the whole making your own baby food

sounds like a great idea. In the end I will likely do it because I know how expensive it can be to buy all those little jars just for one kid. But really I so don't want to make my own food. I would rather just buy the little jars. Anyone else feel this way? I am a SAHM so I know I could work it into our schedule. I was actually thinking I could spent a Sunday making foods and stocking for the entire month. I just don't know if I want too. I feel so lazy when I think that though. UGH Anyone else not interested in making foods themselves?

 

I really enjoyed making baby food, but I can totally understand why people wouldn't. I would make huge batches of stuff and it took me less than 2 hrs to make about a months' worth of puree. I would steam fruit or veggies in a pot and then use my hand blender to blend it right in the pot.. then ladle it out into ice cube trays. Voila! Hardly any mess and not a lot of time. I even left skins on and just washed them well. When we got to meats, I would just put ground meat or chicken thighs into a casserole dish with some olive oil and herbs and a bit of liquid until it was thoroughly cooked and either puree or cut into chunks. In a pinch I would just throw a sweet potato in the microwave for 5 minutes and mash it with a fork when it came out.

By about 10-11 months if they're ok with finger foods, you can start feeding them your supper too.. just save them a portion without as much salt or spice. We were done needing purees by a year, so the time you need them is really short!

 

I made most of their food initially, but honestly, it is a lot of work and only some things save you money. I figured out how much produce I bought and how much I made and how much I really saved. Carrots, for example, are totally worth it. So are apples, especially if you get them on sale or at an orchard, etc. Pears are not worth it. I figured I saved a whole big $1 making a giant batch of pears, and so I decided to buy those in the future. Once the boys got to the stage two combo foods, I mostly went to buying it because it was a lot of trouble to figure out how to combine the things, and I wanted them to get used to a variety of tastes. There is no reason you HAVE to make the food if you want to - I certainly didn't enjoy it - I did it mostly to save money.

 

I do some but not all. Every weekend I make at least one batch of something and freeze it. So far I haven't done meats. They scare me a bit.

 

I agree with PP, it's not always cost effective, and even though it doesn't take tons of time, it is something you do have to set aside time to do. I end up making things that are easier and tastier to me--all potatoes, peas, mixed veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, carrots), and I buy all natural apple sauce which is cheaper than baby food always. Otherwise, I buy baby food. There are just days when I don't want to cook for anyone.

Definitely look for sales on baby food, and if you LOs like something, buy it in bulk from Amazon. Some of the food is part of the Subscribe & Save program.

 

Thanks for the information. I figured some of the foods wouldn't always be cost effective. I am just not sure what I want to do. I think maybe I will just make the basics myself. When it's time for the stage 2 foods I will buy some and make some. The girls will be three months on Tuesday so I have another month or two before this is an issue. I was thinking of maybe waiting until after the new year to start solids anyway. Get the stress and craziness of the holidays out of the way and then settle into a nice routine with meals.

 

I do a bit of both - out of cost effectiveness, time, and variety.

I started buying jars and pre-made baby food when it was on special when my bubs were only 2 months old. Now that they are 6.5m I have a small sock pile.

Every now and then, I steam or boil up a batch of veges of what I have in fridge, puree and freeze. I do find though, it's good not to have too much puree as they need to learn to have textured food. Extra puree could always be used in cooking cakes etc though!

I like to give them some of what I've made and also some store stuff so they are getting a variety of tastes and flavours and textures. It's good to have jars on hand for outings or quick feeds that don't need to be defrosted when you have 2 screaming babies. :laughing:

I want to be able to give them what we as a family are eating ASAP, but they don't always eat at the same time.

It's not too much extra time to make an extra large batch of your own meals , keep some aside and prepare, then freeze? <_<

 

I thought it would be a good idea... I figured, it's probably better and would make me some wonderful mother because I made my kids food-and I was a SAHM.




Yeah, I never once tried. Oh well! LOL! Beech-Nut jars were 2 for $1, vs Gerber being more expensive. It was just something I could never make the time for. I still think maybe I should have tried. I always thought it was just way more work to steam the veggies, mash, freeze, repeat.

All I did was pop open a jar and feed! LOL!

But you could most certainly try to make the food, cost compare everything. You could do the frozen veggies/fruits when the others are not in season. And if you do and you find it works-great! And if you do it and find that it doesn't-well-at least you tried and you know!

 

I started out using jarred baby food and then fell in love with making my own. I could make my own mixtures and combinations and judge the thickness on my own. Also, when figuring out the cost, remember to add in the amount of water that most baby food contains. Homemade baby food tends to have more nutrition for your buck! I felt like the jarred baby food was runny and messy. I loved making it and will for my next baby as well and I am definitely not an overachiever or a big saver. hehe

 

I am a SAHM and I do NOT make my own food...I live in Canada and there are a few brands that make only organic food with no preservatives so that's what I use. My girls are mostly on table food now so the jar stage was pretty short lived. I figured why waste my time and energy when the jar stuff is probably cheaper then I could make it (considering the cost of buying all those organic fruits, veggies, meat, etc.). To each his own but making it myself never even crossed my mind!

