I never thought I would become one of Those Moms. And yet here I am, pureeing fruits and vegetables in my blender and freezing them in baby-sized portions in ice cube trays.
Really, it was cost rather than a sense of organic goodness that motivated me to join the Homemade Baby Food Club. As Garrett's solid food tastes progressed from Stage 1 to Stage 2, I just couldn't bring myself to pay 65 cents for one serving of carrots when I could pay 65 cents and get 12+ servings of carrots. And as my confidence in my abilities to feed my baby were simultaneously progressing, I realized that it wouldn't kill me to make (or kill my baby to eat) fruits and vegetables prepared at home.
And so I went shopping. I bought plums, apples, pears, and bananas. I bought butternut squash, carrots, sweet potatoes, green beans, and peas. I found a website with good suggestions for age appropriate foods and methods for cooking and preparing them. And then I pulled out our blender and ice cube trays and went to work. I prepared one batch of food every day until I ran out of room to store them in my freezer.
I haven't abandoned store-bought baby foods altogether. Rice cereal is something I don't think I will ever attempt to make myself. And Garrett's dinners come from jars because I'm not about to prepare a turkey-and-vegetable dinner only to put it in the blender and freeze it in cubed portions. But pureed fruits and vegetables are inexpensive and simple to make, and so I make them.
Garrett, as oblivious as ever, hasn't noticed the switch, unless, perhaps, he's realized that now he gets to eat a wider variety of foods than those from the itty bitty selection I could find stocked at my grocery store. So I think we're going to continue with this until he's reached the point where I can just mash up the foods we're eating and give him servings of those. It doesn't take too much extra effort on my part to prepare the foods, it's a heck of a lot cheaper, and Garrett gets to eat things like cantelope, which, judging by the great lengths his tongue extends to in order to catch the spoonfuls that dribble down his chin, he finds to be incredibly tasty. It's a win-win situation.
13 comments:
way to go! you are a super mom!
So impressed, but I have a question. How do you store the little chunks of food once they are sufficiently frozen? Individually? In a big ziplock? Just curious. :)
I store them in big ziplock bags - one bag for each food. They say that the food will last for about 1 month in the freezer, so I label the bag with the food that's in it, as well as the date I prepared it. Apparently each cube of food is about 1 ounce, so come mealtime, I just pull out a few cubes, microwave them for about 30 seconds, and they're good to go. You should check out the website I linked -- there's a lot of helpful information as to the details and specifics of preparing baby food.
Are you kidding? I TOTALLY want to be one of those moms! Cheaper and I really know what is in the food. I've always figured, if I wouldn't want to eat it, why would he?
As for the rice cereal, it wouldn't be hard at all to make, but it wouldn't be iron fortified. Though, if your baby has trouble with constipation, it would be good to skip the iron fortified. Also, you can buy organic whole grain rice cereal (ultimately brown rice cereal) for pretty cheap.
Good for you!
Funny, I never wanted to be one of 'those moms' either, but I'm too practical, I just had to do it. Although, I must admit, when the twins were old enough to start 'gumming' stuff, I did serve them canned veggies that were soft and filled with sodium nastiness. So, I clearly was more concerned about ease and cost than I was about nutrition. It's a good thing they are healthy girls or I'd probably have to feel guilty about that one.
I think you are definitely on the short list for super mom. This is totally cool, I think. And not all "that mom"-ish.
Yea! I'm totally doing this with baby #2. Especially now that I'm home. With Patrick I was working during this stage and too overwhelmed to even think about it. You will have to be my guru in about six months!
One idea for dinners-- he's probably old enough (or almost) to buy a handheld baby food grinder (they're made by KidCo and cost about 12 bucks) and start grinding up table food for him. I think we never really bought stage 2 or 3 baby foods cause we were already grinding up almost everything we ate. He LOVED it, and I'm convinced that they transition to eating well as toddlers when they're already used to the taste of the foods you normally cook.
Way to economize!!
You are definitely more motivated than me! :) Hope all is well with you. ~Michelle (Media Play Friend)
Michelle! Thanks for commenting -- stop by anytime! How the heck are ya? And what are you up to these days?
Way to go! I love making my own baby food... more because I'm too lazy to drag the kids to the store. It's much easier to make it from what's in the pantry, and the price is great as well.
I do have to admit, that now that I'm on my third, he gets mashed up whatever we're eating more and more, even if he isn't totally "ready" yet. I am all about the EASY button!
Yes. Yes. I am one of *those* mamas. :) I always thought *those* moms were definately tree hugging hippies with crazy ideas - and now here we are. Horray for baby food.
Why you always gotta make me jealous??? :) That reminds me, I have some extra barley, oatmeal and rice cereal, could you put that to use?
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