Baby Food Shenagins

When we started thinking of feeding Miss B. solids, of course, I wanted the best for her and that meant making all her baby food! But the reality was it was the end of the school year, and there is not tired like end of year teacher tired. So, I gave in and just fed her jar food. I made myself a promise that as soon as summer vacation began I would spring into action and make this for her, not only is it much better for her it is the most cost effective for our family. 

SO.....I ran to the store and purchased an immersion blender, an all in one super fancy baby food maker, instant pot, a plethora of 4 oz glass lock and lock containers, and the baby food specific silicone trays because after all teachers make SOOO much money right?  

Just Kidding! If this is the route you want to take by all means take it. However I am, after all, wanting this to be "cost effective" aka CHEAP so this is what I purchased. Yes I could have probably gotten silicone trays but we live in tiny town USA and we only have a dollar store so this is what I bought! 

7- 2 pack ice cube trays ($1 each, $7 total)

2- 8 count 1/2 cup ziplock squares ($3 each, $6 total)

1 ice pop maker ($1)

I already had a huge box of freezer bags, a pasta pot with a strainer, and a blender! 

That is seriously all you need to get started. 

I went to the grocery store again in a small town and we have a local store and things are not exactly cheap so everything on the counter was $30. (not pictured are 4 gallons of distilled water to steam with because I wanted to use the water to thin out my purees and our tap water is not safe for drinking).

 So lets get started!

I got my pot on the stove on medium high heat with the strainer in it. I put just enough water to reach the strainer basket, put the lid on! 

While we waited for the water to boil I started prepping my produce. I am going to show you a few of the produce items because it is generally the same process for everything. 

    I started by washing and drying my pears, then I peeled it. 

 One they were all peeled I copped them into pieces! 

Lets talk about the size of the pieces. Generally the larger the pieces the longer it takes to cook. 

No need to be perfect your gonna puree them!  The time you cook each item widely varies. You want to steam each item until it is very soft and you can mash it with a fork little effort! 

I took them out of the pot and into the blender, with some of the water and blended away. (You could use breastmilk in the blending process, but I chose to use the steaming water.) The trick is to add water a little at a time. This is where you can customize it to your baby's needs! Miss B is 7 months old and prefers thicker food! If your bundle of joy is younger or new to solids I would add more water to make them thinner.

Once they were the consistency I wanted I spooned them into the ice cube trays and I wrote pears on the side of the tray and into the freezer they went.

I added more water to the pot and started prepping the carrots! 

Now for carrots, I again washed, peeled, and cut them, I put them into the pot for steaming. In general root vegetables take longer to cook so be prepared. 

Miss B upset because I gated her out of the kitchen! 

Green Beans ( I bought frozen, steam in the bag)

Green Peas (again I cheated and bought frozen steam in the bag) 

Once everything was steamed and pureed I put it in my freezer (don't judge we have an extra fridge in the garage and this is the only space I had to get it all frozen)

Once its all frozen solid about 24 hours I took it all out and admired my hard work!
I took 9X13 pan and put about 1 inch of hot water in the bottom of it. I dipped the tray in the hot water, very gently twisted the tray and then dumped them in labeled plastic bags, pushed all the air out, and out them back in the freezer. 

I put all the fruits and vegetables in separate container and back in the freezer.

Okay so what did I do with the stuff that didn't fit into the ice cube trays, and what weird things are in the popsicle molds?

So you must have noticed that I bought some of the ziplock square containers!
I took any left over puree that didn't fit into the molds and put them in bowls and set to the side. Once I was completely done with all the steaming and the trays were all full I decided make some combinations and filled the square containers...NO WASTE!

The popsicle molds have a little bit of fruit puree with some of the steaming water I mixed them up and put the lid on!


So what did I end up with?

Individual:
Green Beans
Green Peas
Yellow Squash
Acorn Squash
Butternut Squash
Sweet Potatoes
Chicken
Carrots
Pears
Peaches
Mangos
Banana
Blueberries

Mixed:
Oatmeal, Banana, Breastmilk, Yogurt
Oatmeal, Banana, Breastmilk, Yogurt, Blueberries
Chicken, Sweet Potatoes, Pears
Chicken, Butternut Squash

Popsicles:
Banana, pear, Blueberry
Blueberry
Pear
Acorn Squash


What I learned (the good, bad, and ugly):
Carrots take forever and stain everything.
Putting the trays in warm/hot water to get the purees out is a must (the trays break otherwise).
Make sure you have a plan of where to put the trays to freeze.
You cant stack the trays or they will stick together!
Steamed fruits and veggies taste very fresh and good
baby will get tired of daddy and want mommy
You can, at any point turn off the steaming pot, and take a break



Miss B loves a variety of foods and we have tried everyone individually before we mixed any of the together.  We also decided to only mix a few "left overs" to eliminate waste and freeze them individually so we can mix and match depending on the day. I am going to use the mixed ones first. This morning I took lunch, breakfast, and dinner tubs out of the freezer and placed them in the fridge. We are fixing to eat dinner in a few so we have a veggie and a fruit mix defrosting in a bath of hot water. I don't want to microwave it because I don't want to create hot spots that could potentially burn her!

Each cube is about 1 oz and she can eat about 3-5 ounces at a time so really to possibilities are endless with mixing the cubes up. Just take the desired cubes out of the ziplock bags, put them in a bowl to defrost, mix them up and serve!

This is just what I did and I am sharing my experiences with you! My personality is very much do it and get it done..I do not get overwhelmed very easily so this "bulk" start was just easier for me. I will probably never do this much again or I might..who knows I am pretty random.


Disclaimer:  I am not a doctor or nutritionist so I would STRONGLY advise speaking with your pediatrician before introducing solids to your baby's diet.