Baby Food Makin..

I'm honestly surprised at myself!! I really never thought I would be that person who makes there kids baby food. I do. With T  I didn't, sorry T you were my test run baby. I really just followed all the rules of the book, the pedia and society. Suddenly when you learn not everything is done by the book and you open your mind up, you find Cloth diapering, baby food making, Baby Led feeding, baby wearing, etc etc etc. world out there. Way beyond the confines of a book.  Pretty interesting I tell ya.
So I wanted to try a few new things with M, being that he's my last baby and things I wish I would of done with T, I wanted to do for M.  Not to say that T didn't get the nutrition, attention etc that his brother is getting. Its just done with more of an open mind. =)  Ive had many friends do it. I've watched, I've read, seemed pretty simple and totally feasible. So when the time came I looked up what I needed to do, what types of food were good to make and freeze and the baby food making experience started!!
After the first batch I was pretty happy with myself, like one domesticated diva.. HA!  I will say though, I  felt myself asking is this really worth my 2-3 hours to prepare all of this?  When time is not on my side as of lately. So when I ran out of the small batch I had made, I went ahead and bought some jarred food to last me and weighed out the positives and negs.  Two negatives I noticed right away was that  the cost of buying jarred versus making my own was in fact quite a bit more especially if I continued on this route. Secondly M, noticed the difference, I really didn't think he would but he did and was most noticeable with Carrots and Apples.  So I'm baby food making diva. And quite honestly the time- 2-3 hours of peeling, baking, steaming, pureeing, are ALL more than worth it. I now have a rhythm down and it makes this process a bit easier. I do fruits one weekend and veggies another. I make more than just a month or two worth, I typically pick up about 2-3 lbs of fruits and veggies I also watch for sales on organic fruits and veggies at a local store called Sprouts for deals. This is lasting me quite a bit longer than the first batch. Not only do I have to supply for myself I have to supply for my caregiver. So doubling up just makes since.  I will say this though my kid still gets some Jard food I typically only do this on weekends that we are out and about and I have no way to thaw out the food and i don't feel like carrying all the extra bowls etc. 

So far since M turned 4 months- He's tried;
Veggies: Carrots, squash (butternut and acorn), green beans, sweet peas, sweet potato's, mix of carrots and squash, mix of green beans and acorn squash.
Fruits: Avocado, banana, apples, Cinnamon apples, pear, peaches, blueberries, mango, blueberry/banana mush, banana/apple mush, peaches/banana mush, (he's still very unsure about peaches and I think its the bitter/tart flavor he's not digging).


This was the start of a  veggie weekend, I needed to make more apples for my caregiver hence the apples you see.  I forgot to take pics of the Sweet potato's and the carrots I had made earlier. Ttypically the Squashes are the longest to make. I bake (about 45 minutes), then peel then puree.

Acorn and butternut Squash

Cinnamon Apples

 The Squashes baked and ready to be peeled and pureed.

 Butternut squash

 Acorn Squash

Easy Peasy and I'm glad I opened my mind to to things like this. I can offer M so many new things, that I was once limited to with T. I'm hoping M will have more of an open mind about food than his poor brother. I know most, if not all of T's pickyness is due to me. I hope to change that with M and maybe T will follow.

Here's the website I used to make baby food.  I also got useful info from a few friends who also blog. Lisa and Amber.