Christian-Parent.com

by Rachel Paxton

When I started feeding my infant son solid foods, I still wasn’t totally sold on the whole idea of making homemade baby food. I’d done it with all my other kids, but with so much other stuff to do every day, I just didn’t think I had the time to make it.

I purchased baby food at the store for a couple of weeks and started adding up in my head how much money I was spending on store-bought baby food. I couldn’t believe how much I was spending, with my son eating almost two jars of food at each meal! I decided to give making baby food a try again, just to see if it really would take me that much time.

First I purchased a KidCo Electric Food Mill online. This isn’t absolutely necessary, you can also use other food processors or a blender, but it is nice to have the baby food mill handy on the counter when I want to make up some baby food really fast.

When you are making homemade baby food, you do need to keep a couple of things in mind. First you should consult your pediatrician about when you should start feeding your baby solid food. This could be anywhere from 4 to 6 months old or later. When you do start feeding solids, you will feed cereals first, then vegetables and meats, and then fruits last.

When you start offering solid foods, you will offer only one food at a time to make sure your baby doesn’t have an allergic reaction to the new food. You should wait at least three days between new foods. If you start cereals at 4 months old, by 6 months your baby should be eating a variety of different foods.

This past summer we went to a local fruit stand and I bought a box of apricots and a box of peaches. Even though my baby wasn’t old enough for solid foods yet, I blended them up in the blender with a little water and then froze them by pouring the puree into ice cube trays and freezing them. This is a great way to preserve seasonal produce for your baby to eat later.

After you freeze the food cubes, you can remove them from the trays and then store them in ziploc freezer bags. Make sure to label the bag with the food contents and date. The frozen food should be eaten within about 3 months. One serving is approximately 2 food cubes.

Vegetables that are good to puree and freeze are cooked green beans, peas, squash, sweet potatoes, and carrots.

Meat can also be frozen. The food mill works great for blending meats. Add water until it reaches the desired consistency. You can also add extra water if necessary after you thaw out the cubes.

When your baby is about 6 months old you can offer mixed foods. This is when your job gets a lot easier, because you can start offering your baby food that your family eats for dinner. Do keep in mind, however, if you eat a lot of seasoned or processed food, that you should not be offering this food to your baby. Your baby’s food should be as natural as possible. I have gotten around this by taking some food out for the baby before I season whatever I am making, and leaving out things such as creamed soups when I am preparing his portions.

Foods my 6-month-old enjoys are green beans and chicken, split pea soup with ham, corned beef and noodles, chicken and rice soup, and spaghetti. If you prepare your baby’s food while you are cooking your family’s meal, it doesn’t take any extra time at all. Just blend some in the food mill, pour it into the ice cube trays, stick them in the freezer, and you’re done.

I still wasn’t totally convinced until I saw the bags of baby food piling up in the freezer. In about 2 weeks, I had enough food cubes stored away to feed him for at least a month or more! And I didn’t spend any extra money on his food, it was all from food our family was eating for dinner.

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