Questions for those who make their own baby food??

Im toying with the idea of making my own and had a few questions....

1.)How do you make rice cereal on your own?
2.)How long can you keep the pureed foods in the fridge? Or do you always give it from the frozen ones?
3.)What do you do when you wont be at home?
4.)Will your child also take the canned fruits and veggies if they have to?
5.)Is it as easy as it seems or is it a little annoying?
6.)Do you buy all organic stuff?
7.)What were your reasons for making your own?
8.) Does it save alot of $?
9.)Do you have to do anything else to the food besides just pureeing and freezing it?
TIA!!

Message edited 3/25/2008 7:39:52 PM.

Re: Questions for those who make their own baby food??

Just getting started with it so take my answers with a grain of salt......................................................

1.)How do you make rice cereal on your own? Not bothering to do that but I think you can grind up rice fairly easily to make the powder. Not sure.
2.)How long can you keep the pureed foods in the fridge? Or do you always give it from the frozen ones? I would keep it in the fridge for a day or less. I have to look this up to know for sure.
3.)What do you do when you wont be at home? Either bring jarred food or bring the food in a tupperware in a cooler bag. I am not against using jarred food.
4.)Will your child also take the canned fruits and veggies if they have to? definitely.
5.)Is it as easy as it seems or is it a little annoying? a little annoying but cooking for myself is more annoying!!!!!! this is easier than that.
6.)Do you buy all organic stuff? I will try but probably not entirely.
7.)What were your reasons for making your own? I plan to share it with the baby so that I can get my veggies, too. it's about time!! also, this way I know what is in it and I know how fresh it is.
8.) Does it save alot of $? I think it will. If you compare the price of jarred food, you can make a pretty big supply for the same price as 1-2 jars.

Re: Questions for those who make their own baby food??

1.)How do you make rice cereal on your own?
I dont...I used earths best organic and now I use Happy Bellies....but the Super Food book by Ruth Yaron has a recipe and I know Halisa is one poster who makes that, maybe she can help you?

2.)How long can you keep the pureed foods in the fridge? Or do you always give it from the frozen ones?

In the fridge I think its 24 hours. I always freeze and I freeze for 6 weeks max.

3.)What do you do when you wont be at home? I take the frozen cubes with me in a tupperware or I have a few organic earths best cans on hand in case...

4.)Will your child also take the canned fruits and veggies if they have to? Yes , with no problems..

5.)Is it as easy as it seems or is it a little annoying? The first time was annoying, till I realized I was making WAYYYY too much at once, now its like second nature and VERY easy.

6.)Do you buy all organic stuff? Yes unless I cannot find it...But I will then buy produce only at places I respect such as Whole Foods versus the local grocer.

7.)What were your reasons for making your own? Health reasons, And its cheaper then buying organic jarred....myuch cheaper... I know exactly what Im giving him.

8.) Does it save alot of $? YES !

9.)Do you have to do anything else to the food besides just pureeing and freezing it? Nope....Unles syou are making mixtures once they eat more solid food...

Re: Questions for those who make their own baby food??

1.)How do you make rice cereal on your own?

I used boxed cereals for the most part. Sometimes, with the oatmeal, I'd grind whole oats in the food processor.

2.)How long can you keep the pureed foods in the fridge? Or do you always give it from the frozen ones?

I would almost always freeze the food. It lasted us about three weeks when I'd make a huge batch. After that, I'd chuck it.

3.)What do you do when you wont be at home? I'd bring the cubes and if it wasn't thawed out before she needed to eat it, I just found a place to heat it up. But usually it would be thawed perfectly by the time I needed it.

4.)Will your child also take the canned fruits and veggies if they have to?

Ehh, she would eat pureed veggies and fruits, but I never gave her meats.

5.)Is it as easy as it seems or is it a little annoying?

It's completely easy and I cannot imagine ever buying those jars after seeing how easy it was!

6.)Do you buy all organic stuff?

When I made it for her, yes for the most part.
7.)What were your reasons for making your own?

Honestly? I felt like a complete failure at breastfeeding, and so when it came time to feed her solids, I felt like it made up for me not being able to BF in some little way. Also, I wanted her to be able to eat wherever we were. I didn't want to be running to the stores to buy more baby food all the time.

8.) Does it save alot of $?

I don't know if it did since I never really bought jarred food. I'd imagine it saves some money, but I wouldn't think a ton.

9.)Do you have to do anything else to the food besides just pureeing and freezing it?
Well, you need to cook it first

Re: Questions for those who make their own baby food??

1.)How do you make rice cereal on your own?
I didn't used earths best organic.

