Making baby food yourself LANIE I need you!

http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/veggiefruit.htm

Is it safe to always use flash frozen fruits and veggies? Finding fruit that is fresh and in season is very hard to find here. Most of our grocery stores carry crap I wouldn't eat.

I buy mostly fresh and make big batches and then freeze. I do keep some frozen veg to make pasta, veg and cheese sauce. That's my emergency meal :-)

I bought fresh and made more than I needed and popped it in the freezer too, usually when my husband was home to help with bub while I did it

How old is the baby? If little then just steam and purée fresh fruit and veg. If older just mash up whatever you're eating but make sure there's no salt. It's actually so much easier and cheaper than jars!

LANIE- give me all the info your heart desires! I want to be prepared!

Libster- baby isn't born yet. He won't be here until August but if I don't start thinking and figuring out how I plan to do things now then I'll be a mess when it's time to come.

Does it make a difference if it's a baby bullet or a purée machine?

What do you store them in when freezing?

Freezer baggies Tupperware?

I puréed fresh fruits and veggies, scooped it into ice cube trays, froze them, then popped them out and put them in a freezer bags.. Took 2 or 3 cubes out at meal time! So much cheaper, healthier and easier than jars.

I never thought about using an ice cube tray! That is a clever idea!

Thanks Lanie!!!

I did exactly what Lanie does for our first baby. It was easy, healthy, and inexpensive and I loved it!

With our second baby we did Baby Led Weaning (BLW). I still made all of baby's food- simply skipped the step of puréeing. Look into BLW as an option as well. All the benefits of making puréed food, plus you get to skip a step. And baby learns to feel when their tummy is full and learns portion control on their own. We love BLW!

I'll have to look into it. I never heard of it before joining baby bump but still didn't have much info on it.

Honestly, I feel both are good options. Different things work for different families & different children.

If I had a micro-preemie, I most likely would not do BLW, I would do as you are, Lanie.

Overall, I support doing things yourself and not buying into the over industrialization our country has pushed. Watch television and you'll think that every baby needs rice cereal, formula, processed baby food, disposable diapers, disposable wipes, etc.

Many of these things aren't even remotely necessary for most babies. They are convenient, and for some babies VERY necessary. For some families they are the most practical choices- but the majority of babes don't NEED any of that.

I truly believe it's all about companies pushing to get the almighty dollar. And we've become so brainwashed by it that we often believe it.

My bullet didn't last very long and it didn't make that much food. In the end, my food processor worked the best. I stored my food in 4 oz glass "jelly jars" with plastic lids ( that people use for jarring...) and froze them. This made it easy to reheat and take with me places.

with my second baby I tried to make purees, but he hated them. So we did BLW, and it was great.

I used a steamer and then just a hand held blender. Started with apples and pears then progressed to sweet potatoes and butternut squash. I'd freeze them in ice cube trays then store in ziplock bags with a description and date. Remember that you should only store them for 3 months. Have you heard of Annabel Karmel books?

We did a bit of baby led weaning alongside purées, but found that our little one preferred a spoon and purées as she was younger than 6 months when she started eating. Now she's nearly 4 and a great eater! Her favourite foods are smoked salmon and olives!!!

Favoriting this.

Libster I've never heard of those books. I'll have to look into them. I thought that frozen baby food was good up to 6 months in the freezer? That's what the link said that lanie posted and another user posted. I just want to be prepared as all of this is new to me. I was young when I had DD so I didn't think about doing any of this stuff nor did I have anyone to give me the guidance to tell me that it should be an option I look into.

This whole beach nut glass found in baby food freaks me out. I can't risk my baby eating glass. I just want to make sure I know what I'm doing and get ahead of the game now. I don't have a hand blender or purée. Is it wrong to put a non baby purée on my registry?

Even if no one purchases it for me. I can totally justify the $35 dollars spent so baby doesn't eat glass and to save money. I feel bad that I didn't do this with DD. I'll be breast feeding this one also.