Make or buy baby food?

[Anonymous]

I just cook all her veggies in the microwave so they're soggy, and I make a bunch of meatballs. Cut up/mash fruit. It's not really "making" baby food. Sometimes it's dumping things in the food processor, I guess. Omelettes, too, a lot of omelettes. And hummus, which i just buy.

[Anonymous]

I thought about ordering Yumi, but I've just been doing a mix of making my own and store-bought. There are heavy metals in the food we eat too so there's no guarantee that what you make is better. I just try to limit root vegetables and products made with rice.

[Anonymous]

I just bought jars of whatever was on sale at the grocery store and my kids have lived to tell about it.

[Anonymous]

I’d take bits of whatever we were having for dinner, mince/mash them up, and offer that. Easier, cheaper, more known ingredients, better exposure to a variety of flavors and textures, more emphasis on us all eating together as a family. Resulted in a dino nugget-free house and more peaceful and enjoyable meal times.

[Anonymous]

It’s so easy and quick to make it yourself. I never saw the need to buy baby food.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, we just mashed up regular food. I don't understand all the discussion about "making" baby food. All food is baby food. Just add water or milk and mash it to hell with a fork. Don't add any seasonings or salt.

So buying a jar of banana? No. I just mashed it up. It's good for them to learn how to swallow the thicker stuff anyhow. So if it's not perfectly smooth, I think that's a good thing.

We certainly bought some jars to round out this time too. Especially the meat, because they need a protein source and I didn't want to blend meat. Ground meat can work, but can also be tricky. It smells disgusting, but that's ok. It's only until they learn to swallow and chew.

+1. We started with mashed up foods at (gasp!) 4.5 months, and the variety of textures was helpful I think for getting them on regular solid foods by 8-9 months. So not BLW, but sort of just early to transition. But for sure there's a time and place for store bought jars and pouches, i.e., when you're out of the house. You can also buy reusable pouches and put purees and yogurts in those.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074CP5BCQ/ref=sspa_dk_detail_0?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B074CP5BCQ&pd_rd_w=bLNmp&pf_rd_p=5d846283-ed3e-4512-a744-a30f97c5d738&pd_rd_wg=Hh44H&pf_rd_r=5HKAXA206C5036NVNVYR&pd_rd_r=c985d698-d459-4fa3-b9b1-c6584137ad38&smid=A36G20Z4GFRPDY&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUFNV0JNQUJOTFpXUVAmZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTEwMjA5NTUzUEdSMlZOS0JEQTBRJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTA2OTYzMzEyU0k3T0JNQlI5SExKJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfZGV0YWlsX3RoZW1hdGljJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

[Anonymous]

If left up to me, I’d probably buy baby food but our nanny makes fresh food for the baby every day and enough to freeze for the weekends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:First time moms are ridiculous!! Just buy the pouches from the store, honey, it's fine.

I’m too cheap to buy them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First time moms are ridiculous!! Just buy the pouches from the store, honey, it's fine.

I’m too cheap to buy them.

+1. And they’re gross and gelatinous. And I’m a third time mom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First time moms are ridiculous!! Just buy the pouches from the store, honey, it's fine.

I’m too cheap to buy them.

+1. And they’re gross and gelatinous. And I’m a third time mom.

+2. And terrible for the baby developing feeding skills. And the environment…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A mix of both. Store bought so great for trips because the storage requirement of the homemade can be tricky.

But this phase is so short. Maybe six months often less. So don’t worry about it.

This is what surprised me, too. I had this idea that "baby food" was some long stage that we'd be dealing with for a long time, and it just...isn't. I started by home-making purees and different recipes, freezing a lot of them in ice cube trays, all of that. And then we limped across the finish line of pureed food with jars and pouches. (Personally I never let my kids just chomp down on the pouch and squeeze; we always squeezed it onto a tray or bowl to use a spoon with.)

[Anonymous]

The only thing I ended up buying was the teething crackers. Yes, you can make teething crackers, but the texture sometimes didn't crumble as well, and it felt like a bit of a choking hazard. The ones you buy keep a baby occupied when they are old enough to really want to be at the table, and reaching for food, but when they tire rapidly of little mushy pieces. They are ridiculously expensive for air but the phase is very short.

[Anonymous]

Not just neither, but we didn't even mash anything up. I wasn't going to feed her spicy food or whole olives or anything, but otherwise we pretty much did "Baby-Led Weaning (Solids)" and all ate the same stuff (maybe deconstructed a bit for her, in some cases). We never fed her, either. Worked out great.

[Anonymous]

We never did baby food besides the occasional pouch. Never followed or looked up BLW but I guess it’s similar to that. Baby ate (still does) what we ate.

[Anonymous]

I did both. My son was a little persnickety, so I blended a lot of veggies with pumped breastmilk to get him eating more solids, and that went over better. Buy silicone ice trays to freeze in small portions- they pop out much more easily than plastic ice trays.