Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Easy Peasy First Foods

I was really nervous when it came time to starting Jayden on solids. Everything I read made it seem so complicated. I was saving up for one of those fancy baby food machines like the Beaba Babycook.

But then I decided to just give it a try with the steamer we already own and our food processor. It worked fine! There really is no need to throw away money. If you have a way to steam food and some kind of blender or food processor, that's all you need.

So, for others like me, I decided to do a post all about how I did it. It was so much easier than I thought it would be. The time period of them eating purees is so short anyway. It would be silly to buy something fancy.



SWEET POTATOES

We started with sweet potatoes. I baked them in the toaster oven, then cut them in half, scooped the flesh out of the skin with a spoon, put it in the food processor, blended it well, then spooned it into an ice cube tray. I put the icecube tray in the freezer over night and then popped the cubes out into labeled freezer bags.

I did the icecube tray thing with most of the purees. It makes it really easy to grab a cube or two out of the freezer whenever I want and then just heat them up.


Jayden loves sweet potatoes!


BUTTERNUT SQUASH

I did butternut squash the exact same way as sweet potatoes.


APPLES

I used the crock pot to make the apples, just like I do when I make apple sauce for us. 

I try to buy all organic fruits and vegetables for Jayden.


I peeled the apples, then cut them into chunks and threw them in the crock pot. Hours later they were done and house smelled awesome. I used a submersion blender to puree them into a smoother consistency.

BROCCOLI

I used our steamer to cook a head of broccoli. Then pureed it in the food processor, spooned it into the ice cube tray, froze it, popped the cubes out into a labeled freezer bag.


PEARS

Peel, then cut into chunks.

Cook in pot.

Submersion blender to puree.

I added some cinnamin, which Jayden loves, and it smells so good everytime I heat up cubes of pears!



PEAS

I bought a bag of organic frozen peas, cooked them in a pot with water, then pureed them using the submersion blender.



MANGOES

Boy, oh boy, mangoes are a pain to cut up! It took forever to peel and cut five mangoes. I added the chunks to the food processor, pureed them, then spooned it into the ice cube tray. The best part is that I've shared them with Jayden. I've grabbed a cube or two and added them to smoothies! YUM.

CARROTS

I put the carrots in the steamer, pureed them, then froze them in the icecube tray.

Jayden loves a mix of carrots and apples.

I know some people are worried about nitrates found in carrots, click here for more information about why you don't need to be concerned. Our pediatrician confirmed there is no need to worry. All of the carrots I have served Jayden are certified organic.

BANANAS

Bananas have always been a 'make on the spot' food since you can't really freeze banana puree. For a while I would open a banana and then mash it up in a bowl with a fork. Now I just let him take his own bites from it and chew it. Even before he got his two little front bottom teeth, he was able to take a good bite. I just watch carefully that he doesn't bite off too much.

AVOCADO

Avocado is another food you can't freeze. I just cut it open, mash it up, and feed it to him. Last time he had it, I mashed it with banana and he seemed to really like that.


WATERMELON AND CANTALOUPE

Rather than puree these, I just gave him big chunks to hold and chew on. I think the cantaloupe was particularly enjoyable while he was teething.

YOGURT

I buy him the Yo Baby organic yogurt. He has liked all the flavors he has tried.


BIBS, BOWLS, and SPOONS

My favorite bib is the baby bjorn one pictured below. Jayden will play with all the other ones and crinkle them up into his face, which gets food all over the bib and then all over his hands and clothes. This one is impossible to crinkle up and the most he can do is lift it up and then drop it again. It's also very easy to clean.


I really prefer bowls with lids. I thaw the cubes of food in the fridge and if the bowls didn't have lids, I would be using multiple pieces of plastic wrap a day. It's easy to grab a couple cubes, place them in the bowl, then snap the lid on them and throw them it in the fridge to thaw.

I love the munchkin infant spoons. They make so much less mess. And they hold your purees really well when you are making them very thin in the beginning.

 Let me make it clear- I am not receiving anything for my opinions here. These are just what we used and liked so I wanted to share.
PROTEIN

Now that he is getting older we are starting to add some protein like pureed white beans and sweet potatoes. And tofu and bananas.

TABLE FOOD

Whenever possible, I give Jayden bites of whatever we are eating. Sometimes I have to modify things, but he is getting really good at biting and chewing. It's funny I worried so much about making purees because it's really a short period of time. He's moving more and more to just eating what we eat.


LEFTOVER PUREES

If you make too much of any of your purees, you can find way to use them for yourself. I grab fruit cubes to add to smoothies all the time. And almost any vegetable cube can be added to something like pasta sauce to get some extra veggies in.


