Thursday, May 28, 2009

Baby Food

This week, Ainzlee got her first taste of solid food. I went to the store and priced how much a package of rice cereal is. It was like $5! I am really cheep these days. So, I searched online to see if I could figure out how to make it myself. I mean, people had rice cereal before Gerber came along, right?
Of course, the mighty Internet knows everything, and I came across a website all about how to make your own baby food. It sounded easy enough, so I tried it!
(I really should post the website address here, but I don't remember where it was, and I don't feel like looking it up at the moment, so if you really want to know... find it yourself!)

Here's what you do to make your own rice cereal:
Use your blender
Put in 1-2 cups of rice. (I used plain old white rice since that is what I have. I'm sure just about any kind would work).
Blend it until it's a fine powder. I found that it actually worked best on a lower setting. It took a couple of minutes.

Boil 1 cup water.
Add 2 Tablespoons of the rice powder to the boiling water.
Here's the important part:
Whisk constantly for 10 minutes while cooking on med-low heat.
Sounds a little tricky, I know, but if you don't whisk, it will start to clump and get icky.
Also, you can add a bit more water to make it a thinner consistency.

After it is cooked, you can store it in the refrigerator for up to 72 hours.
To serve:
Add liquid (water, formula, milk, juice...) to make the desired consistency. Warm up (I use the microwave for about 10 secs) and whisk until smooth.

I'm going to try the same basic procedure with oatmeal. Should work about the same.

Here's some fun with feeding that we had today. (I really like my newly discovered video function on my camera!)

I'm also going to try making baby food out of fruits and vegetables.
Seriously... how granola am I??!

6 comments:

Krystal said...

youre amazing! im just lazy- i pay good money for gerber - but i will have to try this way to save money

Kandice and Rob said...

No, you're smart! Baby food is WAY too expensive.

I bought all Erin's food, but with Robbie I made about half of it. Sweet potatoes, carrots, and peas were my favorite to make. Just boil or steam & blend with a little water! And I stored them in the little plastic Gerber containers in the fridge & freezer.

But figuring out how to make rice cereal!? You're awesome! :) No way I would've thought of that.

Anonymous said...

That is awesome! I used to make Ema's baby food but got lazy with John. I never made rice cereal though. I will try it with this baby. Thanks!

The White House said...

I did half and half with Noble. It really just depended on my modd if I wanted to make a bunch of baby food or not. So we kept some store bought ones in the house just in case. Way to go though on the rice cereal. I'll have to try that with the next one.

Unknown said...

Thanks for following me on twitter and my blog!!!!!! Your family is adorable!!!

I really like your Zadyballs :0) They are too cool!!

If you're ever interested in doing a giveaway with me, please let me know!! I would be more than happy to advertise your cute product on my site!!!

Take care!!

Alyson

Andrew, Amy, Evelyn& Owen said...

You are not granola, you are super woman! Way to go!