As I've mentioned before, I am very picky about what I feed my son. This is all because of my mother. She does a lot of research about what goes into our food and has learned a lot over the years. Thanks to her, I don't have to do any research... she just tells me everything :) Thanks, mom!
When Zane starting eating baby food, I knew from the very beginning that I wanted to make all of his food myself. I wanted to stick to mainly organics and just healthy food in general. My mom found me a complete Baby Bullet set at a garage sale that had never been used.. jackpot! These usually go for around $60.00 at Babies-R-Us. If you don't register for one (and receive it), or what to pay for it, a regular blender would work just fine. Actually, a blender is even bigger and might be more convenient for some people. I do love my Baby Bullet though, especially because it came with a book of recipes to make your child and what foods you should introduce and when. Good to know for a new mommy.
When I made my first batch of baby food, the first thing I noticed was the difference in color. If you have looked at the baby food in the jar, the carrots (for example) are almost a brownish/orange. When you make your own, the color is 100x's more vibrant. It even looks healthier for them and you just know there is way more nutrients. Once I started feeding Zane my homemade food, he absolutely loved it all. One day I had to send jarred food to daycare and he refused to eat it. He even could taste the difference.
Also, pinterest has some great baby food recipes as well. Some of my favorites to feed Zane were avocados (these are amazing for your child- SO good for them), squash, zucchini, sweet potatoes, and of course all of the normal fruits and veggies.
So what do you do??
I usually just bought my produce in the organic section at the grocery. I did get some from my mom who has a garden every year as well. I also went to a few fresh produce markets. I typically would set aside one Sunday a month to do my meal prep. Yes, it would take me awhile but I really enjoyed it. Knowing I was making very healthy food for my baby kept me motivated to spend so much time on it. Also, just make sure you buy plenty of food.
I would wash, peel, and cut up my food first. Then, I would steam it. I bought a nice big steamer at Meijer that I love. It fits a ton of food in it. You can research how long to steam each type of food for, but I usually do fine by playing it by ear. I would just check it with a fork to see how soft it was. Once the food was soft enough to blend well, I would add it to my Baby Bullet. I always use the water at the bottom of my steamer to add to the blender to make it nice and smooth. That water has a lot of the foods nutrients from steaming, so it is best to use that. Because of this, you have to make sure you remember to continue to put water in the steamer.While I blended one food, I started steaming another (makes things go faster).
I have several different types of food storage containers that I used. The Baby Bullet comes with some but not nearly enough for me. I bought more at Babies-R-Us and Walmart. I also labeled the containers with the date and the food. The reason I only have to do this once a month is because I freeze all of it and just thaw it as needed. ALSO, you can find those baby popsicle containers too so they can teeth on them. Zane loved them in the summer. You can see them in this pic...
Making your own baby food really isn't hard at all. I do understand that not everyone has time for it. Moms are all about convenience- I get that. This is just something that I not only enjoy doing for my kid, but something that I really want to do to give him the best food possible.
MILK... to give or not to give??
For years, doctors told our mothers that we must have plenty of milk in order to grow up big and strong... and that is is necessary for our bones. Well, if anyone has done any research lately, many would argue that this is not the case. Here is one article my mom shared with me. http://www.fhfn.org/popular-childhood-drink-discovered-to-cause-early-death/ I'm not going to lie- My husband and I drink about 2 gallons of milk each week. I LOVE cereal and I have been craving a nice cold glass of milk each night with dinner while I've been pregnant. We drink 2%- I used to drink skim until I heard/read that it is basically like sugar water. 2% is supposed to be best for you. However, really people should be drinking almond milk or coconut milk. I buy Zane original almond milk and He's only had Vitamin D milk a few times. Sure, it can be more expensive but it's not like he drinks 2 gallons of it a week. I also give him a lot of water and juice- but only 100% juice- not the kind that has sugar galore in it- READ the labels! :)
(1/13/15)
Now that Zane is older, I am still working hard on feeding him the best foods I can. I try to make sure he gets the appropriate amount of fruit, veggies, protein, etc...
Did you know this is about the amount toddlers/preschoolers should be consuming. Ok, so to be completely honest... Zane eats a ton of fruit. He loves bananas and fruit cups. And sometimes he won't eat his meat. What I found is that he likes some type of sauce on it. So, I bought some organic marinara sauce that he loves on his chicken and beef. If I cook the meat on its own, I will add this sauce to it and he likes it better.
Also, what I still LOVE to do is make freezer meals. They are just so much easier than having to make a meal for Zane all the time. So here is what I basically do on a daily basis when it comes to feeding Zane.
