When it was time for Carter to start eating baby food
own. After I laughed and looked at her like she was crazy, she began to tell me how easy it was. I
am by no means a chef (just ask my husband!). So like everything else, I did a little research. I
read some other blogs and looked up different recipes. It seemed easy enough so I thought I would
give it a try.
I decided to use frozen veggies so I purchased peas and carrots. I also bought a couple sweet potatoes.
First I prepared the peas. I cooked them according to the package directions which consisted of
boiling water, tossing in the peas, covering and cooking. While the peas were cooking I also
cooked the carrots. They were pretty much the same process as the peas. As both of the veggies
were cooking I preheated the oven, used a fork to poke a few holes in the sweet potatoes and wrapped
them in aluminum foil. I stuck those in the oven to cook as I worked on the peas and carrots.
I started with the peas. I drained them and reserved the water to use later if needed. I put the peas
in a blender (you could also use a food processor
well blended up I added some breast milk (you could use formula or the water you reserved when
draining the peas). I just added a little breast milk at a time and continued blending until it
reached a smooth consistency. I will say that the peas were the hardest for me to make. The skin
on the peas was hard to blend and caused some chunks in the baby food. I solved this problem by
pouring the mixture through a mesh strainer to capture the chunks. I spooned the peas into an ice
cube tray and covered with plastic wrap. (*Note- you do the exact same thing with green beans!)
Carrots were next! They were pretty much the exact same process as above. The only difference
being that you don’t want to use the reserved water from the carrots unless your baby is over 8
months old (due to the nitrates that may be in the water). The carrots were MUCH easier to blend
because you did not have to worry about skins like the peas. I added breast milk (or you can use formula
) as I was blending until I reached the consistency I was looking for. Then I poured them in ice cube trays and
covered with plastic wrap.
By the time I was done with the peas and carrots, the sweet potatoes were done cooking. I
scooped out the sweet potatoes, but them in the blender, and added breast milk as I blended
until I reached the consistency I wanted. essentially I was looking for a soft, non lumpy consistency
that flowed off the spoon a little.I also put these in ice cube trays.
When all three veggies were done I stuck the ice cube trays in the freezer. I allowed them to
freeze for several hours (as long as needed for veggie cubes to freeze and easily pop out). Once
they were frozen I popped them out of the tray and put them in gallon zip lock bags. I had one
bag for each veggie. In the amount of time it took to cook and prepared all three of these veggies, I made
about 45 servings of food based on the amount he currently eats. Even when he’s eating twice as much in
a few months, the above process will make around 3 weeks worth of food. I could easily scale my efforts
and make twice as much food in nearly the same amount of time!
When ready to eat I will put the cubes in a bowl in the refrigerator the night before or that morning.
By the evening they are usually thawed and ready to eat. Sometimes I will put them in the microwave
for a few seconds to finish thawing if needed. Since Carter has eaten all of these foods individually for
4-5 days and I know that he has no allergies I will sometimes mix one cube of peas and one cube of
carrots together (or sweet potatoes).
Considering I am NOT a cook, this was VERY easy! It didn’t take me much longer than an hour.
The best part…it saved me money! It was much more cost effective to use the frozen veggies and make
his food, than to purchase the prepackaged baby food. My husband is the math wiz around here and by
his calculations making the baby food this way runs about 1/3 the cost of buying the prepackaged baby food
at the store. Give it a try!
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