Homemade Baby Food

Bonjour!  I've had a few questions on Effy's solid food situation, so I thought I'd share our food routine and how simple it can be to make homemade baby food.  Though we do use a Beaba Babycook, you could totally do this without it, just add in a few more steps and dishes.  {Side note: No, I am not getting paid by Beaba to talk about their product.} [Side side note: Beaba -- if you would like to pay me to talk about your product, that'd be great.  You can pay Effy and I in clothes -- me -- Effy. And a'thank you.]

I admittedly haven't done all the math -- I know some foods it's definitely cheaper to make at home, and others it's about the same as buying a jar at the grocery store.  The hubs & I like to know what exactly we're feeding our sweet baby girl.  We're also not a hardcore, organic-only household.  We use this list to help us pick and choose when to spend the extra cash on organic and when to save our money for Effy's college fund.  Okay, here we go!

Our Supplies

• This book helps with: what to feed baby at what age, recipe ideas, & more.  I will say that you can find most of this info online, but the book is still pretty darn cute.
• Babyfood maker [link above], which is not a necessity, but it sure makes this process simpler!
• Apple & potato peeler
• For freezing: Beaba Freezer Trays, OXO Tot Freezer Trays, Ziplock Freezer Bags
• For thawing & serving: Small Green Sprouts glass cubes, Quilted canning jars - these are my favorite!
• Food (duh).  This could range from apples, peaches, green beans, Chalupas, whatever!

Simple Steps

Step 1 - Choose your food

There are many guides out there for what to feed your baby and at what age, and they're each a little different so just do whatever you're comfortable with!  This particular day, I was making pears for baby Effy.

 Step 2 - Prep

For pears, I needed to peel & core them so I used this medieval torture device to do so.  Essentially, you just want to prep the food as if YOU were about to eat it (clean, peel, whatever).

 

Scott likes baby food time because he gets to eat the peels.

Step 3 - Steam

Again, the baby food maker makes this super easy.  You can see the pears below in the steam basket awaiting their time in the food sauna.  Without the baby food maker, you'd just need a stock pot and steamer basket.  Reserve the liquids you steamed the food in and it can be used during the next step.

Steam, baby, steam!

Step 4 - Puree

This is one of my favorite parts about the baby food maker...you steam and puree in the same contraption meaning fewer dishes.  Based on the obscene amount of dishes usually sitting in my sink, I welcome fewer dishes.  You can use the water you reserved from the previous step to make your food the appropriate thickness depending on your baby.

This part makes me feel cute.  Sometimes I narrate like I'm a baby food cooking show host.

The show would obviously be called "Baby Bites".

Flipped the switch from steam to puree - simple!

Step 5 - Admire your baby's food

"Oh my gosh, it's so cute!"  
"Even I would eat this!"  
"What else in this house can I puree? Hand me that leftover pizza!"

"Hi. I'm Effy's pears. I'm cute!"

Step 6: Freeze & Store

When we make a fresh batch of food, we put 3 - 5 servings in the glass jars and store them in the fridge to eat sooner rather than later.  

The remaining food gets frozen in the trays listed under "supplies" and then stored in labeled freezer bags.  This is also a fun step because I really like writing with sharpies (not quite as much as I like writing on dry erase boards [72% of why I became a teacher]).

Step 7: Thaw & Eat

I plan Effy's meals one day early and it's super easy.  First, if there's any fresh food in the fridge, she'll eat that.  Then, for some variety in fruits, veggies, colors, textures, etc, I check the freezer.  The quilted glass jars perfectly fit one of cubes frozen using the Beaba Freezer Trays and are for a larger serving of something. The smaller freezer tray I listed above makes standard size ice cubes.  When we want Effy to have a small amount of something (prunes, for example), we'll put a standard size cube in one of the Green Sprouts glass cubes.  OR two of these ice cubes fit in the quilted glass jars so you can mix together two foods like a real gourmet chef!

Bon appetit, baby!

For other baby food ideas, check out my "bon appetit, baby!" board on Pinterest!

Homemade baby food bonus:
Dad's not afraid to eat the leftovers...

Baby Check: 8 Months

Baby Check: 8 Months

Somebody was extra wiggly this photoshoot...

Effy is a blonde hair, brown eyed babe and this month I became a stay-at-home mom to this little lady!  I’ve got some ideas of how I’d like our life to look and I’m working to try to create some structure around our house.  I’m not sure it’s working, but I’ll keep you posted.  Could a daily trip to Dunkin Donuts be built into our schedule?  I think so.

