Saturday, April 30, 2011

New things in the pipeline

I've been thinking a lot about what direction I would like this blog to go in. I've come to the conclusion that my audience are mostly mums so I want to start focusing a bit on baby related topics that can start discussion &/or help out a few mums out there needing advice. Because God knows I've learn't most of what I know from other mum blogs out there! Failing that, just knowing there are others out there going through the same thing is always nice to know on a rough mum day.
I have a few other things I'm working on but without further ado, here is the first post of  my new little section

Baby Babble V 1


This section will most likely be a rant on something that has come up in my life. Please feel free to engage & offer advice in the comments section, I would love to know how you feel!

Baby Food

Isobel has been munching down on solids for just over a month now & she loves it! I've chosen to make her food myself for a few reasons

1: Save $$
 I haven't actually looked at the costings yet but I had a peek at the prices of pre-made food & they're about $1.5 a jar. That's about $9 a day plus little extras like rice cereal when she gets up to 3 meals a day. Last week I brought a bag of pears for $4 & that gives her over two weeks of puree. Plus I make in bulk & keep it all in the freezer so each week I'm simply adding to the collection I already have. I try & buy veges that we're having in our meals & just boil up a little on the side for her so it never really seems like I'm having to buy all this extra food. I also raid my parent's vege garden from time to time so no cost there!

2: I'm wary of what goes into the pre made stuff.
I just can't get myself to trust anything that is able to sit on the shelves in the supermarket for years. What is going into that food that we don't know about.

3: I'm not a fan of mixing veges...yet.
I know that I will eventually mix her veges but at the moment I prefer to give her just one vege/fruit at a time because I want her to get used to the individual tastes of the food I'm giving her & eventually decide which she prefers more. The pre made food doesn't allow for this, all of their food is mixed with one or more other vegetables or fruit.

4: I'm a bit weird & enjoy making my baby girl food.
This goes along the same lines of the enjoyment I get from making dinner for my partner. I'm a bit of a weirdo & love to make food for people, it's a way of showing love & affection. I also have a little bit of fun making it, the same way I love to clean the house. I know I know, sad.

How I make it



I have a pretty easy system. I peel, wash & cut the veges/fruit & boil until soft in a big pot.
I have been using the blender to make purees, simply by adding a little water & blending until smooth & runny.
However, Isobel is slowly getting used to thicker mashes so I'm probably going to stop blending & use a mouli instead. My mum found this steel one in the garage that's pretty vintage so I'm going to scrub & oil it & see how it goes.

I then pour the purees into ice trays, wait till they frozen, pop em & place them in bags. This has meant that I can keep track of how much I'm feeding Isobel & I just keep adding an ice cube at a time when I think she could eat more.

What I'm feeding her

I've stuck to rice cereal, veges & fruit so far. She loves everything I throw her way, this has included apples, bananas, avocado, pear, pumpkin, carrot, broccoli, kumara, courgette, beans, peas.
I'm probably going to start mixing the veges with a little potato for a mash.
Gareth is a vegetarian & I pretty much am when I'm at home because it's easier so I'm probably going to bring Isobel up the same. I've been looking into what you should feed vego babies so will probably try her on some lentils soon.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

I would love to hear about what age/or what foods you start introducing once veges/fruit are established?
Vegetarian babies?
Or anything else?

And let me know what yout thought of my first baby babble.

Also if you could please throw a few votes our way, just click away on the Top baby blogs & Circle of Mums links at the top right of this page. Thanks!

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