2.)How long can you keep the pureed foods in the fridge? Or do you always give it from the frozen ones? 1-2 days in the fridge but I mostly froze everything in ice cube trays and then used the cubes. We have a freezer chest in the basement and it was a huge help!

3.)What do you do when you wont be at home? I take the frozen cubes with me in a tupperware or ziplock. I found the ziplock was even better if we went to a restaurant I would ask for a cup of hot water and thaw the cubes in the ziplock.

4.)Will your child also take the canned fruits and veggies if they have to?

Honestly I never gave her jarred.

5.)Is it as easy as it seems or is it a little annoying?
The first time was annoying but then you get into a system with it and its super easy. I really think it made my DD a great eater as she had tons of variety early on. I would steam and puree all sorts of fruits and veggies.

6.)Do you buy all organic stuff? Yes b/c I could have bought jarred organic so my reasoning was that I wanted to use all fresh organic too.

7.)What were your reasons for making your own? Health reasons, it was cheaper and I liked doing it for her plus I knew exactly what was in it and I knew it was fresh.

8.) Does it save alot of $? YES !

9.)Do you have to do anything else to the food besides just pureeing and freezing it? You have to add water for consistency.

Re: Questions for those who make their own baby food??

everyone's answers were pretty thorough, so i'm not going to repeat them all. but for the rice cereal, i make it. i also do brown rice, rolled oats, millet and about to do barley. i have tried earth's best and they are good, but imo they are no where as hearty and flavorful. homemade grains taste more like the real thing.

i REALLY recommend ruth yaron's book the super baby food diet. it is so thorough and it really covers everything. i have been following that, like a bible, since starting foods and i'm really pleased with it.

in the book, yaron suggests grinding a little, right before using it. i don't have time for that, nor do i want to use and wash my blender everyday, so i do the whole bag and store it in a sterilized jar in the fridge. you take a little at a time, grind it superfine (about 2 full minutes). don't rush it, make sure it's fine. boxed cereal does not need to be cooked, but this does. it has to be added to boiling water, then simmered on the lowest possible heat for 10 minutes.

i love making dc's food. i know that i'm giving them whole grain, fresh, organic stuff. for me, they are going to have a lot of time when they get bigger to eat junk, i wanted to start them on the best path i could.

once again, i really suggest the yaron book, but i'm sure there are other good ones out there too. good luck!!

Re: Questions for those who make their own baby food??

1.)How do you make rice cereal on your own?

No. I use Organic Earth Beth box.

2.)How long can you keep the pureed foods in the fridge? Or do you always give it from the frozen ones?

I put in freeze trays right away

3.)What do you do when you wont be at home?

I use jars

4.)Will your child also take the canned fruits and veggies if they have to?

I give veggie jars if I must be out. I don't make fruits yet. He has organic 1 fruit jar everyday.

5.)Is it as easy as it seems or is it a little annoying?

Yes, It's really easy. It make look annoying but I make enough for the week. It goes a long way. One sweet pototo does 7 servings for the whole week or more if it is a big sweet potato.

6.)Do you buy all organic stuff?

yes

7.)What were your reasons for making your own?

It's fresh.
He gets use to the taste of fresh food. MUCH cheaper.

8.) Does it save alot of $?

YES.

9.)Do you have to do anything else to the food besides just pureeing and freezing it?

No. That's it!

I steam
I puree
I put in trays
Once frozen, I transfer to freezing bags.

Re: Questions for those who make their own baby food??

1.)How do you make rice cereal on your own?
I use box Rice cereal. Never thought about making that too....


2.)How long can you keep the pureed foods in the fridge? Or do you always give it from the frozen ones?
I keep the food in frozen bags - everything I've read says 6 weeks so I date the bags the day I make the food. I take out what she needs the day before for the following day

3.)What do you do when you wont be at home?
I put DD's food for daycare in food storage containers. If we are going to be out all day, I'll either put the freezer pack in with the food or just bring ready made

4.)Will your child also take the canned fruits and veggies if they have to?
She eats it with no problems!

5.)Is it as easy as it seems or is it a little annoying?
At first it seemed easier and I just kept reminding myself how much healthier and cheaper it was to do this. I try to make one thing a week so I'm not overwhelmed with making baby food

6.)Do you buy all organic stuff?
No. I remove all skin off everything I make

7.)What were your reasons for making your own?
Healthier and very cost effective!

8.) Does it save alot of $?
Oh yeah! Completely worth it for us!

9.)Do you have to do anything else to the food besides just pureeing and freezing it? I'm not sure yet about graduating into different textures - that I am reading up on Thursday night

HTH!