 

I tried it...and failed miserably. :laughing: I bought 10 or so ice cube trays and they are all still taking up room in my cupboard. I could never get the texture right, and all my girls did was gag on the food I tried to make. Buying it from the store was so much easier for me.

 

I don't really understand where the hassel is. Get a small blender or small food processor attachment and simply puree a small part of what you were cooking for yourself before you season it.

If you're eating things you wouldn't give your baby, maybe it's time to examine your diet?

 

Babies need to have new foods one at a time with a certain wait in between - in our case we had to wait 5-7 days every time or our boys had major stomach issues (they are also MSPI - milk and soy intolerant, which rules out giving them a lot of what we eat until they outgrow that). If we simply gave them what we eat, they would have something new every day, and with multiple new ingredients (like casseroles, etc.). That is not recommended by anyone I know when they are first starting solids because of possible allergies and developing digestive systems. In addition, we cannot afford to eat organic ourselves, but I try to feed the boys organic as much as I can afford.

 

It was ment to be harsh.

Take one of the ingreditent you'd put in a casarole, or pasta sauce or what ever and steam it. Separate a portion of it and puree it. Then add the rest to the pasta sauce. This is a very important time in their lives and only a very very short time in yours. Eat the same thing several days in a row if you have to, certainly it wouldn't hurt you to have something with carrots in it everyday for a week. Or separate out enough of that days ingrediate to freeze for 5 days. This is what PEOPLE ALL OVER THE WORLD do. The vast majority of the worlds babies have never eaten food from a tiny jar will gods only know what in it. The US is facing a major health crisis due to the industrialization of our food system. It has got to stop. And honestly--it's not.that.hard.

 

I'm sorry, but most of what we eat is prepared hours in advance - freezer meals or crock pot things that have been cooking since morning, or things that have been in the freezer for a couple of weeks. I simply don't have time at supper time to do what you are saying - I can barely get supper on the table most days even with pre-prepped foods. Maybe you do have time, and if you do, that's fine. I make huge batches of baby food in advance when I have time and freeze them - for my own sanity and for the boys. You can't tell me that the whole U.S. health crisis is because our kids eat baby food. That is ridiculous. The health crisis is because people eat too much fast food, saturated fats, etc. I eat well and so do my children - we just happen to eat separate meals for now. What I do buy, I buy them mostly organic and I read labels very carefully - if something has tons of chemicals in it, I don't get it for them.

There are also a lot of things my DH refuse to eat that my boys love - like peas, corn, squash, any kind of bean, etc. Should I deny them those things because DH won't eat them? I can't make a dish with those things in them because DH won't eat it, so I make those ahead and freeze them for the boys. Yes, it is work, but I think it is what is best for them.

 

I never made my own baby food - I'm just not that ambitious!!

as for the US food crises - the first foods (which are the smooth purees) were the ingredient and water - not sure how much crises thats causing...

 

I have a different schedule now but I work full time and DH stays home with them. I had a hard enough time getting him to do simple housework, much less expect him to make their food. On the weekends, I wanted to relax, spend time with my babies and catch up on housework. Needless to say I bought all their food, and I still buy a lot of the toddler meals because I have a hard time getting dinner made early enough to feed them before they get too tired.

I am a physician and I think that the problem in the US has to do with parents feeding their toddlers fast food, juice, letting them watch too much tv...teaching them bad habits early. The only proven link to obesity in infants is that bottle fed infants have a higher risk of obesity than breastfed.

 

wow, funny reading all the posts in this topic! hot topic.

anyway, I can see where its easier to just open up a jar... and really there are a lot of great sales on Earth's Best organic baby foods and you can use coupons with them so they'd be affordable.

for me, it was easy to just puree and use a couple of $dollar store ice trays and freeze. zip lock bags and label the items and bam there you go. we didn't even start untiil 8 months so really I only pureed foods for a couple of months. then I just microwave steamed everything else after that.

don't feel guilted in to doing something you don't want to do, but if you want to do it, I didn't really find it that hard. enjoy the babies!

 

Wow okay I didn't mean for this to turn into a hot button topic. lol For some throwing whatever you have in the blender is easy. Dinner time in my house is one of the most stressful times a day. I have five children ages 5, 3, 2, and then the 2mos twins. I try to make dinner as simple (but yet still healthy) as possible with no more steps than needed. The kids are usually at the end of their rope by that time a day. I am trying to keep them occupied so we don't have meltdowns and make dinner. Once the twins do start eating solids I will have to feed two babies as well. I can't serve the same food four or five days straight. I wouldn't want to eat it that much either! We need some variety. I will likely try out making my own food just to see how it goes. If I do I will spend a Sunday making up a month's worth of food. Much easier to be than making as I go.

