Sunday, February 3, 2013

Making Home Made Baby Food....

I haven't seen a lot of posts about "making home made baby food". The lovely Becca from Becca & Devin said she would love a post about it, & I was THRILLED. First time I've been asked for a specific update. After this one, if everyone would like me to keep doing updates on it, please let me know. I'll get into mixing foods, & recipes later on if my followers would like :) Let me start off by saying, I AM NO PROFESSIONAL, & I don't claim to know everything about making baby food. I know I will learn as I go, & get more advice on how to make it easier, or better along the way. I wanted to start this post off with just some simple "first time" purees for the beginners & obviously Matthew is 6 months old, so we are just now getting into a lot of the more exciting foods & mixing. The products I made below are all 6 month friendly foods. Just make sure you always do the "4 days rule". Give the same food for 4 days before you try another new food. Do not mix two new foods, because you won't know which one caused the problem if your child has an allergic reaction, but you are more than welcome to mix two foods that you have already tested "4 day rule" with.

Why do I make home made baby food?
- I know exactly what I'm feeding Matthew
- If you know how to shop right, its cheaper, but in most cases it is defiantly cheaper
- I am the only one preparing & touching Matthew's Food
- I would much rather feed Matthew fresh fruit & veggies then something in a little package or jar
- I love making it


First, you have to buy the food you want to make. Generally, you want to stick to buying everything organic. You can find a lot of organic stuff at the higher dollar grocery stores, Trader Jo's, Whole Foods, as long as it says it's organic, your good to go. Buy fruits that don't have a lot of brown spots, dents, or just look they are in bad shape & don't buy vegetables that look like they are in bad shape as well. I guess what I'm trying to say is buy the pretty stuff :) Make sure to wash your hands before you touch anything, you don't want to get any bacteria in the food. Also, make sure all the utensils & cooking stuff you use has been washed properly, along with the counter tops you are working on. The cleaner everything is, the better. Wash the fruit & veggies with warm water, & if you have a fruit/veggie brush use it. Today I made Mango, Apple, Kiwi, Banana & Broccoli. 


Second, these two items are always a must for me. A good size cutting board to fit how ever much you plan on cutting up. I used the smaller one today because I wasn't making any large batches. This skin peeler is my favorite, I've tried a few others, but this one gets the job done the fastest & right so far. Each time you shave a new food just give the utensils & cutting board a quick rinse so foods aren't mixing together. I never use the same cutting board that raw meat gets cut on, I may just be paranoid, but you never know if bacteria is lingering over. 


Third, I don't think you "have" to take the skin off everything. I know it's more nutritious in most cases. I just don't like the skin, or the way it looks. I guess I just feel like I'm taking off the dirty layer to get the clean layer lol. With the broccoli I just cut off some of the steams & chopped it up a little & the banana I obviously just peeled the skin off. 


Fourth, I used just a regular cutting knife to chop up all the following. I like to chop it up into good size little bits so they fit nicely into the baby bullet cup & chop up easier & faster in the baby bullet. & for all of you who might not know, fruit is going to turn brown the longer it sits out & is chopped up. It is still OK & can still be eaten. When you have a fruit like mango, kiwi, peaches, bananas....things that are already soft, you don't need to boil, steam, or bake them. They are already ready to chop up & put into the baby bullet. But do not put an apple, or broccoli into the baby bullet or food processor without steaming/baking/boiling. 



Fifth, I started off with the kiwi since it was already ready to go & all I had to do was chop it up. In the first picture I have the baby bullet. You can use any food processor, it doesn't have to be the baby bullet. I just highly recommend the baby bullet, or a baby food processor because they are perfect size & easier to deal with in my opinion. With the baby bullet there is a small cup &  a large cup, small for small batches & large for large batches. I used the small cup for all 5 foods today because I wasn't making any large amounts of one food. It also comes with two blades, the one above is used for all fruits & veggies, the other one that I did not use today is used for milling grains & oats. All you do is screw the blade onto the cup & set inside the processor & push down. 


Sixth, with the broccoli I used a steamer. There is a baby bullet steamer, but we already have just a normal steamer. You just fill the bottom up with water & turn it on & it cooks in about 15 minutes or so. The reason I steam the food is because when you boil it you loose some of the nutrients in the water. But if you don't have a steamer, its not a huge deal. When you steam you are looking for a soft consistency, you have to be able to easier cut or put a fork in them, super soft, so they are able to blend well in the food processor. Also, when I steamed the broccoli I didn't get a lot of juice or left over water, so in the third picture I am adding a little bit of purified water to the cup so that when I put it into the food processor it will give me more of a puree rather than finger food. 



Seventh, I also steamed the apples. In the second picture you can see the left over juice from the apples, I poured that into the cup with the apples to give a good consistency to the apples. I didn't need water, because I had the juice. 


Eighth, when you are pureeing something, you are looking for a watery but slightly apple sauce appearance. You don't it so watery that its like, well, water or juice, it needs to have texture to it, so your baby can start to get used to different textures. When you very first start off I would recommend a more watery consistency then I use with Matthew now. As they go, you go from almost watery, to texture, to chunky, to finger foods, adult food, if that makes since. If you have a "masher" you can even use that to puree things like bananas & mangos. 


Ninth, storing is super easy. You don't have to use the baby bullet products, I just really like them because they fit the perfect amount that Matthew eats, when he first started it was more like half the smiley face cups, & now it's one full cup on each serving. There are lots of great products to store baby food in, you can even use a plastic bag if you want. Pinterest has some great ideas for storing food. These little containers can get expensive after a while if you start making a ton of food all at one. The bottom right containers are Munchkin, I got two of these for 10$ at Walmart. I use these when I have a lot of one product, which as you can see the broccoli made 9 little cups, but I would probably use two of these little holes to feed Matthew one serving. The baby bullet cups also have a date dial on them to show when you made them, or you can put when they are good by like an expiration date. I put the mango in the large container to the bottom left because Matthew hasn't tried this food yet & I know I will be using it for 4 days straight when I give it to him for the first time so I can put it in the fridge. 


