Does anyone make their own Meats/Main dishes for your babies?

My girls are 6 months old, they have been on baby food for quite a while now and have pretty much had everything that stage 2 foods have to offer. I make all their vegetables myself, and use natural applesauce and fresh bananas, but all the other fruits I just buy the gerber jars. I know their not ready for meats quite yet, but trying to get prepared. Does anyone make baby food purees with meat or do you just buy the jars? I have been using the wholesomebabyfood.com website and it has helped me quite a bit.

What type of things do you make for your baby Main dish/Meat items?

Do you put seasonings in it or just leave it plain?

When did you introduce meats into their diet?

Some good recipes or ideas and information would be really helful, I'm just so confused as to whether or not to make Meat items myself. Right now we are on solids 2x/day, for breakfast and dinner. When did you go to 3 solid meals a day. We also do 4 bottles a day at 8, 12, 4 ,and 8. Is this a pretty normal schedule for 6 month olds, or should they be having 3 solids a day. We have our 6 month checkup next week so I can ask the Pedi what he thinks. Thanks so much.

 

I did a lot of my own meats... when we were still on purees I would bake a whole bunch of ground meat together with a vegetable or fruit and then puree it. You need some liquid in there to get a good puree, and a bit of fat helps too (I couldn't puree chicken breast. I would often buy a package of chicken thighs and bake it with a bit of onion, curry powder, and mango/peaches/apricots. THe kids LOVED that. I also did a turkey/sweet potato/blueberry puree that was a big hit. Beef and broccoli was alright, they didn't like it as much. Meats were a good way to introduce texture, so I would do ground meat or diced/shredded meat when they were ready to start chewing a bit.

I started introducing seasonings with meat too.. a bit of curry powder, black pepper, oregano, mint, thyme.. I figure it's a good way to get them used to tasty food!

 

I didn't do three meals/day until close to nine months, if not at nine months. It just took me that long to get into a rhythm! LOL! As for meats...ya...I skipped the jarred meats. Nor did I make them. At nine months, all of my kids got table meats, and essentially, table foods. So they got bite size pieces of chicken, meatballs, turkey, etc. They LOVED it. Oh, and I didn't do meats until nine months as well. Your pedi should be able to help you with your decision as well.

 

I tried making some pureed meats, and it just didn't turn out right.....I was able to get my boys to eat the jarred meats if I mixed them with vegetables, or alternated bites. We didn't start any solids until 6 months - we had worked up to 3 meals a day by about 7 or 7.5 months, which is when I started the meats.

 

Great recipes! I will have to try this weekend. My kids don't like jar meat. Our pedi said they didn't have to have meat yet. So I'm no worried. I was thinking giving them some baked chic breast for finger food...thanks!

 

We introduced meat after they could chew and do finger foods. Our pedi said we didn't have to do pureed meats early so we just waited.

 

Thanks everybody for the replies, I think I will probably wait to introduce meats until they are ready for fingers foods, just seems easier that way and they don't really need it until then anyways.

 

I never bought any food for my babies. We didn't start on solids until six months, so I didn't get to meats until about 8 months. Then I just pureed (with my handy mixer) what we were eating. Complete with seasonings. I just separated part of our meal, sometimes before the final seasoning, other times not, and pureered or chopped that up. The whole family only eats meat once or twice a week at our house, so I wasn't in any hurry to get the baby on meat. Take it slow, you've got plenty of time.

I also love The Baby Cuisine Cookbook
And the recipies from Annabel Karmel.