If you thought I was crazy and tuned me out about the cloth diapers, stick with me here – seriously! This is NOT hard.

I made a whole bunch of carrots into food for LB this weekend. I bought a 5lb bag of carrots for $2.99 and ended up with 36 servings of baby food. Not too shabby considering that if I had bought the Gerber carrots in the cute little plastic containers I would have spent $18.00 for that much! Yikes!

So, here’s what to do: (it’s very complicated) :)

Get some vegetables or fruit
Cook them until they’re soft
Puree them in a blender or food processor
Freeze them in ice cube trays
Pop them into plastic bags

Presto! Tricky, isn’t it?

Most people seem to feel more comfortable with the little jars and containers for some reason, so I will answer some frequently asked questions below.

1. How do you know what to feed them?
*Go to the grocery store and look at the “level one” foods. What are they? Buy them. Cook them. Repeat the steps above. You can even buy one jar to check the consistency if it makes you feel more comfortable. Trust me, Gerber does not have some magic formula for carrots. They use: carrots!
*If you want a book that spells out what to do when and gives you some ideas, I love “First Meals” by Annabel Karmel. I also like www.wholesomebabyfood.com.

2. Does it take a lot of time?
*NO. It will take some time to cook each large batch (10-20 minutes for most things), as well as to puree it in the blender/ food processor and pour into the trays (again, 10-15 minutes).

3. Does it really make that big of a difference?
*YES. Here are my top reasons:
a. TASTE – have you ever tasted jarred baby food vegetables? Every kind I have tasted like dirt! Making your own actually allows your baby to eat vegetables that taste good! You can also mix the “cubes” for a variety of flavors. My daughter liked apples and carrots, pears or bananas with avocado, etc. I throw in different varieties of baby cereal and formula to tone down strong flavors or change the texture.
b. Ease of transition to other foods – once they are ready for ‘chunkier’ foods, just do a quick, coarse puree and freeze them in ice cube trays (or I have found that silicone muffin cups work great once they start eating larger servings). Once they’re ready for finger foods, just chop them into chunks and freeze them. As they get older, start grinding/ mashing up whatever you’re eating for dinner, and they automatically learn to eat what the rest of the family eats. I usually will pull a portion out before I add salt, etc.
c. Nutrition – You know what’s in the food, and what isn’t. You know there isn’t any added salt, sugar, or preservatives. It hasn’t been sitting on a store shelf for 2 years. Want organic? Buy organic veggies. It’s all up to you!
d. Cost – as I mentioned above, it is seriously MUCH cheaper to make your own.

4. Is it a pain to take with you?
*You do have to plan ahead a tad more than with jarred food. Here’s my system:
a. If we’ll be at a friends’ house or anywhere where a microwave is easily accessible, I just put 2-3 frozen cubes in a covered plastic bowl and warm it up at their house.
b. If we’re shopping or at the zoo or something, I have a small baby food grinder (mine is a “happy baby” grinder) that packs away in the diaper bag. Bring easy to make ‘instant’ purees like bananas. Sometimes if I know I will be at a restaurant I bring the grinder and order unseasoned steamed veggies and grind it up at the table.
c. For long road trips and stuff I buy the jarred kind, but my daughter wouldn’t really eat them. The first time I licked her spoon (a habit I developed at home) I knew why – YUCK!

Next time you’re wandering down the baby isle, ask yourself:
*Why does 3.5 oz of peas that look gross cost so much, and how long have they been on the shelf?
*Why are “fruit and vegetable puffs” considered a healthy food choice? Why can’t we give them fruits and vegetables as finger foods, rather than teaching them that everything should taste like crackers?
*Why wouldn’t most kids be picky eaters as they get older, if the majority of what they “cut their teeth” on comes out of a box with a cartoon character on it? Why not take them to the produce section instead? Just a thought. :)