Making Our Own Baby Food

Andi and I decided to try our hand in making baby food this weekend using the Beaba Babycook machine I bought a few months ago. Ideally, I'd like to make all of Tory's baby food now that she's ready for solids and everything I've read seems like it'd be easy enough to do so.

On the way home from the cabin on Sunday, we stopped at Trader Joe's to pick up some fruits and veggies to accompany this week's meals. Andi ran into the grocery store while I tackled the diaper explosion Tory created during our drive home. I swear, if I had a dollar for every time I've cleaned up poop in the backseat of my car, I'd be rich! It's an all too common occurrence these days.

Andi purchased sweet potatoes, peas, bananas and yellow squash. Once at home, he began by chopping the fruits and veggies into small cubes to steam and puree.

Have I mentioned how helpful it was to have four hands to tackle this project versus two? Weekends like this remind me how much I miss Andi when he's traveling for work. Tory's a wiggly worm these days and it takes all of my effort to keep her occupied. This would have definitely been a nap time project if I was conquering it solo.

Watching our sweet potatoes steam ...



Once the sweet potatoes, bananas and yellow squash were pureed, Andi placed 1-2 tablespoons of each into ice cube containers. Since this was our first attempt, we started small with these portions. Next time, I think the key will be to make a bunch of purees all at once. Each frozen cube lasts for up to 3 months in the freezer.

Dinner time! Tory's ready to try her very first vegetable - sweet potatoes.

I popped out one cube serving and halved it, placing the other potion in the fridge for the next feeding. Not sure how Tory would respond to her first serving of vegetables, I didn't want to waste or contaminate the entire portion. Next, I prepared rice cereal with formula and added the sweet potatoes into the same bowl. I didn't mix the two together so she'd be able to taste each one but this gave me extra formula liquid to thin out the sweet potatoes a bit more.

The verdict?

Tory loves sweet potatoes! Her reaction was pretty tame, actually. She didn't spit them out and only gave me a few shoulder shudders when she took a bite that must have hit her taste buds just right. We'll try sweet potatoes for a few more days just to ensure she has no adverse reaction to them and then we'll move onto bananas or squash next. It's hard to believe my baby girl is old enough for solid foods! As tough as it is on this mama, it's also fun to move onto the next stage in her development. Yay for Tory!