A post of encouragement to all my fellow moms and soon-to-be moms of infants…
Making homemade baby food was one of my first green lifestyle choices. How about you? Despite what many instinctively think, making your own baby food is not that hard. Seriously, I am one of the most ‘culinarily’ challenged people on the planet. My husband does most of our cooking because he really enjoys it, whereas I can just get by when I have to. But I make the baby food in our house, so if I can do it, anyone can. And the benefits are entirely worth the effort. Below are just a few.
#1 – As with grown-up food, fresh is always better than processed, both in terms of health and taste. Doubt it? Taste for yourself. Try the jarred bananas vs a freshly fork-mashed (so easy) banana. Or for a real treat, open up a grocery store jar of baby food “meat.” Whoa…
#2 – Significant cost savings. The first baby food veggie I ever made was a butternut squash. Out of one $3 squash, I got the equivalent of 20+ baby food jars. Do the math. Sweet!
#3 – Keeps extra jars, lids, and plastic/foil/cardboard packaging out of the global waste stream. Remember, recycle is the last option of “reduce, reuse, and recycle.” Trash reduction comes first, and making your own baby food is a great place to start.
Again, so worth the effort – and it’s not even that big an effort. I used to (and will again come May or June) take a Saturday afternoon and make up huge batches at a time to last most of the month. Or, you can take less time more often as you wish.
Click here for the website I found most helpful when first learning the basics (and for quick refreshers with each new baby since). For their informative page on organics, click here.
We made baby food too…was not difficult, and so much healthier. Plus you are getting baby used to “real” food instead of highly processed mush, so it’s easier to transition them to eating same food as you when they’re ready.
Here’s the book I liked on this subject:
Super Baby Food, by Ruth Yaron
http://www.amazon.com/Super-Baby-Food-Ruth-Yaron/dp/0965260313/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1288358542&sr=8-1
Thanks so much, Jenny, for sharing that resource. It looks fantastic!
My baby is just starting solids now, and I am so excited to make her food when she starts with veggies, fruits etc. I really enjoy cooking, so to be able to “cook” for my baby is another way for me to express my love, just like I do for my hubby! Actually, I never even considered the financial benefits too – whoo hoo!
Congrats, Christina. So true, great way to express love! 🙂
Anyone have any thoughts on silicon ice cube trays? The trays I used before, which were probably not very good anyway, are basically shot at this point, and so I’m reassessing this topic for baby #4 (though I likely have until June before I need to start even thinking about anything other than nursing… love how God lets us gradually get used to life with each new munchkin…).
The silicon 1 oz cube trays seem the simplest for freezing baby food. So much less hassle getting the frozen cubes out. There is some discussion “out there” as to whether or not silicon will leach “bad stuff” into food, but from what I’ve seen so far, there is no perfect solution. Even the newer stainless steel trays could leach nickel – plus I would imagine it’d be a huge pain in the rear to get the cubes out. I only freeze the cubes in the trays then transfer them to a freezer container anyway, so the short amount of time the food is actually in contact with the silicon seems OK to me. But I’m always open to other thoughts and research on this topic – anyone?