Making Your Own Baby Food

My four oldest children were subject to the jarred baby foods from the super market. I wonder how much money I wasted on that? This time around my little one is getting home made baby foods. It’s simple, not very time consuming, and so much cheaper! Of course I still buy the baby rice, oat, or barley cereal, but with the help of the WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) goverment program, that is not costing me a dime.  I started last week, as the baby is only 5 months old now. He’s been on the cereal a few weeks, and last week I bought some apples from the Farmer’s Market.

I peeled and cored them, diced them up, boiled them, then pureed them in the food processor. I put half in the freezer, and the other half in the refridgerator. He’s fed about a tablespoon or so everyday around breakfast time. At feeding time I mix it with a pinch of rice cereal and some warm formula, and feed it to him as is (I won’t microwave it to warm it up).  Today I made him some carrots, and he will have them at lunch time. I bought carrots to go with my meals for the week, and had many left over. I’d already peeled them for the meals, so all I had to do was boil them and puree them. Again I froze half, and refridgerated the other half, and again, at feeding time I will mix it with warm formula. I only add cereal to the food if it needs to be thickened up a bit. I’m currently using mason jars, the kind you’d use for jams and jellies. I’ve asked on Freecycle.org for some baby food jars from someone who actually buys them. Once I recieve some of them I will boil them to sanitize, then the storage of the foods I make will be much easier. 

You could also store the foods in ice cube trays, cover it with plastic wrap until it is frozen, and then put it in a ziplock container. Each cube is about an ounce of food, so remove as many cubes as you’d think the baby would eat.  If you don’t already make baby food yourself, now may be the time to begin. It will save so much money, and you’ll know exactly where the food is coming from. It’s not too time consuming. You do have to cook and boil the fruits and vegetables, but an hour a week is all it takes, and it makes so much that you can store it and never have to do that particular fruit or vegetable again. By the time you run out, the child should be able to feed themselves little chunks of it! 

Note: When just starting baby on new foods, vitamins and nutrients are not the main focus, so don’t worry too much about boiling all the vitamins out. The baby still gets most of his nutrients from his formula or breast milk. Right now the focus is introducing new flavors and textures to prepare him for eating table food when the time comes.So here’s how to do it:First pick your fruits and vegetables, you can buy them fresh, frozen, or even canned if you choose. Remember doctors advise to start the baby on vegetables first, since they aren’t as sweet, and only introduce one new food at a time, to ensure there are no allergic reactions.Prepare the fruits and vegetables.

Peel them if need be, then cook them. You can steam or boil them, whichever you prefer. Don’t worry about overcooking, the mushier the foods are, the better.You can use a good blender, food processor, or hand mixer to puree them.  You may need to add a bit of water to certain foods to get it to puree properly.I like to use a strainer once the foods are pureed. This way I can ensure there are no large chunks left in the food.Place the food into your storage jars, either sanitized mason jars, baby food jars, or ice cube trays.The food will stay good for about 48 hours in the refridgerator, and up to a month or so in the freezer. If you can, date the container so you know when you have to use it by.