Baby Food

Tonight I spent a couple of hours making baby food. The baby is doing well with oatmeal and now that he is well into his 6 month I'm going to start adding delicious vegetables. Tonight I made squash, carrots, sweet potatoes, and peas.

When people find out that I make my own baby food invariably I get comments. All sorts. All kinds. I won't go into it. Who knew that homemade baby food was such a hot topic? I didn't. In fact here are the reasons why I make my own.

1. I'm cheap. Those little packages of baby food are expensive! Especially those organic ones.
2. It really isn't hard. I promise. I'll tell you how I do it.
3. I stay at home, only have one baby to make food for, and have a bit of extra time on my hands.
4. I know exactly what my lactose intolerant with possible allergies baby is getting.
5. It's nutritious.
6. I am used to being super busy and sometimes it hard for me to be at home all the time. This leads my brain on adventures on how I can make my life harder, but more interesting. (tap, tap, is anyone there? Anyone laughing? Sigh. I'm losing it.)

Interesting Facts about Making your own Baby food:

1. It's not hard, but it is a bit time consuming.
2. I will never, ever condemn a person for not doing this. It really is easier just to buy the jar, pop it open, and feed that baby.
3. I find that a food processor is an essential tool in making baby food. I tried with a food mill. That venture was met head on with tears and screaming, but I digress.

How To Make Your Own Super Baby Food:

1. Buy a food processor. Trust me, you'll want that.
2. Buy ice cube trays.
3. Buy vegetables.
4. Cut up the veggies and fruit. Peel the things like pears and apples, but don't with things like carrots.Is this list getting too long?
5. Steam the vegetables. I steam mine in a glass covered dish in the microwave. For carrots you need to add a lot of water, with squash just a bit, with sweet potatoes please don't steam them. Just poke holes, cook them in the microwave while covered, then scoop the cook potato out. Thank you.
6. Stick the cooked veggies (with the water) in the food processor and puree. Add water if needed. (I find that carrots and sweet potatoes need more water to make them mushy)
7. Spoon the pureed food into ice cube trays and freeze over night.
8. Take the food out of the trays and freeze in separate Ziploc.

For portion sizes for the varying age I use the book Super Baby Food. This book is a good reference, but I'm not too hard core. I don't make my own oatmeal or rice cereal. Seriously. I only have so much time.