Just when you’ve mastered nursing or bottle-feeding and your little one has gotten really portable, because all you need is a bottle or a breast and you’re good-to-go, it’s time to start feeding him solids. For many parents, this raises the question of what’s in the food you’re giving your brand new human, besides what is on the label. Synthetic pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers, genitically-modified organisms, and extra hormones are all reasons why some parents feel strongly that they’d like to feed their newborns a strict diet of organic foods for as long as they possibly can.
Wanting to do just that for my first child five years ago, I discovered that jarred organic baby food was not available in very many grocery stores and that it was quite expensive where I could get it, at Whole Foods, or other natural food stores. Since we were on a tight budget, I investigated making my own organic food for him and quickly realized that it was much cheaper and not that difficult with a little research and advance planning.
Here’s the big secret: ice cube trays. All you have to do is cook up a batch of whatever vegetable you want, puree it in a food processor or blender and spoon it into those little compartments. As soon as they are frozen solid, transfer them to a zippered plastic freezer bag. Try to remove as much of the air as you can, to prevent freezer burn. Then you can pop them out as needed. They stay good in the freezer for a few months.
I started with single vegetables and worked my way up as my son’s diet became more varied. He loved sweet potatoes and he was soon eating two or three cubes per feeding. I usually defrosted them in the microwave, adding just a bit of water and covering them to keep the food from drying out, but you can do it on the stovetop too. To get an idea of how thick to make them and of portion sizes, take a look at a jar of “first foods,” which have a lot more water than the “stage two” or later “chunky” foods for older babies. The nice thing about doing your own is that you can easily adjust the consistency and amount based on what you learn from your baby about his likes and dislikes.
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