love the purees because I can get a lot more of each food group into the baby but I want to make sure to offer some finger foods at the same time this time.

AlabamaRedhead · July 2016

Here's a few sites that helped a lot with DS, they list what's good to try when, etc.

https://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/solidfood4to6montholdbaby.htm

https://homemade-baby-food-recipes.com/baby-led-weaning-first-foods/

Renee1105 · July 2016

I made homemade purees and all organic BLW and now at 3 all she eats is grilled cheese and boogers.

sweetyjenj · July 2016

This will be a great thread to search back on once LO is a bit older!! I plan on doing homemade recipes, but haven't started researching anything. A friend of mine does in-home daycare, and she says that her little kiddos also love frozen yogurt drops. She takes a sheet of wax paper and puts little drops of yogurt on the wax paper (I believe she puts yogurt in a plastic bag, then cuts off the corner to squeeze it out) then puts that in the freezer. They are bite size once they freeze! I'll probably do some of those, too.

canavara · July 2016

Renee1105 said:

I made homemade purees and all organic BLW and now at 3 all she eats is grilled cheese and boogers.

Hahaha hopefully that's not a combined recipe

MaryNog · July 2016

Renee1105 said:

I made homemade purees and all organic BLW and now at 3 all she eats is grilled cheese and boogers.

Laughing so hard at this!!!

ThePax89 · July 2016

@Renee1105 isn't it fun? Feeling like you did everything you were supposed to, and the only vegetable they eat is cheese...

ashanne88 · July 2016

I made DS purees starting around 6 months. I froze individual fruits and veggies in ice cube trays, introduced one at a time and then started to combine them. This is a sneaky way to get veggies and proteins into them if they're not as into them. We did some amount of BLW too, but DS didn't get his first tooth until 11 months so we were pretty limited on what he could actually chew (not just swallow whole or end up spitting out). Making purees was pretty easy. Dedicating an hour or so on a weekend day can get you a month or so of food in the freezer, depending on how much your kid eats.

Renee1105 · July 2016

ThePax89 said:

@Renee1105 isn't it fun? Feeling like you did everything you were supposed to, and the only vegetable they eat is cheese...

Haha, my husband and I were just talking about this last night. We tried, we really did, she used to eat so much, now everything is a fight. A fight that I'm losing.

Want a personalized experience?

Home-Made Baby Food -- Recipes?

Re: Home-Made Baby Food -- Recipes?

Choose Another Board

Search Boards