I never thought I would be the “make my own baby food” type of mama. I honestly was so consumed with nursing that when it was time to introduce food to G-love’s routine, I was a bit overwhelmed. I mean, honestly, I had just finally gotten us on a good routine- now I gotta figure out what and how much and when to feed him real food? After some quick research and talking with other Mama’s, I realized I had so much more control over what went into G-love’s body if I took the time to make it for him. I took my original “I have no time to do this” mantra and turned it into “I will make time to do this.” It worked and now I spend about 1-2 hours on the weekends making batches of food to freeze ahead of time for G-love.
I remember what a feeling of accomplishment after I made the first batch. I made it a family experience- we packed G-love up and drove down to a nearby farm and bought all sorts of yummy organic veggies. I researched ahead of time how to make and store the food. I got G-love all excited to test my culinary skills. Then I spent 2 hours making 2 weeks worth of food in an afternoon. It looked so pretty in the freezer. I felt so good.
Then, wouldn’t you know it- he actually liked it! He gobbled up the zucchini. He whined if I slowed down while feeding him his pears. He kicked and giggled while inhaling his squash. It was so cool!
That was 2 months ago. Now we are in our new routine, he is eating and loving it. This weekend in a rush of inspiration after having breakfast with some friends who also are baby chefs, I expanded my repertoire. Here is a short list of what is on the menu this week for G-love:
- Pureed pears and apples with mashed butternut squash
- Pureed pears with a mashed veggie mixture of carrots, green beans, corn and peas
- Smashed peas and carrots with nutmeg
- Smashed avocado and banana
I use this site as my cooking for baby bible and it really has helped me realize that baby’s palettes are different than adults. They don’t turn their noses up at smashed peas on the same spoon as pureed carrots.
If you are flirting with making your own baby food- don’t let time be an issue. I do it in batches ahead of time, but it can be as simple as steaming some veggies and throwing them in the blender while you are making dinner. For now, I have some control on what nutrients G-love gets, and in the long run it saves us a lot of money!
What other ideas do you have for homemade baby food? Drop them here, I need to do my menu planning for next week!
**P.S.- This is my G-love eating his homemade pears, his absolute favorite!