Breakfast- If I make Zach and I breakfast, he will eat what we are having. But, I don't make breakfast every morning obviously. So about once every few weeks, I make a huge batch of pancakes for Zane. I add fruit like blueberries or strawberries into the batter and cook them all at once. Then I package them seperately and freeze them. This makes for a SUPER easy breakfast for Zane in the morning. I just pop them in the microwave and he devoures them. I also make Zane waffles a lot of the time. I NEVER put syrup on them. But, I usually do add something to the batter, like fruit or cinnamon.
Also, I make mini omelettes.
Here is the picture/recipe
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| This recipe is from... http://www.ringaroundtherosies.net/2012/08/freezer-cooking-part-5.html |
Toast with peanut butter (or non-nut butter spread) and sliced bananas
Toast with (strawberry or other flavor) cream cheese and pineapple slices
Oatmeal with blueberries and strawberries mixed inYogurt or applesauce with bananas
Eggs with spinach (or other veggies) and melted cheese on top
Ham or turkey sausage and Eggs with melted cheese
Pancakes/waffles with fruit inside or on top (strawberries on waffles, blueberry or pumpkin pancakes)
French toast (you can skip the powdered sugar if you would like)
Cottage cheese with peaches
Lunch- Zane will sometimes eat dinner leftovers for lunch, or I will just throw some things together for a nice healthy lunch. You can find a TON of great toddler lunch ideas on pinterest. That is where I find most of mine. Recently, I have been wanting to do some more freezer meals for lunch. I found this recipe that I am going to try (again from http://www.ringaroundtherosies.net/2012/08/freezer-cooking-part-5.html).
I found this website on Pinterest and plan on finding some more to try. I'll update the results later!
Dinner- 95% of the time, he eats exactly what we eat for dinner. Sometimes he doens't alwys love what I made, but for the most part, he does! This makes it easy because I usually make dinner every single night. Zach and I don't eat out a lot- In fact, we try not to so that Zane gets a healthier meal, and of course it saves $$$. Sometimes I don't think people understand how much money they waste by eating out. So we limit eating out to maybe only once a week- if that! And usually it's taco bell... haha
Here are some more lunch/dinner ideas I found...
Chicken and cheese whole wheat quesadillas with black beans on the side
Shredded chicken with cheese and fruit/veggie on the side
Tuna fish or chicken salad on crackers, avocado slices, diced apples
Cheese and Turkey Roll-Ups or sandwich
Pasta with sauteed spinach and tomato
Mini pizzas (pita bread, sauce and cheese) with veggie toppings
Hamburger, turkey burger or veggie burger (chopped up to toddler size)
Spinach Ravioli
Turkey with mashed potato
Spaghetti and meatballs
Egg Salad Sandwich
Meatloaf with mashed sweet potato
Pulled Pork
Pot Roast with steamed baby carrots
Tomato Soup with grilled cheese
UPDATE (1/21/15)
My mom shared this article with me the other day, http://eatlocalgrown.com/article/13878-processed-kids-snacks-you-should-avoid.html. Recently, I have been wanting to feed Zane some better snacks. I usually feed him fruit, cheese, graham crackers, goldfish, or some type of cracker that is organic. However, I want to get away from the goldfish and graham crackers. They are made with GMO's and are actually really terrible for kids. So I am going to try some different recipes.
In this article, they say there are 5 processed kid's snacks to stay away from... they include.
1.Sugary cereals (that's a no brainer for me... Zane never gets anything other than cheerios).
2.Fruit Snacks (I have only given Zane organic fruit snacks. His pediatrician also told me to stay away from them because they are pure sugar and aren't good for them or their teeth. However, you can make homemade ones that are much healither and the recipe is in the article).
3.Sweetened Drinks. (Zane's doc also told me to stay away from these as well. I usually only give Zane 100% fruit juice and add water to it to dilute it... but his doc said even that is just full of sugar and they should just drink water. Ok, easy enough. And cheaper).
4. Ice Pops (well this makes complete sense because they are just sugar water... But I plan on making my own when summer comes around. Again, they have a great recipe in this article for some).
5. Crackers (I sunk in my chair when I read this, because Zane LOVES crackers.. and they are so easy. But,they are made with GMO's and just not good for our little ones. Well, dang! But this article gives a good homemade cracker recipe that I am going to try as well).
I will post about my homemade snacks once I make them. My goal is to do it by Friday (1/23). Stay tuned!
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