Baby Food Recipes

So I have been meaning to post something about making your own baby food. I couldn't breastfeed so I wanted to at least try this out. I searched high and low for baby food recipes and couldn't find any, for some reason I thought they were going to end up extremely complicated. Its really super easy, bought a cook book and then wondered why after I started to make the recipes.




When to start solid foods: between 4-6 mths, gradually. Introduce new foods 2-3 days apart so you can easily discover if baby is allergic to any foods, or if certain kinds give them stomach problems. My doctor told me that by the time baby is 9mths, they should eat primarily solid foods. We started Dylan at 4 mths, and he really only had a small jar a day just to get the idea of eating solid foods. It took a good 3mths to really integrate him into eating it every other meal. Now he only had about 2 bottles of milk a day, the rest is solid food and eats from 2-4 helpings. We started him on pears (keeps him regular), prunes, apples, sweet potatoes & peas. Stay away from the meals "turkey & rice" or meats like that until baby is well accustomed to solid foods. When you are reading labels at store, pay attention to ingredients. I only buy the foods that have the actual food & water as the ingredients. Once foods start getting complicated or odd sounding "mac and cheese"
"spaghetti & meatballs" or mixed with several different types of food, the ingredients start to have things I never heard of in them. If the food is not going to be found in my pantry, or if the ingredient is something I can't pronounce, I am not feeding it to my baby.

One great thing to start them out on is rice cereal or oatmeal, mixed with formula or breast milk. We discovered that the rice cereal was causing Dylan stomach problems, but the oatmeal was great for him. Remember, every baby is different so its kind of a trial and error process.


Some info you need though about avoiding bacteria:

1) Food can be frozen for up to 4mths, and then should be thrown away
2) To defrost frozen foods, do not warm up in microwave. Let defrost in fridge... usually takes about 2 days.
3) When it is time to eat, spoon food from container into seperate bowl, put in microwave about 10 secs, throw away what baby doesn't eat. If you spoon straight from container and put back in fridge, it can cause bacteria. (side note: this is from the book, I did try this for a few weeks, and then realized I was just creating more work for myself... i just bought smaller containers;))
4) Do not put lids on jars of food that are steaming hot, let cool first and then add lid.
5) Food stays good in fridge for 3-4 days without being frozen.

What you need:

Peeler
Steamer
Blender or food processor
Knife
Jars for storage... I save baby food jars I buy and also bought some jam jars from the grocery store

Pears:
Wash & Peel 2-4 pears
Chop into about inch pieces
Place in steamer for about 5 mins, or until soft
Place steamed pears into blender and one laddle full of water you used to steam them per 2 pears
Blend until smooth
Let food cool off before placing in jars
After about 20 mins, place in jars and place in fridge

(This recipe is the same for apples as well, you can also make them together and make Apple / Pear mix)

Squash & Sweet Potatoes:
All you need is one butternut squash & it will make TONS of food
Place in oven on 375 for about on hour or until tender
Take out of oven and let cool
Cut squash in half, scoop out the middle and discard
Spoon the meat part into a blender
Add about a 1/2 cup of water (depending on size)
Blend until smooth, may need to add more water if you aren't getting a really smooth consistency...
(same method for sweet potatoes and again, you can combine)

Carrots:
Use baby carrots, already peeled & washed
Place in steamer for about 10 mins
Place carrots in blender, ladle in some water that you used to steam
Blend

Bananas:
Cut up 2-4 bananas
Place in blender
Add milk or formula
Blend

As you can see, the recipes are easy, but do involve a lot of work. I went on a kick for about 3 weeks where I only wanted to feed Dylan food I made at home. You can spend a few hours one day wrecking your kitchen and have food made for the week. The problem I ran into was freezing and then thawing. I had to live 2 days in the future and once Dylan started really gulping down the food, it was very hard to keep up with. Now I just may buy an apple, or a pear at the store and make enough for a day or so, so that I do not have to freeze. I think if the homemade food now more of special, if I have time to make it, treat. Another trick, you can use ice trays, freeze and put into baggies. Then you can take out one or two blocks of what you want and let defrost that way... it defrosts a little quicker and you don't have to worry about jars. Just be sure to label what is in each bag and date it!