Homemade Baby Food

When my daughter turned four months old and I got the green-light for solids, I was still working full-time and the thought of the added work of steaming, pureeing, labeling and freezing was more than I could handle. Store-bought, jarred food was the answer. We did some research and settled for organic brands with no salt, no sugar and free from preservatives and chemicals for cereal and fruit and vegetable purees.

My daughter took to solids like a pro and was on jarred food for five months after which she often joined as at the table and ate straight off our plates. She’s a good eater – with a healthy appetite, love for most fruit and vegetables and the willingness to try everything.

When my son started solids a few months ago, I’d been a full-time mom for more than a year and I wanted to give homemade babyfood a go. I read everything I could find on it and bookmarked Wholesome Baby Food.

I started my son on rice cereal first, store-bought organic and followed it up with homemade applesauce, before introducing other fruit and vegetable purees and soups every three to four days. For the last three months, he’s been fed a variety of fresh and as far as possible, organic, home-made babyfood, that even my preschooler digs into.

He’s been introduced to squash, carrot, potatoes, green beans, chick peas, bell peppers, red kidney beans, lentils, spinach, broccoli, sweet potatoes alongside pears, prunes, avocados, apricots, strawberries, bananas, persimmons and grapes.

I steam the fruit or vegetable, before pureeing, and storing in containers, labelled and dated. I only make enough to last two to three days, with one serving of cereal at mealtime.  Once a week or so, I also boil and puree organic pasta, or make him wholewheat flatbread, which I grind before serving. I make soft, mushy rice, and serve mashed. Last month, I bought and cooked an organic chicken and it was relished by the children.

I’m definitely more experimental with my son, secure in the knowledge that I know the exact source of and the conditions in which his food was prepared. It’s extremely gratifying to watch him finish every morsel and open his mouth for more.

It may sound like a lot of work  but once you get started, it isn’t so hard at all. You don’t need any extra equipment either – I use just my food processor.

Having said this, I’m not implying that jarred babyfood is not good enough. With the natural and organic options available, it’s a perfectly acceptable route to take, and a necessary one, if you’re working full-time like I was.

But if you’re buying jarred stuff just because homemade babyfood seems like a scary and arduous path to go down, I’m here to tell you that it’s not. It’s easy and fun.

What did your babies grow up on – home-made or store-bought? Why? If you’ve never made your own babyfood, would you be willing to give it a go?