So you like the concept of making your own baby food, but you say you don't have any time to do it? Well, here are some tips I've implemented (and Lord knows I have very little spare time these days!):
- The No. 1 time saver when making baby food is to make LOTS of it all at once. Set just three hours aside each week and your freezer will be overflowing with so much baby food your husband will be threatening to throw it all out (mine did — and even with the frozen expressed breastmilk! Men!). This was the only way I managed to continue feeding my son homemade baby food. One week, I would make four different types of vegetables and freeze in ice cube trays. The next week, I'd make about four fruits, and so it goes. Now, if you aren't familiar with freezing baby food it's real simple — make your purees then spoon them into clean ice cube trays. Wrap the trays in freezer wrap and freeze for a few hours. When completely frozen, pop the cubes out of the trays and transfer to freezer bags. So, set some time aside on the weekend and make just three or four foods, such as sweet potatoes, carrots, brocolli, apples, peaches, etc. You get the idea.
- Along the same lines, if you can cook extra food for your "with-teeth" family and freeze the extra servings, you will have more time during the week to squeeze some more purees out. If you haven't checked it out yet, Suite101's Kerri Bazzell has great ideas on Cooking Ahead. Every other weekend, I actually make waffles or pancakes for breakfast and wind up freezing about 10 waffles/pancakes for the next weekend. Add some freshly-defrosted blueberries and you have a great breakfast for toddler and mama alike!
- Know another mom around town? Perhaps you could get together and do some power pureeing and solid food swaps. So, your three-hour-a-week investment would equate to six to eight foods instead of three to four (by the way, each puree should be an ice cube tray. The younger the baby, the less they eat, so one cube would be one serving of food).
- A time-saving tip for toddlers: take those frozen cubes and use them as pasta sauces! Pasta can also be cooked and frozen, too. Mine loves ravioli, so I make lots and am able to squeeze four dinners out of one 15 minute cooking session.
Go To Page: 1 2
The copyright of the article Fast food in Homemade Baby Food is owned by . Permission to republish Fast food in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
