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Make Your Own Baby Food
CHOW tested, baby approved
Ever since Gerber put strained peas in a jar in 1928, baby food has been big business. There are lots of reasons to buy it: It’s quick; you don’t have to worry about adequate nutrition; it’s easy. Except it’s not so quick if it means an extra supermarket trip. And it’s not necessarily ounce-for-ounce nutritionally optimal—it’s got fillers and starches. It is, however, easy.
- Pear Baby Food
- Sweet Potato and Squash Baby Food
- Green Bean Baby Food
- Broccoli Baby Food
- Chicken and Sweet Pea Baby Food
- Baby Feeding Guidelines
- Thoughts from a New Mom
Making your own is pretty easy, too—and cheap. With a food processor or a fork, you can mash up your own cooked peas or carrots. It’s part of the joy, too: Revealing solid food to your kid, one green bean at a time, is one of the great experiences of the first year. (You won’t, however, be able to make a baby food flower garden or envelope licker).
There are a lot of rules about what a baby can eat when, so we’ve summed it up (very broadly) for you. Always turn to your doctor first. But remember, you’re raising a Chowhound: Eating is a pleasure.
BABY FOOD RECIPES
6 MONTHS PLUS
7 MONTHS PLUS
10 MONTHS PLUS
Over at our sister site, UrbanBaby, there are lots of discussions on baby food, from what to eat when, to how to make it:
» Advantages of homemade
» Whether homemade food makes for less picky eaters
» Whether it’s worth it to make baby food from scratch
» How kids react to meat in baby food
» Coping with the guilt factor of buying baby food versus making it from scratch
And here are some books that we’ve found useful:
» Naturally Healthy First Foods for Baby: The Best Nutrition for the First Year and Beyond
» Super Baby Food
» First Meals (New Expanded Edition)
» Cooking for Baby: Wholesome, Homemade, Delicious Foods for 6 to 18 Months
The picture for this article shows up all over the place, whether or not you are interested in reading this article.
Do we all have to look at a baby with food smeared on its face? Seriously? That picture is absolutely stomach turning.
That baby is the most adorable baby ever. Seeing the picture brings a smile to my face, too cute.
I don't get baby-haters. YOU WERE ONE ONCE. Also, please look at news photos published after any terrorist attacks (i.e. Mumbai) and then re-define what you consider stomach turning.
If you really want to get gourmet for bebe once she's old enough for finger foods (and old enough to eat egg yokes helped alot too!) try making various pancakes for her to enjoy. I experimented with one sweet potatoe (grated), 2 small apples (ditto), one small white potato (finely grated), 2 egg yokes, and my baby's fav spices, nutmeg and cinnamon. I fried them up like potato pancakes in some butter (my dentist is big on buter for calcium) and voila, baby pancakes that were so tasty DH and I both ate some. I froze the left overs for later meals.
whoops, lots of typos, sorry. I forgot to say that I added some baby cereal to the batter to make it a little smoother--I think it was barley cereal. Anyway, next we are going to make them with plantains!
If you're sending your child to daycare, you can pack the frozen cubes of food in a container and they'll be thawed in time for lunch- and my daughter never minded eating the food cool/lukewarm.
Thanks for the great article. What beautiful models!
We found the trick to doing our own baby food (we didn't buy a single jar for either of our children) was preparation.
Sunday night after shopping, we would load carrots, squash and sweet potatoes, pears and apples into our oven and baked them until soft. Frozen green beans and peas would be cooked on the stovetop with a scant amount of water.
Oatmeal was milled down in a food processor and stored in ziplocs -- it had the perfect consistency when warmed formula/breast milk was added (smushed apples and pears usually added.)
We had a bunch of empty jars from friends/family that we would fill up and stash in the fridge -- that would usually keep us through the week.
Anyway, the kids really enjoyed the food, it really stretched a dollar, and they have grown healthy.
That baby is adorable! Here's another great and "free" resource for homemade baby food recipes...
www.nurture-baby.com
I think it is easiest to make your own food and serve some to your baby. My favorite resource is:
http://www.babyfood101.com
I hope this is helpful.
Lisa
This is another useful site, with recipes and a lot of info about the age at which you can introduce various foods to your baby's diet:
http://wholesomebabyfood.com/
My wife and I make all of our baby's food, and it's no more effort than making a few extra side dishes a week. If you use the cubes to freeze individual portions, you can make several weeks' worth of meals in an afternoon.
I've been making baby food for my 7 month old for several weeks, it's really very easy. this is a little over the top, but for his cereals (rice, oat and barley) I have a great mr. coffee grinder that I just got at target, it has a removable cup that you can throw in the dishwasher. i grind the grains, then cook like cream of wheat . After it's cooled a bit I put it into a ziploc bag, cut the corner off and make "cookies" on a parchment lined sheet. Once those are frozen I throw them into a ziploc bag.
I like your technique velvetjones! I will have to try that too. I recently used the latke/pancake technique to make sweet plantain pancakes with cinnamon apples (big hit!) and black bean, cooked rice, and shedded cheese (with cumin and garlic for flavor) I just used extra ingredients from our last chili night (we eat turkey and black bean chili, Texas-style over white rice. My baby insists on feeding herself and I just take these out of the freezer (parchment or wax paper between the pancakes saves a lot of headache later on), defrost and rip into bite sized pieces.
I think the rice and bean ones would make an intesting grown-up appetizer--they were delicious, maybe with a adobo sour cream dip?
When DD was younger I made her lots of baby hummus. I just leave out the tahini. Makes a good puree to freeze.
Making your own baby food has the added bonus of knowing exactly what you put in it and is a real wallet saver too. Here are some more tips for what I found in making food for my son.
http://www.examiner.com/x-3636-Seattl...
KIDCO baby food grinder: quickly and easliy prepares food for baby by grinding what you make for the rest of the family. No extra cooking.
Also marketed under the name Happy Baby. My go-to baby shower gift and it gets rave reviews from Moms.
http://www.happybabyproducts.com/kidc...
This is innovative. I've never known anyone to make baby food. i never even considered it an option. It is definitely baby boom in my family so I will be passing this article on.
Very helpful tips and tricks. I have primarilly fed my kids homemade food, but these tips for timesaving are great. I deffinately suggest starting with a veggie before a fruit to new eaters, so to avoid the sweet tooth.
I must be a sick person, but every time I see the icon of the little baby face with the carrot (sweet potato?) puree oozing out of her (his?) mouth on the side panel on the website, I just cannot concentrate. It's distracting because it's just, well... gross. Is it baby food, or vomit?
Babies, yes. Babies with fluorescent orange sludge spattered and languidly dripping down the face, no. I know, give me a vasectomy.
I think that baby with the messy face is adorable
Kudos to those who make their own baby food -- but did have the writers of this article looked at an ingredient list on a baby food jar recently? Except for custards and puddings, most "first foods" (like the recipes here) DON"T have fillers or starches -- its just a veg or fruit and water. Seriously -- I have a 5 month old and a 3 year old. I've bought a LOT of baby food recently.
Research please!
To expand on my post re ingredients:
http://www.gerber.com/Products/1st_FO...
http://www.beechnut.com/Our%20Baby%20...