solids

Genevieve has been eating solid food for a while now. . . and I’ve been making it.

Making her food has been fun. But I won’t lie to you. . . it would be easier to buy it in a jar. Not because making it is very difficult. . . I just have to think about it ahead of time. And no one would give me an award for having it all together. No one.

I make her food because I can. I have the time. And it saves money. And I am all about saving money. And jarred food grosses me out. In a ‘I wouldn’t eat that myself so why would I feed it to her’ kind of way. So I make her food. I read some books like this one. And this one.  And I started making her food.

I follow the diet kind-of lined out in Super Baby Food. It is based one meal based on a grain, one based on yogurt, and then a third meal of fruits and veggies. The meals are well balanced and get her everything she needs (not that she necessarily needs anything yet other than what she is getting form nursing but that’s another story for another day).  The Baby & Toddler Cookbook was helpful in teaching me how to prepare her food (I make it mostly in bulk) and how to combine it together in new and interesting ways for Genevieve.

I make a few things each week, fruits and veggies. I steam them, puree, and then freeze in these nifty things that make serving sizes easy peasy (ice cube trays work well too). I just pop them out and keep them in plastic bags in the freezer and then thaw them individually in the microwave when it’s time to eat. I also have this which is great for make one or just a couple of servings (like if we are having asparagus for dinner and I want to give her some, it steams and purees all in the same gizmo). All of these things were gifts and are very nice to have, but not necessary if you are wanting to make your own food. You just need a steamer basket and a food processor or blender. That’s it.

Here are some beats.

Here is some of what is in the freezer right now. Those are beats, canalope, spinach, and peas.

One of the other benefits of making your own food is it tastes and looks exactly what it will taste like from your table when you transition to table food. I regularly eat bites of Genevieve’s food and it’s yummy. It’s a good thing. Peas are bright pea green . . . and don’t look like. . . well . . . have you seen jarred peas?

And. . . my favorite part of making Genevieve’s food is pictures like these. Awesome.

……………………………………………………………………………………………..

Today I am thankful for being close enough to family to be able to see them often.