Last, Storing baby food in the fridge/freezer is super easy because the containers are generally always small. You can leave the food in the freezer for up to 30 days, & you can leave the food in the fridge there for up to 4 days. I wouldn't recommend putting something in the freezer, then to the fridge, and then back into the freezer. I'm not big on "re-freezing" things, & some things you really not supposed to do that with. 


I also wanted to add that if you don't have a steamer you can bake the product or boil it if you want to. This little Rachel Ray pan is perfect for boiling small amounts of food. Don't use teflon pans. I haven't baked anything yet, but I would just recommend a glass dish. 


Matthew trying his kiwi for the first time. He was a happy boy. I was warned about the seeds in the poop, thank goodness lol, hasn't happened yet, but when it does I won't freak :) I'm excited to start introducing things with more texture like these with the seeds, it's always fun to watch their first initial taste. 

I tried to keep that as informative & short as I could. If you have any questions feel free to ask me anything. I've done a lot of research on making home made baby food, but of course, the internet is not always 100% correct. Lastly, I would like to add three very interesting photos I have picked up from pinterest. 




24 comments:

  1. great post! I'm also preparing my own baby food for Lucas I think is the best!

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  2. Thanks for doing this post!! I just used my baby bullet for the first time today. Carrots and green beans, I'm excited to start making fruits for our little guy. I love reading your blog since your little man is of a month older, I love to see what we're in store for next. :-)

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  3. This is going to come in handy in a few months, thanks Katie!

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  4. I loved making baby food for my first son and now I'm doing it with the 2nd...it's so easy!

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  5. Thank you for this post. We have not started "BIg girl food" yet but we will in a couple weeks and I am planning on doing this too!
    Katie
    godslittlegrace.blogspot.com

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  6. Love this! Thanks for sharing! I can't wait to start making baby food, I may need to pick up a baby bullet. It's so cute!

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  7. Love it! We love making our own baby food too!

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  8. You are TOO SWEET! thank you so much for writing this post, I already learned so much from it. Def using it for reference in a few months. Also, what were the first foods you started out with, do you think the magic bullet would work just as well for making food, and what would you use to store the 4 days worth in the fridge if you don't have the cute little baby bullet holders??

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    1. Your welcome!! Well the day of Matthew's four month checkup the pediatrician said we could go ahead with rice cereal, and work our way to solid foods. That day we gave him rice cereal, and same with the next day, he hated it and it was impossible for him to get used to the spoon if he hated what we were giving him, so on the third day I gave him bananas (some ppl say start with veggies, then fruits at 5 months) its really just preference, and it wont make them hate veggies if you start with fruits because breast milk and formula are both sweet so they are used to it. After four days of bananas, we did pears four days later apple, then avocado, so on, so for month 4-6 he tried Bananas, Apples, Pears, Avocados, Sweet Potatoes, Carrots, Squash, Zucchini, Carrots, Peaches, celery, peas, kiwi, I think thats it :) They are all low allergy foods!! I think the magic bullet would work fine!! Any food processor will get the job done. & you can store it in anything, like ittle tuberware containers, plastic bag, bowl with ceran wrap, if you go to pinterest and type in home made baby food, or storing baby food lots of pics will pop up for storing ideas :)

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  9. We are using the baby bullet for Waverly, too!!! Love it!

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  10. I can't wait to start feeding Avery solids & making her food. I'll definitely be back to reread this post a few times when it's that time!

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  11. I love your new blog layout!

    Wow, this is so informative. I think I want to make our baby food when we have children, but now learning more about it I definitely think I will. I have always thought the baby bullet containers were so cute when I see them at the store.

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  12. Very informative post. I didn't make home ade baby food with my other girls, but I plan on doing it with this baby.

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  13. Have you tried butternut squash yet?

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    1. I don't think we have done butternut squash yet, I'm pretty sure just regular squash :)!! I do want to try that one though, that's the big one right?

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    2. Yeah they are usually yellow and harder on the outside and bigger. We like them at our house and just wanted to know if you had liked them or if Matthew liked them? We are going to break out the baby food in two weeks! I am so excited! (and not)

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    3. We haven't tried them yet, but I will do them next week after he tries his broccoli :)!! Thanks for letting me know!!

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  14. I'm going to be looking for this post in a few months! I always come back here for advice on what you were doing back when Matthew was one month!

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  15. How do you warm the food up? My little guy doesn't like it cold and I know the microwave is bad.

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    1. If i'm not in a hurry I just put the container in a bowl with with really hot water to let it kind of "defrost". But I know they say the microwave is bad, but I use it all the time, even for his bottles. I've been doing it for 6 months & never had a problem :) just make sure to shake the bottle, & make sure to stir the food, the only reason they say that is for hot spots i think :)

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    2. Ive just always heard that it takes away nutrients, but who really knows... I've been using it too, I was just feeling guilty. So glad to hear you use it too :) I also have a blog request: what's your basic schedule as far as eating, naps, bed time routine, sleep, etc. would love some advice on that!

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    3. I've heard that too!! That's why I steam the food when I make baby food instead of boil it. I guess I'm just always in a hurry with the microwave, but Matthew will normally eat it at room temperature.

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    4. Hey Julia, just did a post on our schedule :)

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  16. I so wish that I had made baby food & it is defiantly on my list of things to do right with the next child lol.

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