Homemade Baby Food

This last week and a half has been rough for our little family. We had the Flu virus run through our home. As usual it wasn't all at once, it went from one child to the next and then on to myself and my husband, all with about a 2-3 day gap. Needless to say, we've spent a lot of time at home in the past couple of weeks! In fact, I didn't go anywhere (neither did the kids) for 4 days straight, not even for a quick trip to the grocery store! Of course there were some things we needed but I "did without" and "made do" just so I didn't have to pack up any sick children (or myself for that matter) and expose our illness to anyone else. As a result of "making do" I ended up making baby food for our 11 month old with only the veggies and fruit we had in the house.

The first of many batches was this combo... Potatoes, carrots and zucchini.

The zucchini was from my Sister-in-laws garden, which by the way, WASN'T the biggest one she gave us!

First I washed, peeled and coarse chopped it all...

At first, I was only going to use the carrots and zucchini but decided to use potatoes because I thought they would "thicken" it up a little.

Then, I pulled out my big steamer pot...

and steamed them until the carrots and potatoes were fork tender.

Then, I pulled out my faithful Vita-Mix blender (actually it has a permanent home on the kitchen counter)... I just love this machine... see my previous post on Lemon Icees

I just threw it all in together... NO added water or anything... (btw I just love how you can see the moisture on the sides in this photo)

 and blended until smooth!

Viola'... healthy, nutritious, quick and cheap!

With 4 kids, we've spent our share of $ on store bought baby food, being somewhat frugal I've tried in the past to make it at home and for unknown reasons my kids have never really liked it. I remember making carrots for my 2nd child and forcing him to eat it until he gagged and threw it all up! I couldn't figure out why he wouldn't eat the ones I made but would gobble up the store bought with no problem. I think my success now is due to having proper equipment in the kitchen! Having a blender that can blend it up super smooth is the key!

This batch made 10 - 1/2 cup servings that I put in baggies and froze. The average cost for a jar of baby food is around .65 each, this batch alone saved us around $6.50! Also, it's real easy to defrost and serve... I just put it on the counter for a few minutes before feeding him or if I'm in a hurry, I run it under hot water. I've made a few other batches of different veggies and fruits and for the most part HE likes it all! It's my plan to make the majority of his food and save the store bought for when he eats away from home.

Thanks for reading... it's the little successes in my life that get me through the hard times! Oh, and of course, a lot of help from GOD!