Homemade Baby Food

This week has been crazy busy as we have been making preparation to be away for the next two weekends.  Part of that craziness is that I am trying to make a lot of baby food in advance so that EH has plenty to eat over the next two weeks when I am too busy to make it.

Making your own baby food is very trendy right now.  Lots of people are doing it and the makers of baby products have capitalized on this as a huge area to make money.  People who aren't making their own baby food usually decide not to because they view it as too much of a hassle.  I'm here to look at making your homemade baby food from both perspectives.

Is it hard to make your own baby food?  No.

Does it take time? Yes, definitely.

So, what are the pros and cons of making baby food at home?


Pros:
- Healthy and very natural - you know exactly what is going in there and how it's being prepared
- You control the textures (most jarred baby food is super pureed, without any texture)
- Can be less expensive*

* I say "can be" because it is definitely less expensive when we buy our produce in bulk from the Strip District (sort of like a farmer's market) but if we're buying it at Giant Eagle (local grocery chain) we would most definitely NOT be saving money.

Cons:
- Time consuming
- Messy, lots of dishes

So how do I make my baby food?

First, dice up whatever fruit or vegetable you want to cook and add it to your steamer.  Some of my quick and easy go-to foods include:
- Zucchini
- Squash
- Sweet Potatoes and Yams
- Peaches
- Apples
- Pears
- Blueberries
- Mango

 In this case I decided to do an apple and blueberry mixture, which was delicious!

Steam your food for the designated amount of time until it's nice and soft.  For apples, I usually do either 10 or 15 minutes.

Then, drain most of the excess water out, otherwise the puree will be really watery.  After that, all you need to do is blend it and voila! Baby food!

I forgot to photograph the final product of the apples and blueberries, but below is a mixture I made later, which was apples and strawberries.

Half of the food I make I store in these little containers, which are great for taking with us when we're going out.

But for the rest, I freeze it into 2 ounce ice cubes and then just put it in a bowl to thaw whenever we need it.

The ice cubes are definitely easy because you don't have to wash a bunch of little container parts, but the convenience of the containers result in me doing some of both methods.

Some foods, such as honeydew or another melon don't even need to be steamed, so if you're doing something like that just cut it up and blend.

I actually enjoy making baby food, although these days, since he's eating so much, the hardest part is keeping up and making enough!