Tips and recipes for making your own baby food. Post your ideas.
Don't buy expensive baby foods filled with preservatives. I always fed my babies the same food I ate for dinner. If we ate lasagna for dinner I would cut a piece and put it in a food chopper with a small amount of water and puree the food. Once the food is pureed you can spoon it into ice cube trays and freeze it.
By Dawn from MA
I pulled out two of my containers of baby food to check your assertion that they are "filled with preservatives."
Beech Nut Stage 1 Sweet Potatoes lists "Sweet potatoes and water necessary for preparation."
Gerber 1st Foods Peaches lists "Peaches and ascorbic acid (vitamin C)."
Ascorbic acid could possibly be construed as a preservative, as it does protect the color of the peaches, but it does it as side effect of providing vitamin C to the food.
The "preservative" in my baby's food is heat processing, or cooking. I'd imagine most home made baby food is "preserved" in the same way, and then either eaten or "preserved" again by freezing.
I think commercial baby food is expensive compared to homemade, but in no way is modern baby food "filled with preservatives." (01/17/2005)
By Katie
I never purchased baby food for my two daughters. I made all of it myself. I either purchased organic vegetables such as carrots, squash, or sweet potatoes or used frozen vegetables such as peas. I steamed the cut up veggies either in a double boiler with a special slotted bowl for steaming or steamed them in the microwave. After the veggies were nice and soft, I'd use whatever water was left from steaming to puree them in the blender or food processor, which put any nutrients that got steamed away, right back into the food.
It wasn't much work if you did several types of food in one day and since babies are introduced to foods a little at a time, one days batch of food would last a long time. It was also much less expensive than purchasing processed, watered down baby food and I was confident that my babies were getting the most healthful food I could provide since I made it myself. (01/17/2005)
By ght
I always used canned vegetables without the salt and drained the water out and put it in the blender and then poured it in ice cube tray and froze them. Then I would put in a freezer bag and get one or two out at a time and microwave and feed the child! (03/18/2005)
Try reading the labels for the 2nd's and 3rd's. That's where the undesirables are added, in my opinion. All the desserts have sugar and added rice or tapioca starch. Beech-nut brand does not have added sugar but I could not find them in my area. I made my own desserts from fruits. I just always felt better knowing exactly what was in my son's food. Also, 1st's are usually about 29 cents for 2.5 oz jar and for example, bananas are usually about 39 cents a pound. You are paying a lot for convenience. I also really enjoyed making the baby food and I found it pretty easy. (03/30/2005)
By cntryspc
When my sons were small, I used a small baby food grinder ( a food processor would be easier now) and they would eat whatever we ate at each meal. If it was too dry, I added formula, it was much healthier that way and cheaper! (05/31/2005)
By A. from Mo.
I am just starting to make my own baby food and I am enjoying it. I joined a yahoogroup and get great advice from other moms. I read that avocados are an excellent "first" food for babies (which I have not seen in a jarred variety) but my son made a face at the texture. I mixed it with bananas and he ate twice as much as he normally eats! I think that there is much more variety in homemade baby food than jarred food and it tastes better, too.As for the post about there being no preservatives in jarred food, jarred baby food has to have some type of preservative in order for it to be shelf stable, homemade food must be frozen in order to keep it fresh. (06/29/2006)
By Alicia
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