Well it works!

If you have a baby or toddler I'm sure you've seen those cute little food pouches they sell.  Bacon Bit loves them!  And so do I.  They are quite handy when we are in the van traveling or out and about.  Just twist off the top and hand it over.  Bacon Bit can drain one in under a minute I believe, I'm not complaining since he gets a dose of fruit in his diet.  He still prefers mostly veggies and that's ok too!

 There happen to be a few problems with those cute pouches that I'm not overjoyed with however.  The biggest is the cost, for a 3-4 ounce pouch of baby pureed food costs between $1.35-$3!  Not quite budget friendly.  But I have to admit even convenience of them has over ruled our budget a few times.  I was talking to another mom with a toddler the same age as Bacon Bit saying how I wish they made something re-usable like the pouches. Especially since I have a whole tote full of baby food that was given to us that needs to be used up and Bacon Bit makes a HUGE mess with a spoon and bowl of sauce.  She told me that she simply refills them.  I have to admit I had my doubts of messes trying to refill the darn pouch, but she told me to just try it. So I did and I was happily surprised!  Want to refill your own pouches? Here's how!

What you need:
empty baby food pouch with cap
medicine syringe (bigger the better!)
baby food sauce or any kind of pureed sauce





First take your pouch and rinse it out.  I held mine under the water and let it fill up a few times.  You can even add a small drop of dish soap to it.  Once it's filled I hold my finger over the opening and give the pouch a few shakes really good.  Repeat this a few times until the water runs clear. 

Next flatten out your pouch. Make sure there is no air in it.  If there is, I was told when you go to fill it, the puree will spray out of the pouch making a bigger mess!

Now take your syringe and fill it full of your puree.  Hold it over the opening and squeeze the sauce inside.  Repeat until you filled up the pouch.  It's just that simple!

Once it's full, twist the cap back on and either hand it to baby or place it back in the fridge.  I just saved myself a whole lot o' bacon for my pocket!!  And Bacon Bit is very happy to get his favorite pouch sauce more often. 

Now I'm not sure how many times you can refill the pouch, but even if you refill it a few times before tossing it will save you money.  And time wise I am able to refill a pouch in less than 2 minutes.  So not bad at all.  I'm so happy my friend shared this tip with me! I hope it helps some of you too.

Those cubes are cute but...

What do I feed my toddler?  Hard to believe Bacon bit is almost one!  Where did the last year go?  He has grown so much and has also become Mr. Independent.  Which means he no longer is happy eating those cute little cubes I used to make for him. Thankfully I have been able to use the cube trays for other things, like coffee.  So what do you feed your toddler who doesn't want to eat mashed up food any longer.  No I just can't stomach (the price or the taste!) buying those pre-made 'toddler' meals they sell along side the baby food either. 

For the most part Bacon Bit gets what ever we are having, just cut up really small.  Tonight he had steak, taters and carrots from our garden!  Nope he doesn't even have teeth either.  It's a myth that babies must have teeth before they eat meat, if you've ever been bit by that gummy grin you know what I'm talking about!  But there are still some foods that make him a bit fussy.  There's also the vegetable problem.  It seems every time one of our kids turned into a toddler and left the saucy puree stage so did their vegetable consumption!  They tended to fill the void with a lot more fruits. Which lead to bigger problems down the road.  Like Miss Bacon (She told me I'm no longer allowed to use 'little' for her name because she has learned how to ride a two wheel bike now and is all grown up! Oh how I love how kids minds work! She's always going to be my baby girl though.) she thought every time we placed a vegetable on her place we are giving her poison.  It's gotten better this last year thankfully, but it's been a long three year battle with her.  So to hopefully prevent going though this with Bacon bit, I'm keeping more veggies around!

This is one way to keep them on his plate, or in his case, tray-  Not so cute little cubes! I have been taking the veggies and baking or steaming them like I would for making the puree.

