Homemade Baby Food

Since I was unable to nurse, I have become slightly obsessive compulsive about making my own baby food. It makes me feel slightly better knowing that I am giving him some sort of homemade nutrition.  (As a side note, I think store bought baby food is FINE.  I'm just a guilt-ridden psychopath).

So far, little one has had prunes, oatmeal (I cheated and bought that one), carrots, sweet potato, pinto beans, green beans, avocado, and banana.  Today, I whipped up some apples and butternut squash (which he gobbled down faster than I could feed it).


I've had some people ask how I make his food, so I thought I'd elaborate.

I try to purchase organic when possible.  For the prunes, I bought them dried and rehydrated them in some boiling water.  Then I pureed them with the water (to add back the nutrients lost in the cooking water).  I have been freezing all his food in ice trays and then storing them in labeled baggies in the freezer.

For most of the other foods, I have peeled, cut and steamed the veggies before pureeing.  I simply mashed the avocado and banana uncooked and thinned them with a little water.  I was worried about how both of those would freeze.  They froze surprising well with no browning (even when melting them).  For the green beans, I purchased frozen organic beans (because the ones in the produce section never look fresh to me), and the pinto beans I started with dried beans and did the whole soak and cook process.  

I hate peeling butternut squash, so today I just microwaved it until soft and scooped out the flesh with a spoon.  It didn't need any added water while pureeing.

For the apples, I peeled and diced them, steamed them and pureed in the food processor.  A note of pureeing...depending on what I'm doing, I have used our immersion blender, the regular blender, and the food processor.  All of which are very useful tools to have in my opinion.  

Once they go into the ice trays, I cover them in plastic wrap and let them freeze.  To get them out, I simply run hot water over the back of them while holding them over a strainer in the sink.  To feed them to Elliott, I usually stick two cubes at a time in the microwave for about 30 seconds.  Easy as pie!