Baby Food

Since I am staying home, I decided to make Finn's baby food. It is a commitment. I love to cook but it is time consuming when you're cooking different things for everyone in the house. (did I mention I don't have a dishwasher?) Fletcher will eat what we eat most of the time but sometimes my timing is off and he's ready for his supper NOW so I have to improvise.

These are the two books I bought and I use the Top 100 Baby Purees the most. In the beginning it is easy. All you have to do is peel, steam, and puree. The older Finn has gotten, the more true cooking I have to do. The best advice I can give is to bypass the Baby Bullet and the baby steamer/puree combo thing from William's Sonoma. They are a waste of money unless you are going to only make enough food for a couple of days at a time. You need a big, quality food processor!!!

 I also recommend a big double boiler like the one in the top left corner. It's great for steaming large batches. I like to cook several different things on cooking day so he has something different for lunch and supper. I didn't make my own rice cereal. I used Earth's Best cereal (this is the brand baby food I fed Fletcher) and mixed it with a fruit or vegetable. Finn eats a lot of our food now which is nice. I give him regular instant oatmeal, all fruit, all vegetables, tuna, chicken, beef, yogurt, cheese, pretty much everything and he loves it all. (except avocado??)

I love these trays. The brand is Mumi & Bubi. I ordered them from Amazon.com. They stack great in the freezer. The only bad review I read about them was it's hard to get the food out once frozen. I'm not sure what people were expecting. All you have to do it run it under a little hot water for a few seconds and they pop right out. Once the food is frozen, I pop the pieces out and put them in a labeled Ziploc freezer bag. When mealtime comes, I go to the freezer and take out what I want to feed him and put it in the microwave.

Fletcher LOVES these "squeezies". When we are going out to eat, I will feed them to Finn. This is the only store bought baby food Finn will eat. We buy these things by the case. My boys love this brand and Ella's Kitchen. Sometimes it's the only veggies Fletcher eats during the day so I don't mind buying them.

Fletcher drank formula and ate store bought baby food where Finn is breastfed and eats homemade baby food and I can't tell a single difference in them. My main reason for making my own food is money. It is A LOT cheaper! Mommy guilt is such a problem for me and I'm sure it is for a lot of other mothers out there. Fletcher is a healthy, happy boy and I doubt he will care that I bought his food. (at least that's what I tell myself)