#39: Solid Routine, Homemade Baby Food, and Useful Items

Meal prep is not a foreign concept to us thanks to bodybuilding. I've had prep plans where I eat a meal containing a 3 oz. serving of steak, chicken, halibut, and egg whites all in a single day (every day). That being said: the decision to make all of Genevieve's food from scratch seemed totally doable. We opted to go the pureed-food route as opposed to baby led weaning. Therefore, I will be speaking from my experience thus far using pureed foods for her meal prep. I know many parents who opt to make baby food freeze servings and pop them into the microwave as needed. However, we never liked prepping our own meals this way, and instead preferred fresher foods and prepped meals every 3-4 days; this is the approach we take with Genevieve's meal preparations as well. 

Routine and Meals Overview 
Genevieve eats three meals of solids per day. When we first introduced solids at six months, I started gradually with one food (a new food every three days to give room to determine any reactions) and one evening feeding. As I built that into our routine, I added a second morning solid food session. This would sometimes be a "lunch" and other times a "dinner" based on our schedule. Then we moved to a pretty consistent "breakfast, lunch, and dinner" routine. So since about 7-7.5 months old, our schedule has looked like this (I do not keep a rigid time schedule but instead follow this "habit" for wakeful periods): 

Routine of Bottle/ Solids/ Sleep: 
Wake for the Morning 
First Bottle of Breast Milk 
First Solid Feeding (about one hour after bottle)
First Nap
Wake/ second bottle of breast milk 
Second solid deeding about one hour after bottle 
Second nap 
Wake/ third bottle of breast milk 
Third solid feeding (about one hour after bottle)
Fourth and last bottle of the day (at bedtime) 
* Lots of play and activity in the wakeful periods before and after feedings of bottles and solids and she sometimes wakes for another bottle in the night, usually 4 am and returns to sleep until 7-8 am 

This rhythm works very well for us. Genevieve is always hungry for a bottle upon waking and works up an appetite for solids an hour after that. Her bottle intake varies. Sometimes she will eat only 1-2 ounces at a time, and at other times she will finish a whole 9 oz bottle. She averages 5-7 oz per feeding. Genevieve has always had a slightly higher-than-average intake of milk. 

While we are mindful to introduce new foods to Genevieve, we are very relaxed about it. So, when we make our weekly grocery list, we ask ourselves (What hasn't she had yet? What is seasonally available?) or we may see something interesting at the store and try it out. In our experience, it often takes Genevieve 3-5 attempts of trying a new food to like it. We always (casually) add a new food to her plate but take it slow and don't force her to eat a lot of that food. We find she comes around and eats it well once her taste buds have had some time to adjust to the taste. So don't be discouraged if your little decides they "don't like something." Keep trying and don't worry about food waste because it is part of the process to explore new foods and flavors (our dogs get her leftovers as toppers and enjoy it immensely. While we do introduce new foods to Genevieve, I will describe the general three-meal structure we follow daily. This offers Genevieve a variety of foods per day but is also fairly regular and predictable which is easy for Andrew or me to anticipate. We also introduce allergens on weekends or on a slow day in case we have a reaction that needs our attention and keep baby Benadryl in the house. 

General Meal Breakdown: 
Meal One: Oatmeal, Nut butter (peanut butter or almond butter), fruit in a mesh "Muchkin fresh food feeder" (usually blueberries, raspberries, or blackberries), and sometimes eggs (scrambled or pureed)
Meal Two: Half a container of "Stonyfield Organic Baby Yogurt" (I save the other half for the next day), green veggie puree, orange veggie puree, protein puree, and a few cheerios 
Meal Three: Half an avocado (save the other half for next day and wrap in press and seal wrap) mashed with a chunk of mashed banana (saved from my breakfast), green veggie puree, orange veggie puree, protein puree, and maybe some cheerios
* Sometimes meal two or three will also have white or brown rice puree or quinoa

The Purees
Now that I've described what the overall structure looks like, I will go into more detail about our purees. Like I mentioned in the intro, we keep our foods in the fridge--you can freeze your foods and they will last longer, so keep that in mind when I describe how long we "keep" our purees. You should always do a sniff or taste test to ensure quality and freshness. 

Purees and Time in the Fridge: 
- Protein Purees: 24-48 hours (we go with 48 hours unless the protein is fish) 
- Veggie Purees: 3 days 
- Rice/ Quinoa: 2-3 days 
- Oatmeal: 4-5 days 

We keep our purees in glass prep meal containers that come in different sizes. This set is perfect for us and makes storage easy. I was also gifted small, individual-portion containers and use those for occasional fruit purees, yogurt, and for portions to pack a lunch when we are on the go. We use masking tape and a permanent marker to write what is contained and the date made for a quick reminder. 

Since food before one is primarily about supplementation, exploration, and building an understanding of eating, we lead with veggies and always keep a "green" and "orange" veggie mix in the fridge. We focus much less on fruit and usually will give her blueberries or a banana because those are the fruits in the house that I eat. G is prone to diaper rash, and we notice when her fruit intake is higher, the rashes seem worse. We usually buy an additional fruit like cantaloupe, mango, papaya, or raspberry every other week and make a puree and give at meal 2 or 3.

Her green veggie base is often a mixture of greens, but we almost always use zucchini. We will add in spinach, broccoli or green bell pepper as well. Her orange veggie is usually one veggie and is most often sweet potato, but we also use carrots and butternut squash. Her protein puree varies and is often related to whatever we are making for dinner. We will cut off a piece of salmon, chicken, ground beef, or ground turkey to make a puree without our added salts and seasonings and in a pinch, it's always easy to use eggs. I also use canned foods like corn, black beans, and a combination of peas and carrots (all organic and no salt added) to keep in the pantry just in case. 

