I'm not one to usually impose my practices on others. However, if you are considering making your own baby food, give it a try. When people find out that I make Preston's food, it's usually followed by a look. If I told people I made my 2 or 5 year old's meal, they wouldn't bat an eye so what's the big hold up that I make my 7 month old son's food? Why is it viewed better that I buy him jarred food vs making my own when it isn't a hardship? I think people feel it's an elitist thing to do in the sense that you feel jarred food isn't good enough or you're striving to be a super mom. However, there are so many perks to making your own food. For one- it's incredibly cheap. I'm not sure of the going rate of jarred food but lets say it's 2 for $1 and you are feeding your baby 3 times a day, that's $1.50 if you're just using one jar per meal. While $1.50 isn't a lot of money, check this out... this week, sweet potatoes, which is one of my son's favorite meals, are on sale for 2 pounds for $1.00. Let's just say you get 5 sweet potatoes in those two pounds. Once you put them in the oven and put them in the food processor and in ice-cube trays, you have 24-36 cubes of food if not more. Each cube is about 1 ounce. Preston only eats one cube but even if your child eats two, you still have 12-18 meals for less than 9 cents a meal. Consider then when you buy a bunch of banana's for 60 cents, a bunch of spinach for $2.00, a bag of carrots for $.99, a butternut squash for $2.50, several apples for $2.50, and or mangos for $1.50 (my son loves mangos), if these are fruits and veggies you are already buying for your family, why not buy an extra one and get several meals for your child?
Another perk of making your own food is that you know and control what's going in it.
I'm working really hard on going partially organic in our home. It's difficult at times because I have to hike it to Whole Foods to shop easily for fresh produce vs figuring it out at my local grocery store who doesn't carry many options due to low demand. However, even if you don't go organic, making your own baby food is still a great alternative, it's fun and it's rewarding. I love the look on my son's face when I see him enjoying the fruit of my labor.
Lately, we've been working on combinations. Last week I made berry and apples. He absolutely loved them. I also mixed Spinach and apples. Cooked apples with a pinch of cinnamon smells heavenily and Preston gobbles it up. They also freeze really well in the ice cube trays along with the other produce I've mentioned (with the exception of bananas). I tried to introduce ground chicken and he's lukewarm about it so I'm thinking about combining it with butternut squash.
In two weeks we are going to Florida to have an early Christmas with my parents. I'm really excited for the new foods he'll try there. My parents grow a lot of fruits and vegetables so it will be neat to have truly organic produce. I love visiting my parents because they make all of my favorite foods and it will be nice to share one of them in particular with Preston. There's a hot cereal Jamaicans make called cornmeal porridge. It's one of my favorite things to eat. I think this visit will be an educational one for me because I want to learn how to make certain things so I can make them for him.
Oh and just one more thing... yesterday we traveled with homemade baby food to our play date and it was incredibly easy. I just carried it in the little diaper bag cooler with a spoon and it was great. I have one of these and a batch of these.
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