GOOD LUCK and HAVE FUN :)

If I was giving myself from two months ago some advice, I would tell myself not to worry so much about doing it the wrong or right way. Just feed him good foods and have fun with it. The faces are priceless. Anything you put in Jayden's mouth is met with a "what the hell are you doing to me?!" look. Then I smile, which makes him smile, and then he decides he loves whatever it is.

Oh, and don't forget to take lots of cute food all over the face pictures :)

16 comments:

  1. Very inspiring post, and yay those are some things I have on our registry!

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  2. Thank you SO much for posting this! I was nervous about making my own baby food but this answered a lot of the questions I had. I am going to print it out and save it for myself to use in a couple months when Grace begins eating solids.

    By the way, how does Jayden keep getting even cuter and cuter? :)

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  3. Thank you SO MUCH for this. You are totally awesome!! I can't wait to try it all!

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  4. This is super informative! Go you!! (also, when you get lazy and you want the kiddo to get variety you can steam multiple items and puree them all together. i'm shamelessly lazy!)

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  5. Thanks for sharing this! While we're not quite ready to introduce solids, Arlo's just short of 5 months so we will be doing so soon! I was recently given a babyfood maker as a gift, but prior to that I was totally planning on just steaming and using my food processor. Who knows--I may still end up doing that anyway! I'm so excited about making my own babyfood! (Almost as much as I am dreading the poo diapers that solids will bring us, hehe.)

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  6. Love all the pictures! And ideas. Attia is still a couple months away from solids, but we're already thinking about it (she's already grabbing at what we eat). My MIL bought us the baby bullet. It was too cute for her to resist even if I already have an immersion blender, food processor and regular blender. ;)

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  7. I actually went with the Beaba and was so excited about it. My little one is 16 months old tomorrow and the Beaba is still in the box :)

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  8. The frozen pureed veggie trick is a great one for picky eaters.

    Mea doesn't think she likes vegtables, but she actually eats them all the time.

    Sneaky Momma!

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  9. I love this kid so much. His bright, expressive face ALWAYS puts me in a good mood. His peas face is the best. Make him eat peas for every meal.

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  10. Yay! This web site is also really good and has a recipe for pears that you steam and don't have to peel! You can freeze avacados too! I tried it and it works well. http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/index.htm

    It's totally worth making your own and I'm glad you found it so easy! FYI, when that cutie decides he doesn't like carrots but loves spaghetti, pureed carrots blend in marvelously! I snuck (sneaked?) some sweet potatoes into dumplings last week and fed them to the big girls who wouldn't touch sweet potatoes with a 10 foot pole. Mwah ha ha!

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  11. It sounds like you are doing a fantastic job and your boy is doing great! Way to go mama! We pretty much did the same feeding plan as this. I found peeling the sweet potato and then dicing it, cut down on the time it took to cook them in the oven. I also would drizzle a small amount of olive oil over the potato. You are also right on, pureed foods is such a short part of their growth that there is no big need to invest a lot of money on gear.

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  12. This is great. I am on the verge of feeding Ruby solids (she tried to eat my sandwich the other day) and this will be helpful. You rock!

    I LOVE the Bjorn bibs. I saw them and thought they were genius. Although I will say that I wish they had more color choices. I already have the munchkin spoons. I'm glad to hear they work well because I chose them purely for aesthetic reasons :)

    Laurie

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  13. Thank you so much for sharing these! I'm going to make Garrett's food too. A friend let me borrow a steamer/processor so I wouldn't have to buy one. I'm having a hard time finding the ice cube trays with lids.

    The car in Garrett's picture is "remote control"; it has a rattle with it and when he shakes the rattle, it moves the car :)

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  14. My little guy loved bananas when he first starting eating solids, but mashing them was a pain (especially if they weren't totally ripe). I always roast my bananas when I make banana bread, so I thought I would try it for baby food and he LOVED it, plus it freezes! Just stick the bananas (in their peel) on a baking sheet in an oven set at 400 degrees for 18-20 minutes. Let cool, then slide them out of their peels into the food processor, give them a whirl and pour into the ice cube trays. They warm up wonderfully and have a terrific flavor!

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  15. Ah, relief. Finally I know what to do! Thank you so much for this post. It has relieved a lot of my anxiety and I'm actually looking forward to introducing Zoe to food now!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

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  16. awesome post and SO helpful! thank you so much for sharing your experiences and wisdom with us! I can't wait to see all the cute new food faces Eliana makes! :)

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