I've decided this go around I'm going to attempt to make my own baby food. I buy the veggies anyways, so I figured I might as well just puree them up for baby E to avoid the extra sugar and preservatives. If you made your own (and froze) what veggies did you do? I've already got a batch of sweet potatoes & carrots, but I'm trying to decide what else I should do. Does avocado freeze okay or should that just be done on a as needed basis? I'm sticking with veggies first and then will move to fruit after. Any help would be appreciated!
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D loved beets and butternut squash. He did not like green beans (the skins didn't break down well).
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I wouldn't do avocado, I think it will go brown, and it's so soft that it's easy to do as needed. I did sweet potato, carrots, peas, butternut squash, and green beans. I tried to find some heirloom carrots in different colours to break up the orange. Everything got a fairly large dose of unsalted butter to make it a bit creamier and add some fat (we had a skinny little guy). I also steamed spinach, diced it finely, and mixed it with ricotta. And some red lentils, well cooked. For fruit I did apples, pears, peaches, and a banana recipe I found where you sautee cut up bananas with butter until they break down and then mash them with a fork - it's SO GOOD that it was hard to not eat it all myself.
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@littlebug: I have fresh green beans and was wondering about the skins. I bought a Ninja and was hoping it would help. Beets is a good one, squash was on my list (I LOVE squash!)
@erinbaderin: yeah my fear was the brown, so I figured I would just do as needed. red lentils, never thought about that!Is there a reason you never see zucchini baby food? We have a ton of that right now from my sister's garden.
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Parsnip might also be an option either on its own or combined with potatoes.
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Oh, we did also do parsnip! And cauliflower with cheese.
The lentils were a hit - I usually mixed them with something else to add some flavour, and get some protein in with the vegetables. We also mashed egg yolk up with avocado sometime for the same purpose.
Personally, I didn't do zucchini baby food because I hate zucchini.
Google says that it doesn't freeze well, though, so maybe that's it?
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@LuLu Mom: I made zucchini and it was a bust. It froze fine but it dethawed super watery and the consistency was off.
I make all our baby food and utilize the Infantino pouch system. I love it!
Avocado freezes okay, but does turn a little brown. This sounds completely obvious (and you probably already know this), but definitely try out the food on your LO before making a big batch. I made TONS of carrots and he's decided he hates them... time well spent
. The biggest hits have been: sweet potato, plums, pears, butternut squash, apples, and bananas. His favorite is randomly a combination of sweet potatoes and pears.
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@LuLu Mom: We tried zucchini but it didn't freeze or defrost well because it's so watery.
@erinbaderin: Spinach with ricotta sounds like a great idea! I never thought of that! Will have to try that with #2.
@LBee: Babies are so random in their tastes. D's favorite puree was a combination of beets, bananas, and blueberries.
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I used wholesomehomemadebabyfood.com when I was making F's food. It's a great resource!
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@littlebug: Blueberries, yes. B was hugely into pureed blueberries (and now won't eat them at all, the little monster). They're just so messy! But it makes for good "I'm learning to eat!" photos.
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Avocado freezes just fine as long as it's a purée and not being eaten in slices. It doesn't change the flavour just texture and once it's puréed you can't really tell.
I decided against making my own baby food just based on limited freezer space and how many people wanted to make baby food for us (great grandmother has made a ton)
she did: sweet potato, carrot, green beans, peas so far and has plans for more apparently.
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Avocado is so easy I would just do it as neede. Any kind of squash works well. So do carrots. I don't make a lot in the freezer tbh because the purée phase is so short for us!
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I have sweet potatoes, butternut squash, broccoli, carrots, spinach, green beans, peas and cauliflower in the freezer in 2 oz servings. Now that she eats 4oz servings, I combine a sweeter/preferred veggie (carrots, peas, sweet potato) with the green beans, broccoli or spinach. For fruits, I have mango, peach, pear, prunes, apples and papaya frozen. I like swirling the fruits into some yogurt too. I mash banana or avocado and serve immediately. I also have a few meat blends frozen. (My LOs have both really liked a chicken/sweet potato/apple blend.) I really like Annabel Karmel's book, " The Healthy Baby Meal Planner". Fwiw, it says not to freeze avocado.
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@erinbaderin: did lentils give your baby gas? When did you introduce them?
I love this website for pretty inspiration: http://www.babyfoode.com/
In a pinch, I buy frozen bags of veggies and mix them up with some water to get the right consistency. Peas and carrots are a hit. I add in spices that seem safe (not too spicy).
Noosa makes a great whole milk plain yogurt. I grind up grains for cereals--millet, brown rice. Quinoa is served whole.
I think it's really fun! I haven't frozen too much yet--just serve it fresh within the recommended time frame.
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@youboots: just made a ton!!
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Making baby food is soooo easy! I make a big batch then freeze in ice cube trays. Avocado always turned brown for me. Green beans and peas sometimes didn't purée as smooth as I wanted for a first food. Zucchini always came watery but would make batches to purée and add into turkey meatballs for more veggie power. Meats were tough to purée bit always turned out Way more appetizing than the gross jarred stuff. In the freezer now are bananas, carrots, peaches, peArs, peas and butternut squash for my seven month old.
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It is super easy!
We made green beans, peas, sweet potato, carrot, broccoli, etc. You can mix and match, add apple and pear to them, and spices as well.
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@littlejoy: yup! The babe loves peas. I just did corn too. There are some guides on Pinterest about what you can give kids based on age. I've seen guides for avacado.
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@LuLu Mom: we did a ton of homemade purées. As people mentioned there are a ton of websites with recipes but honestly my favorite source was a cookbook put out by Tyler Florence the genius idea I got from his book was to roast the veggies instead of steam or boil. It made a huge difference. Roasted Zuchini and roasted banana/berry were a huge hit.
http://www.amazon.com/Start-Fresh-Childs-Lifelong-Healthy/dp/1609611942
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@Happygal: He seemed to be fine with them, I don't remember him being gassy. I would say I introduced them about 9 months, but I'm just guessing. I've also had great luck with getting my son to eat these as a lentil-delivery mechanism: http://www.babyledweaning.com/blw-recipes/alisons-lentil-and-cheese-wedges/ The only problem is that I want to eat them myself.
And thanks for the quinoa suggestion! That had never occurred to me!
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This is great, thank you everyone! There are veggies listed I never thought about. I really want this child to eat her veggies, my oldest is taking after her dad...no good!
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@sarah.clarisse: What's the rationale for roasting instead of steaming?
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@LindsayInNY: I think for preserving nutrients the ideal is Roast/Steam/Boil in that order. Some its harder than others.
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@LindsayInNY: roasting produces so much more flavor. Particularly in anything with natural sugars because they caramelize during the roasting process.
Google says that it doesn't freeze well, though, so maybe that's it?
. The biggest hits have been: sweet potato, plums, pears, butternut squash, apples, and bananas. His favorite is randomly a combination of sweet potatoes and pears.
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