Baby Food Making

I will admit I was a little intimidated when I decided to make Ayda's baby food. I bought a couple books and started trying to figure out where to start and what to do. I am completely lost in the kitchen on a good day. How was I going to make baby food? Well lucky for me it turned out to be SUPER easy! And lucky for me, my best friend was making her son's baby food too. He is exactly 2 months older than Ayda so she had a good head start on me and could lend me some much needed pointers.

Kevin bought me a Beaba babycooker. It is WONDERFUL...and pricey. It steams the food and then you take it out of the steam container and put it in the main compartment to be pureed. It was all in one which made clean up insanely easy. You can also just use a regular steamer and food processor and it does the same thing. Having the Beaba was a luxury, not a necessity. I will say I still use it everyday even though Ayda does not need baby food anymore. I use it to steam just the right amount of veggies at dinner and clean up is easier than using the big steamer.

To get the food to the right consistency for her age I used water that had run off the fruits and veggies or breastmilk. Either worked great to thin out the food a little. Also whenever I was making apples, I bought organic apples and then would let Ayda drink the water from the steam. It had a hint of apple flavor and she absolutely loved it since I didn't let her have juices. It was a special treat!!

Once the food was steamed and pureed it was time to put it all in ice cube trays to be frozen. Easy as that! I froze the food overnight and then transferred it into ziploc bags or ziploc travel containers. Then when it was time to eat, all I had to do was grab a cube or two of the veggie or fruit that was on the menu and thaw them out. We put the food in little containers and put that into the warm water to thaw them out. It didn't take long, but it takes a little more planning than grabbing a jar of ready made food. I had to remember to thaw the food before she was even hungry.

Overall it is super easy and cheaper. I also liked knowing exactly what she was eating. Even the organic jarred baby food made Kevin and I wonder what was in it since it could sit on a shelf for several months at room temperature. I am glad that I dove into the task and I actually had fun when it was baby food making day!