Baby Food
What do you do when baby food is beyond your budget? Even on sale, baby food runs $1 for 7 ounces. That's a lot more per pound than I would like to pay for fruits and vegetables!
In 2007, I found myself wondering what to do for my baby. We had no income and I wondered what I would feed the baby. I found myself wondering what my ancestors fed their babies . . .
The answer to that question sometimes comes in storybooks. Oatmeal is the food of choice I found most often, sometimes made thick (porridge) and sometimes made real thin (gruel). The thin version can't be too different from the flakes of Oat Cereal in the baby food aisle.
Canned fruits provided a big help to me. I had unsweetened applesauce on my pantry shelves, which has the same ingredients as baby food applesauce (apples and vitamin C), for a fraction of the cost. I also found myself mashing peaches and pears that I had canned. The baby gladly took them!
For small amounts of fresh food, you can use a little hand-held baby food grinder to grind up bananas, rice, beans, or whatever else you are eating.
You can also give a baby bean broth and mashed potatoes (potato flakes).
When you're canning fruits, you can also can baby food yourself. I use the smallest canning jars I can find (4 oz. and 8 oz. jelly jars). I can baby food on the last day of canning, when the fruit is soft and has lots of bad spots that need to be cut out. I put all the cut pieces straight into the blender with a little ascorbic acid (also found in store-bought baby food. Ascorbic Acid is vitamin C in powdered form). After I blend it all up like a smoothie, I pour it into jars and can it. This is also a great way to can peaches if yours aren't freestone peaches. You can always add your fruit nectar to smoothies!
In 2008, I prepared for yet another new baby. I have canned pears, apricots, bananas, applesauce and peaches for the baby. She has come to recognize my small canning jars as her food, and she is happy and fed.
Do you want to make your own rice cereal?