Homemade Baby Food

Have you ever tasted the junk you feed your kids??  I have.  Tastes like a cardboard box.  (Yummmm)  I'm really not too fond of eating cardboard, myself.  And even if I did like the taste of cardboard, I don't know where that food is coming from or what's in it...not to mention the price!!

To be clear, I've never actually eaten a cardboard box. :)

So, rather than encourage my children to run away from home before they could even crawl, I decided to make my own baby food (or their own...).  It's pretty easy and can actually be lots of fun!  There are a few things you should know first.

1. Start out with vegetables.  One at a time.  The reason for this is to detect any food allergies.  If you start out with one vegetable at a time, and continue with that single vegetable for 2 -3 days, and your child has a reaction, you will know which foods triggered the reaction.
2. Once you have introduced all of the vegetables, it's time to start with fruit.  Most of the time babies will love the fruit more than the vegetables.  Especially bananas.  We start with vegetables because they will eat them better if they haven't tasted the fruit yet.   
3. If you suspect there may be an allergy to a particular fruit or vegetable stop feeding it to your child.  If the reaction is server, consult your doctor.  If the reaction is not that bad, wait a week or 2 before offering to your child again.  At that point, you should be able to figure out if it's a food allergy that's causing the problem.  
4. Children under a year old should not be allowed to eat Strawberries.
5. Children under 2 years old should not be allowed to eat honey.

photo credit

Directions:

Start out with seasonal vegetables.  I suggest fresh vegetables.  Organic would be even better. If you don't have a huge selection of fresh vegetables to chose from you can use frozen vegetables, just be sure they don't have any preservatives or additives.  In the first months you will not want to add any butter or seasonings.  Simply offer single fruits and vegetables.  Cook your veggies and then throw them in the blender or food processor until they're a nice consistency with no chunks.  You can add a bit of water if your baby food is too thick.  

Start out with easy things like potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, spinach, squash, corn, sweet peas, carrots, and asparagus. Avocado is one of our favorites to start with since it's loaded with vitamins and healthy fats, not to mention it's consistency is already soft and easy for Baby to eat.

Whatever your family eats the most would be practical, since your child will need to eat what the rest of the family likes to eat.    Be sure you warm it up to room temperature before you serve it.  I do not recommend using a microwave.  Microwaves tend to heat things unevenly and you could end up burning baby accidentally. 

When you are finished learning to eat new fruits and veggies, you can start to mix them together and add spices and butter and things.  Scoop a bit of whatever the rest of the family is eating and plop it right into the blender!  Spaghetti, meat loaf, enchiladas...straight into the blender! 

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