Feeding The Baby: Our Favorites

When Camille turned six months old, we introduced solid foods. She's eight months today (!) and is chowing down like it's her job. Green beans, peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, bananas, peaches, apples, and more ... she hasn't yet met a food she didn't like. Well, at least after trying it a few times.

I had to giggle recently when a daycare mama friend saw my little plastic jars of food and said "Oh my gosh, are you seriously making your own baby food?!" But here's the thing, guys. It's easier for me than buying pre-made. It truly is. Cheaper, too. I don't trust myself to be johnny-on-the-spot with always having a pantry stocked full of baby food jars, but I do know that I can easily make big batches of food, freezing the purees into 1-oz. cubes for ease. So I assured her that I wasn't trying to be Martha -- I was just taking the simple and frugal route. 

Let's talk this through. I promise it's easy.

Exhibit A: 

Sweet potato.

Exhibit B:
Peeler and knife.

Exhibit C:
Peeled sweet potato.

Exhibit D:
Cubed sweet potato gets ready to go into the Baby Brezza.

Okay, let me stop right here and wax poetic on the Baby Brezza. 

When I was pregnant, I trolled Pinterest for all sorts of pregnancy-related articles, especially related to baby gear -- what was necessary, what was a waste of space. Baby food makers often fall in the latter category; people say you don't need them if you have a standard blender or food processor already.

Well, I beg to differ.

We have a small house, so we have to be really careful with how much "stuff" we own. The reason why I love this so much is because it's small, it's easy, and it's way efficient. It goes beyond the traditional blender or food processor in the fact that you have a Steam + Blend feature which allows you to set the timer, walk away, and come back to perfectly pureed baby food. It steams the fruit/veggie/meat and then goes directly into a blend mode without you having to press any additional buttons.

Above you can see the Steam + Blend timer set for 30 minutes, and below? Voila ... baby food!

All I do is dispense it out into little containers and it's ready for Camille.

Same thing goes for apples -- just steam some organic apple chunks up and blend, and you have applesauce that is literally good enough that I served it in bowls to Ian and myself one night as a side to our dinner. I did mix in a little cinnamon and sugar for us, but the baby just gets plain apples. 

So, the best thing about making this food for Camille is that I can make large batches and then freeze in 1oz. portions. She's currently eating 4oz. at a time, so I can just toss in 4 apple cubes or mix and match -- for example, last night's dinner was 3 zucchini cubes and 1 carrot cube thawed and then mixed together.

I love the freezing trays that I have by Mumi & Bubi. Two come in a pack. They are BPA free and the shape of the wells (like a crescent moon) make getting the cubes out so easy ... you just push on one end and the frozen cube slips right out. 

Here are the apples and sweet potatoes, completely frozen in the tray. 

I just pop them out, slip them in a freezer bag, and toss it in the freezer.

When ready to serve the baby, I just let them thaw on their own or use the microwave in 15-30 second intervals. 

So there you have it ... see what I mean? Not tough or elaborate at all!

As Camille gets older, we can experiment with more foods, which will be a lot of fun. We do want to keep her on organic produce and organic meats for the time being.

And with that said, I'm definitely a fan of the occasional jar or pouch of pre-made food. They come in really fun flavors (things that would be harder for me to make or find organic at the store), and I like having the 4oz glass jars that I can reuse for homemade baby food. We have used Earth's Best and Gerber Organics baby food so far. Love them!

If you have any recipes to share, questions, or experiences of your own with making baby food, I'd love to hear from you!

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