Wednesday, April 20, 2011

I {heart} homemade baby food!

So my little guy is at that age!  He's ready to eat, and he loves to eat!
Actually he's a bit early (please don't send me hate mail), I feel it was totally 100% okay and preferable for him to start eating a little earlier then the "recommended" age but he's my kiddo and I have that know how - call it mothers intuition! :)

I've started to make him his pureed baby food and I don't know if I talked about this before on here but let me tell you!  I LOVE MAKING BABY FOOD!!!

I find it totally relaxing, a stress reliever, and totally amazing when you're babe just gobbles it all up!  I guess it's sort of like the feeling you get when you breastfeed, you feel like you're the sole provider - you're able to produce the milk for them, you know what's in it, you know it's healthy for them.  Same thing with making your own baby food.  You know everything you are putting in it and it's from your own hands!

Yesterday I was making Ev some sweet potato, pears, bananas, and carrots while he sat in his high chair watching me (H was napping), we were singing songs about the food, talking about the colours, about the veggies growing in our garden, etc.  We had a great time chopping, cutting, cooking, and blending.  He enjoyed it just as much as I did!

Our process is pretty simple

1) Get the veggies/fruit from the grocery store (soon it'll be are garden! YIPPEE)
2) Clean all fruits and veggies (This is very important!!!)
3) Cut the fruit or veggie in small pieces
4) Either bake or steam the veggie depends on the veggie and what we are doing with it
5) Blend with a hand blender

Easy as pie and SO delicious!

Before: Pears & Sweet potato
After: Blended up sweet potato and pears! YUMY
Right now our "recipes" are pretty simple.  We are using just 1 veggie or fruit and getting use to that before we start mixing the flavours up.  So far E had been a huge fan of the fruits.  We give him something once a day usually around dinner time and we stick with the same thing for a least 2 days to ensure there is no allergy or reaction to it.  So far so good!

This has worked great for us with both H, when she was a wee one and now E.  I'm happy I'm able to give my kiddos the best they can get and this is how I do it.

Dirty Dozen and the Clean 15
I also wanted to talk a little about pesticides on the fruits and veggies that we eat.  Luckily for us, living in Canada we do have pretty good regulations when it comes to pesticides.  Testing is done by Health Canada under the Pest Control Products Act (PCPA) to ensure that all pesticides are registered before being used in our Country.  Before the pesticide can be registered, Healthy Canada reviews the scientific information to make sure that it has value and there are no environmental concerns related to it's use.  To ensure there are no health concerns toxicology studies and epidemiology studies are reviewed.  Every 15 years the pesticides are reviewed to ensure accuracy!

All imported food is tested to ensure the residue levels are below the Maximum Residue Limit or the MRL.  This MRL is set to ensure the level of pesticide use would not be harmful for anyone including, infants, children, pregnant and nursing women but this does not mean it is safe.

You can always find out more information on this here at the Health Canada website.

What are a few ways to reduce the amount of pesticides you and your family consume
  1. Buy organic when possible - make sure you are buying CERTIFIED ORGANIC
  2. Use veggie and fruit washes - you can find one here
  3. Peel "high level" fruits and veggies
  4. Grow your own - check out my garden here
I will say that we do not always buy organic, it just isn't feasible, first of all it's more expensive and secondly, it isn't alway available at our local grocery store.  I do buy organic most of the time when it comes to the dirty dozen though.

Never heard of the dirty dozen?  I'll give you what you need to know briefly then you're welcome to look at the links and do some more research on your own.  The Environmental Working Group has created this list of the Dirty Dozen.  It contains 5 veggies and 7 fruits that are considered the most contaminated when it comes to pesticide use starting with celery as the worst, followed by peaches, strawberries, and apples respectively to name a few.  I typically buy all of these listed on the worst list, organic.  On the other hand they do have a Clean 15 list which contain the lowest pesticides use again there are 7 veggies and 8 fruits listed starting with onions, avocado, sweet corn and pineapple to name a few.  Check it out!  It's worth a look.  You can print of a guide or even download an iPhone app to have with each trip to the grocery store.

46 comments:

  1. This is great that you make your own food for the kiddos. I know how well H did with it and I'm sure that E will do just as well. I know the day I fed him he was loving every spoonful. Mothers know what is best for their kids and every child is different. I love the pic of E here...he looks like he is enjoying something and wants to say something about it!

    Wow, that is interesting about the dirty dozen and Clean 15.

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  2. Happy SITS Day! I made my own baby food with my second. It was fun!

    Thanks for the Dirty Dozen/Clean 15 lists. I know them, but it's nice to have the reminder!

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  3. Happy SITS Day!!! I made my own baby food with all three of mine and loved every minute of it. People couldn't understand why I bothered, but I think you captured it perfectly!

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  4. Happy SITS day! When mine were little someone gave me a hand-me-down hand grinder that never worked very well.

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  5. Happy SITS day. I loved making my own baby food, too. The only thing I didn't make was prunes. Those I bought.

    LisaDay

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  6. Happy SITS day! I loved doing my own baby food for my kids too. Great green tips as well!

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  7. I made most of my daughter's babyfood myself. So much tastier than the bland jar food. Happy SITS Day! Enjoy the comment love today.

    Hanneke

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  8. Happy SITS day my dear! That boy's cheeks are irresistible!

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  9. Happy SITS day!!!! I loved making my baby food for my little guy. I was always filled with pride as I watched him eat all the things I had so painstakingly made just for him!

