Chef Mom

a few weeks ago Dave drove off for the day with our one and only car seat and I was stuck at home. I decided to keep myself busy by trying something I've always wanted to do: make my own baby food.

I've gone back and forth throughout Olivia's solid food days on whether I should make or buy her food. I have no problem buying it because it's really not that expensive ($1.09 feeds her for an entire day, minus snacks) and I trust that the food manufacturers know what they're doing. I.e. I'm not making claims that they have poison in their food, blah, blah, blah. I personally buy Gerber because I'm confident that when the label says the ingredients are "green beans and water" that it's the truth. I don't feel pressured to buy organic because I don't eat all organic myself, and honestly, I can't afford it. It's over $1.60 for 1 serving, which is more than double what I pay now.

I found butternut squash for a little over $1 at Trader Joe's and found an easy recipe online. I was actually surprised at how easy it was! and it made 8 servings, which was indeed cheaper than buying premade. that night I gave Olivia some and she loved it! So I froze the rest and set about to make even more food! I bought carrots, green beans, sweet potatoes and apples. I tried carrots and green beans and noticed they didn't give me as much as the squash. It was actually more expensive to make the green beans then buying them! Regardless, we tried some with her that night.

it did NOT go well. I gave her some of my green beans and she literally GAGGED. I tried again, she almost threw up. I had Dave open a Gerber pack of green beans and no problem: she finished the whole thing. before the night was over I decided to have her try the carrot and same thing: gagged to the point of almost barfing.

I really wasn't offended at all. I have a girlfriend who's daughter reacted the same way, and it was probably partially my fault for starting her on Gerber in the first place. Additionally, the recipes had warned me how hard it is to get certain foods really smooth and I know the green beans were way more grainy than she's used to.

I thought the squash would continue to work out and I defrosted one of my cubes a week later. I noticed how watery it was but stirred it up anyways. there wasn't any gagging this time, only crying. after the first bite she cried like I was torturing her. and so my days of making baby food were over.

don't get me wrong, I liked the feeling of making something for my child from my own heart and hands. And to be honest, this won't be the first meal I make that she won't eat in her lifetime! But there are many other ways I can love her and create things for her instead of slaving over the Magic Bullet (which she despises anyways). Every morning we share scrambled eggs and if I ever eat near her, you can bet she's crawling onto my lap to see what I have. there aren't many days left when I will even have the opportunity to buy her baby food. she's getting so big and will soon just be eating off our plates. I actually love going down the baby food aisle and planning her meals. We chit chat back and forth about what she wants and she gets excited to hold her puffs container.

They say "food before 1 is just for fun" and while I'm not sure that's entirely true, I'm having a great time! I'm looking forward to seeing her personality even more through our experiences with food :)