Over lunch recently, Wendy told me that she had to laugh at a baby food “recipe” book that included instructions to fork mash a banana as a recipe. “I’m not sure that should count,” she said. But I remember that someone had to tell me how to do it for the first time.
I recalled that when Heidi gave me Super Baby Food as a shower gift, I didn’t think much of it because feeding the baby real food was six months away. It wasn’t on my top ten list of things about which to educate myself. Fast forward six months and there I was, referring to the book to see what foods to introduce each month, and trying my hand at pureeing pears, apples, squash, and yes, fork mashing banana.
If you haven’t already tried it, consider Activity #17: Make your own baby food.
We see that moms are buying convenient storage containers for freezing homemade baby food and want to highlight a few BPA-free options.
1. NUK Gerber BPA Free Bunch-A-Bowls With Lids
I believe I can never own enough food containers with lids, especially ones that can be microwaved to heat up frozen baby food.
2. Baby Cube Containers (8pk)
3. Munchkin Soft-Tip Infant Spoons
4. Fresh Baby So Easy Baby Food/Breast Milk Trays
What items have been added to your kitchen since baby arrived?
We are doing Baby Led Weaning, so not so much into baby food paraphernalia over here. The pump and bottle bits seem to be everywhere though.
I have the cube trays (#4) and use them for so many things–breast milk cubes when my daughter was a baby so I could mix it with oatmeal; purees as she started solids; even now (she’s 2), I’ll roast a bunch of veggies, puree them with some Pomi tomato sauce to make a veggie sauce and freeze it as cubes so I can easily defrost a few in the microwave and toss it with some pasta. She’ll gobble that up but won’t eat actual veggies. Go figure. The spoons are great too. I bought a bunch so she could play with them while I was feeding her. Plus they always ended up on the floor so it was nice to just grab another out of the drawer and wash them later.
I’m going to buy some of the bowls with lids to use for my son when he starts solids. I’m sure I’ll be on the go with food a lot more now than I was before. Thank you for pointing me in the right direction!
A word about Super Baby Food–I own it and have found it to be a difficult read. There are SO MANY recipes and the print is tiny. Plus, I’m a visual learner and there aren’t any pictures. I was really overwhelmed by it and never used it.
I don’t see the difference between #2 and #4. I just used ice cube trays for both, and covered them with tin foil when necessary.
I too used ice cube trays but avoided covering with tin foil because pieces could come off without you realizing it. I used plastic wrap instead. Love the microwaveable bowls but with my twins I use what I already have to avoid buying more and more!
For microwaving babyfood and other stuff I use these “mise en place” bowls I bought ten years ago when I was taking a fancy cooking class. They’re French — thus the cooking show feeling of having everything just so — and glass so I use them a ton.
I agree that Super Baby Food is dense and overwhelming. My secret trick was to read it (cover to cover, honest to god) in the pumping room at work.
I went with the ice cube trays because I figured I wasn’t going to need the little cups for that long, but now that the kiddo is bigger I’m still freezing things like applesauce and smoothies for the whole family – those things would still be handy! darn…
I don’t see why you need two sets of baby ice cube trays?
I have a set of the baby cubes and find them annoying. There are too many pieces. I preferred to use a whole bunch of the same kind of ice cube tray so they are all teh same size, and just dump them in ziplock bags. Washing all those little cubes is annoying, and you would need a lot of them. regular ice cube trays are cheaper…although I have some of the Tupperware ones with lids and they are fantastic for this and can be left in the freezer if I forget to dump them in the baggies for a few days.
I like the babycubes a lot. I wasn’t so great at making my own baby purees and so I never even used these in the freezer! They are fab though for carrying around a snack of almonds, some cheerios, etc and I actually use them in my son’s daycare lunches now for a little veggie dip, a glob of peanut butter, a bit of jam etc. and in my lunches for a little salad dressing
I broke many ice cube trays in the first couple months. Now I use silicon mini muffin trays and it is so much easier!
This post has perfect timing for me- I’ve just started solids with my 5-month-old and it never occurred to me to freeze baby food. duh! It’s especially weird because I regularly freeze breast milk and adult food. I must have a case of ‘baby brain’- the chronic kind! So thanks for this post – I’m going to start freezing NOW!
I have #4 … love them. I definitely prefer them to regular old ice cube trays (I went with the cheap ice cube trays first but they broke easily).
I totally laughed at the idea of making my own baby food, and then when I realized how easy and cheap it was, I got a ton of those cubes. I really like them for portability purposes. I can throw them in a bottle cooler bag in the top compartment and send my little one off to daycare or to a baby-sitter with homemade food. I also like it for portion control! My little one LOVED solid food, started showing an interest as early as 3 months. So when we finally gave in, she wouldn’t stop eating! I kept hearing “oh they’ll tell you when they’re done.” Well, that’s yet to happen. So this helps me kind of guide what I should be feeding her, as each cube is about 2 TBSP.
Bjorn hardish plastic Bibs have been with us since day one and are perfect. Bumkins ones are great in the diaper bag since they fold to nothing.
We love the Gerber/Nuk toddler cutlery when they get to the feeding themselves in a somewhat civilized place.
Snack Traps, for when they get the pincher grip and you want to give them cheerios etc on the go.
Stephanie. Just keep feeding her different things until she is done (trust me, you will know).