Even though I don’t have an inherent interest in cooking, I ended up quite enjoying making purees for Harper, which surprised me. I used the book as a guide and purchased a bunch of silicone freezer trays so that I could start building a stash of vegetable, fruit and other purees.
It was definitely a lot of prep work, but it was well worth it because preparing large batches allowed me to have enough food to feed her for a few weeks without having to make additional batches. So a couple hour investment led to weeks of meals that were ready in 30 seconds or less.
Around the time we started solids, I started thinking more about how and where we shopped for groceries. We usually just went to the store closest to our house, but as I started to plan all of the purees I was going to make for Harper, we decided to purchase the produce we needed at Whole Foods Market® because it was always so fresh and they had an abundance of organic items to choose from.
We would buy a bunch of fruits, veggies and sweet potatoes in bulk and then we would spend the evening steaming/boiling the foods, blending them and then pouring the purees into freezer trays. When they were frozen, we stored the cubes in zip lock bags so that we could defrost and reheat food for daycare as well as dinner. It was so efficient!
Truthfully, in the past, I never thought that where you shop made much of a difference. I have consumed (and still do) many processed foods and my diet isn’t perfect by any means and I don’t always eat organic. But having Harper made me more conscious about everything— from eliminating certain skin and body care products when I was pregnant to focusing on eating well when I was nursing, I became cognizant about everyday choices and I started to place value on things I didn’t think about much about before.
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I am really happy you shared this. After hearing about the HORRIBLE veto of Governor Christie in NJ to allow pigs to be kept in inhumane cages, I've been really trying to make ethical choices with where we buy our food. We are fortunate because it isn't cost prohibitive – but for many, the "choice" of ethical and quality food simply isn't an option. All of our grocery stores should adopt a similar value structure and good food shouldn't be inapposite with affordable food.
You are 100 percent right!
We shop at whole foods for the organic products. We always believed organic was better, but until we had kids we didn't want to drive an hour away & spend a lot more. Unfortunately whole foods also means whole wallet.
I love that you and others are starting to think about this. Only when enough people demand products that are raised ethically and humanely will our food supply start to change. Right now it is mostly filled with GMOs and inhumanly raised meat and dairy products. It is quite sad what has happened in such a short time, but I have hope we can reverse the trend. And kudos for making your own baby food, it looks pretty yummy! 🙂
Thanks Meghan. I certainly don't eat perfectly but I have been much more invested in eudcating myself since I had Harper. You're right that change will only happen if more people are invested in this issue.