I decided to be domestic and make baby food. Luke likes sweet potatoes, so I started with that. Now, I know that making homemade baby food has its advantages: you know what's going into it, it's cheaper, better for the environment...But after trying it myself, I'm not sure it's worth it.
It can be pretty time consuming. I boiled the sweet potatoes in water and let simmer for twenty minutes. Then I let cool for another twenty minutes and plopped in the blender. I pureed, but that didn't really work too well, so I ended up just taking them out and trying my best to puree them in a bowl with a spoon. Then I used an ice cream scoop to transfer to storage trays. It wasn't hard, but it left a mess that took another ten minutes or so to clean up. So all in all, about an hour of work for 20 servings of sweet potatoes.
In a nutshell, homemade baby food: $5 for 5 organic sweet potatoes equals 20 servings, one hour of work, and carbon footprint? Hard to say how much water used in cleaning up.
Store bought baby food? $10 for 20 servings, one minute of work, 20 plastic containers to recycle.
Luke didn't seem to prefer one over the other.
I suppose it's kind of like cooking...there is something satisfying in creating something from scratch. It's likely I'll make Luke his food when the mood strikes. But when time is short, and energy is low, I'll stick to the old stand-by:
10 comments:
Where were the organic sweet potatoes from? It always kills me when the organic apples are from New Zealand. I opt for conventional in that scenario.
I appreciate this post so much. I've been debating the homemade baby food, but Gerber organic is cheaper than I expected.
We just nuke potatoes, or sweet potatoes. For a small one, just poke a couple times and nuke for 2-3 minutes and the skin comes right off. Plate goes in the dishwasher, and they're soft enough - if not now, then soon for Luke. Zach especially likes it when we re-melt grated cheddar cheese on his potato after the peel is off. I also discovered that the frozen cooked squash is pretty comparable to baby food but much, much cheaper. Not sure if they have organic (or if you have to go to Whole Foods to find it), but it uses a lot less packaging.
I'm sorry to hear that making babyfood has been such an ordeal for you! I made most of RJ's babyfood, and while it does take a little time, I just tried to incorporate it into what I was making for dinner so that it was no extra time (who has that?!)). So if we were having sweet potatoes, I'd put on extra for the RJ freezer stash, same thing with peas, corn, carrots, etc.. we also ended up eating more vegetables then too! I also found that steaming them was easier than boiling them. That way you retain more nutrients too. Plus the steamer goes into the dishwasher with everything else. I used a kitchen aid blender and that did the trick when RJ was a little older, but when he was younger (we started babyfood around 6 mos.) I put it through the good ole hand crank babyfood grinder! Also if you're doing more fibrous veggies, like peas or greenbeans, I would blend them, then put them through the grinder. I think it would take maybe 15 minutes tops and I'd have cubes for a few weeks. Another advantage (in addition to being able to do more organic flavors and having less processing) was that we didn't waste as much as when we were using the jars because we always had perfect portions because we could serve by the cube. We were always getting a half-jar lost in the fridge and going bad on us.
Try mashed avocados - RJ LOVED them and they're perfect babyfood due to being nutrient dense and having the perfect kinds of fats for brain development! Plus, it comes in it's own natural packaging!
I loved the babyfood stage - RJ would eat so well and loved everything, it's much better than the picky toddler stage! Today I actually finished off his dinner by mixing some of his risotto and salmon into a teeny bit of ice cream just to entice him to eat something. Interestingly he ate all his peas first and wouldn't touch the rest! Anyway, enjoy the good baby eating stage when it lasts!
Is nuking green? Just asking.
I totally support you in the buying of pre-made baby food. Kudos to all the moms who make it themselves, but it was way too much work for me!
I'm all for whatever works for you. I actually enjoy making Carter's food. I spend about an hour a week, but do multiple foods at a tome. Just a quick rinse of steamer and blender in between. So 20 servings of sweet potatoes, squash, broccoli, etc need not be much more work than you did for just one of those. Some tricks: add lots of the steaming liquid to the thicker stuff (like sweet potatoes) in the blender so it doesn't get gummed up. Also, you don't really have to wait for cooling in between steaming and puree-ing. I also just pour from blender and save the ice cream scoop step. Anyway, I do also use store bought food for things that aren't in season (like peaches) or things that just seem harder to puree (like spinach). Mashed avocado is good advice, but that is the one thing that makes Carter barf.
As for the question about microwaving being green...actually yes (I work in the field of energy conservation and renewables) because cooking times are so short, microwaving food uses a lot less energy than cooking with the stove/oven.
I like the cost benefit analysis you did Cate. What if you used a potato ricer or a food mill? I bet you could reduce the time component of your equation. But I certainly won't complain if you just get the Gerber baby food — that's what we're going to do!
Love the comment about organic apples from New Zealand. I keep chuckling each time I think about that.
I also thought microwaving would be eco-friendly because of the energy efficiency issues. I wonder about induction cooktops, which don't waste energy heating the air? (We really are going to get rid of our hulking monstrosity of a stove — one of these days...)
You've seen what Josie eats! No need for a spoon or a blender, just some steaming or baking and cut it up. Especially sweet potatos, they just instantly mush anyway.
Half of the electrical energy for microwaving comes from burning coal. Coal is cheap, and the U. S. has about a 300-year supply.
However, the mining of coal does great environmental damage to the land and water supply. In addition the burning of coal to produce electricity releases toxic chemicals such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and mercury into the air.
Thus, “Is nuking green?” And, to broaden the philosophical question, is the feeding and care of babies green? Just asking.
I think the question, "is nuking green?" should include the qualifier: "compared to what?"
That is, from the perspective of the baby feeder, the electricity available at the receptacle is a constant. It can be used efficiently, or not. The supply is essentially not something we can control.
Also, "the world without us" would be a very different place, but aren't people part of the environment?
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