Baby Food

Eli has started eating baby food and he loves it! I could tell he was very ready to eat big people food. He would sit on my lap while I was eating and follow every bite to my mouth, then he would slowly start opening his mouth every time I took a bite and was grabbing at all my food. He tried cereal with breast-milk for the first time when he was six and a half months old.

When Gabriel was eating baby food I made all of my own baby food for him. We lived in Korea at the time so I didn't really have a choice but it wasn't hard and I actually enjoyed it! Now that we live in the States again there are loads and loads of options for baby food in the store. Even with all the options out there I have decided to make some of my own baby food again.

I have this theory. I think that the reason that Gabriel loves his veggies so much is because I made my own baby food. See the stuff in the jars or plastic containers that you can buy in the store does not taste like the actual vegetables so when you try to transition from baby food to actual food the baby has to get used to a whole new flavor and re-develop their taste buds to suit to the actual vegetable. Follow me? So I'm making my own vegetables for Eli!

Making your own baby food is definitely not a hard thing to do and you have more options then they have in the store pre-made. This second time around for me I'm learning even more things! I discovered a newer and (I think) easier way to freeze the baby food. Most websites tell you to freeze the pureed food in ice trays or sell you expensive containers specially designed for baby food. Honestly, the easiest way I've found it to pour all the mixture into a baking sheet (or round pan), freeze it, take it out and let it sit for maybe 5-10 minutes and then cut it with a pizza cutter. Then you pull out the cubes of food and throw them in a ziploc bag that is labeled and there you go. That way you don't have to worry about having enough ice trays for the food, you can make a lot more at once, and you don't have to spend the time spooning the food into the little holes of the ice cube tray.

Also, I've discovered something else new this morning. I have lots and lots of baby food jars already from buying fruit for Eli (I actually get them for free from WIC since we're low income). I was going to throw them all out because I couldn't think of a use for them. Then I realized that, hey, I could use these to can the vegetables that I make for Eli for when I go out! That way I don't have to worry about making sure to have a freezer available for the frozen veggies if we were to go away for the weekend, it would be in the jars and I wouldn't have to worry about it! It would be just like it's store bought! Or you could just buy them in the jar and save the time... but you wouldn't save money if you bought it! I haven't tried it yet, so I don't know how well it's going to work but I'm excited to try it out.

I've been having fun (yes, I said fun!) making baby food for Eli and I'll keep learning more and more as time goes on!