4 to 6 Month Cooking Day Schedule
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Here is a brief explanation of what I did on my first cooking day. It is much easier when you have a partner. But not necessary.
Menu for the month: sweet potatoes, apples, carrots, peas, green beans, potatoes, bananas, pears, peaches.
Before you begin, get all materials out and ready to be used. Make sure everything is cleaned and all surfaces disinfected.
Materials for Big Day - 2 sets
- Place Sweet Potatoes uncovered in oven. I place a foiled covered cookie sheet under them so if the juices leak it doesn’t mess up the oven. I baked mine on 400 degrees for about an hour. They are done when you can poke them easily with a fork.
- Start steaming the carrots. I place the carrots in my electric steamer. These usually take about 20 minutes to get soft.
- Start a large pot of water to boil. Peel and cube potatoes and cook in pot until soft.
- In another large pot, bring water to boil. Wash and peel apples, once boiling, add apples. Apples are done when soft (about 5 minutes). I strained the apples and place them in a bowl of cold water to keep them from browning until I was ready to puree. Keep a little bit of the water you used to boil, just in case you need to add water at the end for consistency purposes. This water has the nutrients in it from the apples.
- In the pot you just used for the apples, bring water to boil again. Wash and peel pears. Once water is boiling, add pears. Boil for about 5 minutes. Drain and add cool water to pot, set aside until you are ready to puree. Pears tend to be runny anyway, so I didn’t need to add any water but in case you want to, set aside a little bit of the water you boiled the pears in.
Steaming the pears
- I used these nifty little steamer bags from Ziploc – Zip n’ Steam Microwave Cooking bags (or I have seen microwavable steaming baskets which I don’t own but would work also). I place the peas in one and steamed in microwave according to the directions on the bag.
- While everything from above was cooking – I peeled the bananas and pureed them in my food processor. Using a plastic gallon size bag, I pour the puree inside it and close it. I snip the tip of one corner off and fill the ice cube trays. Wash out food processor. Cover with foil and label what it is and date you made/froze it.
Squeezing Puree into Ice Cube Trays
- By now the peas are finished from the microwave. Place peas in food processor. The skin on peas tends to be thick and hard to puree. So after I puree the peas I dump the puree in the food mill and mill out the skins leaving the puree smoother. Wash out the food processor and mill. Pour peas into ice cube trays and label.
Pureed Peas in Food Mill
- Put green beans in the microwave to steam according to the instructions on the ziploc bag.
- Puree apples in food processor, pour into ice cube trays and label.
- Puree pears in food processor, pour into ice cube trays and label.
- By now, most likely, the sweet potatoes are done. Pull out and let cool.
- The carrots should be done by now also. Puree carrots in food processor and pour into ice cube trays and label.
- Strain water from potatoes and puree in food mill, pour into ice trays and label. Clean food mill. ** Potatoes and Sweet Potatoes tend to get tough in the food processor because of the starch so a food mill works a little better. I have used a food processor with sweet potatoes before and just needed to add a little extra liquid.
- Puree green beans in food processor. Again, the skins tend to be tough so I run the puree in the mill to make it smooth, pour into ice trays and label.
- The sweet potatoes will need to be peeled. By baking them without foil, the skin get hard and will easily peel right off. Cube and use the food mill to make the puree. Pour into ice cube trays and label.
- Wash, peel and cut peaches. Puree in food processor. Pour into ice cube trays and label.
Yeah! You are finished with the pureeing. Place all ice cube trays in freezer over night. Once frozen, you can transfer them into gallon sized baggies that are labeled with the name and date you made/froze them.
Congratulations!! You did it. Now you can sit back,relax and look forward to the journey of getting your kid to eat it!
I am new. So this may have already been established, but what do I do AFTER I have frozen the baby food/puree? When I want to feed my baby do I thaw it? For how long? And is one ‘cube’ enough for a meal? How long will the frozen ‘cubes’ last? Just wondering. Sorry if this has been addressed before.
Hey Casey,
Thanks for the great questions! I am sorry that I made assumptions : ). I just posted a response to this under the “how to” section. Hope this helps.
C.
Love the site!
My son just turned 7 months. I have enough store bought jarred food for the next month so am eager to start making food for March. Will you be posting any sample menus/recipes for 7-9 months or older soon?
I have just started making my own baby food for my second baby. We were told by the doctor not to make our own carrots because of the high nitrogen levels. What are your thoughts on this?
Thanks!
That is very interesting. I have never heard of that before. I will be doing a little research on it and have already contacted the USDA to see if they can help answer the question. I will plan on posting info that I find. Please check back.
I love this! Our (3rd) baby is just starting baby food and I can’t wait to make him some homemade baby food! Thanks for all the time you took to plot out this cooking day–it’ll be so much easier to follow your instructions rather than try to do this all on my own.
do you use cooking spray in the ice-cube trays?? thanks for the great instructions!!!!!
no cooking spray is needed. They pop right out just like ice cubes do.
do you have to have a mill in order to make your own baby food? do you know how long the food stays good in the freezer?
thanks!
