Baby Food Bliss

A few years ago if you would have told me I'd make my own baby food I would have thought you were nuts! Not because I didn't want too, but just 'knew' I wouldn't have the time. Back then I was already into the organic, all natural and green living lifestyle, but I was also aware of how little time I already had, so to spend time making baby food when I could just buy organic baby food in the store, well, it just didn't make sense.

Enter a co-worker who made her daughter's baby food. Out of curiosity I asked how she did it and I was astounded by the simplicity of it all. Could it really be as easy as steaming the food and blending it? What about storing it, I wondered. How long would it last? Oh, you freeze it! And in a five minute conversation, making my own baby food seemed so manageable.

The Process:

Starting off: a bag of frozen (and of course organic) green beans. In the pot:

On the stove (and a cameo appearance by baby Gabe as he checks out his food)

Steamed up and ready in the baby food blender!

Still a little clumpy.....

Finished product! All done and ready to eat, or be frozen!

Ready to go in the freezer (of course I covered them with plastic wrap!)

And now my freezer full with an array of fruits and veggies. Note the ice cube trays on the left - they do not have ice in them (a surprise to some of our ice foraging guests, hehe) but are filled with a rotating assortment of newly frozen fruits or vegetables.

Tips & Tidbits that worked for me:

• I was a bit too busy when Gabe first came home to think about baby food. Had I thought ahead to the time that he needed to begin eating solids and that it would be in the middle of winter, a time where finding fresh vegetables would be difficult I probably would have started earlier. But I didn't. So I chose to use organic, frozen vegetables.
• After steaming Gabe's food I would save the water I steamed the veggies (or fruit) in to use as an additive if the food needed to be a little thinner.
• You do NOT need a baby food maker, just use your food processor. As I don't have a food processor and thought it'd be a little unusual, albeit tacky, to put on on Gabe's gift registry we went with the KidCo Baby Food Blender.
• Some foods like bananas, avocados and sweet potatoes don't even need to be blended. Using a potato masher worked perfectly for me.
• You can make different combinations of food to suit your baby's taste buds and your nutritional desires. (Example - everyone knows corn has almost no nutritional value but it is in all of the store bought baby foods mixed vegetables. So I just combined frozen beans, peas and carrots and voila, corn-free mixed veggies!)
• The baby food I make contains no preservatives or GEI's (genetically engineered ingredients).
• You do NOT need the baby food trays that the stores recommend. Ice cube trays work just as efficiently and cost a lot less!

Speaking of costing less; making your own baby food is a substantial money saver! Even if you choose to use only foods that are organic or all natural. Gabe started eating solids at 6 months and is now a week shy of nine months. Besides the cost of his oatmeal and yogurt, I have spent approximately $44.00 on all of his food! And what I have right now should last him at least another 2 months. If I bought him jars of baby food, I'm estimating that I would have spent at least $100.00 (approximately 80 days of solids starting at 1 jar a day and now up to about 4 jars a day, with baby food costing 50 cents a jar and that's not using organic baby food.)

So in summary making your own baby food is not only easy; it's also inexpensive, non-time-consuming and will provide you with the piece of mind of knowing exactly what your baby is eating (the good stuff) and not eating (the bad stuff - chemicals, GEI's).

I love living (and eating) green... and am grateful I can keep Gabe eating foods as natural as possible for as long as possible. Or until his Dad gets his hands on his eating habits!