Instead of blending them up, I've been dicing them and laying  them on wax paper covered baking sheets in the freezer.  Once frozen, pop them in a baggie and toss in the freezer.  By laying them flat they don't freeze together in one big chunk and I can easily scoop out a few for his meal. 

Pretty darn easy!  Way less time consuming than making puree.  I've also been dicing up any extra meat we've had left over from dinner and freezing that too.   It's a great way to have quick easy lunches ready for him.  I know what has gone into making it and know it's healthy for him unlike some of those meals they have ready to eat for a toddler.  And he's use to my cooking already, which is an added bonus, I know he'll actually LIKE what I'm giving him.  Now if I could only get him to stop throwing his food on the floor! I'm pretty sure that's a lost battle.

Whats on Bacon Bits plate?

Remember when I made these cute little cubes for Bacon bit? We'll I've made a LOT more since then. Bacon bit is now 7 months old (how did that happen?!) and he's eating more now. We've found though some trial and error and pulling my hair out that Bacon bit prefers his food to be a bit more thick than most babies. If we get anything runny near him he clamps his jaws shut and turns his head. Oh the battle over food starts already! The good thing is that since I'm making his food, I can control just how thick it is. He's also decided he as quite a palate and will not eat anything that is bland, such as most store bought baby food. So I had to start getting creative in the kitchen. Here are a few of his favorite recipes he wanted me to share with you!

Baked apple prune:

2 large apples or 3 small cored, it's ok to use 2 different 'kinds' of apples too!

1/2 tsp cinnamon

9 dried prunes

Make a pouch out of tinfoil, set apples in cut side up. Sprinkle with 1/2 tsp cinnamon and add prunes. Add 1/2 cup water or apple juice. Bake 350* until apples are tender, about 45 minutes. Remove 1/2 to all apple peels. Place everything including juice in blender, puree & freeze. Sometimes I also run the puree though my kidco food mill to make sure the skins are well broken down. It gives it a smooth consistency and I make sure there are no chunks too big that he'll choke on that might have been missed when pureeing in the blender.

Lots of baked up goodness for Bacon Bit's belly!

Sweet potato & Pumpkin:

(this tastes like pumpkin pie!)

2 sweet potatoes

1/2 can pumpkin puree (or about 1 cup) NOT pumpkin pie filling

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Cut sweet potatoes in 1/2. Place cut side down on pan and add enough water until they it covers 1/2" of potato. Bake sweet potatoes in oven 350* until tender or about 45 min. Let cool on the pan (this also allows for them to soak back up some of the water they sat in.) Peel off skin and discard. Blend with pumpkin and cinnamon in blender or process though food mill. If it looks too think you can add up to 1/2 cup liquid when blending. Pour into your cubes and freeze.

And if you haven't figured it out yet, I like to multitask! So I decided to bake some bread that day too. I got a bit sick when I saw the price of a loaf of bread at the grocery store the other day. I knew I needed to get in gear and just start making our own bread. I tried a new recipe for oat bread. Well, either it was the weather, or being too busy, or something... but it didn't turn out. I even took a picture to share, yeast and I don't always get along! It did still taste good, it was a more heavy bread, sadly I just can't say no to bread! I'll keep searching for a great homemade bread and keep you posted!

Cutest little cubes!

Are they not just super cute! Little cubes of love for Bacon bit. It's hard to believe he's four and a half months old! Where has the time gone? Now that Bacon bit is older, he's wanting to eat ALL. THE. TIME! Not only is he never full, he also drools over the food we eat. That means it was time to start on some real food. And not anything that comes out of a jar, I'm making all of Bacon bit's food.

You're thinking homemade baby food, Ma Bacon, who has time for that? Honestly it takes very little time and saves a whole lot of money. It had been a few years since I bought baby food (yes, I did buy the jars with the other kids, see I haven't always had 'time' or so I thought). I couldn't believe how much the cost of those tiny jars have increased! My pocket book said enough, just make the food instead. I also think they taste so much better homemade and I can control the consistency. So where to start? Thankfully I have some great friends who shared their tips with me. I also found this website to be helpful.

