Baby food prep

I have had so much fun making baby food for Ella. I do love to cook, so that probably accounts for most of the fun, but knowing how healthy the food is and seeing how much money we’re saving- I’m all about it! Whether you’re pro-organic or just trying to save money, making your baby’s first foods is easier than I thought…and I was pretty optimistic about it :-) Here are my experiences from my Baby Food Prep Days!

SHOPPING: I started out buying some fresh or frozen fruits and veggies. If buying frozen, I just make sure there aren’t added ingredients or sugars. This list was already produce we would buy for ourselves, which made it even easier. Seriously though- all of these are about $0.80-$4.00…and make a ton of baby food! The average cost of baby food I found was about $0.60-$1.20/container.

               -Sweet Potatoes
               -Frozen Peas
               -Carrots
               -Apples
               -Acorn Squash
               -Frozen peaches


COOKING: THEN, when I had a free hour while Ella was napping on a Saturday morning, I steamed/boiled/baked/microwaved everything. I had a sweet potato and squash in the oven, peas in the microwave, carrots steaming and apples boiling on the stove. The sweet potato & squash took about 45 minutes (which I almost forgot about anyway), but everything else took around 5-10 minutes.

PUREEING: We have a Baby Bullet which I do love, but really any mixer or blender will do the trick. I threw the cooked fruit or veggie in, added some water and pureed until it reached the consistency that Ella was ready for.

STORING: I filled ice cube trays with each flavor of the puree and covered with plastic wrap. Once frozen, I popped out the cubes and put each different kind in their own Ziploc baggy with a label and date. I usually pop a few out into a container for daycare the night before. Mixing and matching flavors is easy this way!



Some other foods I’ve found that don’t require any prep are avocados, bananas, watermelon. These are handy to mash up quick for supper or a snack. My 1 hour of baby food prep has lasted a good 3 weeks with Ella eating about 6oz of food a day. I’m loving this phase and sharing our healthy habits early is so fun!

Source by: http://www.unitypoint.org/cedarrapids/infants-article.aspx?id=a350246a-d1ce-4449-a689-ee5f48aa7d58&title=Baby+food+prep