Even with the availability of “organic” baby food in mainstream stores — you can usually find both Gerber Organic and Earth’s Best at Target and Babies ‘R Us — there was no question that I would make the little guy’s food at home. I haven’t spent much time in the kitchen since bringing the baby home, so I was even more excited about going back in there, even if it’s just to make simple baby food.

The first thing I needed to do was figure out how to make purees. While I do own a large Cuisinart food processor, I felt that unless I was making HUGE batches of food, the thing was too cumbersome to use and clean. I ended up picking up the BabySteps Electric Food Mill by KidCo. Originally, I thought about getting a Magic Bullet or even a Cuisinart Mini Food Processor, but I ended up going with the KidCo one because the plastics are BPA- and phthalate-free. (I’m not that gung-ho on the whole BPA thing, but I do like to be cautious. In my opinion, it’s better to be safe than sorry, so when there are suitable alternatives, I’ll go with the BPA-free stuff.)

Next, I needed instructions. I realize the idea of pureeing food seems simple enough, but I’m anal and since what I’m about to make is going into my kid’s mouth, I wanted to be sure I was doing things correctly. Through various journals and message boards, I found wholesomebabyfood.com — it’s a great site that’s chock full of recipes for baby, as well as other helpful information. (Best of all, it’s FREE!) Another source I looked at (which is NOT FREE) is Annabel Karmel’s book First Meals. The book is a nice addition to my cookbook collection and it has recipes and ideas for older kids, but for the sake of making baby food, it was a splurge and an unnecessary purchase — I just keep telling myself that I’ll continue to have use for it down the line when my kid is older.

The final piece was figuring out how to store the food. I’ve pretty much swapped all my plastic food containers with glass ones — the plastic ones now help keep the junk drawer organized — and I wasn’t sure what would hold up best in the freezer. The simplest way would be to use ice cube trays, but since we have none (our freezer has an ice cube maker), I decided to pick up a couple of these Jumbo Baby Cubes from One Step Ahead instead. Each cube holds about 2oz of food, has a tethered lid (a good thing because I always manage to loose lids), is freezer/microwave/dishwasher-safe, and is made out of BPA- and phthalate-free plastic (as researched by SafeMama).

After a quick trip to our local Trader Joe’s yesterday to pick up some organic pears, carrots, and sweet potatoes, I made my first batches of baby food. They turned out OK, though I think they could have steamed for a little longer (I used a regular stainless steel saucepan and a collapsable steamer basket I already had in my kitchen). We’re good for at least a week since I only give the baby solid food twice a day — fruit in the morning, and veggies at night. And even though I think my pureeing skills need some help, it’s so good to know that I know exactly what I’m putting into baby’s mouth and tummy.

Filed by Maria in baby, cooking, food, gear, ideas, shopping