Homemade Baby Food (Part 2)

Anna is almost done with her Stage 1 foods and has honestly liked almost everything she has tried! Green beans and pumpkin were a challenge but I'll give them another try in a week or two.  She is eating solids twice a day, so she gets her "new" food at one meal and then I'm trying to do "old" food combinations at the other meal.  By "old" food I mean foods she has already tried.  I'm trying to do as many veggie+veggie and fruit+fruit combos as I can so that she doesn't get used to having a sweet fruit with her vegetables.  I've mixed avocado with both fruits and vegetables.

With the fruits I have found that a cocktail muddler (like this) is helpful when mashing avocados, bananas, etc.

Fruits
Apples (did not freeze, Target brand adult unsweetened applesauce thinned slightly with breastmilk)
Avocados (did not freeze, mashed with a bit of breastmilk)
Bananas (did not freeze, mashed with a bit of breastmilk)
Mango (made & froze, pureed in blender with some water)
Peaches (made & froze, bought frozen peach slices, thawed and pureed in blender with some water)
Pears (made & froze)
Plums (made & froze)
Pumpkin (did not freeze, used canned pumpkin)

Vegetables
Beets
Cauliflower
Summer Squash/Zucchini

Homemade Baby Food (Part 1)

I have been making homemade purees for Anna now that she has started solids.  It has been pretty simple - a food processor, ice cube trays, and a little bit of time in the kitchen!

I found a great website that has puree recipes, feeding tips, etc.: Wholesome Baby Food
So far I've made butternut squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, peas and green beans.

I didn't set out to make Anna's food in an attempt to save money - it was really just about giving her food now that she will eat as she gets older.  Mike and I eat a lot of fresh vegetables, as well as some frozen vegetables, and I want Anna to do the same.  However, I'm not delusional and do realize that she will need to eat jarred baby food at times when we're in a pinch - traveling or something - so I've been giving her jarred to try in addition to homemade.  I have to say though...the smell of the jarred food is not exactly pleasant.  I'm not sure why since the ingredients say "squash, water" or "peas, water" - it makes me suspicious of what is really in there! Homemade purees smell like normal cooked vegetables (shocker, right?).  I just freeze the purees in ice cube trays, then pop them out and store them in labeled ziplock bags in our deep freezer.

Out of curiosity I started to keep track of the costs for jarred versus homemade since I've read that the savings can really add up if you make your own food.  At this point I've found that the cost per serving is about 3x more for jarred...but we're talking pennies here so you're not going to fund some lavish European vacation with the money you save from making baby food! Plus, I'm not factoring in my own time, energy costs for using the stove/oven, etc.    

More to come as we try other vegetables and fruits!