Do it Yourself Organic Baby Food

Do it Yourself Organic Baby Food

I am the mother of a "forever baby" - my son is 10 years old and he is developmentally equal to a 5 month old baby.  He contracted meningitis at 3 weeks of age, and it changed our lives forever.   So why does this make me qualified on organic baby food?  If you do just a little research on children with cerebral palsy, you will find their bodies commonly look like that of starved children.  Their spastic muscles eat up calories like crazy!  I have been blending organic baby food for my son for 10 years.  No jar foods, and he looks like the photo at the left.  He has Cerebral Palsy, but does not look under or over nourished.    By the way, that is his dog is laying next to his head.... not a deformation!

My son is not supplemented through a feeding tube in anyway, and he eats mashed organic baby food like a champion!

So, if the idea of feeding your infant mashed peas and carrots with a packaging date predating your pregnancy is giving you the heebie jeebies, consider whipping up your own organic baby food. This way, you'll know exactly what goes into your child's chow, without having to spend hours reading and decoding nutrition labels.   You also won't be adding baby-food packaging to the landfill. Plus, considering that a 4-ounce jar of baby food costs between 60 cents to $1.20, you'll get to sock some extra cash away for your child's college fund.

Stage One Organic Baby Food

You will need a blender and some food-cube trays (or covered ice-cube trays)

1. Thoroughly wash the fresh, organic fruits and vegetables you've purchased.

2. Steam, bake, or boil to the consistency of your baby's stage of eating.

3. For your stage one organic baby food, the blender works best.  You will have to add a little water to puree it until you have to texture you want.  You don't need to add salt or sugar.  Try a bit of lemon juice as both a preservative and a natural flavor enhancer.

4. Many people say to strain the food to remove any stray peels. As long as you have a decent blender, you should not need to strain the puree.  My blender is a kitchen aid.  My son ate "stage one" organic baby food for 2 years before he could manage stage two food organic baby food.  It took 3 years of making me organic baby food daily before I burned up by blender!  My son was larger, so he ate more... thus I used my blender more.  If you happen to have a less powerful blender, you might have to strain stray peels.  You WILL know by the appearance of the puree.  Stage one organic baby food should be very thin in texture.

5. Pour the organic baby food puree into the food-cube trays and stick them in the freezer. When the cubes are completely frozen, transfer them into individual glass containers with two or three cubes per container. Label with contents and date, then pop the containers back into the freezer.

6. When it's time to eat your home-made organic baby food, warm the individual portions. Remember to test the temperature of the food before feeding your baby.

Stage Two Organic Baby Food

You will need a food processor and some food-cube trays (or covered ice-cube trays)

1. Thoroughly wash the fresh, organic fruits and vegetables you've purchased.

2. Steam, bake, or boil to the consistency of your baby's stage of eating. Personally, I can make just about ANY organic food into a stage two organic baby food.  Raw nuts, raw carrots, raw cauliflower.   For your baby, use some caution.  Raw nuts and veggies have a lot of fiber.  We need lots of fiber because my son does not walk.  Immobile child, means less natural bowel movement.  My son has been eating stage two organic baby food for 7 years.  You won't be grinding organic baby food that long!

3. For your stage two organic baby food, the food processor works best.  I use a simple Hamilton Beach food processor. 

You might have to add something to make your meal a bit "sticky."  Water will work, but it will separate if you plan to freeze the organic baby food.  Here is a sample:  Chicken, rice and salad.  I put this all into the food processor with the "blending cutter".  The texture is going to be very dry.  But this is how you will easily be able to verify there are not big chunks.  Now, just add a bit of apple sauce to your mixture and you have stage two organic baby food for your child.  Another idea, add an organic avocado to your mixture of chicken, rice and salad.  Add some lemon so the avocado doesn't turn brown - this is not needed if your serving it your organic baby food immediately, but the avocado will turn brown if your freezing your meals.

Steps 5 & 6 are the same - if you started out following my stage one steps, your already like professional at frozen food trays and warming!

Until next time, I am Carrie Smith.  Work at home mom serving the needs of my family!