Baby food!

[Limonada]

So Baby G will be 6 months old on the 27th of this month and I'm getting ready to introduce solids.  He's definitely showing signs of readiness, watching us with interest as we eat and even trying to grab bits of food when it's within his grasp.  I'm waiting until he's 6 months on the advice of my GP - for now, I'm exclusively breastfeeding aside from one formula feed per day (right before bed - DH and I take turns feeding him at that time, and he drinks from a sippy cup because he hates bottles!)

I'll start him on his rice cereal first, of course, and once he's used to taking food from a spoon and the thicker-than-breastmilk texture and I've determined he doesn't have any allergies to that or the other stage one cereal (oat, I think it is), then I'll move on to the purees - veggies, then fruit then meats.

Last time, I made most of my own food, even meat.  This time, I think I'm going to make the foods that I'd normally have on hand (this morning, I made some sweet potato to freeze, for instance), and buy jars of other foods that I wouldn't normally be making.  And I'll just have a few jars on hand for when we're out and about, for convenience sake.   I plan to buy the organic baby foods when I do purchase them - if I'm not actually making them myself where I can see exactly what's going into the food, I want to be confident that they're high quality.

What did/are you planning on doing?

[Limonada]

tiredbuthappy - That's too bad that you ended up having a bunch of homemade stuff left over!  Even when my oldest son was 2, I was still making some pureed veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini) and sneaking them into things like spaghetti sauce.  He was (and still is, at times) such a picky eater - this gave him an extra boost of veggies.

brittny - Culinary school?  Wow!  I'm just an amateur foodie :-)  I'm just using regular old ice cube trays to freeze my baby food....but if I do see that kit you mentioned, I may pick one up.  A cookbook is good, too, to get ideas, like you said.  With my oldest son, I never did get really adventurous with mixing different foods up....I just kind of gave him everything separately.  Combination foods would probably be a bit more exciting, especially for an older baby!

[cocacolapanda]

We made our own based on what was at the farmers market or somewhat cheep, then we bought the rest.  Banana's, sweet patatos and squash were the three main things we always made.  Our son didn't like the watery texture once he had the homemaid stuff so we shortly after moved to mashing things up.

[Spiket77]

Yes, making my own baby food too. I have a champion juicer that I have used for years. Not only for juice but it homogenizes food to the right consistency for apple sauce, purees, soups...even ice creams. I love it and it's virtually indestructible. I always say...convenience is a matter of perspective.

I might have been the one LosingMyMindGA is referring too about making my own formula too. It's pretty common actually. I am going to breastfeed as long as I can through the first year. If for some reason I can't or have to stop then I will make formula. My siblings and I couldn't have cow milk or soy so my Mom made a Goat's Milk blend formula. You have to add things to it but it's not a big deal. There is a good recipe in the book Nourishing Traditions.

[JoyRenee]

My baby girl hates baby food. She wants what we have, LOL! She'll eat the puff star things (the ones that melt in their mouths) but will gag on pureed baby food.

I don't make my own baby food. We're remodeling the kitchen and I just don't see how I could do that at this time. But I love what Brittny said about the price and how it is more cost effective. Maybe Zoë would want to eat it if it wasn't processed.

[tiredbuthappy]

We started to make our own food but ran into 2 problems... First she didn't like much of what I made! My little one would not touch any kind of fruit in any form! However, she loved veggies. The second problem we had was that my little piggy moved on to table foods and finger foods before we could use what I made. For a month she preferred whole peas, carrots, etc to purees. I am getting her back to some purees to get some oatmeal into her since she essentially put herself onto the Atkins diet. My toothless wonder would eat meat, greens, and dairy all day if I let her.
But it is easy. Since my little one likes texture, we also used a food mill which leaves a chunkier consistency. I got a baby food mill for like $12.

[Brittny27]

I have planned from the beginning to make all my own baby food. I never thought about the jar stuff being more convenient for on the go. I may have to think about keeping a few jars on hand just for that.  

I went to culinary school so why wouldn't I make my own baby food?

