A lot of strange things end up being controversial in the parenting world. Making your own baby food ranks up there. And in the end, we’re talking about a very basic idea: making food for your kid. That’s it.

I think making your own food can actually be easier and cheaper than buying jarred or pouched baby food. Plus, in a couple months, you’ll have to make your kid actual real food, which is a thousand times more annoying, and then continue doing that for at least a decade. (Kids! Always wanting to eat three meals every day.) 

 

Ok, so let’s talk about how to do this. Ready? This is also easiest if you just do it while making dinner for yourself. If you’re making carrots for dinner, buy a few extra for the baby, etc.

 

What you’ll need:

1. A steaming basket of some kind

2. A pot with lid

3. Other cooking devices

4. A food processor or blender

5. Two ice cube trays, preferably with lids (I used these and they worked perfectly for the task.)

6. Ziploc bags

 

 

Baby Food Stages:

 

Stage 1: Steamed purees

Baby is just starting solids and you might be a bit anxious about things. Steaming gets fruits and vegetables really soft, without adding extra ingredients, perfect for first foods. Put an inch of water in a pot, put steaming basket on top, close with lid. Boil water. Peel then cut up your fruit or vegetable. This is the lazy part: you barely need to dice anything. An apple can be cut into 5 or 6 pieces. (Also, don’t bother coring the apple. Just chop vertically around the core, in a square.) Carrots? Large chunks are fine. To save time, you can steam multiple kinds of fruit/vegetables together. Put the fruit/vegetable in the steamer. It’ll take about 15-20 minutes. The food is ready when you can slide a fork in it easily.

Once you’ve fed her a few servings of whatever food, try adding spices. A little cinnamon to her butternut squash. Carrots taste awesome with a dash of cumin and cinnamon.

 

Stage 2: Roasted or sauteed purees

Once baby is guzzling down purees, you can move onto roasting or sauteeing (or pick method of choice) vegetables and other foods. I couldn’t get Bean to eat pureed steamed spinach for anything. And then I realized, I wouldn’t eat that, why would she? Certain vegetables taste better roasted or sauteed. So the spinach went into a pan with some olive oil and garlic. She was all over it. Prepare foods how you like to eat them.

 

Stage 3: Puree up whatever you’re eating

If you’ve been slowly introducing foods to your baby, being all proper about it, one day you’ll realize that she has the ingredients for a Thai curry under her belt. It’s time to start pureeing real food.

This is the ultimate in lazy parenting — just give your baby whatever you’re eating. Panang curry with cauliflower, potatoes, and baby bok choy? Go for it. Roasted red pepper and asparagus pasta? Sure. Anything goes once you’ve hit this stage. Let’s not go super spicy, but a little bit of spice is fine. Kids in India eat Indian food, etc etc etc.

 

 

The Mechanics:

1. Cook fruit or vegetable, according to which stage your kid is in.

2. When cooked (a fork slides easily into the food), put each fruit or vegetable into the blender/food processor. Fruit can usually go as is. You’ll need to add some water to vegetables to get a puree.

3. Once the puree is the right consistency, spoon it into your ice cube trays. If your baby is new to solids, I’d go ahead and add enough water that the puree is almost liquid.

4. Freeze.

5. A day later, pop the ice cubes into Ziploc bags. I’d label each of the Ziploc bags with whatever is inside, along with the date.

6. When you want to use a puree, take it out of the bag and defrost however you see fit. I used to microwave them for 10 seconds (and then mix with a finger to make sure there weren’t heat pockets). I understand that’s not the approved method. I was cah-razy like that. (Related: I will at some point discuss the amount of fear-mongering related to doing normal things like, I don’t know, feeding your child food.)

Or, if you’re headed out, throw a couple cubes into a tupperware. They’ll thaw by the time you need them. (I used these cubes.)

 

The easy part? Do two of these batches and you won’t have to worry about procuring or making food for your baby for another week. (Bean would eat 3 ice cubes worth of food per feeding.) This is the last time you’ll put so little thought into feeding your kid.