Home made baby food

For those who make their baby food....
My LO's will be 6 mo very soon and they are going to the ped next week.
I wanted to get the things I needed to be able to make their food. I read the "first year handbook", are their any other suggestions on doing this. What works best? Also what foods did you start with first? Do you have to cook everything?

Thanks!!

 

I started with sweet potatoes! All of my kids loved them. I used wholesomebabyfood.com as a guide, love that site! A couple of things you don't have to cook are bananas and avocado.

 

we did sweet potatoes first as well followed by avocado. I agree www.wholesomebabyfood.com is a great site. We have both a blender and a food processor and we just use the blender more.

 

I agree with the website, it's great! I used ice cube trays at first when they were eating small portions and then I purchased 3 trays of the Baby Cubes that hold 70ml/cube now that they are eating bigger portions. I started with carrots/banana/sweet potato/apple/pear and then progressed to more mixtures and adding more variety! I use a Magic Bullet and I have a microwave steamer that I use to cook the veggies before pureeing them. Good luck and have fun making it.

 

I would steam the sweet potatoes and then mash them up with the juices below or use a blender. You can do that for everything but Carrots. Use fresh water for carrots. You want them pretty watery at least at first. I tend to add cereal into it to thicken it up if needed. Ice cube trays work great! Or for larger amounts, cupcake/muffin tins. Good luck! I love it!

 

I agree with the above website, it's fantastic.
We started with rice cereal this weekend and we had a blast! I used short grain brown rice. I rinse the rice first, just in case there are small pebbles in it.

I used a food processor to make it into powder form
THen I boil water, add the rice powder and simmer, while stirring constantly for about 10min. I add water or formula to get it to the right consistancy. It's soooo easy to do, and cheap and I just feel so good about making their food. THe boys really love it too!

(I have the silicon icecube trays that hold about an ounce each, haven't used them yet though, once we start doing veggies etc...I will use them when I puree and freeze- From what I understand the ceral doesn't freeze well, and I make enough for 3days.)

Good luck and have FUN!!
reb

 

You've already got some great advice. I just wanted to add another great website: www.annabelkarmel.com
Here is the page on best first foods. I have a couple of her recipe books and they're a great resource.

I also batch cook and then use ice cube trays/small tupperware to freeze in.