Homemade Baby Food

I know.  I know.  It sounds incredibly complicated.  But really ... homemade baby food...  it's so easy and so economical.  You have to try this.

For my son, these are just a few tricks I learned...

1. Split peas: soak your peas overnight. Pop them in the crockpot in the morning.  Make sure they are covered with water during the entire cooking process.  These should only take a few hours to cook.  They're done when they no longer have a "green" taste.  I blended them to the texture I wanted with a wand blender.

2. Carrots: Again pop them in the crockpot with water or chicken broth, depending on what stage your child is at.  Cook until very tender and blend with wand blender.

3. Squash: Lightly drizzle a cut squash with a little oil.  Pop in the oven and cook.  Scrap out of the skin and blend.

4. Sweet potatoes: Just like the squash.  Prick with a fork, pop in the oven, and cook until done. Remove from skin and blend.

5. Potatoes: Same as sweet potatoes.  Can also use the microwave.  

6. Plums, nectarines, peaches, bananas, mango, etc: Remove the skin and pit.  Blend.

7. Avocado: My son loved these.  Remove pit and skin; blend.

With all of these, you can  thin them out as much as you'd like using either breast milk or formula.  You can blend them to the texture you desire and make them seasoned to your families taste.  They can also be mixed after you test each individual food for allergies.  We often cook peas and carrots together.  

This is really very easy.  I would usually spend just a few hours cooking a few things at a time, one in the crockpot, one in the oven.  I only ever bought green beans or applesauce (just regular no sugar added applesauce) or baby food for traveling.

Oh, one last thing... canned pumpkin.  My son loved it.  Not pumpkin pie mix, just plain canned pumpkin.  It's a little bitter to me, but even I started to enjoy the taste.  It's very nutritious and very economical.