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Homemade Baby Food

August 11, 2014 by Jaimi Erickson 11 Comments

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The only recipe you need to make your own baby food plus 5 tips-simple, affordable and healthy! Via The Stay-at-Home-Mom Survival Guide

Making your own baby food allows you to buy in bulk, cook large batches and store in bulk. For me this means less running to the store and less expense. Don’t have an infant? Read on for an amazing tip for moms of toddlers and preschoolers, from a fellow mom and reader of this blog, to make your own pureed food snack pouches! Simple, easy snack idea.

I really enjoyed the time-saving, money-saving and nutritional benefits of making my own baby food for all four of my children. With my oldest, for a time, I had to purchase baby food after having major surgery, and for the twins I purchased food as well while we were on the road moving from Virginia to California, but making baby food is what I prefer.

There are many homemade baby food resources out there-books, websites and blogs-I just do my own thing.

Simple Homemade Baby Food

The only recipe you need to make all types of baby food.

 

My main recipe is: cook, mash/puree, strain, freeze. Cooking methods can be roasting, baking, sauteeing, poaching or even using the microwave.

Here is a list of baby foods I have made and how I did it:

Peaches, Pears, Apples, Plums, Blueberries, Apricots:

Cut into wedges (except berries), peel, and cook in a saucepan on low until broken down and a fork easily passes through a chunk. Remove from heat, cool slightly and pour into food processor or blender. (If you do not have a food processor, just use a potato masher or a fork.)

After blending well, pass through a wire strainer. Pour into ice cube trays (1 cube is about a tablespoon) and freeze. Cubes are ready to pop out after a few hours. I store the cubes in zip top bags labeled with the type of food and date.

Squash:

Cut in half and scoop out seeds. Fill a glass baking pan with water 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep. Place squash flesh side down in the water. Bake at 350-375 until tender. In my oven this takes about 20 minutes.

Remove from oven, cool slightly and scoop out flesh from rind. Place in food processor, blend, strain, then freeze in ice cube tray.

Sweet Potatoes:

Pierce each potato with a fork 2-3 times and wrap each potato in foil. (I baked 3 and it made a lot.)
Bake until soft, cool and remove foil. Carefully cut in half and scoop out flesh from skin. Mash then pass through a metal strainer in batches. Freeze.

Broccoli, Peas, Green beans, Carrots:

I buy these frozen in bulk. I fill a microwavable bowl with the vegetable and heat thoroughly. Cool slightly, process, strain and freeze.

Banana, Avocado:

Peel, mash with fork or in food processor,  then eat. I do not freeze these because they are so easy to mash up and use immediately. You can microwave them briefly if you would like them to be slightly cooked, but just be sure to test the temperature by tasting the food before feeding so baby does not get burned.

Meats:

I have only made chicken into baby food, and all I do is bake it or poach it, then pick the meat off any bones. Then I place the meat into the blender and slowly drizzle water into the processor until a loose paste forms. These can be frozen in the ice cube trays too.

5 More tips:
1.) For a semi-homemade version, buy canned fruits and vegetables and just drain off liquid, rinse well and puree. This eliminates the cooking step, but still is less expensive than buying baby food.

2) Before your baby has tried a variety of foods, make sure your cooking utensils and appliances are cleaned after each food is made. A little bit of squash left when you make peaches could complicate matters if your child has a reaction when eating the food-you won’t easily know if the squash or peaches are causing the problem.

3) I stop straining the pureed or mashed foods between 7 and 9 months. At this age, my children have tried enough varieties of foods that I want them to start being introduced to food textures as well. Just watch for any larger stringy or chunky pieces to avoid choking hazards. If your baby is not ready for more textures at this age, then just wait.

4) You don’t need to have a baby to utilize these pureed foods. Use this method to add extra veggies into soups and sauces-many picky eaters have issues with textures and the  pureed foods solve that by allowing you to sneak foods into sauces or casseroles-add a puree to chili, bean soup, spaghetti sauce, or lasagna. (I am all for children just having to eat what you make whether it is hidden or not!)

 

Have toddlers or preschoolers? 
Then this tip from Cari H., a mom who reads this blog, is perfect for you:


5.) Make your own food pouches! All you do is place pureed foods (single or mixtures) into breastmilk storage bags and refrigerate or freeze until ready to use. Thaw, open zip top (if you use Lansinoh breastmilk storage bags) and place a straw into the bag. Close the zipper around the straw and you have an instant snack on the go that is mess-free! How cool is that? (NOTE: Be sure that the consistency of the pureed food is thin enough to pass through a straw!)
Homemade snack pouches for toddlers and preschoolers shared at The Stay-at-Home-Mom Survival Guide in the Moms Share series.