 

I also find I don't have the time to puree. We use coupons and sales to get jarred food.

 

I have been buying my formula at BRU lately. I use their coupons to buy the generic. Anyway, I noticed they have a line of organic baby food and its in little pouches. It's kinda expensive but they have a really good selection and variety. I think I am going to try those too.

 

I want to add that I have made puree before. I did it for a while to sneak it into recipes since the kids aren't big on eating veggies. While yes it's easy it is time/work. Not sure I want to give up time or just buy the food.

 

I made a lot of baby food for my firstborn, and decided the savings wasn't worth the effort. With the twins, I just stuck with buying baby food. They started at 6 mo, and were purely on finger food by 10 months. If it buying premade food makes your life easier for those 4 months, I say go for it!

 

My babies aren't to foods yet, but I have started buying jars and I plan on at least attempting to make it, or making some of it. I know my husband and I know myself and I know it's not realistic to think they would get as much variety with me making it. And I don't know how much time I can or will devote to it- so...as I supplement breastmilk with formula, I will supplement homemade with jars. Whatever works.

 

My LO often had the same thing two days in a row (leftovers)...it has challenged me to make more variety for DH and me...crockpot meals are great because everything ends up nice and soft. For baby foods, we only used the cereal, toddler biscuits, and applesauce. We followed the baby-led weaning approach and started at 6 months.

 

I just don't see how it takes more than two minutes to make baby food. I did if for twins--the only commercial baby food available in my town when they were babies was the rice cereal. No jars of anything. I wouldn't open a jar of something and set it in front of my 6 year olds now, my baby deserves the same treatment. Likewise, I don't get people who say they are willing to spend on organic on their babies, but not on themselves, their spouces or their older children. Once you start the habit of convience foods, it's very hard to break--so why start?

 

It is totally up to you how you feed your family. But I find it very hard to believe that you and your children never eat anything out of a jar or can. Even my old order Mennonite friends who have huge gardens and grow and can most of their food buy and eat SOME jarred foods from the grocery store (especially things they can't grow here or get fresh in our climate). Yes, fresh is better if possible. But the reality is, I can't always fix food from fresh. First, it is hard to get most things fresh here in the winter, and second, I don't have time to go to the grocery store 2-3 times a week to use all fresh food - I go once a week and buy things fresh. When they run out, we used canned, frozen or jarred foods to get through to the next grocery trip (I actually prefer frozen things when I can't get fresh because of less sodium).

As far as the organic, it is not a matter of being "willing" to buy it for my babies and not for DH and I (we have no other children). The simple fact is, I can't afford to buy everything organic for all of us. So, what I can afford to buy organic goes to the babies, either in jarred food, or ingredients that I use to make their food. As a SAHM on DH's teacher income, with babies who can only eat Nutramigen pre-mixed formula (big $$$), that is the best we can do. I either buy organic for them and regular for us, or I don't buy organic at all. Once they outgrow their food allergies and can eat with us, I will buy what I can organic for all of us. That is the best I can do. Maybe you can afford to buy all organic, but I simply can't.

 

Mexi: I don't know where you live but we don't have easily available fresh produce available to us many months of the year. We don't even have quality fresh meat. If I were a SAHM, maybe I would spend half my day in the kitchen and spend my life barefoot, pregnant and serving my family. Instead, I work 24 hour shifts at a hospital, and can't expect DH to cook fresh gourmet meals from scratch. We do eat salads, lots of fruit, and try to limit junk, but without prepackaged, jarred and canned foods we would be eating nothing but apples and bananas.

Eagleswings: yes! We see Amish at Walmart and Aldis all the time.

 

Oh, yes! My Mennonite friends love Wal-Mart, and also Costco (although that is a bit farther away from them and they have to pay someone to drive them there - the Wal-Mart is close enough to them they can go in their buggy).

 

It is a good point about the availability of produce and fresh food in Mexico vs. here. I stayed in Mexico with a family one summer and had a much different eating experience.. fresh produce from the market twice a week and lots of local producers to buy from within a couple blocks of home.. and that was in a larger city, comparable to the one I live in now.

Here, we have winter 8 months of the year, and while I am a big believer in organic and local it's just not feasible for most of the year. So then I have a choice between a limited supply of local greenhouse crops usually grown with fertilizers or truck in organic from far off places. Both are prohibitively expensive, and both have their disadvantages. So I do rely on canned food a lot... I just try to stick to foods that haven't been overprocessed... not meals, but ingredients. I also canned a whole bunch of my own stuff this year. And we sometimes relied on jarred food for the kids... sometimes it's just easier and just as healthy to open a jar of sweet potato puree. I never got into the pre-packaged meals for toddlers, but the purees are just pureed vegetable and water.. hardly anything wrong with that!