channeling my inner hippie

As most of you already know, I've been making Noah's baby food myself. It's not that I think jarred baby food is evil or anything, but I do believe that doing it myself has saved us so much money. When you first introduce baby food, they typically don't eat much of it. If they're younger than 6 months, then they probably haven't totally lost that instinctive tongue reflex (which is a good thing), meaning that a lot of it ends up all over their mouth instead of in their tummy. They also more than likely won't eat an entire jar... which means it ends up getting thrown out. There's a good $.45 down the drain. This is, of course, if you decided not to go with the rice cereal route (btw, Earth's Best makes organic rice cereal, and it's not expensive). Fast forward to now, where Noah is eating anywhere between 4 and 6 ounces of food at each sitting. That's a lot of baby food. Even if I don't have to throw anything out, it's still more expensive in the long run than just making it myself.

I'm also a big fan of going organic when possible. I just like the idea of "less messed with" food and keeping it pure for my baby. And that just added a few more pennies to the baby food budget.

This leads to why I chose to do the homemade option. It saves money. I know who washed it, cooked it, prepared it, and stored it. I know what is in it. The only thing I add is water.

I was asked to do a "How To" blog on this, so here we go...

*Warning: I'm not a very good teacher, so if this is totally confusing, sorry. :)*

Most experts agree that "fresh is best" when it comes to fruits and veggies. So that's my first choice. Check the charts for what foods are appropriate for your baby's age and also check with your pediatrician to make sure it's accurate info.
Noah's favorites: apples, sweet potatoes, pears, blueberries, peas, butternut squash, carrots, and tofu (...yep).

If I can't go fresh, my next choice is frozen... and a lot of the time it's SO much easier and cost efficient. For example, with Noah's peas and green beans (who wants to shell fresh ones??), I always get frozen. I buy a couple of large bags (check for sales!), and we're good for awhile. I also like to buy a huge bag of blueberries frozen... mainly because I like to eat frozen blueberries. :)

For frozen veggies and fruits, cook as you would normally (as indicated on the back of the bag), but don't add butter or salt. Just water. For everything else, I typically bake or steam. Steaming is my favorite, because it holds the most nutrients. And when I go to puree, I can use the leftover steaming water (to add any nutients that were lost) to make a more smooth puree. However... and this is a big deal... when steaming carrots, DO NOT use the reserve water. It contains nitrates found naturally in carrots, and baby definitely doesn't need that.

Once it's cooked, I use my food processor (Brad got me one for Christmas, and I never really knew how much I'd come to love it). If you don't have one, a blender will work too. Just add the cooked food and start pureeing. Add water until you get a consistency that you (and baby) like. Fyi, peas and green beans are harder to get smooth. You can use a strainer, but I think it's a great way to start introducing different textures. (oh, and with tofu, you don't really need to cook it. Just mash and serve).

Obviously, your baby isn't going to eat everything you just made, so the next step is to store it.

At first, I just used ice cube trays, which is perfectly fine. Each cube is about 1 ounce, so it's an easy measurement. The problem I had was trying to get the cubes to pop out once frozen. Then I discovered the silicone versions. It's so much easier.

Anyways, just fill the tray with the puree, then cover with plastic wrap and stick in the freezer.

And that's it! Once frozen, I stick them in plastic ziploc freezer baggies. Frozen food should keep for 3 months in the freezer. If you thaw it, make sure you use it within 2 days.

I hope this made sense.

If you have any other questions, all of this and way more info is on this website. Plus, they have awesome baby food recipes.

Good luck!!