Homemade Baby Food

First: A small disclaimer. I do not have any pics of Cooper on my blog. Why....well Trey takes pics in a huge format so that they can be edited and messed with and all that jazz. All the files we have are too big to just upload so I am working on it but till then I am pictureless on my blog ;(

Now, onto the baby food. I actually started doing this because a friend of mine was doing it and said it was super easy and worked great for them. Now, I too have some friends that are interested in it and I thought I would put out some general info on it that might be helpful if you are thinking about doing this. My main reason for doing this is that I just got tired of running to the store every few days for baby food because at that time I was working and it was such a hassle to go that often and also I do not have that much storage room so that got me started. Now, Cooper loves the taste of fresh fruits and veggies and won't hardly eat the store stuff and in the process it has saved us a lot of money ;)

I got started by using a website called wholesomebabyfood.com. It kind of gives you the general info about how to do everything. To do this you will need I would say between 3-6 regular ice cube trays (depending on your freezer space and availability at any given time). Also, you will just need a run of the mill 2 or 3 cup food processor. I use a magic bullet that is AWESOME and I would highly recommend but you can use anything that will get the job done. It does not need to be expensive or fancy. You will also need the gallon size freezer bags and a permanent marker to write the item on the baggies.

Items I have made and a little info on what a recipe will yield and tips on each. Also, we buy most of our fruit at Sam's. It DOES come out a lot cheaper.

Apples- A 5 pd bag makes approx 48 cubes.
Pears- A 5 pd bag yields approx 32 cubes. Pears usually come out a little watery and require some rice or oatmeal to be added to them so they thicken up a little and are not so messy.
Bananas- Each banana is about 3 cubes if you want to think about it that way. It is always good for whatever you are making to yield at least one tray of cubes so you are not making something every other day.
Blueberries- Bought these frozen and used a regular 8 oz bag I believe. It made 16 cubes. The blueberries are good for mixing with other fruits more so that just eating them alone. Also, if you do plan to use them to mix with other fruits you only need to fill the ice cube slot half full instead of making a full cube. They can overpower quickly.
Peaches- 6 peaches made about 16 cubes. Peaches were super messy to peel and cut up and by far the most time consuming because of having to cut the core out and scrape the middle all while dealing with the slimy consistency.

Sweet Potatoes- 5 BIG sweet potatoes will make about 40 cubes. When pureeing these seemed to need a lot of water. These are by far a favorite of Cooper's.
Green Beans, Squash and Sweet Peas- I actually used frozen for this. During the summer when I can go to the farmers market for them I might use fresh. These when thawed for eating need rice added to them because they are quite watery and need that added consistency. Really check for consistency when done to make sure you get the skin of the peas and beans pureed really well. If you get an 8 oz bag it will yield about 16 cubes.
Carrots-A big 5 pd bag of carrots will yield about 48 cubes or maybe a little more. The only suggestion with carrots is to NOT use the water you boiled them in to add to the puree. They say the extra nitrates are not good. My pediatrician says that is not really a concern but I still don't use the water that I boiled them in for thinning out my puree on this one. A time saver on this veggie is that last time I bought a 5 pd bag of baby carrots. Cost was about $3.00 more but it was worth it that week because I was short on time. All I had to do was dump them in and boil then puree!
Avocado-Cooper loves these! I would estimate 1 avocado would be 2-3 cubes approximately. This does not have to be steamed or anything. Just taken out and mashed a little and then puree for extra thinning and you will need to add some water to it.

For meats I am just using store bought stuff and he gets a meat something or another at one meal a day. I looked into making my own and then decided it was not a good idea. Figure cost is about the same on something like that when you factor in time, extra care of the meat to ensure it is cooked well and the nasty factor of boiling chicken which I HATE to do...really it makes me sick at my stomach.

Hope that is a little help for anyone looking to do this for their little one. It takes way less time that I thought it would and it is pretty convenient. Best of luck!!