I find great fulfillment in preparing homemade baby food for my kiddos. A neighbor once replied with astonishment when I mentioned I was making my own: “Oh I could never do that.” Huh? Sure, the store-bought jars are convenient, but they never looked appetizing to me, and well, have you seen some of the ingredients? I wanted to keep things as pure for my babies’ palates as I could. Turns out it’s a cinch. There are lots of cool modern gadgets out there that are sold as baby-food makers, dozens of cookbooks with recipes for baby food. They’re great. But it’s really even simpler than all that. Bananas and avocados, obviously only require some vigorous mashing with a fork. But even cooked foods are easy:
You’ll need:
a microwave or an oven
an immersion blender
ice cube trays or silicon muffin pans
Then you’ll need to:
make sure your kitchen surfaces and tools are clean
wash produce (sweet potatoes/apples/peaches/squash/green beans/etc.)
Then you just:
steam produce via microwave or oven
remove any skins/seeds/rinds/pits
puree with immersion blender until smooth, adding a little warm water if necessary
refrigerate or freeze
That’s it. Really.
For those tiny first portions, I use ice cube trays. I know my baby doesn’t care, but I think it’s fun to use heart or star-shaped trays. Just because I have them. For larger portions, a silicon muffin pan works perfectly. I make the purees, freeze little portions, then pop them out into a freezer container or freezer bag. I thaw overnight in the fridge when I need them.
Sweet Potatoes for Baby
* scrub sweet potato, pierce with a fork, bake in the oven at 400 for about 45 minutes, until soft * scoop flesh out of the skin and transfer to a bowl or blender * add just a little hot water and even a teensy dash of cinnamon (for babies over 6 months) and puree away * serve or freeze in individual portions
Peas for Baby
steam frozen peas in the microwave according to package directions * transfer to bowl or blender and puree away * serve or freeze in individual portions
What I love about doing it myself: It take just a few minutes. The colors more vibrant, the flavors more true, and I can go as organic as I like and actually save money doing it on my own. There are other plusses, too. I made homemade macaroni and cheese for dinner this week and tossed in a muffin-sized serving of sweet potato puree. It added color, flavor and nutrition to the meal. I also add one of the smaller sizes of frozen applesauce to my toddler’s hot cereal in the morning. Perfect! Two happy, healthy little boys.
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Kimberly
...by day, making a home where the buffalo roam. By night, pretty much the same thing, punctuated by the occasional fantasies of sunny beaches, italian movies and sparkling lemonade.
Brilliant. Seriously, especially when you consider how expensive baby food can be.
I did this with my first baby–it was so easy!
And then I skipped pureed baby food entirely with my next babe. He went straight to table foods. Even easier!
Perfect timing on this post. My little one gets to start food soon and I want to make his own food. I'm amazed by the sugar, salt, etc. in jar baby food. Ridiculous!
i've been making my own baby food this time around for baby #3 – i really enjoy making it – i use the jessica seinfeld book like its a Bible and use the purees for cooking for my 4 year old twins — so i am taking care of all three at one time with the homemade food — thanks for the recipes.
I love it! So clever. I especially love the heart shaped ice cubes.
I absolutely loved making my own baby food for my girls. I once bought $1.27 worth of produce and made enough baby food for almost 2 weeks. I would call that savings.
I love the heart cubes! I always just used plain old ice cube trays.. I always found that it was cheaper to make my own, even organic I could make for a few cents an ounce. And people always thought I was crazy and would say 'oh, i dont have time for that!'
Cute shapes. I made my baby food too. So easy for the puree stage and then mashing up some of our (the adults) dishes when she was a little older was a cinch. The only thing I missed about commercial baby food was the nifty little jars.
Love these ideas! My sister did that for her kids, but she had an old baby food grinder that she'd use. Sometimes she'd grind up lasagna or whatever the family was having, too. But I don't think she froze anything but fruit/veggie purees.