Before Jasper was born I was certain that I was going to make all sorts of elaborate, tasty baby food purees. In reality, this did not happen for a few reasons. First of all, working full time and having a baby that does not like to nap leaves little room for fancy food preparation. Secondly, my food processor pooped out shortly after Jasper was born. When I did have the time I blended up a few mixtures for Jasper in our Magic Bullet type blender and it was usually some sort of bean/ lentil/ chicken and vegetable combination with spices. Even so, I was still on the market for "baby food" to fill in the gaps between edibles that could not be mashed into a puree consistency.
The brands of baby food that our family decided we liked best were Sprout and Ella's Kitchen. I am not convinced they are the best options out there for everyone but we chose them for several reasons:
1) They are organic and I often found them on sale. Tip: try Target and Harris Teeter. If you can budget for it I do recommend offering your littlest tots organic fruits and veggies to reduce pesticide exposure (I also recommend this during pregnancy if you can afford it although I know it's not always realistic financially to achieve.).
2) The ingredient lists are super simple--just the basic ingredients, nothing else. Some brands may contain fillers (flour/starches) and/or lots of extra vitamins and minerals in them which I think is unnecessary for most babies if they are drinking formula or breastfed with Vitamin D supplementation. The one exception I found was that Earth's Best Spinach Lentil blend does have 30% of the daily value for iron, the most I had personally found in any other baby food blend, even those with naturally good sources of iron like beef. This was important to me to make sure Jasper got plenty of iron in a mostly vegetarian household. Once you get into the fancier baby food blends (those with sauces and cheese for example) I noticed these had a good amount of salt in them which is not necessary for baby either. I often dressed up the basic purees with other ingredients and spices we had on hand.
3) I liked the variety of food combinations and Jasper (and I) found them very tasty!
In addition to the baby food we purchased, I had several "go to," or quick and easy foods, that I offered Jasper when he still ate puree consistency:
- unsweetened applesauce sprinkled with ginger and cinnamon
- avocado mashed up and stirred until creamy--sometimes with a sprinkle of garlic powder mixed in
- mashed banana (or other very ripe fruit like papaya or plums)
- cooked oatmeal mixed with frozen and warmed berries (you could use cooked regular oats verses buying "baby oatmeal" but know it is not iron fortified. If your wee one is just starting on food, you may wish to grind oats up in a food processor first for a smoother texture)
- plain unsweetened yogurt (sometimes with applesauce or mashed fruit)
- roasted and mashed sweet potatoes or butternut squash (at first I would thin the mash out with some milk).
- hummus (if seed/nut allergies suspected you can wait until closer to one-year old)
- organic canned pumpkin puree (not pie filling!--used this in his oatmeal too!)
- mashed and stirred (until creamy) tofu (with added spices for zip!)
- homemade soup without chunks and without lots of added salt (carrot ginger etc.)
Whether you are making your own baby purees or buying them, I encourage exposing your little one's pallet to a variety of flavors. Don't be afraid to add small amounts of milder spices and herbs to the mix and don't let your own food references get in the way. Just because you don't like broccoli doesn't mean your little one won't! Stay tuned for my post on great first foods for baby!
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