How to make purees: 
If the vegetable needs to be steamed, broccoli or fresh green beans for example, we use a pot and steamer on the stove to do so prior to pureeing the food (though if you wanted you could buy those bags in the fridge or frozen to steam in the microwave) and then simply add to the food processor on the puree setting and add water gradually (I use the boiled water) to get the desired consistency. If the vegetable does not need to be steamed, you boil them in a pot of water until tender before pureeing. Sweet potatoes take the longest (between 12-15 minutes) but zucchini only takes about 5 minutes. Keep in mind the smaller the pieces the faster they will cook. Then you follow the same process of adding to the food processor and adding water until the desired consistency is achieved. Canned foods are the easiest--though we always rinse them thoroughly and then add filtered water to get the desired consistency in the food processor. We boil chicken or use a frying pan with extra virgin olive oil (a great way to add calories and healthy fats) to cook her meat portions and again follow the same process with the food processor. With the eggs we make them scrambled or sometimes puree them--Genevieve initially only enjoyed them pureed, but now enjoys grabbing the little hunks of egg with her fingers and feeding herself. 

Sometimes I make purees during Genevieve's naps or even start the process while she's in her highchair and amidst feeding her a solid meal. Andrew will often meal prep while cooking our dinner, or sometimes in the evening after G has gone to bed. We don't have a locked in way of doing it, and it usually only takes 30 minutes or so to prep a couple purees. Most of the time we only need to make one or two items and we always keep canned food in the pantry for convenience. Occasionally we won't have something, and we just omit it for that meal because it really isn't a big deal to not have a green veggie for meal 2 or a protein for meal 3. I have bought (but yet to try) the baby pouches of baby food and keep one in our diaper bag in case we are out and about and she's hungry for convenience. You don't need to make EVERY baby food your kiddo eats, but it can be a great way to limit their intake of additives and preservatives and is also much cheaper than pre-made baby food you purchase at the store. Andrew and I value nutrition and eating a whole-foods-based diet and so we want to continue exposing Genevieve to that as she grows. 

The Stuff that Helps 
When it comes to feeding, you do not need a million plates, bowls, and cups specifically for baby. I have one *nice* water-only sippy cup I use for Genevieve that I love. She has access to this all day long but not at mealtimes since I want to keep it clean without needing to deep clean it due to food debris. I use open cups and one silicon sippy cup at all solid feeding sessions. As it relates to plates and bowls: buy dishwasher and microwave safe options! I have a cute bamboo set, but we rarely use it because it cannot be microwaved (Genevieve prefers her meals heated slightly--I do 12 seconds). Honestly, we use our normal bowls and miniature plates to feed her, and they work great. I have tried myriad silicon spoons and found one set I love (fortunately it comes with six spoons...have lots of spoons). Though Genevieve loves eating off of a regular metal spoon, and I sometimes opt to use that (though I am the one doing the feeding with those). 

I purchased a dry erase board for the fridge to keep track of what was in the fridge as well. I have played around with what I capture on the board. Originally, I thought it would be important to write what she ate for each meal. This was helpful initially but soon we stopped writing it in as we got used to the groove of what we gave her each meal. Our current board is set up like this:

On the left there is a column titled (In the Fridge) this lists all purees in the fridge (we don't write down if half a yogurt or avocado are inside because we can prep them so quickly or see easily upon opening the fridge). The column next to that is titled "Need to Make" if we are on our last day of a food, we write in the item needed in that section (and strike through the food in the first column so we can quickly see it is IN the fridge but know it won't be good by end of day). We don't go into specifics but say "protein," "green," or "orange" because we know what that means and have an idea of what is on hand from that week's grocery shopping, I may add a specific like "rice" or " fruit puree" if it is something a bit abnormal from our standard list. Next to that I have a section called "Other" and Below that write a space for the day of the week and current date. This captures all the information we need to know or communicate to one another since we share responsibilities as partners. Below is a list of those items I have mentioned for anyone curious. 

Materials We Use 
- Food Processor (Ninja® )
- Masking Tape & Permanent marker 
- Silicon Plates and Bowls 
- Silicon Sippy Cup ( Bella Tunno® Girl Boss Happy Sippy Cup In Purple | Bed Bath & Beyond (bedbathandbeyond.com)
- All-the-time water bottle ( Amazon.com: Baby Soft Spout Sippy Cups, Learner Cup with Removable Handles, Leak-Proof, Spill-Proof, A Straw Brush, Break-Proof Cups for Toddlers Infant, 9 Ounce (Green) : Baby ) 
- Glass prep containers ( Anchor Hocking® 20-Piece Storage Container Set )
- Small Plastic Containers ( Amazon.com : melii Snap & Go Baby Food Freezer Storage Containers & Snack Containers - Set of 6, 2oz : Baby ) 
- Silicon Spoons ( Amazon.com: PrimaStella Silicone Rainbow Chew Spoon Set for Babies and Toddlers | Safety Tested | BPA Free | Microwave, Dishwasher and Freezer Safe : Baby )
- Magnetic Dry Erase Board and Markers ( Amazon.com : Whiteboard Magnetic Dry Wipe Board Self Adhesive A4 for Any Smooth Surface with New Stain Resistant Technology,Home Kitchen Fridge Shopping List and Office Notice Board (Black 12” X 8”) : Office Products ) 

Genevieve is a very curious and adventurous eater.  Our solid food journey has been fun. Watching her eyes light up when a favorite food (yogurt) is offered or seeing her evolve from only eating pureed eggs to the joy of feeding herself scrambled eggs with her fingers is so rewarding. Prepping your own baby food takes less time and work than you'd expect. Food nourishes the mind, body, and spirit and we are mindful of the relationship with food we are helping Genevieve foster for a life of health and happiness. Food is fuel and fun!