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  10. Happy SITS day! I too enjoyed being able to make my own baby food. Plus it saved us a ton of money!
    I was intrigued by your blog because I too am a (sort of) new mom who is trying to lose weight and become more healthy. thanks for sharing your site with us!

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  11. I LOVE this resource and really need to start using it for our family also. We, too, cannot afford to buy all organic, but I think we could focus on these and make adjustments in other areas to help offset the extra expense. We're going to get into the coupon craze, which should help with that.

    Hope you have a wonderful SITS day!! :)

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  12. I made my own baby food for my triplets. It was so easy and healthy that I wish that I had done it with my older son too.

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  13. Thanks for the link to the Dirty Dozen and the Clean 15. Very good information.

    Stopping by from SITS. Hope your SITS Day is fabulous!

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  14. Congratulations on your feature!

    I've been making baby food for my little one, too! It's a lot easier than I thought it would be! :)

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  15. I loved making my food too. Never thought I would, but found it so much easier than I thought I would. Am proud to day I have not opened one jar of food for my baby. Only packages of applesauce. :) Thanks for the encouragement.

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  16. Happy SITS day! I made most of my own baby food. It worked out so much better. My kids liked it better.

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  17. Happy SITS Day. I like making my own baby food too. Easier to get creative with flavors!

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  18. Visiting you from SITS. This is a great post for moms who want to make their own babyfood. You make it see easy and fun~

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  19. I enjoyed making my own baby food too. I sometimes used organic baby food that came pre-made and sometimes made my own. I guess I started really making my own once they got to the stage where meat was added. A jarred meal of meat just grossed me out so I started making my own. I agree that it does feel satisfying to provide for them in that way.

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  20. so glad to have found your blog thru SITS!! I'm a busy workin' mom myself, and in the health and fitness field!! maybe we could swap guest posts some time!!! i cloth diapered too. started w/ my daughter at 1 and we're still using the same diapers for my 2 year old. anyway, so glad to have met you!! following you now. are you on twitter??

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  21. Congrats on your SITS day!
    - agata.

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  22. I didn't know about the "dirty dozen", thank you for sharing that.

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  23. Happy SITS day! I can't tell you how excited I was to make baby food with my second child. The bummer was he HATED it! I mean the kid hated ALL baby food. It quickly moved to finger foods but no after much trying (and he did at least eat some of it).

    Happy SITS day!

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  24. Happy SITS Day! It is really amazing how easy it is to make those fruits and veggies once you get started. And so much better too! I love the photo, so cute!

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  25. Happy SITS Day!

    I love your blog!! I am a Holistic Nutritionist and Personal Trainer is am just so impressed by your health and wellness passion. I think you would love my Blog! There are some really great snacks and info that would be prefect for you and your family.
    So happy you were featured today! I am going to check back often!

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  26. I made my first son's baby food, and am very soon going to do the same for son #2! You're right...it is SO much fun!

    Enjoy your little ones!!!

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  27. Happy SITS to you!... My babyfood days are behind me now.. but after 6 children who were cloth diapered and who breastfed and I made their baby food.. all i can say is that the proof is in the pudding ( home made pudding!)... All worth the time and the bit more effort it takes!

    Maddie

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  28. Awesome blog! I follow you now!

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  29. My sister loves making her own baby food also. She makes large batches at a time, then puts them in ice cube trays and freezes it for later use. Congrats on your SITS day!

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  30. Happy SITS day! Fellow babyfood maker here. It IS so easy and healthy. Love doing something good for my baby girl.

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  31. It's so nice to see someone actually FEEDING their kids. McDonalds does not equal food, this equals food.

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  32. I want this for dinner! Happy SITS Day!

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  33. Happy SITS day! I did this for my younger son. So easy to do and he LOVED it!

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  34. The Dirty Dozen/Clean 15 lists are so great, I had no idea. Thanks so much, I'm bookmarking those pages now. Happy SITS day!

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  35. Hey Happpy SITS day! You have wonderful kids!

    www.theblogforbrides.com
    www.journeyofawoman.wordpress.com

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  36. What a cute little guy. My kids are grown, but if I had it to do over, making my own baby food would be at the top of the list.

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  37. Happy SITS Day!

    I tried so many times to make homemade baby food, but except for fruit blends and blended lentil soup, the Babby rejected all of them!

    Of course, she hardly eats anything now so not much has changed!

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  38. Happy SITS day! You're such an inspiration! Loving the home-made baby food. :)

    ~Melissa
    Reflections on Writing

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  39. Happy SITS day! I made homemade baby food for my son who is my second child. He loved what I made! It was very fun! Thanks for sharing the tip on the Dirty Dozen, I had no idea.

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  40. Stopped over from SITS! Thanks for the tips!

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  41. I had never heard of the dirty dozen or clean fifteen. What a great resource! Very useful information. Thanks for sharing.

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  42. Some really great info here. Came over from SITS.

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  43. Congratulations on your SITS day. Sorry I'm late.

    Nothing better than when you love taking care of your child. Enjoy your little ones; they'll be grown before you know it.

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  44. I loved making my own baby food and it was so much easier then I thought it was going to be.

    Congrats on your SITS day!

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  45. congrats on your SITS day! i made my own baby food and don't regret it one bit! by child #3 i may have turned to jarred applesauce more than once though;) organic of course!
    LOVE the blog-you are an awesome mama!! kate@threehautemamas

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