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Although I’m not working outside the home at present, Saturday morning always feels like a day I need to kick back and rest. No running to preschool, kindermusik, grocery stores, post offices and banks; no making or taking annoying phone calls ( I heart caller ID). I also have a strict rule: unless it is life threatening, anything I didn’t get done during the week is NOT done on the weekend but carried over to next week.
Today before Miss Ella woke up, I’d finished my cup of java (always followed by a complimentary caffeine induced hot flash and/or hot sweat), read news updates on my RSS feed, checked my emails, read my favorite blogs and let the dogs in and out several times.
When Ella wakes up she likes us to follow a strict routine. I make an imaginary slide with my legs for her to get down from our bed (yup, a co-sleeper), we head off to the kitchen for her two cups of organic chocolate milk served in an old sippy cup she loves, even though she drinks beautifully from a regular cup, and only after she is somewhat awake do we begin talking. Ella is a lot like her Mama when she wakes up.
Since Miss Ella is now busy building with her Lego and not smashing the laptop to get me to stop blogging, I’ll continue. Aside from the depressing Guatemalan adoption scene which occupies my mind constantly these days, I do have many other interests. One of them is nutrition, in particular children’s nutrition.
Having raised children for the last thirty-three and one half years, I’ve seen trends come and go: start giving solids at six weeks, don’t give solids until six months; skim milk after one year, whole milk until two years of age; cloth diapers, disposable diapers, back to cloth diapers, and the list goes on ad nauseam. My three sons thrived even though they were all victims of these ever changing trends often dictated by well meaning pediatricians, but there was one constant in their early childhoods: they didn’t get processed food. It was all homemade.
So when I brought Ella home and things settled down enough for me to have some free time and energy, I whipped out the blender and started making her food. I was shocked by the number of people who thought this was just plain magic. “You make your own baby food? Wow that must be a lot of work!”
No, dear friends, it isn’t. One day a week I’d spend at most two hours and make enough food for about three weeks, store it in small marked containers, and pop it in the freezer.
Now before you tell me you don’t cook and couldn’t do this, let me quickly explain just how easy it is to make vegetables for example. You buy organic vegetables (preferably fresh, but frozen is fine), cook them according to the package, or if fresh steam or boil in water gently or microwave if it they are hard like potatoes and some zucchinis, drain and put them into the blender.
Next you add a little of the baby’s formula or breast milk, a dash of Kosher salt and a pat of organic butter. Blend until all mixed and the consistency that your baby likes. In a minute you have tasty homemade baby food. Don’t forget to taste it. If you won’t eat it, don’t serve it to your baby. I once bought a jar of organic food (I won’t mention the company’s name so they won’t sue me) and when I tasted it I almost vomited. It was vile!
Now, pour the blender contents into small, portion sized containers (available everywhere) and let the contents cool. Then close them up, label the containers and pop into the freezer. If you have other children around under your feet, let them make the labels.
Wasn’t that simple? You can get creative and mix veggies together. With meat and chicken there are several ways to cook. For example, a whole chicken can be cooked in broth with a few veggies (carrots, celery, and onions for example) and then you will have some soup for your little one as well as chicken. A little baby meat grinder sells for less than $10 at most baby supply stores. I found these handy for one serving but liked to cook in bulk so used my food processor. Hubby went nuts and bought a meat grinder attachment for the food processor and ground Ella’s beef from top cuts of meat. You can broil pure meat patties or fry them in a small amount of olive oil.
If you have never been one to cook, and I know a lot of generation “x”, “y” and “z”..ers aren’t, this is a good way to start. After all, do you really want your baby to grow up on processed food? Even baby food that doesn’t have any additives has been cooked and processed to death.
I should also mention that you will save a lot of money by making your own food.
Now I’m going to recommend a neat little cookbook that will feed your little ones and your whole family. There are a lot of good cookbooks for children out there; this just happens to be one I bought when Ella came home. Give it a try and start your child out on the right road to healthy eating: “The Big book of Recipes for Babies, Toddlers, & Children: 365 Quick, Easy and Healthy Dishes” by Bridget Wardley and Judy More.
Bon appetit!
More Info:
Dr. Sears: Make your own baby food.
Cute Containers for freezing food that I just found online
Photo credit: Google Images
I have quite a few mom friends who make their own baby food. If we lived in an area with easily attainable organic foods, I’d consider it for our next little man. Though our produce sections at two markets ARE expanding to include organic stuff, it’s still a minimal amount.
Great post! (Neither Nicholas nor I like to talk in the morning until we’re fully awake either.)
Homemade baby food is the best! I’ve actually only spent about $60, been feeding my son for 3 months and I have a freezer full too.
Every morning I grind up grains/oats, maybe a nut or two for cereal. When my lil PooWee hears the grinder going he comes crawling as fast as he can for his “num, nums”. I actually use a coffee grinder for grains/rice, works great.
Yum, that morning cereal sounds delicious! I forgot about the coffee grinder – great idea!
And yes, it is incredibly cheap to make your own food.
When my grown kids were babies, I was a broke hippy so never bought jar food. With Sam and Cj, island life dictated no jar food, so once again, it’s homemade.
I never have made much ahead, however. The kids just got a smooshed version of whatever we were eating. Pop a bit of breakfast, lunch and dinner into the grinder, and violia! … baby food.
We did the same as Sandra. A friend gave us a little baby food mill they were done with, hand cranked variety. We milled up whatever we were having, rinsed the thing out with warm soapy water, it was all ready for the next meal. Simple and cheap. Not to mention tasty!
That is so cool.
So you can give your kids a little bit of whatever you’re eaten only softer and mushy?
Awesome. I hope I do that when I have kids.
it does not even have to necessarily be a cost thing. Our friend was doing doctoral research in Costa Rica and Peru, often with no electricity available. That food mill was better traveled than we were!