I’ve had a few people ask me how we make Little Lady O’s baby food, so this is for you new mamas out there!
Making baby food was something I knew I wanted to do when I had kids. I know most people choose to make their baby food because it’s all organic and you know exactly what is in it. (To be honest, I’ve never been one to go the organic or all natural route. If it’s convenient and cost effective for me to purchase organic or all natural I will). For me, making baby food was another way to personally give to my child. If that makes any sense… The only other comparison I can give is, I remember family meals being extremely important growing up and my mother spending time in the kitchen preparing meals for us. I wanted to start that early. Hopefully that makes sense.
We make Little Lady O’s food by using the Baby Bullet. You can really use any blender. We received the Baby Bullet as a shower gift so that’s why use it. If you are looking at purchasing an appliance specifically designed for making baby food, I would recommend the Baby Bullet. It’s user-friendly and convenient.
Little Lady O starting eating solid food/baby food back in April. Like any new mother, I took an obscene amount of photos to document the occasion so I’m going to use those to show you what we use and how we make her food. (The only differences to how we make it now are the types of food and the blending time – she’s eating stage 2 food now).
The key to making baby food (keeping it convenient and cost effective) is organization and efficiency. You want to make baby food in batches. Fresh baby food is good in the refrigerator for 3-days and in the freezer for a month. Knowing that, we make a one month supply at a time (which can be done in an afternoon).
What you will need:
- Blender
- Storage containers
- Food
- Water
That’s it!
When you get your list of approved stage one foods from your doctor, you’ll want to choose the foods you want to start with. Note, we were instructed by our doctor that when giving her a new food, to serve it to her for three days straight to ensure it worked with her system. We chose to start Little Lady O on bananas and avocados. We picked these two foods because they are a soft food to begin with (it has a very smooth texture when blended) – we felt this would help make the transition to baby food easier on her.
Prepping your fruit and veggies for making stage one baby food:
- Remove the skin and core (if needed).
- If the fruit or veggie is naturally soft, you will simply need to cut it up into small pieces (i.e. small enough to fit into your blender).
- If the fruit or veggie is not naturally soft, you’ll need to cook or steam it. Then cit up into small pieces to fit into your blender.
Making baby food:
- For foods you did not need to cook: you are going to simply put the fruit/veggie into your blender with a ¼ cup of water and puree it. I say a ¼ cup because you can always add more water if need be. You want to puree it until it runs smooth off a spoon.
- For foods that you need to cook or steam: you are going to do the same process listed above; however, you want to use the water that you used to cook or steam your food (that water holds nutrients that you want to add back into the food).
Storage: There are multiple different storage systems out there for baby food. We use the Baby Bullet storage system because, once again, it was given as a gift.
- Many people use ice cube trays. If you choose this method, know that one ice cube is 1 oz. (a standard serving is 2 oz.). Also, you will want to purchase an ice cube tray with a cover.
- You can leave your food in the trays in the freezer and pop them out as you use them. We, however, pop them out of the trays and store them in zip lock bags and label it with the type of food it is and date it was made.
As Little Lady O moves from stage one to stage two to stage three food, we are simply introducing her to new foods recommended by the doctor and increasing – for a lack of better words - the “chunkiness”.
During stage one (4-6 months), we found we could make a month worth of baby food in an afternoon for under $10.00. Now that she is on stage two foods and eating more, we have found we can still make a month worth of baby food in an afternoon, but the cost has gone up to about $15.00 - $20.00. We do purchase organic fruits and veggies if we can, which is a little more costly so if you are looking to save even more, you can choose not to purchase organic.
Hopefully you’ve found this helpful and if you have any questions just let me know!
Making baby food was something I knew I wanted to do when I had kids. I know most people choose to make their baby food because it’s all organic and you know exactly what is in it. (To be honest, I’ve never been one to go the organic or all natural route. If it’s convenient and cost effective for me to purchase organic or all natural I will). For me, making baby food was another way to personally give to my child. If that makes any sense… The only other comparison I can give is, I remember family meals being extremely important growing up and my mother spending time in the kitchen preparing meals for us. I wanted to start that early. Hopefully that makes sense.
We make Little Lady O’s food by using the Baby Bullet. You can really use any blender. We received the Baby Bullet as a shower gift so that’s why use it. If you are looking at purchasing an appliance specifically designed for making baby food, I would recommend the Baby Bullet. It’s user-friendly and convenient.
Little Lady O starting eating solid food/baby food back in April. Like any new mother, I took an obscene amount of photos to document the occasion so I’m going to use those to show you what we use and how we make her food. (The only differences to how we make it now are the types of food and the blending time – she’s eating stage 2 food now).
The key to making baby food (keeping it convenient and cost effective) is organization and efficiency. You want to make baby food in batches. Fresh baby food is good in the refrigerator for 3-days and in the freezer for a month. Knowing that, we make a one month supply at a time (which can be done in an afternoon).
What you will need:
- Blender
- Storage containers
- Food
- Water
That’s it!
When you get your list of approved stage one foods from your doctor, you’ll want to choose the foods you want to start with. Note, we were instructed by our doctor that when giving her a new food, to serve it to her for three days straight to ensure it worked with her system. We chose to start Little Lady O on bananas and avocados. We picked these two foods because they are a soft food to begin with (it has a very smooth texture when blended) – we felt this would help make the transition to baby food easier on her.
Prepping your fruit and veggies for making stage one baby food:
- Remove the skin and core (if needed).
- If the fruit or veggie is naturally soft, you will simply need to cut it up into small pieces (i.e. small enough to fit into your blender).
- If the fruit or veggie is not naturally soft, you’ll need to cook or steam it. Then cit up into small pieces to fit into your blender.
Making baby food:
- For foods you did not need to cook: you are going to simply put the fruit/veggie into your blender with a ¼ cup of water and puree it. I say a ¼ cup because you can always add more water if need be. You want to puree it until it runs smooth off a spoon.
- For foods that you need to cook or steam: you are going to do the same process listed above; however, you want to use the water that you used to cook or steam your food (that water holds nutrients that you want to add back into the food).
Storage: There are multiple different storage systems out there for baby food. We use the Baby Bullet storage system because, once again, it was given as a gift.
- Many people use ice cube trays. If you choose this method, know that one ice cube is 1 oz. (a standard serving is 2 oz.). Also, you will want to purchase an ice cube tray with a cover.
- You can leave your food in the trays in the freezer and pop them out as you use them. We, however, pop them out of the trays and store them in zip lock bags and label it with the type of food it is and date it was made.
As Little Lady O moves from stage one to stage two to stage three food, we are simply introducing her to new foods recommended by the doctor and increasing – for a lack of better words - the “chunkiness”.
During stage one (4-6 months), we found we could make a month worth of baby food in an afternoon for under $10.00. Now that she is on stage two foods and eating more, we have found we can still make a month worth of baby food in an afternoon, but the cost has gone up to about $15.00 - $20.00. We do purchase organic fruits and veggies if we can, which is a little more costly so if you are looking to save even more, you can choose not to purchase organic.
Hopefully you’ve found this helpful and if you have any questions just let me know!