https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Wed, 28 Oct 2026 06:06:13 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-making-your-own-baby-food-time-consuming#post-840465 Fri, 07 Jun 2013 15:27:28 +0000 hellobeeboston 840465@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@sunny: awesome - thanks for that link - the food processor is great, but a pain to clean, it makes a lot, but i don't want to make food for 2 months at one time. ha! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-making-your-own-baby-food-time-consuming#post-840433 Fri, 07 Jun 2013 15:21:10 +0000 Bluebonnet 840433@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Also a WOHM. I made all of LO's food. We didn't do BLW because I wasn't comfortable with sending her to school with solids until she had mastered them at home. </p> <p>We did purees for a few months. I'd make a couple things at a time in bigger batches - once a week, then twice a week. I'd freeze purees in baby food trays (look like ice cube trays, but they had a lid). I'd pop them out and keep them in labeled zip lock bags. Each night I'd take out cubes for the next day's meals and let them defrost in the fridge. Over time I started making her purees chunkier, then we switched to table food. </p> <p>DH also thought I was nuts to work a very demanding job, EBF, and make baby food. But I like cooking and I liked making baby food. It wasn't hard, it just took a little planning. </p> <p>Try making baby food. If its too much, buy jars or pouches. Good luck! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-making-your-own-baby-food-time-consuming#post-840371 Fri, 07 Jun 2013 15:01:02 +0000 sunny 840371@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@hellobeeboston: I pop the food out and store in Ziplock bags with the date so I won't forget when we made it. I try to let it thaw out in the fridge but sometimes I forget and I will microwave. I warm up the breast milk separately in warm water and then add it at the end. </p> <p>Looks like you can buy accessories for those mixers: <a href="http://www.cuisinart.com/parts/hand_blenders/csb-77.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.cuisinart.com/parts/hand_blenders/csb-77.html</a></p> <p>I like it because its really easy to clean and its small... doesn't take up a ton of space. We don't have a food processor so I don't have any experience with that! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-making-your-own-baby-food-time-consuming#post-840235 Fri, 07 Jun 2013 14:29:30 +0000 hellobeeboston 840235@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@sunny: I saw you linked through to this on the other thread - that brownie tray is genius -- do you pop the food out &amp; just let it thaw for the day? or do you microwave it??</p> <p>also - i never knew you could get that dome attachment -- can you buy separately? I have this hand mixer &amp; tried to puree food with it but found it too hard - so I used my cuisinart food processor instead - but this seems easier? </p> <p>great idea about frozen fruit too! duh! peaches are a favorite in our house..<br /> thanks! so many great ideas!!! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-making-your-own-baby-food-time-consuming#post-812006 Tue, 28 May 2013 00:31:50 +0000 erinpye 812006@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I did, and I just did it in batches. I'd peel, steam and puree a ton of fruits and veggies one weekend night, and then freeze a bunch in the Baby Bullet freezer cubes, transfer the frozen cubes to labeled freezer bags, and they would last 4 weeks at a time, sometimes longer. We also did a lot of baby led weaning, so we didn't do strictly purees for long, and BLW is super easy to make food for! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-making-your-own-baby-food-time-consuming#post-811208 Mon, 27 May 2013 13:13:40 +0000 pinkcupcake 811208@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I found the early days of purées to be really easy! All I did was spend one afternoon steaming and pureeing various fruits and veggies in the baby brezza. I then froze 1 oz cubes and kept them in labelled ziploc bags for easy defrosting later. </p> <p>It got harder once she abandoned purées And moved onto "real" foods. Now I actually have to plan and cook three meals for her, and it's def challenging since she's a picky toddler and very vocal about what she does/doesn't like. Now I keep organic fruit pouches (earths best, plum organics, Ella's kitchen) on hand as quick meals and snacks when we are on the go. </p> <p>@daniellemybelle: I found that frozen cubes generally didn't last more than a month. After that they started growing ice crystals and just looked generally unpalatable. I usually made enough to last about two or three wks. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-making-your-own-baby-food-time-consuming#post-811103 Mon, 27 May 2013 11:37:30 +0000 daniellemybelle 811103@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>How long can baby food stay frozen? I'm not sure how much maternity leave you are taking, but an option would be to make some before you go back to work, if you think that you will just be too busy when you are working full-time. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-making-your-own-baby-food-time-consuming#post-810813 Mon, 27 May 2013 07:51:29 +0000 Ra 810813@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Thank you everyone for all the tips! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-making-your-own-baby-food-time-consuming#post-810806 Mon, 27 May 2013 07:47:59 +0000 808love 810806@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Potato mashers and blenders are the way to go. So easy!!!! I froze some stuff but LO likes the recently made stuff better. It was actually fun. They will eat anything at that age.