Making Baby Food

I've had a few people inquire about homemade baby food. I've commented before on here, that I find it easy and inexpensive. For those who really are interested, I'm devoting this post to a more in-depth explanation of what I make, how I make it and what I use to make it.

I've posted a photo of the equipment I use. There are some variations that are sold in stores, and preferences that other people may have. But here is what I have found to work for me.

• Small (six-cup) food processor ($30 on Amazon)
• Small (approx. one-cup) hand blender (prices vary widely, but $20+ on Amazon)
• Two baby food books (I really like "Top 100 Baby Purees", $11 on Amazon)
• One set 2-oz. Baby Cubes ($10 on Amazon)
• One set (two in a pack) baby food freezer trays with lids ($10 at Babies R Us; $13.50 on Amazon)
• Assorted small food storage containers
• Quart-sized freezer bags

One item not pictured that I do use also, is a Pampered Chef microwave food steamer. However, I assume that everyone has some sort of food steamer. It's the easiest, fastest and best way to cook the foods and retain nutrition levels.

The books have some great ideas for purees, and I adjust them sometimes to fit our needs. Some are very basic and others have a long list of ingredients. Both books, however, do list the recipes by age range (example: 6 months, 6-8 months, 10-12 months, etc.).

When making a batch of food (say, a butternut squash or a few pears), I steam the foods, then use the food processor to create the puree. Some foods (like green beans) require the addition of 1-2 ounces of water to help smooth the texture. I scoop the puree into the freezer trays or cubes (sometimes both, and sometimes additional small storage containers as well). I freeze in the trays/cubes for 24-48 hours. Then I pop them out of the trays, put them in a quart-sized freezer bag (labeled with the date and type of puree), and store the bags in the freezer. I sometimes leave the puree in the cubes because they're portable. But as for the trays . . . they just take up space. Plus, re-packaging the portions to a freezer bag allows me to re-use the tray before I've used up all of the previous batch. Right now, I probably have 8-10 different purees in my freezer. I make two or three batches each weekend, and we're set for the week. They will stay fresh for about two months in the freezer, so I can keep a good variety on hand.

One exception: potatoes (white or sweet) should not go in the food processor. Mash those by hand or with a hand-held electric mixer.

When making a single (or double) serving of a food, I use the small hand blender. This is how I make his smoothies (yogurt, banana and one or two other fruits), and how I blend a single (or double) serving of whatever we're eating for dinner, for him. Say, if we're having green beans with dinner . . . after steaming them, I'll pull out a serving for Carter and puree it so he eats what we eat. Just remember that if you add anything to your foods (salt, butter or spices), in general you should do that after you've removed baby's portion.

I started out with foods that seemed easy--those that are pretty smooth by nature. First I made sweet potatoes, which just required me to bake them and mash them by hand. I gradually moved up to squash types . . . peas were pretty easy also, but the outside "skins" may be bothersome for new eaters . . . and eventually worked my way up to multi-food blends, like blueberry-peach (with rice cereal to thicken) and cheese sauce. Green beans still are difficult. They are so firm by nature, that they don't seem to puree for me. They're just diced really small, even with the addition of water. To get Carter used to the texture, I served them mixed in with smooth sweet potatoes.