I purchased Fresh Baby So Easy Baby Food Kit. It has a cookbook and some ice cube trays to use to freeze the food. I also purchased additional ice cube trays with lids.  I also plan on purchasing another cook book that was recommended to me. I really don't think I need a cook book but I think I will use it for ideas mainly.

You just need to steam the food and puree it with a little of the water you steamed it with or you can use breast milk to thin it to the right consistency.  

You can get a whole week worth of food from one or two sweet potatoes that cost 33 cents a lb versus 60 cents a jar for food. I think I'm going to make my own just for the money saving. I want to be able to control whats in the food that my baby is eating also.

[wannabeamommy0124]

i plan to make most of the foods, with my nephew my sister had no clue what to do since her and the kitchen dont really get along... me on the other hand would just throw something together really easily and he loved it!! when we introduced meats to him, i has made some veggie soup for the family and put some steak in it... then processed it and gave it to him.. he was a little older maybe 9 months and could take solids a little better, he loved it!! i think he loved the new texture since it wasnt completely puree... but anyways... as i did for my nephew i plan to make my own baby foods as it is money saving and way healthier... i really hope i can keep up with it until baby's ready to move on to bigger things :D

[Limonada]

You basically just cook up some fruits or veggies (or, as in the case of bananas or avocado, there's no need to cook those) and then puree the heck out of it with your food processor - for lack of a more "culinary" sounding term, lol.  You sometimes need to add a bit of water to some of the things if the consistency isn't right.  

This morning, to make the sweet potato, I just baked up 4 of them then scooped out the middles and ran them through the food processor.  I got an ice cube tray and a half that way and just popped them in the freezer.  I store the frozen cubes in Ziploc bags in the freezer and take them out as needed.  It's really pretty easy :-)

I'm going to buy the meats this time simply because I didn't like the consistency of it when I tried it last time, I couldn't get it "just right" and DS didn't really seem to care for it.  

[AHP84]

I had my first experience making my own baby food this last weekend. It really wasn't that difficult or time consuming, but it did make for more cleanup work because my food processor has like a million pieces to it that I had to wash.
So far, I've tried prepared baby food in the way of applesauce, peas, pears, sweet potatoes, and the oatmeal and rice cereals. I've found over the past few weeks (I started my son on solids at 4½ months) that he *hates* rice cereal and pears, but he seems to enjoy the others.
When I finally had a chance to prepare my own baby food last weekend (to which I found plenty of websites with step by step instructions on how to make basic foods and recipies), I made bananas and sweet potatoes, both of which he loves. It was his first time eating bananas and he couldn't get enough of those. And as for the sweet potatoes, he seems to prefer the taste of the homemade stuff I made for him over the prepared food because he almost never spits it back out. I suppose he likes the fresher taste.
This week, I'm going to make him peas, apples, carrots, squash, and mash up more bananas since those were such a hit. I'll freeze most of it and have it ready to use for the next week to two weeks.
I am hoping I can make most of his baby food myself, even the meats. But I am aware that there will be times when I need something for convenience, so I also intend to have a small stock of prepared baby food as well, since it doesn't need to be refrigerated or frozen until after opening the jar.

[elisha123]

i make most of brianna's food myself but like you said the things that i normaly wouldnt have in the house i buy from the jars. i bring the homemade food out aswell i find its alot cheeper and you get much more for your money!

[LosingMyMindInGA]

I've never been that "domestic"  LOL.  I always just buy prepared baby food, BUT I really prefer not to use anything other than Gerber.  I trust gerber but don't know much about the off brands.  I would't even know where to start to make my own baby food.  I even ready one post that said if they use formual they will make their own as well...leanr something new every day :)

[jade_and_janessas_mommy]

Wow.  I have seen many posts on here saying that they made their own baby food.  I feel silly but when I first read that I didn't even realize you could do that!  That would be awesome to have the time to at least do my own fruits & veggies, but I feel like I am running myself ragged as it is.  When you make your own baby food, do you make it into "goo" like the baby food they sell in stores in the jars?  My baby is older now and able to eat small peices of fruit and things like that so we are getting away from the baby food.  I might be interested in making baby #2's food myself, though.  Hmm, something to think about!