Homemade Baby Food

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Countryside : One Thread

Hello; My sister-In-law is having her third baby and is on a tight budget. She has asked me to find out if homemade or store-bought baby food is better,and if homemade is better she would like some tips on how to make it and everything else on that subject. Thanks,Li

-- Lisa/Zion,IL (magpie@fsi.net), January 16, 2001

Answers

Lisa my wife made most of our daughters baby food...she pureed the veggies in the blender w/ some water, and as she grew, she would do that to potatoes, turkey, etc. Our daughter loved it, and we liked not having thousands of jars laying around!

-- Joe (Threearrs@AOL.com), January 16, 2001.

Look in the archives there was just a post about it .Start out with single ingredient foods and put them through a choppper until smooth .Mine kids moved to table foods rather fast mashed with a fork.

-- Patty (fodfarms@hotmail.com), January 16, 2001.

Have her invest in a "Happy Baby" food grinder. They cost $12 or so at health food stores, but I've seen them at tag sales (eBay?) You can put anything in these, except for really tough meat, and grind just enough for a one meal serving - whatever the family is eating. For a baby new to solids, try one item at a time (banana, applesauce, cooked carrots, peas, etc.)

-- Christina W (introibo2000@yahoo.com), January 16, 2001.

It's been a few years since I have needed to make baby food (thank you Lord!), (two's enuff!) but I never bought the jarred stuff. Someone I knew saved her jars for me, and when the babe started on a new food (say, sweet potatoes) I would cook and mash a batch, divide it among the jars, then freeze the jars. If the baby is quite small and not taking more than a tablespoon or so, freeze the mashed food in ice cube trays - pop out when frozen and put into ziplock bags. Carrots, sweet 'toes, peas, beans, pears, apples, - all can be steamed til tnder, mashed then frozen. Once the child is eating just about everything you're eating, take a bit out of the pot (before you season heavily) to mash in the bowl. No need to cook anything seperately.

-- Judi (ddecaro@snet.net), January 16, 2001.

Hi Lisa. We were so tight when we had our first, that I had to make my own. Fruit I bought fresh (apples, pears, bananas, etc.) or canned in water (peaches, pears, etc.). I boiled all but the bananas until they were mush. Bananas just mash well with a fork. Frozen veggies I’d cook a soup bowl at a time in the microwave as needed, then put into a tiny little electric food chopper with a few spoons of water (chopper $15 new at Walmart, looks like a baby food processor with one blade). More than a meal's worth I’d throw into a sandwich bag and freeze. This travels great, and to get it out when thawed, just snip a corner and squeeze like toothpaste. Put into a cup of hot water to heat before snipping. My first rarely ate commercial food and was only sick three times up to the age of 4. I think being “poor” was healthy for her. Also, a good alternative to commercial older baby/toddler cereal is Cream of Wheat or wheatlets cooked with milk, and a banana mashed up in it as sweetener. My daughter ate it happily from the time she could hold a spoon until she was 3. Bulk wheatlets are a lot cheaper than the cereal they market for this age group.

-- Rheba (rbeall@etown.net), January 16, 2001.


Do you have room for yet another answer? I made our babys'food also. We started out with apples. Steamed and then purreed really really well. Watery was the advice from our Dr. at the time. Both my babies did fine. I also bought canned fruits that didn't contain any sugar or salt and purreed those. I have two close friends who did the same, also without problems. Have your sister talk to her Dr. about when to introduce what foods. I am sure everything will be fine for her too. Best of everything to yas Cindy

-- Cindy Palmer (jandcpalmer@sierratel.com), January 16, 2001.

If she nurses she won't need to feed her any baby food till 9-12 months, and by then they can eat mashed up table food, breastfeeding is the most economical and healthiest way to feed a baby. When they're on formula they require baby food a lot sooner, because formula isn't everything they need and breastmilk is. Perfect just the way God made it!

-- Carol in Tx (cwaldrop@peoplescom.net), January 16, 2001.

I would like to throw in a word of caution here. Our doctor had us start our daughter on cereals at just two weeks of age. From there she graduated to baby foods. This was a rather new concept at the time.

I've since read that doctors have gotten away from this as it seems kids started on cereals and baby foods so early, tend to have many allegies later in life. Just a few months ago my daughter had to go through allergy screening and does indeed have a lot of them. She is in her mid-20s now.

I urge you to use your own judgement and your doctor's, as to what age you start your child on baby foods.

-- Notforprint (Not@thekeyboard.com), January 17, 2001.


Moderation questions? read the FAQ