My baby is starting solids- what brand is best? Should I make her food instead? Everything I learned after deciding to make my baby’s food

After getting the hang of it I was able to make all of this food within a hour and a half

The first thing I did when I decided to make my baby’s food was buy a food processor thinking it would be used a ton and be the best thing when making her food. I was wrong! Haha I used the thing once in the 3 months I’ve been making her food (she started at least trying solids after her 4 month checkup and the doctor said go for it because she was so advanced). That first night of making her food (I think we tried sweet potatoes) I went through every type of processor blade, blender, and grinder I could think of that we had in our house.

Three tips you need to know for a smooth, simple, and easy way to make your own baby food:

• Food processors aren’t always best for the small amount of food you are making. The bullet blender worked best for me, but it could be different for you.

• Make sure you cook your food beforehand in a way that softens but keeps the nutrients in the food, i.e., steaming vegetables.

• Once cooked throw into your blender and blend until the consistency you want. Don’t be afraid to add breastmilk or formula to thin down and help it blend.

Here is what I learned:  food processors may sound good but when you are making baby food, they won’t work well when you only use a little bit of food and even if you use a lot, it doesn’t blend it as smooth as you’d like baby food to be (at least in my experience). So that went onto Facebook marketplace really quick. Blender didn’t work for much of the same reasons-too small amount of food. If I was making huge portions, it would have worked but you can only freeze food for so long before you shouldn’t be eating it. Grinders-I used a plastic... pestle? Let’s call it that. It came with my blender, so I thought why not. This worked really well with softer food like fruit but not very quickly and was very tiring. I also tried a stainless-steel potato masher and no luck. Next, I tried a grinder where you put frozen fruit in, and it grinds it down to make a sorbet type dessert with little luck but hey at that point the kitchen was filled with dirty appliances, so I thought hey what’s one more plus baby girl was starting to get annoyed with waiting for whatever it was I was going to give her. My last shot before I gave up for the day was the bullet blender. It was small so I wouldn’t have issues with the little amount of food I was putting in it. My only question was, ‘Would it blend it smooth like I wanted?’ and the answer was YES! I had to add some breastmilk or formula, but it worked perfectly! It was super smooth and the perfect consistency for Miss Morgan. She loved it so much that all the frustration and dirty dishes, appliances and counters were worth it just for the big eyes and happy smile on her face.

Something else I learned when doing some research is that there are certain foods that are better to buy organic to avoid chemicals. I also learned that when cooking the food, you have to be careful about HOW you cook it so you aren’t taking out all the nutrients. You would think that bowling vegetables or fruits would be okay but nope. It takes out all the nutrients from the food. Best way to cook food for that baby is to either steam it or pressure cook it. For example, I use the instapot to pressure cook apples with a little bit of water at the bottom to soften them up before blending and for any vegetables I steam them on the stovetop with a little bit of water or most likely (because I don’t have to watch them) I put them in a Pyrex dish in the microwave with a little bit of water and a lid and steam them that way. You can even get frozen veggies at the store that come in bags just for steaming which I end up doing a lot. No reason to make this hard, the easier the better (especially when you are a first-time mom or have numerous little ones running around).

Once the food is cooked throw them in that bullet blender and turn that baby on. Add formula or breastmilk to thin it to your and your baby’s liking. Not everything is going to need milk added so I would suggest trying to blend it first and see what happens. Grab some ice cube tray with lids (I like the ones with the silicon bottoms because it makes it easier to pop out) and freeze the baby food in there until you need it. I usually pop one out right around mealtimes and toss them in the microwave for a few seconds to thaw and warm up for the babe. Everything melts differently so I usually start with 10-15 seconds at a time.

Share some of your tips or horror stories when you trying to get the hang of making food for your babes. I’d love to hear them!

Morgan obviously loved her first solids making all the work worth it