first foods

[galadrielm]

In the interest of not supporting commercial baby food companies, keeping bills to a minimum, and feeding my daughter the best and freshest food possible, I am seeking suggestions and recipes for first foods. I have 1 or 2 months to collect your ideas before she starts trying solids. I hope this thread will generate enough responses to also be of service to future users.

[bebe luna]

My advice is to start out simple. Begin with rice cereal, to get her into the swing of things. If you make your own just cook brown rice until very well done and puree in a blender with water, until creamy. Heat and serve.
For next addidtions I cooked carrots and pureed in blender. I stuck with each new food for a few weeks before introducing another new one, to be sure he didn't react to it.
After carrots, I added green beans, then sweet potatos, then winter squash, then avocados, then apple sauce, then stewed pears, then beets, then sweet peas, then lentils...
Now he's 10.5 months old (still mainly bf's) but loves to eat! He now eats rice cakes and unsalted rye crackers on his own and occassionally has a bit of rice milk. I don't give him any juices or dairy. I think next month I'll try making him oatmeal.

[NaturalJoy]

I followed pretty much what bebe luna did. Super Baby Food is a good book for making your own food. I think the author is a germ freak and a bit nuts, but she has excellent tips on making and storing your own baby food. Also ideas on good stuff to start with. She also has good recipes for toddlers. She emphasizes organics.

I think there is also a baby food book with organic in the title. I've seen it in the one step ahead catalogue (www.onestepahead.com) I think there are 2-3 other books I've also heard about.

It really is very easy, much more so than I ever thought it would be. And I'm glad I did it. Ds now eats whatever we do at 19-months, and that's nice, and even easier so your time pureeing is short-lived.