Adventures Into Baby Food : Veggies

Over the long 3 day weekend I decided to make the first batch of HOMEMADE baby food for Jack. I have read like a billion pinterest posts, asked my mother many questions, and searched my own thoughts for what and how to make baby food.

Max and I decided to make our own baby food because frankly it's cheaper. Yes fresh food is best for Jack but honestly it came down to the price and that it's pretty easy. So for little time we can save major bucks and that means more toys for Jack ;).

Per our pediatricians guidelines we are starting with veggies. You are supposed to serve a single food for at least 3 days before switching or combining with anything else so you know your kiddo doesn't have any allergies to the food, we however are going to do a new food each week. I really want to be around to watch for allergies and since I don't stay home or work from home that means doing new foods on the weekend. So every Friday we will introduce a new food.

On this first batch we did green beans, peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, and butternut squash. This made 5 weeks of new foods with about 3 weeks of extra. The freezer trays I used so far are amazing. They are a bit pricey but I think totally worth it. These have lids which works so much better than plastic wrap and they stack so it takes less freezer space. Also since they have lids you don't have to pop them out and put them in plastic bags thus freezing them into one giant clump of cubes. Each cube is about 1 oz. While I know this seems small it's perfect for now when he's trying foods and then great as we start combing foods, just take two cubes of different flavors and combine :).

Ok onto the how to:

Things you will need:

1. Cutting board
2. Large Knife
3. Veggies (butternut squash, sweet potato, carrots, peas, green beans)
4. Cookie sheet
5. Foil
6. Blender (or any mixing device like a food processor or stick blender)
7. Spoon and Fork
8. Containers to cool food in before using the trays
9. Freezer trays

Step by Step How-To:

1. Preheat the oven to 400.
2. Cut the butternut squash in half. This is a little difficult so find someone with muscles or I did it in halves. So I cut from the middle down to the bottom then from the middle up to the top. Then scoop out the middle seed section like a pumpkin. As you can tell in the photos I forgot this step, it's really no big deal I scooped it out after baking and it was fine.
3. Poke holes in the sweet potato with the fork or knife so it doesn't explode.
   
4. Cover your cookie sheet with foil so you have super easy clean up, the sweet potato lets out some sugars and liquid which could get pretty sticky and messy.
   
5. Bake these for an hour. I did 25 minutes and then added time as needed which ended up being an hour which is the exact time my mother told me it would take...one day I'll have the "mother is always right" thing down.
6. While those were baking I made up the rest of the veggies. I started with the green beans. I bought a bag of already washed and ready green beans because frankly I'm lazy, they cook faster, and I wasn't sure how many beans to get anyway :). So for these just follow the package directions; I added an extra minute just to make sure they were mushy enough (5 minutes total). If you use non-packaged ones or frozen ones just put them in a dish with a little water and microwave on high until they meet your desired mushyness level (probably 10 minutes).
   
7. Once they are mushy enough pop them into your blender and puree. My blender has a puree setting but any setting with enough time should do the trick. I hit puree and let it run for only a minute and they were done. Super Simple! **NOTE: NEVER EVER add seasonings to your purees. I love me some salt on green beans but until your little one has tried and passed each food never add anything to them, that way you know exactly what caused any potential allergic reactions.**
8. Then pour the puree into a dish to cool. Don't add hot puree to your freezer trays, most likely they are made for cold things and not hot so they might warp or break. All the dishes I used to cool my purees are microwave safe and thus safe for hot items.
   
9. The potato and squash were still in the oven so I moved onto peas. I bought frozen ones because I didn't feel like shelling peas, is that what it's called? Anyway frozen are just as good as fresh according to our pediatrician so I went with it and a bag is super cheap. I got this bag for 99 cents. Put as much as you want in a dish (I did half the bag) add a little water and microwave on high for 4 minutes.
   
   
10. Once they're done pop them into the blender and puree. This didn't yield as much as the beans so they got splattered against the blender walls and I had stop to push them back down. And even though they aren't in the shell bean thing they still have little shells on each one so make sure to blend these really well or you'll be picking shells out as you feed your baby.
11. Put the puree in a dish to cool (or in my case a glass).
12. The oven was still going so I moved onto the carrots. I bought a bag of baby carrots because again I wasn't sure how many carrots to get so an already portioned bag seemed easiest. You could also buy regular long ones or frozen ones. If you buy the regular long ones make sure to peel them first. Then cut the carrots into small chunks so they cook and puree easier, I cut the babies into thirds and I did about 3/4 of the bag.
    
    
13. Put them in a dish with a little water and microwave on high for 7 minutes. Once done pop them in the blender and puree. My blender had a harder time getting them as smooth and pureed as I wanted so I added some extra water to help it along and it worked like a charm. But remember you can always add water but you can't take it out so add little bits at a time so you don't over do it.
14. Put it in a dish to cool.
15. The oven was finally done so it was time for the squash and sweet potato. You can determine their done-ness by sticking a fork in them and seeing how soft they are. Mine could have probably gone longer but I was impatient and it all still worked out so whatever :).
16. I did the squash first so I scooped out my forgotten seed section and then started to scoop out the rest, you don't want any part of the peel/rind. My squash was still a little hard in the middle so it wasn't super easy. You also have to hold it with one hand so it doesn't slide all over and I couldn't wait for it too cool so I may have burned a few fingers but o' well.
    
17. Once you have it all scooped out put it in the blender and puree. Considering how hard it was to scoop it actually blended super easy and was velvety smooth.
18. Put it in a dish to cool.
19. I finished up with the sweet potato. I cut it in half length wise and peeled off the skin; just like you would a baked potato.
20. Put it in the blender and puree. Since potatoes don't have much water in them this actually took a quite a bit of extra water to get the right texture so don't worry if after blending it's a bit lumpy, just try adding some water.
21. Finally put it in a dish to cool.

    

    Top (L to R): Green Beans, Peas, Carrots. Bottom (L to R): Sweet Potato, Squash

    
    

22. Once they are all cooled fill up your trays. Remember DON'T combine any purees into the same cube. You want a single veggie in each cube.

    

    Starting on the left: Squash, Peas, Sweet Potato, Green Beans, Carrots, 1/2 squash 1/2 green beans.

    

    
    

How much does this all yield?

-Green Beans : 10 cubes
-Peas : 7 cubes
-Squash : 11 cubes

-Carrots : 11 cubes
-Sweet Potato : 19 cubes

While I tried to do this all during Jack's nap the world doesn't always bend to my will so I had to check in on this cutie frequently and even stopped to do the Hot Dog Dance (those who watch Mickey Mouse Club House know what I'm talking about).

And still this whole process only took 2 hours (as seen on the oven clock 10:51 to 1:00). So I highly recommend it to everyone.

All these veggies only cost roughly $8 and yielded roughly 58 oz of food so that's $0.14/oz. A jar of baby food is on average $0.40/oz that means I saved $0.26/oz or $15.08 for the same 58 oz. While that's not a ton it sure adds up.

Let me know if there are any other veggies you recommend for our next batch or if you have any tips or tricks. I wish you all the best of luck in your baby food adventures.