For moms who make their own 'baby food':

[gour0]

What kind of kitchen gadgets do you use? Food Processor? What kind?
I just started him on bananas this week and have been mushing them with a fork. :P

[puglucy]

A fork is all I use! I just peel fruits or veggies & simmer them til soft, then mash them with a fork. Or, with bananas or avocadoes, just peel & mash.

I'm sure you can get fancier if you want, but you don't have to.

(of course, ds eats almost nothing, so i don't know if any of this advice counts :))


Lucy\r\nAlex 3/18/03

[MariFP]

Banana, avocado and papaya you don't need to cook, you can just mush with a fork.
For other fruits and veggies I use a steamer to cook and when they are really soft, I blend it with a little bit of water or just give the little pieces (my baby is starting finger food already). But I used to just blend it (not potato or sweet potato though, just mush with a fork).

[vpalmer]

I make large quantities of baby food at one time and freeze it in individual servings (via an ice cube tray) so I can serve quick meals to DD. Since I work FT, this method has been invaluable to me.

Here is my process:
1) I cube and steam the fruit and veggies. So far I have done apples, pears, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, fresh green beans, pumpkin, acorn squash, and canned Le Suer Peas (I could not bring myself to shell fresh peas!)

2) I use the food processor to mix the food with a little bit of the steaming water.

3) I scoop the food into ice cube trays (usually 2 trays) and freeze.

4) Once frozen, I pop the cubes out and transfer them to a ziploc freezer bag labeled with the date and contents.

5) I store all the bags in the door of my freezer and when it is dinner time I take out 2-3 cubes of 2 different foods and microwave for a minute, stir and serve.

Now that DD is starting to eat foods with more texture I add table food to her purees. For example, I may add a raosted potato to her carrot puree or fork mashed pasta shells to her pureed peas.

I have also cut up carrot sticks, steamed them, layed them out on parchment paper, frozen them, and put them in a freezer bag alongside the purees. They thaw quickly and this gives DD instant finger food!

FYI - Bananas and avacado I simply fork mash since they are not suitible for freezing.

I hope this helps a little!

Veronica
Mom to Eva
Born on 6-12-03

[vpalmer]

I just noticed that you also asked what kind of food processor we used. I use a Kitchen Aid food processor because I already had it. Any food processor would work just fine. I personally like using a full sized food processor since I make large quantities.(Mine has a mini bowl which I have not used for baby food.)

Veronica
Mom to Eva
Born on 6-12-03

[nat12]

I just starting making baby food in my new food processor, it's a Cuisinart 7-cup and works great, a friend recommended it to me and I also read good reviews on it. All I've made so far is pears (turned out great!), green beans (not totally smooth, I read you should dunk them in ice water for a few minutes after you steam them and this will help them puree smoothly), and sweet potatoe (I used a handheld blender for this). So far so good, perfect size for making batches for freezing and for cooking my own meals.

Natalie
Ethan 6/14/03

[egoldber]

I made 90% of Sarah's food, but I just made it as I went along, so I never used theh quantities method. I either just used a fork or my Cuisinart mini-chopper.

HTH,

[ethansmom]

I just started making DS's food and can't believe how easy it is! I hesitated because I don't have a food processor, but a blender works great!

I steam then pop it in a blender with some of the steaming water and puree it. I then freeze it in ice cube trays as someone else mentioned.

I found http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/intro.htm to be helpful.

[jubilee]

I have been using my blender or a baby food mill that I got at Babies R Us for $12. The blender does a good job for the purees. Recently I have been trying to make food chunkier, so after steaming the item I have just been dicing the food with a knife.