Everything You Need to Make Your Own Baby Food...

1. You need to realize that making your own baby food is a lot of work. Hopefully, this (and my recipes of how to prepare certain foods) will help reduce a lot of the trial and error that I went through when I did this for Liam (my first born) for you but there will still be some trial and error no matter what. It is, however, much tastier than even the organic jar food and much cheaper to make your own food. Keep in mind though that if you end up with jar food (part-time like myself or full time because you are sick and tired of making your own food) that it does not make you a bad mom or even less of a good mom than the moms who make all of their baby’s food at home
2. 
   Another thing to keep in mind is that when you start baby foods, especially the cereals, babies tend to get constipated (especially those who never had formula and are only breastfed). The remedy for that is to give some baby prunes every day (I love the Gerber organic ones) or a mix of an ounce of water and an ounce of prune juice every day or an ounce of water and an ounce of white grape juice every day. That’s what we have to do with Aiden. Liam never got constipated. I have no idea how to make your own baby prunes. I would imagine it would involve the usual method and then straining on top of it and that is just too much work! You can also do the cereal together with breast milk and with baby prunes or baby pears all mixed together, warm it up a bit before serving and you kill two birds at once!
3. Know that there are things you will have to give from a jar such as carrots, spinach and all of those types because even the organic ones can have too much nitrates in them. That is another reason to try to use only organic produce when making your own food as they usually have very little nitrates in them. The baby food companies have to screen them for nitrate levels and have the equipment for doing so and we don’t. So those are considered unsafe to make at home.
4. 
   A steamer pot or a microwave vegetable steamer. I highly recommend using the microwave version. I used steaming pots with Liam (my first son) and it was so time consuming in terms of cleaning and all and the microwave steamer is just as healthy and SO MUCH easier when it comes to cleaning because it’s small so you only rinse it in between veggies/fruits and pop it into the dishwasher when done! A good steaming pot is this one http://www.farberwarecookware.com/cs/Satellite/Product+-+Farberware+Classic+Series+3+Qt.+Steamer+Set/mProduct/1192055216775/farberware/1198793760705/mProduct/CookwareDetailEcomm.htm (you can find it at Bed Bath & Beyond and use a coupon). The microwave steamer that I like is this one http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=13032211 but you can also get something like this http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=16574414 and you will also have a microwave rice cooker (but I prefer the above one because it is small and easy to rinse and pop into the dishwasher). I am considering upgrading to this one though http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=15797720 because it just seems better and can be used in the oven as well. I did not see it in my Bed Bath & Beyond so it might only be available online. The reason for a steamer is that steaming is the one method that maintains the most nutrients. Boiling takes away a good chunk of the nutrients.
5. You will need flexible, silicone ice cube trays, preferably with covers so that nothing gets on the cubes of food you will be freezing to store; also, if you get the ones with the cover, you can stack them in the freezer. The covers are also nice because when you pop the cubes, you pop them into the cover tray and then slide them into a zip lock bag to go back into the freezer. These are the ones I like and they do have them in the store http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=11894224 I have 6 of them because with Liam I used to make a whole lot of food on the weekends but 2-4 will be plenty. They are dishwasher safe. I am sure there are lots of other perfectly good ice cube trays, I just happen to really like these
6. 
   Depending if you will be making one thing at a time or several things at a time and depending on the quantities you plan on making (like if you are a working mom you will probably make a whole lot on the weekends) then you would want either a mini food processor (for small amounts at a time) or a full size food processor or full size blender. I prefer using a food processor but blenders work perfectly fine as well so if you have a blender there’s no need to run out and get a food processor and vice versa. The little food mills they sell you at baby stores and baby catalogs are absolutely useless. With Liam I made a lot at once and different things at once but with Aiden, with having less time I find myself using the mini food processor and just doing things whenever I have a bit of time.
7. Various sizes of zip-lock type bags and a Sharpie to write on the zip-lock bags the date and contents