How to make baby food?

Question

Ok so I am starting to realize that if I make my own baby food it would be SOO much cheaper. But how?? My doc said just buy the stuff like squash, and stuff and boil it and mash it. But how long do you boil it for?? what do you do with it?? Cause I know they don't eat a whole squash. How long is it good for?? What all things can you buy and make into baby food besides like bananas and squash?? What else is there? how do you do pears and peaches, sweet potatoes, green beans?? Please help. Thanks

Answer 1

most fruit you just mash it with a fork or puree it w/ a food mill or food processor.

here's a hand grind one that I have, and still love it!!http://www.happybabyproducts.com/kidcofoodmill.html

for foods needing cooking... steam steam it- don't boil it because you'll boil out the nutrients and lose some in the water ou toss out, and steam them until you can smash or cut them w/ a fork.... you can do anything... go through the baby food aisle in the store and make a list, then go to the produce section and buy it!!

pears, peaches & any other fruit: peel and grind/mash

regular & sweet potatoes & butternut squash/pumpkin ... I'd bake these... wraped in foil or if small enough to place in a dutch oven or caserole dish. once they're easily spooned out of their skin, you can just mash w/ a fork!! (to fit them better, you can cut them in half or in long slices... leaving the skin on until they're cooked saves lots of time!!)

all of these things you can make and freeze for a few months... either put them in ice cube trays then next day pop the cubes into freezer zip bags

or can put in individual small serving containers - like the take&toss style plastic "tupperware" ... like these: http://www.glad.com/containers/gladware_containers.php they come in little 3-4 ounce cups

FIRST MEALS by annabel karmel is an awesome cook book w/ lots of ideas for babyfood & toddler food... my daughter is 4years old and we still pull a few recipes from here!

Answer 2

It is so much cheaper and babies love homemade food. My daughter won't touch jarred baby food, I think I spoiled her with mine. If you do a taste test you will see the difference. Jarred sweet potatoes are bland, while homemade are full of flavor. For squash and sweet potatoes, just peel and boil until they are soft, the same way you would eat them. You can mash with a fork or even easier, put them in a blender. Personally, I would never make baby food without a blender or food processor, it would take a lot longer.
For fruit like pears and peaches, all I ever did was peel and then bring to a boil and then stick them in the blender.
Here is the best trick of all. Ice cube trays. They make perfect baby size portions. Whatever you make, divide into an ice cube tray. When they freeze, dump them into a freezer bag and store in your freezer. You can pull out a cube or two at a time, thaw and serve. This also lets you make different combinations that babies love, like you can mix sweet potatoes and applesauce, blueberries and bananas, etc.. Of course that is when they are older. A good book your library may have is "Whole food for babies and toddlers" It has all kinds of recipes for making your own food.

Answer 3

Look online for a "baby food grinder" - this will help enormously.
Also - cook squash and other items for the recommended cooking time (most squashes will come with a cooking time sticker on them - or look up recipe directions online). You can bake squash, by the way - it's easier!
Only use very ripe bananas for babies, you can make applesauce too. Most baby food grinders will come with recipes.
You can grind everything and put into ice cube trays to freeze, then put the cubes into freezer bags to save - everything is then portion sized! EASY!!!
Good Luck!

Answer 4

We made a lot of our own baby food, but not because it was cheaper, just because I thought it was more nutritious, and I could combine flavors for my baby that weren't sold in jars. You need a small food processor or blender. They sell ones specifically designed for making baby food.

Here are some that we tried with success:

- Pears: Make sure to get soft Bartlett pears, and mush them up in the processor. No cooking required.
- Apples. We baked the apples until they were soft.
- Bananas: Just put them in the processor.
- Sweet potato, zucchini, squash, pumpkin: wash, peel, cut, and boil in water until soft. Then mush them in the processor.
- Berries, such as strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries: mush them up in the processor with a banana.

Once we introduced meat, we also mushed up some chicken or turkey (boiled, never fried) together with sweet potatoes, or whatever veggies he liked.

Just buy healthy veggies that are in season, boil them, and put them in a food processor.

Good luck!

Answer 5

I like this website
http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/
I recommend steaming veggies and baking meat though . That way they'll retain more vitamins. You can steam or boil fruits if you like. Ideas are apples, pumpkins (you can bake these) plums, pears, peaches. Really anything. You can also make your own cereals. Just stay away from deli meats/sausages/hot dogs and any high allergen food like strawberry's, milk, peanuts etc. Were starting solids in about 1 month so this questions really interesting for me. I really want to make our daughters food as well. Good luck.

Answer 6

Get a little food processor (works better than a blender). All of the fruits and veggies should be fresh or frozen (not canned!) Boil the food until it's soft...Stick it in the food processor with a little liquid from boiling and there you go....Freeze in individual servings (an ice cube tray works best...each "cube" is a servings size)...defrost, heat and serve....One cube of veggies, one cube of meat, one cube of starch and a fruit (a perfect meal)....

Answer 7

When I made my own babyfood, I prepared as usual, except without all the added salt, etc that I would put in for me and the rest of the family. I would then take and put the food in a blender. You can do that with pretty much anything.

Answer 8

Freshly made foodstuff will consistently be extra effective than jarred foodstuff yet once you in simple terms opt to apply organic and organic aspects and you're able to't those then you definately ought to compliment between offering sparkling foodstuff from non organic and organic aspects or processed jarred foodstuff. i might fairly provide my daughter sparkling foodstuff every day for my area, at 14 months old she's never had a jar!

Answer 9

seriously? it's not that hard. if you know how to actually cook things then this shouldn't be a problem.

get yourself a cookbook. OR look up recipes online (google is a good tool! don't be so lazy!)


FOR EXAMPLE: www.wholesomebabyfood.com

Answer 10

go to barnes and nobleweb site...there is a book that will be abloe to help you