Dragon's Digest: Don't Judge Me

When I tell people that I have been making my own baby food, I have been shocked by their responses. Now, I expected to get odd looks when I started using cloth diapers. Mostly just because I knew that the majority of people have not seen the new cloth diapers. For those of you thinking that you could never go cloth, let me tell you, they really are just as easy as disposable. The only difference is that they have to be washed after each use. The cost difference alone is well worth using the cloth diapers. I have also heard that they prevent diaper rash, which Drake has never had. I really don't know though if that can be contributed to the diapers or not (I also don't know how often a typical baby has diaper rash).

Anyway, back to the food. I had decided when I was pregnant that I would be making my own baby food. It really seemed like a logical choice to me. Think about it, if everything I ate came from a jar, wouldn't people think I was odd? Why would I do anything different for my baby? I like knowing exactly what he is eating (vegetable/fruit and water).

I think I have realized that people think it is too difficult to make your own baby food and too expensive. Let me play myth buster for a minute...

- The hardest part of making the food has been doing the dishes. The majority of the food is cooked for a few minutes, then pureed. Squash and sweet potatoes are roasted for an hour, but that is actually super easy. Wash it, cute it in half, put it on a baking sheet, cook, spoon out of the skin into the blender.

- I have compared the costs to jarred food and my homemade food is much cheaper. The peas I made cost $2.00 for the equivalent of 18 jars. $2.00 would have only purchased 4 jars of baby food.

- People also have asked me how I have the time to make the food. As I mentioned above, it really does not take long at all. The longest anything has taken me is over an hour, but that was just the food cooking in the oven. I think spending 30 minutes to make weeks worth of food for Drake is well worth my time. The batches I make are pretty large (about 40 ounces), so I pour the puree into ice cube trays, freeze over night, and then pop the cubes into a freezer bag. When Drake is ready to eat the food, I just pull two cubes out (each cube is an ounce). It I can find time to make apples and pears in a week that I worked 60 hours, it cannot be that hard.

Our freezer is quickly turning into storage for Drake's food only. We have about 50 bags of milk (the coke cartons are my homemade storage solution) and then baby food. Since this picture, I have also added apples and pears to his food options.

Carrots

So, please do not judge me for making my son's baby food. I am not a hippie or a granola girl (although I feel like I am doing a little part to save the Earth from all of the glass that would come with jars). I am not a super mom. I am not doing this because I am a first time mom. I want to know what my son is eating and am trying to give him the best nutritional start I possibly can.