 

I want to send a big thank you to Cari for sharing this tip (and her photo) on the SAHMSG Facebook page. I am so glad that she was willing to let me share it with you. We were sharing our homemade baby food tips recently.  Did you miss it? Head on over here to ‘like’ and follow along. You may also want to join the only group for SAHMSG moms: Moms Share Together on Facebook.

How did your attempts at making baby food go? 
Have any good ideas for food combinations or tips of your own? 
Leave a comment below so we can all share.


This post was featured in A Complete Guide for Stay-at-Home Moms: Feeding and Caring for Baby.

When Moms Share together we grow in motherhood!
Successful Mom Daily Checklist to help you gain balance between housework and play time with the kids. Get more done, and feel more successful as a mom and homemaker.

Enjoy your time at home!

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Filed Under: homemaking Tagged With: baby, baby food, food, homemade, infants, Moms Share

Comments

  1. Glenn Roderick says

    August 12, 2015 at 9:51 am

    We need crucial instructions before choosing foods for our babies. Most probably we need hygienic, nutritious foods which consist of protein, vitamin and other essential ingredients. Instead of purchasing foods from outside it is quite better to give our baby homemade foods; here we can get some important instruction on how to prepare baby foods in home with essential healthy ingredients.

    Reply
    • Jaimi says

      August 20, 2015 at 5:53 pm

      Thanks, Glenn. Homemade baby food is so nutritious-and less expensive than store bought!

      Reply
  2. anne@baptismalgownsplus.com says

    September 14, 2014 at 3:23 am

    I love the idea of the food pouches! How clever – this would be great for traveling on long trips or for snacks during sporting events.

    Reply
    • Jaimi says

      September 14, 2014 at 9:49 pm

      Great ideas, Anne! Those food pouches are so handy. It was a great idea from, Cari. I am so glad she let me share here. Take care!

      Reply
  3. Mirtha Medina says

    September 4, 2014 at 6:59 am

    Thanks for sharing this. For some time, I was able to take care of my nieces and nephews when they were still babies and I made it a point to offer them natural foods only. I would have tried your suggestions especially the food pouches — looks like it is the ingredient to no mess feeding! 🙂

    Reply
    • Jaimi says

      September 14, 2014 at 8:24 pm

      What a blessing you must have been to your family to care for your nieces and nephews! I am so glad that Cari shared the food pouch idea and let me share it-she is one clever mama! All the best to you, Mirtha!

      Reply
  4. dreambigrunner says

    August 11, 2014 at 12:43 pm

    Great post and perfect timing! My daughter is 5 month now and we soon will start with solids.

    Reply
    • Jaimi says

      August 18, 2014 at 4:17 am

      I am so glad to know that you can use these tips! My twins are not much older than your daughter. Enjoy the time with her while she is so little. 🙂

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Best Mom Advice - The Stay-at-Home-Mom Survival Guide says:
    August 25, 2018 at 6:36 am

    […] Making your own baby food is so easy! […]

    Reply
  2. Complete Guide for Stay-at-Home Moms: Pregnancy and Caring for Baby - The Stay-at-Home-Mom Survival Guide says:
    May 29, 2016 at 3:38 pm

    […] Breastfeeding Hurts!: Uncovering 11 Breastfeeding Myths and Lies – What’s up Fagans? Homemade Baby Food-7 Tips and the Only Recipe You Need – The Stay-at-Home-Mom Survival […]

    Reply
  3. Infant Activities for Autumn - The Stay-at-Home-Mom Survival Guide says:
    August 27, 2015 at 9:53 pm

    […] in school, so why not make a baby food version so that the infants can try too? I talked about my simple methods for making baby food. You will not believe how simple it is to let your infant (who has started eating baby food) do an […]

    Reply

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🌟Teaching Kids to Make Friends🌟 Often our c 🌟Teaching Kids to Make Friends🌟

Often our children learn hard lessons when they have to move to a new state or school. 

My kids have become all too familiar with this through military life. Every three years they have to make new friends.

It is not always simple.

As a child, my family moved a lot. We were not military, but in junior high I moved to a new state and had to make all new friends.

This was a challenging and even to some extent a traumatic time of life.

Being the new kid, is a humbling experience. Suddenly you are hoping that your peers will want to get to know you and like you. It creates some self-consciousness.

Reading is such a beneficial way to teach children about life lessons. It teaches much more than that. It teaches self esteem through the cuddle time. It teaches language skills, and it teaches children to use their minds to be creative.

As they have grown and navigated more friendships, books are a resource for us to discuss tough challenges. I have found a great series of books that present friendship challenges and help children learn to navigate them.

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Author, Lauren Giannella is a military wife and my neighbor! Anna Perdue is the illustrator and also a military child. 

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We love our military community and all they do to give back.

What are your favorite children’s books that teach children how to make friends or help them maneuver through tough life challenges?

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