Benefits of Homemade Purees

Pin It Now!      Did you know..... that the ingredient ascorbic acid in most baby foods is in fact a synthetic ingredient that they list as  vitamin c and it's really a preservative? Baby food sometimes also contains citric acid, I thought that was like a squirt of lemon juice.... WRONG! It would be very expensive for companies to juice fresh fruit and use that as a preservative so instead most citric acid is made of a corn based starch or sugar beet molasses. When I look this ingredient up on the FDA website is lists it as safe. My feeling is if eating solids is optional before age 1 why are we adding junk to our children's food??

     I'm sharing all of this information because until a few days ago I didn't know those ingredients are not good and not real food. Bennett has had his fair share of pouches,(about 95% of his purees were homemade and they were all organic) and we still have pouches in our house. So I got to thinking about how to replace that convenience for when we are running errands or traveling? So last night these are what I ordered. Reusable Baby Food Pouches, and some extra OXO Snack Dish. I have been using the snack dishes to carry around fresh fruit and cheese chunks (we use goat cheese because of the dairy allergy) or Sweet Potato Chunks. I'm really excited to get our pouches in the mail and will be sure to post about them!

More Benefits of Homemade Purees

*higher nutritional value 

*know exactly what's in your baby's food

*make fun new combos

*EASY to batch cook and freeze
*no artificial ingredients
*no preservatives 
*saves money
(when I did the math on that I was able to feed homemade organic for about 1/2 the cost of store bought baby food) 
*It tastes like real food just pureed!

So my plan is to make my baby food like normal, freeze and store. Then when we need a pouch I'm going to put a few frozen cubes in the reusable pouches and by the time they thaw Bennett will be ready to eat them. That way they will stay fresh for about 4 hours. If you thaw the food and then put it in the pouch it is good for about an hour. 

Bennett's Favorite Puree

*1lb frozen organic peas

*1lb organic broccoli (frozen or fresh) cut into chunks

*4 organic apples (sliced)

Place all ingredients in a large pot and cover cook on low/medium stirring occasionally for 10 minutes or until soft. Turn off heat and allow to cool with the cover still on the pot. Once cool place food into blender and blend until smooth! 

So this is where I will leave off my creating convenience project. I will update you all soon, and of course give more of my favorite puree recipes. 

~Brooke