Baby(food) Making

If you're wondering about how to make a baby...go talk to your mom. But if you'd like to hear about making homemade baby food, you're in the right place!

I went back and forth with the idea of making food for Addie from scratch. Doing a cost-analysis, it appeared that it wouldn't save us any money since we don't have a garden.  Finding an afternoon to skin, steam, and puree didn't sound all that appealing, but once I started reading the back of food labels..I was sold. 

You would think that baby carrots are made of carrots & water, right?  So this is exactly what I wanted to see when looking at "natural" baby foods.  But each ingredient list read:  vegetable, water, and xxxxxxx acid.  Umm, no thanks.  Instead of grabbing a couple of baby foods to try, I came home with enough fruits and vegetables to feed a small army.  In fact, we've been eating cobbler up the whazoo this week trying to make sure every fruit finds a good home before it gets old.

After some online research, these are the guidelines I came up with for making some fresh & homemade goodies:

- Only introduce one new food at a time. Wait at least 4 days before trying something new.
- If refridgerated, eat within 48 hours
- If frozen, use within 30 days
- Steaming is a good way to keep all of the nutrients of the vegetable/fruit intact
- When portioning food out of a container of babyfood, only put a clean spoon into the container to scoop out what you plan to feed. If you have to go back for seconds, don't dip the baby's spoon in the container since it will have bacteria on it.

So with those guidelines in mind, I went to work!

 Keep the water that you use for steaming to add to the puree if needed.

 

Split the goods into ice trays and freeze. Then they are already portioned out for meals.

 

My first batch consisted of sweet potatoes & pears. Addie loves them both and mom loves knowing exactly what is going into those chubby little cheeks...and all over everything in a 5 foot radius at supper :)

What were the kiddlings doing during my food making adventure?

 This sweetheart got to hang out in her PJs and crawl around, then later she perfected ramming mom's toes in the walker.

And this one sun bathed...then managed to get herself stuck on a deck chair. 

Have you tried making home-made baby food?  Any tips?