Homemade Baby Food

It's no secret that Robert and I are on a tight budget due to living off of his single income.  I'm always looking for ways to save us money whether it be by shopping at Aldi, line drying Sarah's diapers (or even just using cloth for that matter), and getting creative with leftovers.  So when Sarah turned six months old and it was time to introduce fruits and vegetables I knew that I would primarily be feeding her homemade baby food to save money and to provide her with wholesome, single ingredient foods.  I know one of the biggest negatives that comes to mind when thinking about homemade baby food is the time commitment.  However, I'm here to tell you that it doesn't have to be that way!

So far I've made green beans, avocado, acorn squash, carrots, sweet potatoes, and apple sauce, and they've all been very successful.  A few things I've learned through personal experimentation and through online and book research include:

• Use fresh when you can (duh), but when something isn't in season you should shoot for frozen.  You really don't want to make baby food from canned fruits or vegetables.  Fresh and frozen will be the most nutrient-rich options compared to canned.  It will also be fresher and won't have any seasonings or sugars added to it.  I've used all fresh so far except for green beans as they obviously aren't in season in February.
• The best cooking method is baking/roasting, second place is steaming, and you really want to avoid boiling or microwaving.  Boiling and microwaving will remove a lot of nutrients.  Also, if you think about it, as an adult don't most foods that you enjoy taste better baked or steamed than boiled or microwaved?  I know that a baked sweet potato tastes better than a microwaved sweet potato and that steamed broccoli tastes better than boiled broccoli.  Your baby feels the same way!
• There seems to be conflicting thought on whether you should re-use your steaming/boiling water or get fresh water to thin out the baby food.  I can see benefits to both perspectives.  By re-using your water maybe you're re-adding some vitamins that escaped, but by using fresh water maybe you're avoiding re-adding any dirty, germy water back into your food.  I'm not convinced that one option is superior over the other.  There are some foods that don't even need water added, such as apples.  There are other foods like sweet potatoes that are rather dry and just need some liquid in order to puree.  Generally, it's best to add as little liquid as possible during the pureeing process, especially if you'll be freezing the puree.  The consistency will change during the freezing and thawing process, and you'd rather have to add more liquid right before serving than regretting that you added too much before freezing and now it's watery.  Just plan to add liquid as needed when you're ready to serve the food.
• Pureeing the food - I've used a fork for ripe avocado, and I'd imagine you could do the same with bananas.  When I need to puree foods, I use our Ninja, and it works very well.  I didn't use the large container but opted to use the single-serve, smoothie cup instead.  From personal experience, blenders always seem to work better if they're about 75% full.  You obviously don't want it so full that it overflows when you put on the lid, but they also just don't work when they're fairly empty.
• Storing and serving - If you're making a small batch you can just store it in the refrigerator for a few days.  You want to make sure that you store the food in single portion sizes because you don't want to re-use any leftovers due to contamination from saliva.  If you aren't serving the food fairly quickly, then you can freeze the food.  That's what I've been doing.  I spoon the food into ice cube trays, freeze it overnight, pop them out the next day, and store them in a labeled freezer bag.  They can stay in the freezer for months.  I just get out a cube a few hours before serving so it can defrost.

• Cold pressed oil - Babies need lots of good, healthy fats to develop properly.  Babies under two should receive 40-50% of their daily calories through healthy fats.  Babies get lots of healthy fats through breast milk and formula, but it's helpful to add in fats to baby food.  You don't need much - only about 1 tablespoon a day.  Good fats also make foods taste better.  Think about it - having a little fat on your meat adds so much flavor and prevents it from getting dry.  Baby food acts the same way.  
• Fats to avoid
• Partially hydrogenated oils
• Vegetables oils
• Margarine
• Good fats:
• Cold pressed, organic coconut oil
• Cold pressed, unrefined extra virgin oil
• Organic, grass fed butter
• Avocado
• Wait a few days in between trying new foods.  I know the chance of your baby being allergic to sweet potato is very low.  Have you ever met anyone allergic to sweet potato?  Neither have I.  Regardless of the allergy food, your baby's body needs time to learn how to digest these new flavors and consistencies, so it helps to avoid overwhelming her system by introducing foods over the course of a few days.
• Sarah seems to naturally like orange and yellow vegetables like carrots, squash, and sweet potatoes because they're sweet.  Green foods that aren't as sweet such as avocado and green beans didn't appeal to her as much on their own.  Actually, she hated them.  When she ate green beans she made herself gag and threw up.  It was disgusting.  So I read that you can ease your baby into a new food by mixing it with a familiar taste such as breast milk, formula, or cereal, and it totally worked for Sarah!



Hating avocado without cereal





Reaching for more avocado when mixed with cereal

After Sarah finishes the food I've already made her I plan to make butternut squash, peas, bananas, apricot, pears, and pumpkins.  I've read that nectarine, mango, papaya, peach, and plum are also good first foods, but those just aren't easily accessible and tasty in southwest Missouri in February.  My favorite website for resources has been Wholesome Baby Food, and my favorite book as been one that my parents got me when Sarah was born, and it's called The Top 100 Healthy Recipes for Babies & Toddlers. So how about you?  Have you had success making baby food?  Any good and funny baby food catastrophes?