That’s a great question. No you don’t need a mill. I know mom’s who use just a blender. The benefit of a mill is that peas and green beans along with a few others (because of their tough skins) don’t puree smoothly. So if your child is picky about consistency the mill is helpful, but not necessary.
To answer your second question – baby food can stay in the freezer for up to 3 months. If you have a separate deep freezer, baby food can stay in that for up to 6 months. I have a deep freezer, so I put all of the baby food in that and only pull out what I need for the week to keep in my kitchen freezer to save space.
awesome, thanks so much for these answers! think I am going to start soon (my son is a little over 3 months) and your info is great, especially the plan for cooking day:):)! thanks for all you do!
Thank you so much for posting all of this, I just have a few questions: Do you need a steamer? Can you just steam the carrots in the microwave?
Also, what are the benefits of making your own food versus buying organic baby food (besides cost).
Great questions! No you don’t need a steamer, I use Ziploc steam bags for the microwave and I have used the metal steamer that drops inside of a pot. The steamer is just a little easier if you are making a larger batch.
Secondly, besides saving money I have found that making my own baby food has better and more flavorful taste (and smell) than the store bought brands (organic or not) and you can choose exactly which foods you want to give your child. You have more of an opportunity to give your kid a more variety of tastes than you get when you buy store bought. Which in turn, I believe, allows the building blocks of healthy eating to begin early for healthier eating in the future. An example, my son LOVES avocado and you can’t get that in the stores. You can mix and match flavors that cater to your child’s likes and dislikes and make it more personalized.
I also recently posted a “top 5 reasons” for Andrea at MommySnacks – http://mommysnacks.blogspot.com/2009/03/homemade-baby-food-5-reasons-to-try.html
so glad to see you girls are doing this..my kids are teens/college aged..but I breast fed and went right into making our own baby food..didn’t buy much if any of processed foods other than the initial rice cereal that was soooo finely pureed…
I just would take whatever we were cooking and leave out all seasoning..and when small kept all the foods separated so we’d test for any allergies..and then as got older just mixed the casseroles or whatever..we don’t eat a lot of salt, sugar and used mostly fruit for sweetening so it was pretty easy to feed along with us…
same idea went into using cotton diapers/wool biobottoms/diaper duck..bought one system..used 3 times..so having/raising a family wasn’t a big hit to the finances..UNTIL now when 2 are in college…
but of course, the manufacturers want you to think you MUST buy their products for the healthiest things for your children…and we all want that so we succumb to their packaging/processing…I remember when there was a big stink about the apple juice..and come to find out it was mostly sugar water with some coloring…you can certainly use regular apple juice..watered down as needed…
my kids would eat whatever/minus the spices we did..we NEVER cow towed as they were toddlers to picky eating..it was either eat what’s on the table or NOT..and no snacks (when they were older..not infants)until the next meal..they knew we stood by that..and now, all three eat EVERYTHING in the world, and all 3 have told us parents thanks for giving them a great start…especially when they see their friends be incredibly picky and vocal about it…
Have you ever tried using a ricer instead of a food mill? I am having the hardest time trying to find a food mill.
I have never used a rice mill. I use this Oxo food mill, you can order it from Amazon. Or if you would happen to have a Kitchen Aid mixer they have a great vegetable puree attachment!
I found that one at bed bath and beyond today! I am so excited to use it tonight!!
Can’t wait to hear how it goes.
Glad I stumbled across this. I have a 5 month old and it would be great to make this stuff in advance. I made my own baby food for our first child, and ready to do the same with the second. However, this once-a-month method could prove to be a huge timesaver. I don’t have all the same equipment, so I may need to re-evaluate that. By the way, I’m a dietitian and have a blog and posted on this very topic — making baby food. http://nutritionandwellnessbytes.blogspot.com/2009/02/my-take-on-baby-food.html
This is a really helpful article. Have you tried baby lead weaning, though?
I should have said for babies 6 months+
I am a little confused, are we to boil the apples & pears or steam them? The direction say boil but the picture says steam. Just want to get this right before I make it for my niece. Thanks
Sorry for the confusion. Follow the directions of boiling. Although steaming would work just fine too.
I try to boil as little as possible. I bake/broil most things, including apples and pears! I am about to do both for the first time with my son, but I did them this way for my daughter and I wanted to eat them instead of giving them to her.
I just cut it in half, take the core/seeds out and sprinkle a little bit of cinnamon on them and bake them (skin side down) till they are soft. The oven was 350-400 degrees. Once they are soft. Remove from oven, let cool to the touch and then take the skins off and puree. As your child gets older you can leave skin on for more texture, just make sure they get blended well.
Wow! You are supermom! I have only made one vegetable at a time (one a week). I am glad you wrote about apples, because that is my next conquer. I was thinking about buy already made applesauce, but I think I will give it a try making it homemade.