Baby Parenting Guide

What is the best way to make homemade baby food?

I already own a blender, food processor, magic bullet and hand blender so I don't want to go buy a baby food maker too. What worked best for you? And how do you steam the food? Do you just use the steamer insert in a regular cooking pot? Thanks.

Public Response to What is the best way to make homemade baby food?

1. Hi I boil some veg in a pot, carrots and sweet potatoe mostly the blend it down then spread it into an icecube tray then freeze it, all u need to do then is pop out a portion put it in the microwave or a pot and thats you. Hope i helped xx
2. In my experience, a blender and a strainer will work just fine. Also yes, a regular steamer... just the way you would steam any veggies, or fruits, without any seaoning or spices. One peice of advice, like with any baby food, you should only introduce one food at a time, and for a few days at a time. In case of allergy, you will know right away which food caused the allergies. Good luck. EDIT: the ice cube tray is a wonderful idea, i will be steeling it this time around. But by boiling the veggies, they lose alot of there vitamins. It is better to steam, or even roast them.
3. I made baby food and found that any of the variety of things you mentioned work great. I would pass on the food processor only because it's a lot of cleaning for the tiny amount of food you are making, even if you are filling several ice cube trays with it. You can use the steamer insert. You can microwave with a cover and a little water. You can buy a Black and Decker steamer (sold mine at a garage sale recently as I no longer use it enough to justify the storage space). The B&D steamer is fabulous when you are constantly steaming veggies for infants or children or old people with teeth problems. Pour water in, place the stuff in, set the timer and ignore it. Just make sure it isn't directly under your cupboard as it can wreck the wood. Meat is the hardest thing, IMHO, to puree and I use a Thunderstick hand blender for that, but in it's absence, a blender will do a pretty good job. You just have to add a little more liquid to get it to circulate in the blender. Not a problem though - put into ice cube tray and freeze it and store it in the back of the freezer - it will keep better.
4. I apologize in advance - this is a long and informative answer! First, let me say congratulations! Making your own baby food is rewarding, cheap, and more healthy than jarred. There are things like insect legs, mold, rat feces or hair that make it into the jarred food, because it's jarred in a factory and those things cannot be avoided. It is cheaper than the jars as well, just do the math. A pound of bananas is between 60-80 cents, and one pound is a lot for a little one, as she will only have a slice of banana at a time, not the whole thing. One jar of baby food bananas is like 25 cents. That's one meal for 25 cents. I use this website: http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com for my go-to guide. The first food your baby will probably get is rice cereal. I recommend buying it, as it is fortified with iron, and your homemade rice cereal won't be. Depending on whether you want to introduce veggies or fruits first (your choice, some say don't do fruits first because then they'll want the sweet stuff. I did fruits first and my son liked veggies more anyway), there are a couple of choices you have. If you do fruits first, avocado and bananas are great. All you have to do is get one of them that is a little more than ripe, and mash it with a spoon, then add some water to make it more baby consistency. If you want to do veggies first, peas and green beans are recommended. They sell these bags in the freezer section, steam quick bags. All you do is take the bag from the freezer, put it in the microwave, and they cook like that. Very easy. I puree them in a food processor. It purees a little better if you have it half full. Add some water to make it a good baby consistency, and it's ready. I never bought any fancy machines. The baby steamers don't hold much, and are expensive anyway. For foods that don't come in the steam-quick bags, I use ziplock steam bags. They also go in the microwave and they steam in the bag. It's easy to make a lot at one time when using the food processor, and freeze the rest. I wouldn't freeze the avocados or bananas because they oxidize (turn brown) after a bit. You can use regular ice cube trays with plastic wrap over them, or they sell trays specially for baby food with lids. The regular trays hold 1 oz in each cube, and the baby ones have 2 oz. They keep about a month in the fridge. Make sure you label them. Peaches, apricots and carrots all look the same after they're pureed and frozen. Don't add juice to the baby food. A young baby can't have it, and you don't want them to develop an unnatural sweet tooth. Meat can be introduced as soon as you want. My son had it around the same time of his first foods. It needs to be pureed the same as anything else, and water add to make it more baby consistency. Use the website above to know which foods to introduce at what time, and it also has some great recipes. Good luck mama!