Food ideas: BABY FOOD

When my oldest (who is now almost 3) started eating baby food I would shop for the most wholesome jarred food I could come across. I wanted to be sure I knew what was going into that growing little body of his. So he ate a lot of Earth's Best Baby Food. When I had my second son I figured there had to be another way. By then Jarred baby food had gone up in price from .59 cents a jar to around .89 cents a jar! I started my search online of course reading and learning about homemade baby food. I HAVE to give a shout out to www.wholesomebabyfood.com They taught me everything I know about making your own baby food...recipe's and everything! I was a little sceptical thinking this was going to take me a whole lot of time that I DON'T have now that I have 2 boys! I figured I would give it one shot and see if it was even worth the effort. Let me tell you guys...I was SOLD!!! It was THE easiest thing in the WORLD! I made 3 gallon size zip locks full of baby food one day while both of my boys were down for their afternoon nap and I had time to spare! My little turtle is almost 9 months now and I have been making his food since he was 5 months. So, I figured since this blog was ALL about food...I would show you how easy it is to prepare my little guys food!

First, I start by boiling one 5lb. bag of Bybee Foods Organic Frozen Peas (from Costco). I allow them to boil for about 10 minutes. Important Fact: Any time you are making baby food it is best to use as fresh as possible. Since I didn't have access to fresh peas, frozen was second best and still full of vitamins and all that good stuff!


Second, I strain the peas and put them into my food processor and add a few spoon fulls of the water (that I boiled the frozen peas in) and then process on high for a full minute.


Third, I spoon the pea pure' into clean and sterile ice cube trays. Important fact: One ice cube is about 1 oz. The stage 1 baby food comes in 4 oz. jars, so my little guy eats 4 cubes a meal! He is about ready to move up to stage 2 which is 6oz jars, so he will eat 6 cube...you get the idea! ;o)


Fourth, I allow the baby food to cool on the counter and then cling wrap them and stick them into the freezer for about 12-14 hours. Then I just pop them out and store them in gallon size freezer zip locks! It works wonders. Just always be sure to label your bag with a sharpie to know how long it has been in the freezer and if it is green beans or peas! Important fact: Baby food lasts up to 3 months in a regular freezer and up to 12 months in a deep freezer.


That's IT! You can use this process when making carrots, green beans, sweet potatoes, etc. With my fruit I skip the cooking process all together and just peel, pure' and then freeze! The savings is pretty remarkable too! I bought a huge bag of pears (again Costco) for $3.79 and it made 16 (4oz) jars of baby food. Now that baby food is up to .89 cents a jar who couldn't afford this savings!? 16 jars of pears for $3.79! AMAZING...and I know how it was made and what is in my son's baby food. I hope you give this a try...it will TOTALLY be worth it! :)