I hope to start blogging about some of the ridiculous things that happen in our life on a more consistent basis.  I know Effy will love being able to look back on these monthly updates, but I’m sure she’ll also enjoy reading more of our daily stuff as well and this blog is, after all, ultimately for her to enjoy and a way for me to record memories for her.

This last month has really been a month where I start to view Effy as a “big girl”.  I know it’s probably too soon for that, but she’s just such a little grown up in so many ways.

The first moment when I saw Effy as a big girl was after a recent Etsy purchase.  She has toy food that was stored in a canvas bin.  I think the bin was too tall for Effy to see into so I found a sweet lady on Etsy that made a bigger and shorter bin with handles for her food toys.  She immediately started grabbing and reaching into her food basket and being very thoughtful with her actions.  Granted her actions at this point aren’t, “Oh, I’m going to make a sandwich,” but more, “I’m going to take this egg and hit it repeatedly on this box of frozen vegetables,” but it’s all cute.

Another big girl moment has been sitting in high chairs at restaurants.  This is not only adorable but it also means that I’ve stopped carrying her infant car seat carrier in to most restaurants.  This is GREAT because I look absolutely ridiculous trying to lug that thing around.  And NO, carrying Effy in her carrier does NOT make me out of breath.  That would be ridiculous.

Spent the day in Lawrence.  Went to Quinton's.  Duh.

Effy started clapping this month.  She wasn’t trying to mimic us…we weren’t really trying to teach her to clap, but I think she was just practicing bringing her hands together and then realized that if she does it fast, it will make a noise!  The best clapping moment so far was one morning after she was done nursing, she unlatched, layed back on her pillow, and with her eyes closed and in a milk coma, started clapping, and then fell asleep.  I think she was giving me a round of applause for making good milk.  I do what I can.  I’m pretty sure it’s garlic-flavored milk.  You’re welcome, Effy.

Effy is not yet crawling, but she is army crawling on her elbows.  She might not have proper form yet, but boy can she move.  We’ve been saying, “She’s going to crawl any day now” for about a month, so we’ll see when she actually takes off!  Until then, I’ll just watch her army crawl and imagine she’s a soldier fighting the great Battle of Gettysboob (See what I did there?).

Awkward & adorable smile...

Little lady has one tooth and it’s pretty freakin’ cute.  So far she hasn’t clamped down while nursing, so we’ll hope that pattern continues.

Scott & I have always enjoyed taking walks around the neighborhood together and that past-time is very conducive to life with a baby.  Our wonderful choir at church gave us a new jogging stroller for sweet baby Dicus and we busted it out with this warm weather.  I admittedly am not a jogger, but it is really great for walks around our neighborhood where the sidewalks are pretty uneven.  Effy loves this stroller because she faces out and can look around at every noise.  It’s so sweet to see her little head turn from side to side as cars drive by or dogs bark.  She still loves looking at cars drive by.  Clearly, they’re awesome.

Effy, spread eagle, in her stroller.  Don't worry. She ain't no hussie.

Oh, additionally, Effy has picked up her grandmama’s piano playing skills.  She is the new Rachmaninoff.    

Effy also kept her social calendar packed this last month:

On Mother’s Day, we went to Topeka and ate BBQ at Gage Park…quite delightful.  As a gift, Effy pooped.  She’s a giver.

My dear friend Kendra is a 10-year cancer survivor and her twin sister, Kyla, threw her a surprise celebration party.  Kendra’s reaction was priceless and we were honored to be a part of her celebration!

Scott’s dad is a triathlete…legitimate, hardcore, Ironman.  I love going to his races…there is a crazy culture around triathlons that is really fun!  Effy went this last month to watch her Poppy race and was SUCH a good girl.  We woke her up early and carried her around in her Baby Bjorn for hours.  She loves her carrier, so life was good for her that morning.  I’ll probably carry her in the Baby Bjorn when I do my first triathlon [insert knee-slap and sarcastic laugh here].

My students asked almost every day for the whole semester when I was going to bring Effy up to school.  My homeroom students told me they wanted to throw a party for my going away so I thought that would be a great time to bring Effy up.  My mom (being awesome) came up as Effy’s body guard so less kids would be likely to grab her.  I am totally comfortable with my students holding Effy, but I just didn’t want a revolving door of kids coming in and out passing her around because I thought it would overwhelm her.  Effy did so well and this moment made me love my students more than I already did.

Effy…Your dad and I love you and are so proud of every little thing you do.  We love making you laugh and you make us laugh more than you know.  Your eyebrows are so expressive and you have such grown-up mannerisms.  You are our little lady and we love you.