Hello friends! Another week has passed by and it has been crazy hectic here. We've had parent/teacher conferences (ugh), doctor appointments, and my husband has been going through a lot of changes at his job (FYI Brad HATES change) so as you can guess, it was hard to keep track of what day it was.
One fun thing that did happen was after Donavan's 4 month check up (already??!! *whimper*) was that he got to try purees for the first time! That part has always been fun for me only this time was a tad different because it's all my cooking! OK, some of it doesn't need to be cooked but it's all my preparation!
There are so many advantages to homemade baby food!. First off you KNOW what you are feeding your baby. Not only that but you can make more of a variety of foods. Second, commercial baby food only has 20% of your baby's daily vitamins, minerals and nutrients. How crazy is that??? Third, commercial baby foods are filled with fillers like sugars, starches, preservatives, and additives. All of those have been linked to childhood allergies which means your baby most likely isn't allergic to the fruit or vegetable, they're allergic to the filler. All of these were enough to convince me that homemade was the way to go.
Brad and I made a special grocery shopping trip just for this and this is what we picked up:
- 5 organic bananas
- 1 lb organic carrots
- 3 avocados
- organic green beans
- 1 organic sweet potato
- 4 organic gala apples
- brown rice
- organic package of super heathy greens (kale, spinach, and chard)
My dad got me a Ninja Ultima Blender and I LLLOOOOVVVEEEE it! I used this to puree everything. It leaves any puree smooth and perfectly blended. Even those fruits and veggies that are a little tough to get perfectly smooth. (you'll see what I'm talking about soon)
Next I made sure I had plenty of breast milk on hand so I took everything I saved from my milksaver the day before and any milk I had pumped. You can also use formula or water if you choose. This is great because then your baby will have a familiar taste in their new food and it will be easier to transition to purees. Also you might want to use fresh breast milk (if you're using it) because the baby food will be frozen you don't want to refreeze breast milk.
First I pureed my avocados and bananas because they are my no cook ingredients. Here you can see the avocados. I added about 4 ounces of breast milk in them to make them thin (this is first foods after all) and easier to blend.
Once it's pureed to the consistency you want just put them in some ice cube trays and cover with plastic wrap or freezer paper and pop them in the freezer. Each compartment of ice cube trays holds about 2 tablespoons which equals 1 ounce. This makes measuring baby food so easy! I bought these silicone trays here.
Now onto the cooking part. I steamed everything but you can cook them however you want. You can bake them, steam them, saute them...boil them, broil them. fry them......OK I'm done being Bubba. But you get what I'm saying. I chose to steam everything because I thought it was the best way to retain all the color and nutrients I possible could.
This silicone steaming basket is amazing! It's flexible and has these handles on the side. I got this at walmart.
See the beautiful color of the greens? The greens did wilt quite a bit and didn't take long to do so. I did actually have to make a special trip to get more of these. I just ended up buying an additional bag of spinach, a bag of kale, and two bunches of chard and it turned out to be the perfect amount. With this along with the breast milk I also added the cooking liquid under the steamer basket. Again, the goal is to retain as many nutrients as possible.
The apples, sweet potato, carrots, and green beans I did the exact same thing as the power greens only I steamed these for about 7 minutes. Yes, I set my timer because I'm easily distracted and forgetful!
Now for the brown rice. I did rinse the rice to make sure it was clean and to get the extra starch out. It took about 3 times before the water came out clear.
To cook it I just added 1/4 cup of brown rice and about 3/4 cup filtered water and cooked it according to the directions on the package.
After the rice was cooked I just dumped it into the blender with about 8 ounces of breast milk and pureed until it was smooth. It seems like I added a lot of milk but I did that because I wanted it to be thin because again, this is Donavan's first foods.
Each food takes about 24 hours to freeze (which is why it's good to have about 6 of these trays). Some might not take as long. The sweet potatoes are what took the longest. After they're all frozen just place the baby food cubes in a labled and dated freezer bag. They stack beautifully and don't take up much space at all!
That's it! You can do this over a weekend and you'll have enough baby food to last you a couple of months! I sent this picture right above to my Aunt out in Washington and she also had an idea about using a vacuum sealer! This would defiantly help them keep even longer! She's always been so smart! You're awesome Aunt Monica!!!!
I had so much fun doing this and Anthony and Camden even had fun. They all turned out amazing and the colors!!! Oh my the colors!!! Just seeing how bright and colorful they are you can tell they are full of antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. Don't we all want the best for out little wee ones??
What are some of your babies favorite foods and flavor combinations?