</p> <p>Eta: a steamer basket too </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-making-your-own-baby-food-time-consuming#post-810800 Mon, 27 May 2013 07:43:48 +0000 mamimami 810800@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Not time consuming at all. I would boil the veggies and put in the blender... I didn't make a ton -- enough to last three days and the rest id put in a ziploc and freeze to use for three days at some later date. I did/do this after work. With kids underfoot. The only problem is the blender scares them. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-making-your-own-baby-food-time-consuming#post-810669 Mon, 27 May 2013 00:40:00 +0000 sarac 810669@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I found it to be the easiest thing in the world. Now, if you're going to be making elaborate meals to then puree and freeze them, that will take a lot of time. But if you're steaming or cooking fruits or veggies, or simple meats/beans/whatever, it's easy as can be. I only used pouches for when I needed shelf stable stuff to toss in the diaper bag and forget about. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-making-your-own-baby-food-time-consuming#post-810632 Sun, 26 May 2013 23:23:28 +0000 sunny 810632@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I don't think its very time consuming! I typically do this once every 2-3 weeks and spend about 1 hr making a bunch of purees after my LO goes to bed.</p> <p>We steam in a basket over a big pot of water, then puree and freeze into cubes in this brownie tray:<br /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Wilton-2105-4923-24-Cavity-Silicone-Brownie/dp/B001T4URXG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&#038;qid=1369628465&#038;sr=8-1&#038;keywords=wilton+brownie" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/Wilton-2105-4923-24-Cavity-Silicone-Brownie/dp/B001T4URXG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&#038;qid=1369628465&#038;sr=8-1&#038;keywords=wilton+brownie</a></p> <p>Then the next day pop the cubes out and put into labelled ziplock bags. </p> <p>An easy shortcut is to buy frozen fruits and puree them with no steaming. Whole Foods has a selection of frozen organic fruits. We've done this with mango and peaches so far. </p> <p>We have this Cuisinart hand blender and it works great. We use the little domed attachment. It even works with pureeing chicken soup.<br /> <a href="http://www.crateandbarrel.com/cuisinart-smartstick-immersion-hand-blender/s458317" rel="nofollow">http://www.crateandbarrel.com/cuisinart-smartstick-immersion-hand-blender/s458317</a> </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-making-your-own-baby-food-time-consuming#post-810625 Sun, 26 May 2013 23:09:57 +0000 googly-eyes 810625@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Nope it's not. I SAH but I have a hard time doing it when I have LO alone... But DH and I teamed up to do a lot of them. I also buy some bc I don't know how to do certain things and according to my pedi there are certain ones that you shouldn't make at home. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-making-your-own-baby-food-time-consuming#post-810618 Sun, 26 May 2013 23:01:18 +0000 Weagle 810618@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Oh, and I never really liked it, so we quickly moved on to finger foods and BLW. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-making-your-own-baby-food-time-consuming#post-810617 Sun, 26 May 2013 23:00:15 +0000 Weagle 810617@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@tysonja: I picked and chose which ones I wanted to make too. </p> <p>It's not terrible if you make enough for several weeks in one batch. Like others, I liked to plan around weekends and when DH could watch her for a while. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-making-your-own-baby-food-time-consuming#post-810598 Sun, 26 May 2013 22:45:34 +0000 Boheme 810598@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Subscribing too! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-making-your-own-baby-food-time-consuming#post-810509 Sun, 26 May 2013 21:13:42 +0000 PrincessBaby 810509@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I'm subscribing! I'm a new SAHM (after returning to work for a few months) and my daughter just started purées:)</p> <p>I really want to make her foods and use organic so everything will be as natural as possible. I eat paleo and therefore don't touch processed foods, so it's hard for me to justify buying processed stuff in a jar for her. But I'll also have the time now that I SAH. While working, it prob would have been tough! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-making-your-own-baby-food-time-consuming#post-810505 Sun, 26 May 2013 21:10:31 +0000 keiki_mama 810505@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I'm a WOHM mom and managed to make all of LO's solids. I did a huge batch on Sundays and did some small items on Wednesdays. LO had some favorite items so I made larger batches of those items and froze it in huge ziplock bags--if I didn't get around to cooking on Wednesday nights, I would defrost a bag of food I knew he'd like. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-making-your-own-baby-food-time-consuming#post-810461 Sun, 26 May 2013 20:30:44 +0000 tysonja 810461@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>i found that i liked to make some kinds of foods for him (hard boiled egg yolks, sweet potatoes, etc), and others i preferred to buy in jars because it seems like it would be not worth the trouble to make myself (pureed prunes, pureed green beans). </p> <p>i think it should be fun, and not a chore! :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-making-your-own-baby-food-time-consuming#post-810384 Sun, 26 May 2013 19:10:27 +0000 mamabolt 810384@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I made it while working FT and didn't think it was that bad! It would maybe take 30 min every weekend to steam, puree, and freeze one batch of fruit and one of veg. LO was also only eating purees for about two months, so maybe I would have gotten tired of it sooner if she had been eating it longer? