Boise Cloth Diapers: Make Your Own Baby Food

BOISE CLOTH DIAPERS
A Reference Website for the Treasure Valley in Idaho

MAKE YOUR OWN BABY FOOD
When I was a child, I used to wonder how our ancestors fed their babies. They didn't have little jars of baby food back then, so what on earth would they possibly use? My mother explained that they probably took some regular food, mashed it up, and fed that to the baby. I felt so sorry for those babies of olden times, with nothing to eat but mashed-up food.

Companies that make baby food have worked hard to create this kind of mentality in our society. They want us to believe that there is something special and magical about those little jars of mashed-up food, something that we would never be able to create on our own. The truth is that the only magical thing about their baby food is that it costs at least twice as much as "regular" food.

Pre-packaged baby food should be regarded as a TV dinner for babies. Does your family live exclusively on fast & easy TV dinners? I didn't think so. TV dinners shouldn't be used as a replacement for real food. They are too expensive, they lack flavor, and they are not very nutritious. The same thing is true for commerically prepared baby food.

Making your own baby food takes a little bit of work, but not that much. The recipes are simple (the ingredients for strained carrots? Hmmmm, carrots and water). You can make a lot of baby food in one batch and freeze it so that you always have a quick meal ready for your baby. Making your own baby food is so easy, you will wonder why you never did it before.

WHY SHOULD I MAKE MY OWN BABY FOOD?

NUTRITION
Many types of commercial baby foods have additives like sugar, salt, and starchy fillers. Almost all of them contain large amounts of water, sometimes making up 50% or more of the contents. They are also heat processed, which can remove important vitamins and nutrients. On average, commercial baby food has about 50% of the nutrients that your own homemade baby food has. The amounts of water and non-nutritious fillers and thickeners varies depending on the brand and the type of food. For more information on nutrition, see Cheating Babies: Nutritional Quality and Cost of Commercial Baby Food, an informative report from the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

COST
A standard jar of baby food contains about 4 oz. of food and costs around 55-75 cents. How much does it cost to buy regular food? You can buy a 2-pound bag of carrots for about $2.00. That means you are paying 25 cents for 4 ounces of carrots, and that's four ounces of pure carrots, no water added! Bananas: 38 cents per pound. After you peel the banana, you end up paying about 60 cents per pound. That's about 15 cents per 4-ounce jar, and that's pure banana, no water, sugar, or starches added. And it's fresh and you know what's in it!

TASTE
Have you ever tasted a jar of strained peas? Yuck! There is nothing good about that flavor. I want to teach my child to like fruits and vegetables for their true, fresh flavors, not yucky canned-food taste. I have no problem eating the strained peas that I make from fresh or frozen peas. They taste like real food!

VARIETY
Are carrots, peas, and squash are the only kinds of vegetables that your baby can have? No! Anything that you can steam and puree is a good candidate for baby food! When you make your own baby food, you can add a lot more variety to your baby's diet.
Note: Please check with your pediatrician to see which kinds of food your baby is ready to eat. Some foods like beets, turnips, carrots, collard greens, and spinach may contain high levels of nitrates and should not be given to infants. Baby food companies can screen their produce for nitrate levels. Storage of these vegetables can increase their nitrate levels, so only use them fresh if you are unsure.

ENVIRONMENT
A good reason to make your own baby food is so you won't contribute to the production and disposal of thousands of little glass jars and little plastic containers. Sure, you can recycle glass, but not every city has a glass recycling facility. Here in Boise, the recycle truck won't even take glass containers.
When you make your own baby food, you can put a large amount in one plastic bag or a reusable container. I usually reuse the plastic freezer bags several times before they are tossed. This is just one little extra effort on my part to save the earth!

http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/sr=2-1/qid=1141153047/ref=sr_2_1/601-9502932-5552141?%5Fencoding=UTF8&asin=B00006G9LI http://www.mormonchic.com/recipe/recipebox/pages/babyfood.asp

	NUTRITION Many types of commercial baby foods have additives like sugar, salt, and starchy fillers. Almost all of them contain large amounts of water, sometimes making up 50% or more of the contents. They are also heat processed, which can remove important vitamins and nutrients. On average, commercial baby food has about 50% of the nutrients that your own homemade baby food has. The amounts of water and non-nutritious fillers and thickeners varies depending on the brand and the type of food. For more information on nutrition, see Cheating Babies: Nutritional Quality and Cost of Commercial Baby Food, an informative report from the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
	COST A standard jar of baby food contains about 4 oz. of food and costs around 55-75 cents. How much does it cost to buy regular food? You can buy a 2-pound bag of carrots for about $2.00. That means you are paying 25 cents for 4 ounces of carrots, and that's four ounces of pure carrots, no water added! Bananas: 38 cents per pound. After you peel the banana, you end up paying about 60 cents per pound. That's about 15 cents per 4-ounce jar, and that's pure banana, no water, sugar, or starches added. And it's fresh and you know what's in it!
	TASTE Have you ever tasted a jar of strained peas? Yuck! There is nothing good about that flavor. I want to teach my child to like fruits and vegetables for their true, fresh flavors, not yucky canned-food taste. I have no problem eating the strained peas that I make from fresh or frozen peas. They taste like real food!
	VARIETY Are carrots, peas, and squash are the only kinds of vegetables that your baby can have? No! Anything that you can steam and puree is a good candidate for baby food! When you make your own baby food, you can add a lot more variety to your baby's diet. Note: Please check with your pediatrician to see which kinds of food your baby is ready to eat. Some foods like beets, turnips, carrots, collard greens, and spinach may contain high levels of nitrates and should not be given to infants. Baby food companies can screen their produce for nitrate levels. Storage of these vegetables can increase their nitrate levels, so only use them fresh if you are unsure.
	ENVIRONMENT A good reason to make your own baby food is so you won't contribute to the production and disposal of thousands of little glass jars and little plastic containers. Sure, you can recycle glass, but not every city has a glass recycling facility. Here in Boise, the recycle truck won't even take glass containers. When you make your own baby food, you can put a large amount in one plastic bag or a reusable container. I usually reuse the plastic freezer bags several times before they are tossed. This is just one little extra effort on my part to save the earth!