Homemade Baby Food

Making your own baby food is a great way to be green. The benefits are tremendous and it really isn't as difficult as it sounds. Just think: you will have virtually nothing to trash or recycle since you can use reusable containers, you will know exactly what is in your baby's food (i.e. fresh wholesome foods and NO preservatives or other ickies), and you can compost the food scraps, which is something I hope to get started with very soon...but that's a whole other post!

I am happy to say that I made 95% of my son's baby food. He's 2 now, so he survived! :) I started him on solids at 6 months which is the age recommended by the World Health Organization (courtesy of an article on the KellyMom site), to help lower the risk of him developing any allergies, and because as they say, breast milk is best!

I highly recommend the Super Baby Food book by Ruth Yaron if you are considering making your own baby food. It is a great (GREAT!) reference book showing when your baby can eat what foods, how to cook them, how to store them, and so on. It's loaded with recipes and just chock full of information. My 2yo still eats the Super Porridge recipe almost every day for breakfast. Sometimes I eat it with him! Seriously, get the book!!

My little girl is just about to turn 7 months old, so this past Saturday I made her first baby food meal: avocado! This was my son's very first meal, too.

Making your baby's own avocado baby food is about the easiest thing you can ever do, and it is super healthy. You won't find avocado baby food on the shelf at your grocery store either because they can't find a way to preserve it (according to our pediatrician at our most recent wellness visit), so unless you make it, your baby won't get to enjoy creamy, nutritious avocado.

Making your own baby food isn't very difficult to begin with no matter what you choose to make, but it doesn't get any easier than avocado:

1. Make sure your avocado is ripe. It should "give" when you lightly squeeze it. If it's hard, leave it on your counter for a few days until it's ripe. Once ripe, it will keep in your refrigerator for several days.
2. Wash the avocado.
3. Use a knife to cut the avocado in half lengthwise. Your knife will hit the avocado seed; don't try to cut through it, just continue to cut all the way around the seed. (Once you've done this a time or two, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.)
4. Pull the avocado halves apart.
5. Use a spoon to scoop out one half of the avocado into a bowl. I either eat the other half myself, use it to make guacamole, or I leave the seed and skin on, cover it with the other now empty skin, and put it in a covered container in my refrigerator to use later (the next day). If you scoop out the extra and put it in the refrigerator, it will turn brown and look disgusting. Leave it in the skin and cover it with the other skin, and it will stay pretty green and fresh.
6. Use a fork to mash the avocado until smooth.
7. Serve your baby yummy, healthy, fresh avocado baby food!

Easy peasy! No cooking involved and minimal cleanup...well, except the baby!