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-making-your-own-baby-food-time-consuming#post-810321 Sun, 26 May 2013 18:03:28 +0000 T.H.O.U. 810321@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mrsmate: I agree that this helped a lot. Usually once or twice a month I would make a batch of something but everything else was just small amounts here and there. </p> <p>I think it also depends on the food. Like we quickly learned that its easier to buy applesauce. Carrots and sweet potatoes were easy to make though (and cheaper) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-making-your-own-baby-food-time-consuming#post-810316 Sun, 26 May 2013 17:59:40 +0000 Mrs. Polish 810316@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@artbee: I second this.</p> <p>I plan to make his food but will either see if my mom wants baby time or wait until dh is home to make it. I rarely have time for my own lunch right now, let alone making food for everyone. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-making-your-own-baby-food-time-consuming#post-810276 Sun, 26 May 2013 17:15:01 +0000 yoursilverlining 810276@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I don't think it takes much time at all; but I love to cook, so that might help, too. Making purees wasn't that time consuming and you can freeze batches.</p> <p>Now that LO eats "real food", every few days I make up dinner stuff for her. I saute up squash, zucchini, mushrooms, etc.; bake sweet potatoes and make up big batches of spaghetti sauce for her (that's 1/3 tomato, 1/3 pureed sweet potato and 1/3 pureed carrots) and cook up pasta shells and then freeze individual portions.</p> <p>I usually make her food for the next several days while she's eating dinner. It's not hard to find the time if you want to find it; like anything else :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-making-your-own-baby-food-time-consuming#post-810270 Sun, 26 May 2013 17:08:49 +0000 heffalump 810270@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Fyi.... Sahms usually don't have lots of free time either :)</p> <p>I'm a sahm but was too busy with lo all day so I waited until the weekend when dh could watch her for a couple of hours. I made big batches and froze them in ice cube trays, and then every night I'd take something out for the next day and put it in the fridge to defrost. I usually made enough for a couple of months, and I read to only keep it 3 months on the freezer. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-making-your-own-baby-food-time-consuming#post-810244 Sun, 26 May 2013 16:47:35 +0000 lemondrop 810244@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mrsmate: that is exactly what I did! I never bothered with the steaming and pureeing large amounts. Once I built up my confidence in feeding him actual food, we moved pretty quickly into baby led weaning (mainly out of laziness and exhaustion than anything else). </p> <p>All I did was cook a little extra of whatever we were eating, then cooked the baby food a little longer and mashed it with a potato masher. I was happy to do fewer dishes since I was only cleaning our normal dinner prep dishes. Ice cube trays are great for storage and cheap too. </p> <p>The bags of dried peas are great, boil for a half hour and you have pea mush that is perfect for the little one, and can control the salt content, etc. </p> <p>I bought a few of the Gerber Nature Select tubs of purees for nights that I just didn't feel like cooking. Sure, in the beginning I was all excited about making his food, but after a while I was too tired to care and happy to have something pre-made on hand too. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-making-your-own-baby-food-time-consuming#post-810238 Sun, 26 May 2013 16:40:34 +0000 mrsmate 810238@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>You will save time if you make a little extra of whatever you're eating. For instance if you're having sweet potato with your dinner throw an extra one in the oven, mash it up for baby's meal time. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-making-your-own-baby-food-time-consuming#post-810207 Sun, 26 May 2013 15:54:09 +0000 SugarplumsMom 810207@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I also make large batches and freeze it. Although I never really made purees, I do make her regular food and freeze it in Avent Via milk containers. I either place it in the fridge the night before to thaw it or run warm water on it for a few seconds and it pops right out on a bowl so I can microwave it. She has food allergies, so it's basically my routine. But she didn't eat purees long enough for me to ever try it with purees. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-making-your-own-baby-food-time-consuming#post-810198 Sun, 26 May 2013 15:45:59 +0000 Ra 810198@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Andrea: Good to know! Most people I know who do it are SAHM's so they have so much extra time. It's nice to hear the perspective of mom's who work FT. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-making-your-own-baby-food-time-consuming#post-810195 Sun, 26 May 2013 15:44:36 +0000 Ra 810195@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Beehive: Thanks! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/is-making-your-own-baby-food-time-consuming#post-810194 Sun, 26 May 2013 15:43:35 +0000 Andrea 810194@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>It's not too bad. We made large batches and froze them in cubes. We both worked full time and it was still easy enough to make baby food at night or on the weekends. </p>