making baby food August 17, 2010

I have nothing against Gerber or Beechnut, etc. In fact, I bought baby food on a regular basis when we traveled out of town. However, I found that there are many advantages to making your own baby food & it is a whole lot easier & much less time-consuming than you might think.

Some of the advantages that I found to making Nate’s baby food myself included the following:

• cost: buying fresh, frozen, or even canned fruits & vegetables costs less than all those jars. [click chart at right] And, at least for me, it takes a lot less extra time in the grocery to just add some extra of things that I already buy than it does to stand in front of all those little jars trying to read the tiny labels & find the ones that I’m looking for.
• variety: While store-bought baby food have a decent amount of variety, you’re still fairly limited based on what the manufacturer and your grocery store decide to offer. Making your own provides opportunity to expand your baby’s horizons by introducing different things. It also becomes very easy to give your baby meals that you prepared for your family already. In my opinion, this made it much easier when the time came to transition Nate to table food b/c he was used to a wide variety, to trying new things, and to eating the things that I cook.
• nutrition: As with any food preparation, the fresher, the better. Balancing your baby’s diet doesn’t have to take much effort. During the first stage of introducing solids & being on the look out for allergies or sensitivities, your baby is still getting the most nutrition from your milk or formula. By the time you are preparing full meals, it becomes quite simple to just feed baby what the rest of the family is eating [provided, of course, that you are feeding the rest of your family healthy things ;o)]
• texture control: Using your own blender means that you can make your baby’s food as soupy or as thick as needed & you can make a smooth transition from one stage to the next without suddenly jumping from smooth to chunky.

I’m not interested in reinventing the wheel, so in the interest of time & simplicity, here are a few websites that I have also found to be helpful.

• Wholesome Baby Food.com This site is a great resource complete with charts to let you know what foods to introduce when, plus easy recipes & nutrition information! Indispensable.
• Baby Center.com

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