Homemade Baby Food: One More Reason I Love My Mom

My parents adopted me when I was 5 weeks old.  They are my real parents in every sense of the meaning (except genetically).  The woman who gave birth to me was only 17 when I was born, and did not breastfeed me. 

I can understand how breastfeeding a child that you are relinquishing could be heartbreaking.  Though, I wish I could have had the benefit of the customized nutrients and immunities that only she could give me.  My mom tried to breastfeed when they got me, but was unsuccessful.  Breastfeeding resources for adoptive moms were limited if not non-existent in the late 70s.  But at least she tried!!

Despite the fact that I was never breastfed, my parents say that I was a very healthy baby.  I believe that my good health was primarily due to the fact that my mom made all of my baby food in our kitchen at home. 

I recently asked her what led her to the decision to make my baby food.  She said the main reason was that it was better for me than store-bought baby food.  She didn't base this decision on any scientific studies or professional opinions, just the common sense that whole foods were better than processed ones. 

The secondary reason was the high price of jarred baby food. She said,  "You ate A LOT and it would have gotten really expensive if we had bought baby food from the store.  You really ate A LOT.  I'm sorry.  Let's just say you were a good eater."  Oh, my funny mommy.



I wasn't starving!  That's for sure!


She explained that every Saturday, while Dad was doing yard work, she would set up my playpen in the kitchen and crank up the radio while she made my meals for the week.  She cooked a variety of fruits, vegetables and meat and then put them through a food mill which she cranked MANUALLY, thank you very much.  She put my food in ice cube trays, which she then froze.  Later, she would put all of the frozen baby food cubes into a freezer-safe tupperware container.  When it came time to feed me, which sounds like it was a fairly frequent occurrence, she would simply defrost a cube or two.

The idea of Natural Parenting is moving outside the crunchy granola circles and gaining momentum in the mainstream.  Combine that with the state of our economy during recent years and it is easy to see why more and more parents are choosing to make their babies' food at home.

Not surprisingly, this increase in the popularity of homemade baby food has been met by a myriad of products designed to make the process easier.  Here is a run down of some of the baby food products on the market right now.  They all have the same function, that is to turn whole foods into mush so your baby can consume them.  Some of the more expensive ones claim to have options for different textures (blend, puree, chop).

• Manual Food Mills ($8-50) -  These are operated by hand, but when you consider the fact that most of the food you will be milling is soft, it won't take too much muscle.

• Electric Baby Food Processors ($25-$90) - These work much faster than manual mills and require little to no effort on your part.

• All-In-One Steamer/Processor Combo ($60-210) - These electric units have a steamer to cook the food and a processor to mush the food, further simplifying the process of making baby food.  Most units also have the added feature of being able to defrost and reheat the baby food.  Some have the ability to sterilize pacifiers or anything else that fits and needs to be sterilized.  Also, most are dishwasher safe.  Some are sold as a package that also include a rubber scraper, portion freezers (like ice cube trays), and storage containers.

While the all-in-one products can seem to make things easier, there are more cost-efficient alternatives.  Chances are, you already have everything you need to start making baby food.  But if you don't, I believe that you can get started for less than $20.  Visit your local thrift store or 99 cent store.  You will easily find a basic steamer (the metal kind that fans out), ice cube trays, and freezer-safe containers or freezer bags.  If you don't already own a food processor or blender, you can purchase a small single serve blender for less than $15. MooDeals.com has the Hamilton Beach blender (seen below) for less than $12.

There are several benefits to making your own baby food, including saving money, saving the environment and giving your babe the most nutrient-rich food available besides breastmilk.  As I have already mentioned, the cost of store-bought baby food is ridiculous.  It's just food that has been pureed, but somehow it costs up to 4 times more than "adult food".  There is nothing special or better about baby food from the grocery store.

In fact, store-bought baby food has added water and starchy fillers.  My mom never added chemically modified food starch to my applesauce, but Gerber adds it to theirs so they can charge you more money for less nutrients.  Makes a lot of sense, right?  When you make your own baby food, you can be assured that your baby is getting the most out of every bite she takes.

And then there's the planet.  By the time a baby is 12 months, she will have consumed an average of 600 jars of baby food.  Multiply that by the 4 million+ babies born in the United States every year.  Where the heck do all of those jars go?  Food packaging in general is a huge source of waste in this country, but you can make a tiny dent in the waste, by avoiding those thousands of jars and making baby's food at home.

Read this awesome article by the Center for Science in the Public Interest about baby food.  It's long, but the Intro summarizes it pretty well.

When I told my mom about some of the all-in-one baby food makers on the market, she was impressed at the fact that they existed, and even admitted that they could make the process easier.  But she said that even if they had been available when I was a baby, she still would have done it the way she did.

There is one ingredient that my mother included in every batch of food she made for me, and it cannot be found in any jar of store-bought baby food:  LOVE!!