Homemade Baby Food

You know how I said I was a little in love with Bon Ami Cleanser a few posts back. Well, shhhh, lean closer to your screen so I can whisper something so the Bon Ami can’t hear me. Ok, so here it is. I think I may have a little more than a passing crush on my Beaba Babycook. Yup, it’s my new favorite!

In keeping with my desire to live life simply, I have taken on making my own baby food and boy do I love it! It’s super easy. I know what the ingredients are. I can shop my little organic heart out at Whole Foods and know that at the end of the day, I have given the Tomato the best that I can. I am a stay at home mom, so I do have time during the weekdays to make food as I need it. But, that should not deter those working moms who wonder where to find the time. It just takes an hour or so on a Sunday to whip up the week’s meals. I have a friend who juggled a full time teaching job, a PhD program at the top education graduate school in the country, breastfeeding and made her own meals. It can be done!

So, how is it done you may ask? Well, I’ve made 3 different foods so far: carrots, sweet potatoes and pears. For the carrots and pears, I used the Babycook and the steps are the same. First, fill the clear cup with water to the level indicated in the instruction book. Next, put the water into the steamer section of the Babycook. Peel and chop the carrots (or pears) and put them in the steamer basket.

Put the basket in the clear cup, click the top on and turn the dial to steam. The different types of foods take different times to steam, but the longest time so far for us has been 15 minutes. After steaming, transfer the food to the clear cup while keeping the water in the cup. Puree and serve!

With the leftovers, put them into sections of ice cube trays (I have the Beaba and Fresh Baby ones pictured below) and them put the ice cube trays into a freezer bag. Freeze and then transfer to a new freezer bag and mark the type of food and the date. The rule of thumb is that the food will last 6 weeks in the freezer.

When I serve the frozen servings, I just heat them up in a pan or small pot on the stove, let it cool and serve. I don’t microwave her food because I try to use the microwave as little as possible. In fact, I only use it to heat up my caramel sauce for ice cream. I even debate why we have the machine most days. Maybe that will be a goal to declutter and oh the space I would regain on the countertop!

I have been a bit surprised at how easy this has been and am excited that I am doing it. I have a few books that I am following to help along the way. Annabel Karmel seems to be the baby food guru, so I have her Top 100 Baby Purees and her First Meals books.

I also have Feeding Baby Green, which is a great comprehensive guide to eating healthy during your pregnancy and how to help shape healthy eating in your children. The author is a pediatrician and the book is well researched. I would highly recommend it to folks who already eat organically, locally and seasonally and those who are looking to learn to eat that way.

The next few foods that Tomato will be trying are papaya, green beans and peas. Papaya is a no cook food. Just smash and serve! We’ve got a couple of weeks until chicken. I will have some product reviews for you in the next week about the OXO tot products that we bought for her plates, bowls and spoons and the Anka high chair that we use with her. If you are making your own baby food, please comment below with your favorite recipes or go to supplies.