Baby's First Food {Tips and Products for making your own baby food}

Maybe it's because I'm a new Mom, but I have been looking forward to making Aiden's food for a few months now. I pinned tons of ideas and baby food recipes online and have been researching the best options for my little guy. After some research I decided to skip rice cereal and go straight for pureed veggies. I had no clue what babies could or could not eat and how to prepare food for them, but I'm learning little by little and I feel so proud watching Aiden eat things that I made. Two weeks in to making my own baby food and I have to say I am still excited about it and it really is not that hard or time consuming. You just need the right products and I promise this whole homemade baby food thing can be fun.

Here are a few products I have found helpful and a few things I've learned along the way...

Helpful products for making your own baby food:
BEABA BabyCook:This item is a little on the pricey side, but as my friend and fellow blogger, Anne told me, it's worth it! It both purees and steams your foods making the process much easier and leaving you with less items to clean and put away. If you don't have one of these, no worries, a blender and pot to steam will do the trick.

Garden Fresh Freezer Trays:These trays are perfect for freezing baby food in batches. The tray holds 9 individual portions, which are each approximately 1 ounce, which is the perfect portion for beginning solids! I have made and frozen several batches of baby food using these trays and they are awesome. I love that they have a lid since most store bought ice cube trays do not. They don't take up a lot of room in the freezer and they are non-stick making it easy to pop the frozen food right out of the tray when you need it.

Nuby Easy Go Bowl

Munchkin Soft-Tip Infant Spoons

Wipeable Bibs

A few tips for making your own baby food:
Start Small: You may have your ice cube trays prepped and ready for filling, but don't start making your baby food in batches until you know it is something that your baby actually likes. I got a little ahead of myself and decided to puree 6 avocados and put them in my nice little freezer trays all set to go. Well that was a rookie mom mistake because it turns out Aiden doesn't love avocados (yet.) See above pictures for proof.

Keep it Simple: When debating about which food to give Aiden first I decided on Avocado mainly because it is the easiest thing in the world to "make." You don't have to do any steaming or baking! All you need to do to prep an avocado for your baby is wash the skin, slice in half, remove the pit and scoop out the "meat." Then puree it and bam...you made your own baby food. Congratulations!

Less is more: Stage 1 of feeding a baby is giving them single ingredient purees. Just avocado, just banana, just peas, etc. Don't try to get too fancy too fast. Trying individual flavors first allows you to see what your baby likes, but it also lets you know if they are allergic to something or if something causes them to have a tummy ache. I also read that a lot of people add water or breast milk to thin out the purees to make the consistency runnier for baby. I thought I needed to do that, but really I didn't need to. I would have your baby try the puree first before you mess with it. If your baby is fine with the consistency, there is no need to make it thinner. 

Make it fun: Take a trip to your local farmer's market to pick up fresh foods for your baby to try. Make a plan of what you are going to feed them and let your husband have some say too. We had so much fun giving Aiden banana because it was totally unplanned. He was reaching for my husband's banana and so we mashed one up and gave it to him right then and there. He loved it! Take pictures and videos and share them with your family because your baby WILL make hilarious faces when eating their first foods!

Here are a few posts I found very helpful when researching homemade baby foods:
How to Make Your Own Baby Food
All About Solids
The BabyFood Breakdown
Stage 1 Baby Food Recipes

What are some of your favorite foods to make or feed your little one??