Because she got to eat her first real food, something other than formula and rice cereal!
I decided it's time to start the fruits/vegetables. I had thought of making them myself and thoughs of just buying them. There are pros and cons of both and I really hadn't made up my mind. Then, I was at Brice's wedding and his photographer (Hi Jen!) and I got to talking about a mutual interest, our 6 mo. olds! Jen told me about a website that helps you figure out making baby food at home. I decided to check it out. After reading a bit about it I discovered that all it really is is getting the food clean, cooking it (if necessary) and finding a way to get it smooth. So, I went out and bought carrots, bananas, apples, and peas. I already had a blender, steamer, and ice trays (to hold the frozen baby food) and freezer bags, so I started makin' it!
Carrots: Were hard! I think I could do it better the second time. You have to peel them, cut them, and then I steamed them. I couldn't get the blender to blend them so I put them in my food chopper thing to make them smaller. This was a messy annoying process. Then I realized if I added more water the blender could handle it. Then I had a beautiful bright orange smoothie! Then you place the food in ice trays to freeze into nice portion sizes which you take out as needed. Audrey tried carrots today for the first time, she seemed to really like them!
"I love my carrots!"
Bananas: Super easy! Just peel and blend! It was actually kinda fun and like a 1/4 of the time over the carrots. These were Audrey's first taste of something other than rice cereal and she seemed to like them, then she started to shudder with each bite! I realized they were a bit much for her, so I started adding a little cereal with each bite and now she's fine!
"Oh goodness, something with flavor!"
Bananas!
Peas: Also pretty easy, somewhere inbetween bananas and carrots. I bought them frozen, I wasn't about to break open actual pea pods. So I just cooked them up, put 'em in the blender and added water and there you are! They were a lovely shade of green.
Audrey hasn't tried peas yet, but probably next week!
Apples: Not as hard as carrots, but it took some time. I had to wash the apples, peel them by hand and cut them in little tiny pieces. Then I put them in the steamer and finally blended them! Then I realized I made applesauce. I don't know why this didn't occur to me earlier, probly because I hardly cook a thing, but there it was, real life homemade applesauce (but with no added flavors of course). I had plenty of food from the other ones I made, but little did I know, only 5 apples makes not much sauce. So, it I were to do it again, I'd probably buy like 15 apples or something. Also something we'll try next week! Yum!
Steamin'
Applesauce for Audrey!
This was something I was able to do in one day, using Audrey's naps to finish it all. So, it was a timely thing, but I made a lot and put it all in freezer bags. I estimated that it'll last about a month and 1/2. Here is the frozen deliciousness! (Minus the apples, they were still freezing)
So, I did this for 3 reasons, to see if I could, to give Audrey very healthy baby food, and to see if I would save money? I found I can do it, Audrey seems to like it and I like that I'm giving her healthy stuff, and I did save money. But, is the money saved worth the time spent? I am not sure. I spent ( and this is an approximation and I've rounding off the numbers for simplicity) $6 on the vegetables/fruits that I made, but used up about 3 or 4 hours making the food. If I were to have boughten the same amount of pre-packaged baby food (Walmart's Parent's Choice brand-the cheapest one I've seen) I would have paid about $16. So I would have spent only $10 more and saved the 4 hours. So, I dunno, is it worth it? Over the course of a few months the savings will be more significant. I dunno, I think I'll give it another try with some new fruits/veggies. It would be super easy to just go buy some and then they're all packaged up nice for ya, but there's also a very productive feeling about doing it myself. Either way, I'm fine with it and I know Audrey will be fine too!
Thanks for sharing in my baby food making adventure :) Until next time...
Audrey and I after she ate her carrots, I think she is glad :)
