BTDT homemade baby food

[aaemommy]

We used a baby brezza and it was TOTALLY worth it. Cooked and blended all in one. So easy!!! And it came with a booklet of recipes. We'll be using that again.
As far as storage goes, I made food for the week on the weekends so there wasn't ever an insanely huge amount of baby food in the freezer at one time. This worked well for us but obviously wouldn't work if you wanted to do the bulk of your baby food prep say, once a month. But I stored it in the 4oz Ball canning jars. I bought the plastic screw top lids and it worked perfectly to portion out food and it was ready to send to daycare. I used a wet erase marker to put what it was and the date I made it on the lid, and it easily washed away when I cleaned it.

[annapunkalunka]

I borrowed a baby brezza and it was nice, but not necessary. I have a ninja blender that works amazingly, so I'd just put cooked veggies with a little water in and it would work fine. I used ice cube trays and everything popped out surprisingly easy then I stored each different food in a ziplock in the freezer. The one thing I made that never thawed well was chicken. I don't know if that's the nature of it, or if I did something wrong but it always had a weird texture after thawing.

[pineapplemae]

I started to...but then just gave her the steamed veggies without blending them lol. It was so much easier and she liked chasing food around on her tray to pick it up.

[redhorizon343]

We used our food processor. And the ice cube tray that worked easiest was a plastic oxo one with a silicone lid. If you are making actual cubes the silicone kind of tray they are obnoxious to get out.

I don't have too much advice. It's pretty straightforward. Veggies steamed in the microwave were easiest and peaches and apples were the worst. Sweet potatoes and squash were easier than anticipated.

[gahorseygal]

I didn't do it last time, DD loved pouches and they were easy. However I found these - www.amazon.com/Reusable-Food-Pouch-Pack-Homemade/dp/B00TXBSHBQ/ref=sr_1_sc_1_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1460381523&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=reusable+baby+food+pouh
so we may try that this time! I will still be doing more BLW but pouches can be so handy.

[yogini kiki]

I loved the sage spoonfulls kit. At first I was bummed because I had both the appliances already BUT it is the best food processor/immersion blender ever (even though it is basically just a food processor) and the little jars are the best! Easy to clean and easy to pack. I tended to make the food on Sundays and Wednesdays so I never really had to freeze things. Good luck!

[bobloblaw]

We use the crock pot and a Vitamix. My blends come out really smooth most of the time. Some fruits like blueberries have lots of skin bits still but LO still eats them.

As for reusable pouches, I haven't found any I like. They are all a PITA to clean, especially if your kid is a blueberry fiend and those little bits of skin get stuck in the seams. So much scrubbing with a bottle brush while trying to hold the thing open.

We use an Infantino filling station and The Mumi&Bubi freezer trays. Super easy to fill and push the frozen bits out into a ziplock. It was great for that first foods period.

[khopec]

I used both the baby bullet and the Ninja. The Ninja worked a little better and I could make bigger batches. I steamed fresh fruits and veggies as well as frozen veggies. I mixed the veggies with BM for a creamier consistency. I would then freeze in either the tray that came with my baby bullet or a silicone style muffin pan I got from Demarle both worked great! I also had a few glass jars from Sage Spoonfuls but after being freezed over and over the lids started to crack.

[swim]

I used my Cuisinart blender to make homemade baby food then regular ice cube trays (different colour than the ones we used for ice).
Most of the time I'd boil the veggies then blend using some of the water from boiling.
I only did it once a week since I used 2-3 cubes for DD's supper. And one whole sweet potato gave me over 20 cubes.

I might try it again with DS. I was too nervous to do BLW right away.

[klauket13]

I steamed a lot of different things and just used my food processor and ice cube trays.
Aiden loved when i would do beef roast in the crock pot and then puree it. I think it took him a little bit to get used to the texture though.
Good luck!
Eta - spelling

[gratefulgirl]

I have a hand-me-down Vitamix, so I purée in that. It does a great job.

Beef in the crock pot, boil chicken, salmon is a hit. We start meat at 6 mo. It took DD1 about 10 days to like it, but both girls did well and I liked getting the iron, zinc, fat, and protein in.

I make up mostly individual cubes rather than recipes. Then I mix and match. One night dinner might be 1 cube each beef, beets, and apple. Another it might be 1 cube chicken, corn, and bell pepper. I can mix and match a lot that way and encourage trying less liked flavored alongside more liked ones without constantly cooking baby meals.

Don't overlook whole milk Greek yogurt, peanut butter, sun butter, and crumbled egg yolks as meal options. I often did 2 cubes fruit (my cubes are about 1 T) to 1 T yogurt or nut butter for breakfast. Or I mixed in baby cereal for the B vitamins.

Pure canned pumpkin is just puréed pumpkin and water with no effort. Avacado and banana can be mashed by hand (though my kids adored banana roasted).

I had a lot of fun with the food introduction stage. When you make it yourself you can feed your kids the craziest fun combos!

[weeklyplanner]

I would just use my nutrabullet because it was small and easy to clean. I would typically freeze in trays steamed or roasted squash and sweet potato. Things like green beans, peas or other veggies with more "skin" I'd just use the store bought stuff. Also, you can purée banana and avocado and they both freeze well. Often I'd open a jar and mix it with two homemade cubes to get all the different flavors and extend the store bought stuff. I'm sure I did a few others on a more consistent basis, but it feels like it was forever ago. I can't remember!

[sweetpies]

Apr 11, 2016 6:33:20 GMT -5 annapunkalunka said:

I borrowed a baby brezza and it was nice, but not necessary. I have a ninja blender that works amazingly, so I'd just put cooked veggies with a little water in and it would work fine. I used ice cube trays and everything popped out surprisingly easy then I stored each different food in a ziplock in the freezer. The one thing I made that never thawed well was chicken. I don't know if that's the nature of it, or if I did something wrong but it always had a weird texture after thawing.

Twins
I steamed veggies with a colander in a large pot, then put them in the Ninja. It's nice because mine came with a large 80oz and small 40oz container. I'd then freeze ice cube trays and store in ziploc bags.
Easy breezy and lasted for a month.

[mamajojo]

Apr 11, 2016 7:09:31 GMT -5 pineapplemae said:

I started to...but then just gave her the steamed veggies without blending them lol. It was so much easier and she liked chasing food around on her tray to pick it up.

We did steamed veggies too, when we were together. I did a combo of baby led weaning at home and homemade food pouches for the sitters. I would just steam the fruit or veggies then blend and fill our infantino fresh squeezed pouches. Stick them in the freezer and they were ready to grab and go. I just ran them under warm water to thaw or threw them in the diaper bag frozen.

[lucilleaustero]

I used a pot and pasta strainer. Was able to do big batches this way. Used the cooking water to thin it out and used either my ricer or food processor to puree it.

Though, I wound up BLW with both my kids, so purees lasted a short while in our house.