Lots of baby food

I've been making more baby food for Gray and have meant to document it on here.  I bought a second freezing tray that I can use to make more baby food.  It is an OXO tray that makes .75 oz serving sizes.  I feed Grayson 2 of them at a time, which means I get 7 servings of 1.5 oz sizes with the tray.  I believe the Baby Bullet servings are 2 oz each, so it is a little smaller, but since he isn't eating the food for much nutritional value, I don't worry about it too much.  

Plums

Cut the plums around the large pit and leave the peel on.  Put the fruit peel-side-up on a cookie sheet with water about an inch high.  Cook for 15 minutes in the oven at 400 degrees.  Once a fork can go through them easily, take them out and remove peel.  This was quite a long process, and I would love to figure out a way to make this easier next time.  I just used my hand to get rid of as much peel as possible.  If parts of it were extra difficult, i just tried cutting it of.  
I added the plums and 1/4 cup water to the food processor (I was at my mom's house without the baby bullet) and it made a great puree of 3 1/2 servings, at $.45/serving.  Grayson really seemed to like plums. 

Carrots

I buy organic carrots for G.  Peel and cut carrots into smaller pieces.  Boil for 11 minutes  or the second time I made them, I placed them in a steamer for about 15 minutes.  I added about 1/4 cup water - not the water it boils in - to the cooked carrots and purred them.  Apparently the water that carrots are cooked in can have too many nitrates for a baby, so new water is necessary for this recipe.  This made two servings, which was not cheaper than buying them on the baby food isle because it was about $.75/serving.  The second time that I made carrots, there were more in the bunch and I ended up with 6-7 servings.  I don't have the receipt for those, but it probably was more cost effective to make them the second time. 

Mango

This was really easy to make.  Just peel and cut around the pit and add all of the pieces to the baby bullet.  Add just a dash of water and you're done!  No cooking necessary.

This made three servings at $.33 each.  Not bad!  Although Gray's Daddy does not like mango, we didn't get any complaints from him. 

Banana

This is another super simple one.  It is easier than the mango even, since you don't have to cut around pit or cut off a peel.  Just peel the banana, put it in the bullet, and then add a little water until you get the consistency that you are looking for.  One banana made 2 1/2 servings.  I don't have the cost comparison for this one, but it seems like it was a good deal. 

Butternut Squash 

 Peel the butternut squash, remove any seeds from the larger part of the squash, and cut into chunks.  I boiled them in hot water until tender, but I've seen that it might be better to bake it next time.  This was a great one to make because Grayson really seems to like squash, and it makes a lot.  I added about 1/4 of cup of water to the cooked squash and once pureed, it made 6 servings.   

This works out to $.25/serving.  I like making food that will make a large quantity since I don't always have time to make food every week.


Peaches and Pears

 Cut both fruits, coring the pears and cutting around the peach pit and put on a cookie sheet with an inch of water in it.  Cook for 20-30 minutes in the oven at 400 degrees.

I think that I will peel the pears before hand next time, and might just boil them or find a different way to cook them.  Peel the fruit once it comes out of the oven, then puree with a little water.
This made about 5 1/2 servings of pears and 6 servings of peaches.  I don't have the cost information for the pears, but the peaches cost about $.45/serving.  Grayson seems to like both the pears and peaches quite a lot.