Home-Made Baby Food 101

Now some of you savvy-in-the-kitchen moms out there are wondering why on earth I would post about something so simple like how to make baby food.  But I know there are others moms out there who are awful not as comfortable in the kitchen - just like me - and who have no idea how to take carrots from the raw form to the pureed form.  I know.  I can't believe I didn't know that.  But I didn't. 

Hey, I'm the woman who managed to ruin cream of mushroom soup.  From a can, people. 

So here you go, all of you kitchen novices!  This is just for you. 

Step 1:  Buy fresh fruit and veggies.  Today we're making sweet potatoes, melon, peaches, butternut squash, and carrots.  These are some of Danny's favorites. 

Oh, the Frosted Mini Wheats?  Well, I have to snack on something while I do the easiest cooking on earth slave away in the kitchen. 

Step 2:  Make sure you have a cute cooking partner nearby to cheer you on. 

Step 3:  Peel everything. 

Step 4:  Chop everything. 

Step 5:  Cook the veggies so they are soft.  I prefer to steam the carrots, squash and sweet potatoes.  Then I leave some of the water used to steam in with the veggies as I dump it into the blender for pureeing.  Peaches can be steamed, but it's not necessary.  Peaches do need a little bit of water added to puree, but definitely not as much as I have in the picture.  Definitely do not cook the melon or add water to it to blend. 

Step 6:  Blend the you-know-what out of everything until it's as pureed as you want it!  For babies newer to solids, you'll want to puree it until it is very smooth.  If you are moving your little one towards solids, leave it a little lumpy.   

Some foods will need water, like carrots, squash, peaches and sweet potatoes.  Others will not, like the melon. 

Make sure to have the pusher-downer-thingy close by so that all of the food is evenly pureed. 

Step 7:  Store it all!  Store enough for the next 24-48 hours in the refrigerator.  The rest...  pour into ice trays. 

Several hours later, dump the frozen cubes out and store them in labeled Ziploc sandwich bags... 

...and toss them into the freezer. 

When it comes meal time, defrost the desired number of cubes.  The great thing about the frozen baby food cubes is that each one is approximately an ounce, so it's easy to know how much food your baby is taking in! 

A couple other tips:  The melon will probably need to be thickened up with rice-cereal or other cereal since it's so watery. Also, I usually do not make this much baby food at once.  Usually I do one or two veggies or fruit per night as I cook our family's dinner.  I only end up cooking baby food about twice a week, and since I multi-task and do dinner at the same time, it really doesn't take me much more time at all, and it saves us a ton of money. 

There you go!  You're done!  Happy Baby!