When I started thinking about giving Jasper baby food (FIVE YEARS AGO- WHAT?) I knew I wanted to make my own, but thought it would be difficult. Wrong. It's not. Sure it's a little time consuming and kinda messy, but difficult it is not.
I wanted to make his food because I wanted to save money and know Exactly what was going into my baby's body. When I started researching it I found even more reasons for making baby his baby food. Like for instance, apparently jarred baby is boiled at a really high temperature to kill bacteria for longer storage, but in the process of killing the bacteria it takes out many of the nutrients, vitamins and taste. So, less tasty, less healthy baby food for a higher price? No thanks.
So once I decided to make baby food, the HOW came up. I borrowed a book from my SIL who was a nanny at the time, but of course can't remember the book now since it was 5 years ago, but I think it was purple if that helps at all?
When I took the pictures for this post I went to sprouts and bought all organic fruits and veggies to puree. I think I spent $35 total and the food lasted about 2.5 months. Pretty good deal I'd say! I made butternut squash, acorn squash, sweet potatoes, peas, carrots and apples.
For the squash I just cut in half, scoop out the seeds and bake upside down in water for about an hour. Then scoop out all the inside, put it in the blender, add a tiny bit of water depending on what consistency you want and that's it! After it's pureed I freeze in ice cub trays. Once it's frozen, about 12 hrs later, I plop the ice cubes out and throw them in freezer zip lock baggies.
For sweet potatoes just wrap in foil, bake until soft, unwrap and throw in blender. Some people probably scoop them out, but a lot of the nutrients are in the skin so I do it all.
For Peas just throw in boiling water for a few minutes then blend.
Apples and pears I boil till soft then throw in blender.
See so easy?
I made another batch of baby food yesterday morning and this time added some spices, like cinnamon, cardamom, basil and garlic to various veggies and fruit. Who wants to eat bland food all the time? Not my babies!
If you have any questions feel free to ask below- I can't stress just how EASY this is!!
I didn't so much as mash up a banana with my first two kids. It sounded so "tree hugging" to me but my third was born while we lived in Morocco and no baby food was available. I made every bite of his baby food and was horrified when I realized how easy it was! My poor first two! :-)
ReplyDeleteAnd they seemed to have turned out just fine ;) my mom had to do the same w my youngest brother because we were living in Bali and she didn't trust the food so he was breast fed till like 2 because they didn't have cold milk, and cloth diapered because she didn't like the diapers there.
DeleteTHANK you for this- this is perfect.
ReplyDeleteOnce they're in ice cube form in a plastic bag--then what do you do? Do you thaw them out in the fridge? Are the ice cubes just easier to store?
ReplyDelete