Making your own baby food, is it worth it?

After reading an article that talks about making food isn't all that, can over-cook, contamination, etc.

I really am interested in making my own food but don't know where to start.

All I know is I can put the food in ice cube trays, freeze it and store in freezer bags, then thaw as needed.

Are there any tricks to making, storing, etc. Any good websites?

Re: Making your own baby food, is it worth it?

I love it.

I don't use any recipes per say....

I just cook it in water, and then when I throw it in the Bullet, I add a little water that I cooked with and some stock.

Freeze, and serve as needed.

Re: Making your own baby food, is it worth it?

When DS started the purees, it was totally worth it. So much cheaper and it was fresh food/veggies.

Re: Making your own baby food, is it worth it?

I think it is worth it to give your child fresh fruits and veggies. You just basically steam or boil the fruit or veggie and then place it in some kind of food processor. Like a pp poster I just used the magic bullet.

The only thing is I did not freeze anything. I made the food as needed and would keep it in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.

Re: Making your own baby food, is it worth it?

I am going to do it for this baby. I wish I had the time when Andrew was a baby.

Re: Making your own baby food, is it worth it?

I think its worth it, jarred baby food smells terrible, I would rather give my baby something that came from my own kitchen than something that came from a factory.

Re: Making your own baby food, is it worth it?

I did it and was so happy that I knew exactly what DS was eating because I made the food myself.

Here is a web site that I used for everything!

Wholesome Baby Food

Re: Making your own baby food, is it worth it?

I did it for Ella, and will for Erik as well. I enjoyed making the food and knowing that what I was feeding her tasted good, and was healthy.

It was very easy and totally worth it.

Re: Making your own baby food, is it worth it?

I think so. I wasn't sure at the beginning. I am so glad I am doing it. I knew we were going on vacation around the time we were introducing fruits (we did cereal, then veggies, then fruits) so I also got DS used to jarred food. We used Earth's Best. He seemed to like it just the same. Now I keep some in the house just in case I'm in a pinch.

Re: Making your own baby food, is it worth it?

I found it was worth it with the meat. I would cook alot of chicken and grind it up and freeze it. The fruits and veggies werent a big deal to buy for me.

Re: Making your own baby food, is it worth it?

ok, I think I am going to start to try making my own!

Re: Making your own baby food, is it worth it?

i loved doing it for DD#1 and plan on doing it again with DD #2. before i became a SAHM i could not cook to save my life (DH did all the cooking), so i was pretty clueless with the whole process. i really liked Top 100 Baby Purees: 100 Quick and Easy Meals for a Healthy and Happy Baby to get me started. i bought a stick blender and orka ice cube trays with lids and froze tons of food. it was great and so yummy...

Re: Making your own baby food, is it worth it?

Making baby food is totally worth it if you're interested. Plus, it tastes better than the jarred stuff I've been sending DS to daycare with the food I made and so far so good. Instead of doing ice cube trays, I bought a few of these:

Baby Cubes

I've been using a 3 quart stainless steel pot with a steamer basket to steam the food and then pureeing it with a hand stick blender.

Have fun!

Re: Making your own baby food, is it worth it?

I have heard that it's not worth it in terms of vitamins--the baby food is jarred right after picking, so those fruits and veggies are fresher than most you can buy out (excpet maybe at a farmer's market).

But the jarred food gets $$$ when they start eating more, and some things you might want your baby to try just don't come in jars (melons, avocado). At this point, I'm also finding DS isn't ready for stage 3 foods (lots of gagging), but the stage 2 foods are too watery, so I've started making more of his food for him. We still use jars though.

I think it would be kind of hard to make all meals from scratch, but if you can do some, it's good. Most of his fruit and veggies I steam and mash with a fork, though you can put them in a food processor or blender with a little water also.

this site is pretty good for information:

wholesomebabyfood.com

Good luck!