Homemade Baby Food

So I'm not a crunchy mom. In fact, when I first heard the term "crunchy mom" I was like what in the world does that mean and had to look it up. Then I started craving greasy, processed potato chips because they're also crunchy and I was pregnant soooo. I have nothing against crunchy moms at all, I'm just not one of them. More power to you if you are! Yall are awesome and dedicated and I have a lot of respect for you. I'm a Captain Crunchy mom (see what I did there?).

That being said, I'm super proud of myself because I actually made my baby homemade baby food! I didn't use organic fruits and vegis but I still feel like I deserve at least a few crunchy mom points for this one. I was amazed at how easy and CHEAP it was to do (plus it makes a lot and can be frozen up to 6-8 months)! Most of all, I feel good giving my baby wholesome food that I know is just straight up fruits and vegis. No mystery additives here. It's yummy too. If Presley doesn't finish it (which is rare for my chubby little babe) I find myself eating her leftovers. Is that gross? Yeah it's probably gross and I shouldn't have told you that. Now that I'm a mom I have to ask other people if things are gross. I don't trust my own nasty-meter anymore because nothing phases me. Especially after our Target diaper explosion incident. I've said too much.

Since she was gaining weight well with breastfeeding (as apparent in her arm rolls) our pediatrician said to wait until she was 6 months to start giving her solids. I was so excited to start them after patiently waiting for half a year. Right after her 6 month doctor visit we went straight to the grocery to pick out some yummy things to eat. I got avocados, green beans, sweet potatoes, and apples. A few weeks later I got some bananas. 

So I wait until my husband gets home from work so we can experience it together. We start with sweet potatoes. She HATES it. She was so confused then after every bite she would fake cough or gag. She didn't know what to think of it. So entertaining but also made me a little sad. WHY DON'T YOU LIKE MY FOOD??? 

It only took a week for it to be her favorite activity ever. Lolz.

BUT WHY IS IT SO MESSY?? Like my one green beanie brow?

The first week she alternated between being curious and kinda maybe liking it and being super mad that I was torturing her by making her eat human food instead of food from a human (ie me). I know. I'm a terrible mother. After a few days of getting food EVERYWHERE and her only actually eating like 2 bites, I started tricking her and it worked! I made 2 bowls, one with rice cereal with formula and one with the fruit or vegi. She almost immediately liked the rice cereal because it had formula in it which was familiar to her (she breastfeeds 4 times during the day and has formula right before bed). So I would mix a little bit of the food with the rice cereal. She'd eat all of it and get kinda acclimated to the taste in the meantime without knowing it. Then I'd start giving her the straight up food when the cereal was gone and she didn't seem to mind that much and eat all of it. I did that for 3 days. On the 4th day I tried to sit down and just go straight to the food without starting with the cereal. It worked! She didn't act disgusted and actually ate 2 servings! She got mad when the first one was gone so I had to thaw some more. Now she loves eating. That's my girl.

Here's a video of the first time she had food. LOLOLOL.

She thinks it hilarious when you say "avocado." Matt discovered this. Now we have 100 of these videos. 

Ok so here's how I did it. Super easy and I did it all in like 45 minutes and still had a few minutes to spare before naptime was over!

I portioned and froze my food in ice cube trays. I stocked up at the Dollar Tree (2 for $1). Each "cube" is about 1 ounce of food. Once they were frozen I dumped them in freezer bags, labeled them with the date, and threw them back in my freezer to eat when needed. When it's time to eat I get a cube out and microwave it for 15-30 seconds until it melts (but it's not too hot). Easy as that! I do have some baby food storage container I use as well that I got at Babies R Us. Fruits and vegis keep in the freezer for 6-8 months.

Each item below is enough to make 1.5+ ice cube trays full. I had enough apples to make 2 full trays.

Grocery list:

1 lb green beans (fresh from produce section)

5 gala apples

3 sweet potatoes

3 avocados

bunch o bananas

Wash the green beans then add to boiling water for about 5-7 minutes or until tender. Cut off the ends (don't necessarily have to do this but I didn't like the stems) and put straight in the blender or food processor. Don't throw out the water you boiled them in. A lot of the nutrients from the beans transfer to the water when boiled so use that water to thin them out a little in the blender. Just add the water until you get the consistency you want.

Wash the apples really good then peel and de-core them. Chop them up, add to boiling water for 5-7 minutes or until tender. Place in a blender with a little bit of the water you used to boil them. Such yummy applesauce.

Wash, add a few holes with a fork, then bake sweet potatoes at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes. Remove the skin. Blend with a little bit of water until the right consistency.

When the avocados are ripe, peel them, remove the core then smash them up or put them in the blender. No cooking required. 

Peel the bananas and smash them up or put them in the blender. No cooking required.

Note: This picture was taken 2 weeks after I made everything so a lot of it is missing. It made a lot more than this.

So there you have it!! I hope this inspired you moms out there, crunchy or not, to try it. It was a lot of fun if you have the time.