First Attempt at Baby Food

When I was pregnant I told myself I wanted to try to make my own baby food. I am still going to buy baby food, but I wanted to try to save money and try making some myself. I am sure that fresh food is beneficial to Mason as well.

My neighbor has this amazing garden, I should have taken a photo of it this past summer. It is probably 50 times bigger than my attempt at a garden. She is nice enough to share her produce with us. She had a surplus of green beans in the fall so she gave me a couple bags full to make baby food with. I cut the ends off the beans and blanched them. I then froze them in freezer bags.

Last week I took the beans out to thaw. I cooked them in boiling water for approximately 10-15 minutes (I really was not paying attention to the time, I just took them out when they looked done).
I put them in my Ninja. I did not ask for or go out and buy a special "baby" food making machine. The Ninja belnder will work just find.

I added 4-6 ounces of breast milk (I will have to add more when I thaw the cubes because they are a little thick) and I blended it until it was mush. The positive to a Ninja is that the blades go up the middle of the container instead of just being on the bottom making it easier to blend things. 

I bought some silicone ice cube trays to freeze the purees in. The cubes end up being an ounce portion of food. It makes it easier for freezer storage. After they are frozen pops them out of the trays and put in a freezer bags. You do not have to buy all of the containers to keep the food in.

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The next day I was still feeling ambicious. In the freezer I had squash that we did not eat out of the garden. As with the green beans I had blanched them before I froze them. One of the recipes I found said you could leave the skin on. I boiled the squash for ten minutes, until it looked like mush.
I put it in the Ninja with some breast milk - 2 oz or so. Squash has a lot of water in it to begin with so I did not have to add much. Sorry no pictures, I realized I should have been taking them when I was putting the trays into the freezer.

Coming soon: Apples & Pears

Money Wise $$

I figured out that for every 4 ounces of baby food I can make, I save $1.00. That does not sound like a lot, but it can make a small difference.
The green beans and the squash were basically free from the neighbor's and my garden. I did pay for the seeds, but we had so much squash that we definitely got our money back with the growth.

Any suggestions? Comments?
Have you tried making baby food? What have you tried?