Baby Food

Ok, so Kaylee's doctor had me start her on solids a few weeks ago - namely, rice cereal, vegetables, and fruits. I went to the store and picked up a couple of each flavor of the stage one (single foods only, no blends, no added sugar or salt) stuff to see what types of foods she would enjoy. I was surprised at the cost - about $1.20 for 2 2.5 oz portions.

Kaylee ended up liking most of the stuff we tried. Well, let me rephrase that. Kaylee did not spit out most of the stuff we tried. I can see, however, that she prefers vegetables over fruit, and perhaps sweet tastes over tart or bland.

When I tasted her foods to see what they were like, I thought they were vile. Well, not entirely. The squash, sweet potatoes, applesauce, and pears were tolerable. The colors of the veggies were a little surreal though, which I blame on the processing during canning.

So after debating on the cost and the taste, I decided to make my own. It would be cheaper, have NO added preservatives (even the natural ones, like citric acid, change the flavor considerably, and I want to know what she REALLY thinks of the foods she tries).

I went to the grocery store and bought some beautiful vegetables: butternut squash, sweet potatoes, string beans, and carrots. I then proceeded to cook them, puree them in the blender, and spoon them into an ice cube tray to freeze into individual 1 oz. portions, which I then put into ziplock bags.

Now all I have to do is take out a couple cubes and nuke them for one minute and stir. And they taste AMAZING! Kaylee loves them and opens her mouth really wide and starts freaking out if I'm not fast enough with the little food shovel.

Pictured L-R: sweet potato, green beans, carrots, squash.

Just thought I'd share. By the way, I used water from the cooking process in my vegetable purees, that way I figured I'd be using the vitamins that had leached out in the cooking process. Oh, I know some of them have oxidized their way out, but I can try and feel like I'm doing good, right? Besides, look at the amazing colors these veggies retained - the canned ones sure didn't look like this!

Also, just for reference, about 1 to 1.5 pounds of vegetable cooks and purees down to about two ice cube trays full, which in my case was about 32 cubes, I think. I'm not sure, since I don't have my trays in front of me.

I'm still working on what to do about fruits, but I think I'll be able to do some fruits the same way. I know for a fact apples and pears will work easily - just peel and cook and puree, not sure if I'll do bananas or just make a raw puree with a little apple juice for ease of blending.

Until next time!