Thursday, June 03, 2010

Baby Food

So here is a real quick post about baby food.  I was going to take a class on how to make but it continues to get postponed and might actually be canceled at this point.  So....I need your help!

I want to not just make baby food and freeze it, but I also want to learn how to can the food using commercial baby food jars.  Do you have a website that might help me? Do you personally know how to do it and want to help a girl out? 

Thanks!
Mommy C

8 comments:

  1. You can't can using commercial baby food jars; you need to use jars meant for canning to ensure a good seal that will keep your food fresh when it's stored. Now, you could freeze foods in those jars, as long as you leave sufficient head space so the food doesn't expand so much that it cracks the jar. I've never had a glass canning jar or baby bottle break in the freezer, and I always froze stuff in them, but they always warn you about it. You also can't can "low-acid" foods - such as vegetables and meat - without using a pressure canner. With a regular boiling water bath canner, you can do "high-acid" foods - fruits and tomatoes. You could buy the 4 oz. canning jars (http://www.freshpreserving.com/pages/home/258.php?pid=291&product=296) and use those for apple sauce, peaches, pears, etc., but freezing it is so much faster and easier - and this is coming from someone who has already started this year's canning! I love canning and think it's great, but it is time- and energy-intensive. You may be concerned about freezer space, but you don't need to make ALL the food at once. Each week, make an extra portion and in no time, you'll have a nice supply. I made all of Maya's baby food; she only ever ate ONE jar of commercial baby food! I cooked vegetables and pureed them and froze them in little ceramic bowls, muffin tins, or ice cube trays and popped them out to store them in containers or plastic bags once frozen. I also just threw whatever we were having for dinner into my mini food processor and pureed that for her and fed her whatever we ate for dinner that night. By the time she was 9 months, I started making goats' milk yogurt from raw milk I bought at a local farm and gave her that. Check out these two books - both are great and I referred to them often - Super Baby Food (http://www.superbabyfood.com/) and Feeding Your Child for Lifelong Health (http://www.amazon.com/Feeding-Your-Child-Lifelong-Health/dp/0553378929). Maya is a healthy, almost-five-year-old who eats a varied diet and all sorts of "weird" stuff - raw milk, homemade cheese and yogurt, water kefir, fermented pickles, kombucha, etc., in addition to all the "normal" stuff - pasture-raised meat and eggs and lots of fruits and vegetables. She's thrown up 3 times and had 3 fevers...in her life. She's never been on any antibiotics, and only visited the doctor twice because I thought she was sick...she wasn't. All of this may have to do with my obsessive attention to hand-washing and her naturally strong immune system, but I think food plays a big part. Whew...this was a long one! Call anytime to talk food or baby food - it's one of my favorite subjects! <3

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  2. Congratulations on your decision to make baby food for your child. I have a little girl who is 15 months and I made all of her baby food. I am a chef by trade and can't stress enough how important it is to start your children with a varied diet of different flavors. The easiest way to make baby food is to steam vegetables and fruits lightly and puree them in a food processor. Freeze the purees in ice cube trays and store them in ziploc bags. You can pull out just what you need without wasting anything. Have fun with it and add fresh herbs to enhance the flavor. I am launching a chef inspired baby food line in Oklahoma next month and we have a fan page on facebook. I will be posting tips on infant nutrition and how to expand babies' palates. Chefbaby on Facebook. I hope this helps and the most important thing is to have fun with your baby.

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  3. Jessica- I might just be calling you! You inspire me to try new things with all your Facebook posts!

    Chef Brad- I will find you on Facebook! Thank you!

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  4. Hi there! Canning baby food is really not recommended. Tomatoes for example used to contain more acid than they do now; they aren't really considered a "high acid" food as far as canning is concerned. Also, for many foods that you might want to puree then can, proper processing times haven't really been established.

    Please visit my Canning Homemade Baby Food page at WholesomeBabyFood.com here http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/tipcanning.htm

    HTH :-) You'll LOVE making homemade baby food!

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  5. Wow! What an adorable site you have year! God's blessings to you and your precious little one! Have a great week!

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  6. Maggie,

    I actually have been to your site already!! I am so frustrated by the no canning thing...I would love to feed S only homemade stuff, but we love to travel so I guess we will have to resort to some store bought items. Thanks for your help!

    Mommy C

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  7. Kristen,

    Thank you!! I am glad you found me!

    Mommy C

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  8. I have a good friend who did all her own baby food but never canned anything- she just froze it. She has GREAT little containers from One Step Ahead that are perfect portion sizes, they have screw top lids, and they stack/snap together... they are awesome! She also has the steam/puree machine from William Sonoma... although there is a new one from The First years that gets mixed reviews.
    I did a mix of making my own and buying food- but now that I have seen how easy it can be to make the food, I will hope to do that the next time around (whenever that happens!)
    Good luck!!

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