Hi, all! It’s been entirely too long since I’ve graced the little blog. However, in my defense, it’s REALLY hard to write about something when you’re not in fact “practicing what you preach.” So, you can imagine how thrilled I was when not only one of my wonderful friends found out they were moving to Korea as well, but she also asked me if I would help her make homemade baby food for her newest little guy once he got to the appropriate age. Reid is Crissi’s 3rd child. Needless to say, she doesn’t have much free time to figure out this homemade baby food thing, especially since this is her first go at it.
Yesterday, I compiled a list of first time foods she could choose from. We went to the grocery store and chose a butternut squash, 3 pears, 5 peaches (we used two for baby food), bananas and 2 avocados. Our grand total came to $15, not bad! Crissi had tried sweet potato a few different times within the past week, unfortunately, Reid was not a fan. After get out our tools, I decided we could punch out 2 foods at the same time. I started by cutting the squash in half, scraping out the seeds, putting each half face down in a baking sheet with an inch of water, pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees then bake for 40 min.
While the squash was baking, I started prepping the pears to be steamed.
It was super easy to use Crissi’s rice cooker to steam the pears, and it only took 7 minutes to steam 3 of them. After they were steamed and ready to puree, I put them all in the food processor. After a few minutes of wrestling said processor, we figured out we really were smarter than the darn thing..Annnd, we’re in business!
After the pureeing, and while the squash was still cooking away, I got out the ice cube trays and started to transfer the puree into the tray. This is such an easy to store the baby food. Once the puree is frozen, you just pop out each cube, label a Ziploc with the contents, date, and store it easily in the freezer for up to 2 months. All you have to do before each meal is warm the food. Easy, peasy!!
Oh, hello little squash… you smell delish!
Scooped out the “meat”, into the food processor it went. Puree, transfer to ice cube tray, into the freezer it went. Viola! See, easy :).
While I was being a baby food making machine, Crissi was observing, asking questions and taking it all in. She was SO excited, which made me even more excited than I already was to begin with. I also asked her if she wanted to give Reid a little taste of an avocado we bought..
I think he was a fan….Look at that sweet little face. Adorable. I can’t even handle it. We could tell he was trying to figure out the texture. He didn’t gag, cry or spit any out intentionally. I’d say that classifies as a win!
After the pear and squash, I ended up slicing, steaming and pureeing 2 peaches as well. Reid now as a nice little array of first time foods to enjoy. Crissi told me last night she use some squash for Reid’s dinner and he LOVED it.
All in all, we ended up filling 3 1/2 ice cube trays, which equaled 42 “meals”. That doesn’t include the bananas and avocado. We estimated with the pureed food it cost about $10! I’m not sure you can do better than that. Of course, as Reid grows, and slowly transitions to a solid food diet he’ll probably eat 2 “cubes” per meal. Either way, it’s still cheaper and MUCH healthier than the store bought stuff! Oh, ALL of this, including the grocery store took an hour and half. Also, courtesy of my BFF, Jill, I got to wear the cutest apron ever which she made for me and ironed on letters onto the apron ties that read, “Little Sprout Bellies”! I adore that apron!!
After all the food making, I had some baby snuggles…. A nice full belly makes anyone sleepy!
*I am not a pediatrician or a nutritionist. These are all based off my own experiences and research. Always consult your child’s pediatrician before you change their diet.*
Little Sprout Bellies 