When I started to feed Sofia solid food, I knew that there had to be another way so I started to research it. I found several different books but the one that I like the best I actually found this time around with my other daughter, Leila. It is called Naturally Healthy First Foods for Baby by Jacqueline Rubin. It is kind of like a first foods bible, very thorough and has a lot of "recipes."
You can buy a lot of different things to use to make your baby food. There is the BabySteps Kidco system, the Baby Bullet, the Baby Brezza (which I first saw at a local Babies R Us) and others. These systems look really nice and I am sure they work great. I have listed the web addresses below for anyone that wants to do some more research. I, of course, thought I could be a little more cost effective.
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| My baby food making "system" |
My system: $15
KidCo system: $59.95 for electric processor, tray, food mill and carrying case
Baby Bullet system: 4 "easy" payments of $19.99 for bullet, 8 storage containers
Baby Brezza system: $99.99 for just the processor ($14.99 for 4 containers, $14.99 for cutting board)
I think I win. :) Now on to the how-to portion...
When you first decide to start baby food (generally somewhere between 4-6 months or after) there is a little bit of an order to follow. Start with rice cereal to begin and then when baby has that down, move on to oatmeal and other grains. Rice is the easiest to digest that's why you start with that. Mix small amounts of baby cereal with breast milk, formula or water ("baby" water, purified or boiled is preferable). Go from soupy to thicker as baby learns to take it. Take your time feeding baby, he/she has plenty of time to taste everything. After cereals, start veggies. Veggies before fruits because fruits are sweeter and can sabotage your veggie efforts. Give each veggie or fruit for a couple of days and monitor for any sign of allergies.
To make your own baby food you will need the raw vegetables or fruits, your processor, ice cube trays/ little glass jars, and some baggies for freezing. If I were making carrots, this is what I would do:
1. Prepare carrots by peeling them and trimming off end. Discard/compost waste. Cut into slices and place in a pot of water.
2. Boil water and carrots until carrots are soft. Do not drain water- it can be used when blending carrots.
3. Place carrots in food processor with a little carrot water. Blend. Continue adding water as needed to get the right consistency.
4. Spoon into ice cube trays and place in freezer.
5. When frozen, pop out (may need to let them thaw on the counter a little) and place in baggies. Label "carrots" and date.
Pretty much all of your veggies can be done this way. Remember, leave out the oil, salt, pepper, and sugar. Baby has no idea about any of this yet so take advantage!
When it comes to fruit, a lot of time you can just mash it as is. Bananas and Pears can be mashed. Peaches and apples can just be blended. You can reconstitute dried apricots in some hot water and then blend those.
Meats can also be blended. I remember making a tray of black beans and rice for Sofia and she loved it! Be creative- you get to decide what you want to make and how to feed. It is awesome and cost-effective.
Final note: I have only talked about electric processing of baby food. You can also look into food mills that are manual processors. I would say that you can get a food mill for around $12 or so.
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