Homemade Baby Food

As we got ready to start our baby on solids it didn't occur to me to make my own until a good friend clued me in on how easy, affordable, and healthy it is to prepare your own baby food...no little glass jars for us (have you noticed how crazy expensive that stuff is?!).

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Before I got started I did a lot of reading...here are my 3 favorites so far:

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We've made all sorts of homemade meals for Lyla...including potatoes, carrots, peas, broccoli, squash, celery, green beans. As she grows we change the consistency and combine ingredients. Often we just blend up whatever we are eating before adding salt or sugars.

(see Lyla trying potatoes for the first time here.)

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I bought this squash for 50 cents, baked it for 25 minutes in the oven, then removed the rind, mushed it with a potato masher and portioned it into ice cube trays. It is totally natural with no added thickeners or a ton of extra processing. And it was 50 cents!!!

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You can easily make baby food of just about anything as long as you have a blender. This little hand mixer has been terrific. The little container of prune baby food in the center of this picture was 55 cents. I paid $3.99 for each container of dried plums...which seems expensive, but once I portioned out my big pot of stewed prunes I calculated that I saved $15 dollars by making my own!

Here's how I made prune baby food...throw all the dried plumbs in a pot with an inch or so of water. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer for about 10 minutes. The prunes will become nice and mushy, add water to desired consistency. Blend remaining lumps into a puree and portion into ice cube trays for freezing. Voila!

Making my own baby food has been really rewarding...definitely worth the few minutes it takes to prepare. I highly recommend it.