I started with making a batch of sweet potatoes and a batch of peas. Nothing too hard and some good foods for Bacon bit to start with.

First off you need some supplies.

I use my KitchenAid blender
A skinny spatula

These cute square trays that just happen to be 1 oz in size (seen that pic somewhere before?!)

And my Kidco hand mill

That's it!

I started with sweet one sweet potato, you know these things! (Yes Yams are the same thing in most American supermarkets) There are pretty much two ways you can cook a sweet potato for making baby food, either peel it and steam it or bake it. I chose to bake it, nothing better than baked sweet potatoes! Slice the potato in half length wise, place it cut side down and a cookie sheet and add about a half inch of water to the pan. Place them in a 400* oven for 40-45 minutes or until a fork presses into them easily. I baked them in the toaster oven to save on some electricity, and it was already out from lunch.

Make sure to check on them a few times, After about 25 minutes I noticed I needed to add a bit more water to the pan. Here they are out of the oven. Next peel the skins off and toss it in the blender or food processor. When they are baked right the peels just fall off of them!

Once they are in the blender, they need some liquid to help turn them in to puree. That is where the water on the pan comes in play. Take the liquid and pour it into the blender too. I did have to add about 3/4 cup of water to the mix as well. You can use the liquid of your choice to do this, juice, water, ect. I was advised to not use Bacon bit's breast milk or formula if I was going to be freezing the cubes, so I opted for water. Now blend away! Here is a comparison of my sweet potatoes verses store bought jar sweet potatoes. You can see the jar one's are a lot runnier. Not bad for just starting out eating, but my babies have all preferred thicker foods. Also when I take a cube out and thaw it I can thin it down with more liquids (this is where you can add the breast milk or formula if you want) to get it just how Bacon bit likes it.

Now it's time to get them ready for the freezer! Pour the puree into the cube trays. You don't have to use the cute square cubes like I have, any ice cube tray will work. I like the cubes because they are silicone and the puree pops right out of it. Also they are a nice 1 ounce size. Once the puree is in the trays I use the spatula to make sure they are level on top. Then I pick the tray up and gently tap it a few times against the counter to get out any air bubbles. I wipe off the edges a bit and it's ready to freeze.

Now on to the peas.

I preferred to steam my peas for Bacon bit's food. I have a nice steamer that came with the cook ware Mr. Bacon and I bought several years ago. I also decided to use frozen peas since it is not prime veggie picking season in Minnesota.

Steam the veggies according to the package or until they are tender. Yes since these are in a steamer bag I could have placed them right in the microwave, however I think the microwave cooking kills off most the healthy nutrients in the food. This would be the same process I would have
done if I was steaming the sweet potatoes or any other fruit or veggie. Once they are cooked until tender, take the peas and place them in a bowl of cold water. I have been told doing this step with food like peas and beans that have 'skin' on them makes them puree easier.


Once they rest in the water and cool for a minute or two place them in the blender. You need to remember to add a bit of liquid to them. I used 1/2 cup of the water I placed in the kettle for steaming the peas, that way the nutrients that went into the water during steaming, go back into my son's food. Now puree away!

Peas when they are pureed still tend to be chunky due to their 'skins'. For an older baby this wouldn't be a problem. However for just starting out, I wanted the peas a bit smoother. I bought this amazing food mill that solved the problem. I put the puree in the mill, and out came smooth peas perfect for baby's first foods! And a picture of what's left after the mill process!

Here you can see the difference between the two.

Now it's time to put them in the trays. Repeat the process I used above for filling the sweet potatoes. There, all ready for the freezer!

A few hours in the freezer later....

Best thing with these cubes is that they will also stack in the bag to store upright!

Perfect little cubes of love for baby Bacon bit!

Well that turned into a pretty detailed post! I hope this helps others out on making their adventrue in homemade baby food a bit easier! You can do it!