How to Make Baby Food in Your CrockPot

Day 240!

The lovely Merideth who lined up the Crock-Pot Cook & Carry give away just had her first baby.

I love new babies.

Because I'm oh-so-helpful, I told her she could use her Crock-Pot to make baby food. After I blurted that out, I realized she probably already knew that...

but! Maybe you didn't. And now you do.

Since I'm a crazy California Hippie along with being a total cheapskate I didn't buy little jars of baby food for my kids. I wasn't concerned about chemicals as much as I was blown away by the cost and the packaging. The jars of organic food I bought for this picture cost $0.85 each on sale.
The vegetables I bought cost a total of $4.23, and I have enough baby food to feed all of John and Kate Plus 8's kids for a few days. Except now they aren't babies, they're 4, but if they were babies, I could do it.

The Ingredients.

--fresh or frozen fruit or vegetables
-- water

Frozen vegetables (in this case the little green beans) are quite good for you. They are picked at the exact right time and all of the nutrients are preserved perfectly in the freezing process.

The Directions.

I used yellow squash, sweet potatoes, and frozen green beans.

Wash your vegetables and peel the skin. Cut into chunks. Put the chunks into your crockpot and cover with the least amount of water you can to fully cook them.

For the yellow squash, I used 1/4 cup of water.
Frozen green beans (toss in frozen), 1/4 cup of water.
Sweet potatoes, I ended up using 3/4 cup of water.

Make baby food on a day that you are home to monitor the food. Each variety will cook differently, depending on the moisture content and the density of the fruit or vegetable.

I used a 4 quart, and two 6 quart crockpots, and everything was cooked fully within 3 hours.

When the veggies or fruit are quite tender, unplug your crockpot. Use an immersible blender, a real blender, or a food processor to puree the food. If you need to add a bit of water to make it thinner for your baby, do so in little drips.

Freeze in ice cube trays, then pop out and store in a freezer bag. Here's a great article about freezing baby food.

The Verdict.

I tasted each with a small spoon. It tastes like pureed vegetables. I'm going to be all Deceptively Delicious tonight and sneak a block or two into pasta sauce.

shhhh. don't tell.