What kind of veggies do you use for your homemade baby food?

S

Shenzhennifer

Registered User
It`s hard to find organic around here and the cost would actually be greater than buying jarred organic food, it seems, but I`m getting a bit nervous about using the regular produce around here since I think it all comes from the mainland. Does it?
I have been trying to buy stuff that at least comes from Aus/NZ or anywhere else but it`s hard. I admit most of it is local that I`m buying.
Also, I know about the baby carrot nitrate thing, but regular carrots are ok too, aren`t they? Anything else `bad`?
What is everyone else buying?
Btw- my baby is still on the first stage of eating - so far he`s had rice and oat cereal, pumpkin, carrot, sweet potato, apple, pear, peach, apricot, but we are steadily expanding our repertoire.
Any thoughts are welcome~

Signed Hysterical in HK:)
 
I use everything - whatever is there, wherever it's from. With carrots, the main thing I've heard is to not add the water that you cook them in - because the nitrates will go into the cooking water. So if you steam them or microwave them, just give them a rinse down and add "clean" water.

Over here, the main things I fed my baby at first were apples, pears, bananas, pumpkin, carrot, peas (I use frozen ones) - I can't think what else... I made all my own baby food, and baby is now 8 months and doing well. I printed this chart and stuck it to my fridge - http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/content/SolidFoodsChart_Wholesomebabyfood.pdf - it's a great outline and gives lots of ideas of what you can introduce when. Actually, that whole site is great - Make Homemade Baby Food Recipes, Homemade Baby Food Recipes, Solid Food Baby Tips, Baby Nutrition & more!

I think that we can create our own worries because some stuff is really not as big a deal as it is in the media... (organic is a big "fad" these days and to the point that sometimes we can feel that non-organic is BAD... which is isn't, in my opinion anyway...) That said, there are some things that I DON'T feed my baby that many other mums do. The main one is garoupa fish (Very common first food in congee for Chinese) - because it can have high levels of methyl mercury. Personally, I probably won't feed that to her until she's at least 5 or even older. There are plenty of safer fish for kids to be eating, in my opinion. Not that she eats any of them yet anyway ;) But she will as she gets older. She's still only 8 months now...

It is really hard to know what to feed your child - particularly in the first year. I've heard some people say though - "Food is for fun before they are one" - and I get the idea that it's more about introducing them to different tastes and textures rather than for nutrition - they still get most of the nutrients they need from the breastmilk/formula...

*shrugs* I'm not that far ahead of you, I don't think - and at times I feel completely clueless!! I just make it up as I go along ;)
 
Here's a recommendation for organic food--we have a subscription with an organic farm out in the NT somewhere. We pay $150 for a weekly delivery of a variety of produce, whatever is in season. We love it, and it's what our baby has mostly eaten. The website is organic-farm.com. Plus there are some veg/fruits that don't matter so much if they are organic or not, like avacado, mango, and papaya.
As for what to feed/when/how to approach it, I found the book Child of Mine, feeding your child with love and good sense, by Ellen Sattyr to be REALLY helpful--I think it's given me a much more relaxed sense about what is important and helped me not to stress about it.
Good luck!
 
i've never chosen organic over anything else, really. to me it is just way too expensive.

my kids have always loved:
eggplant (i buy the local variety as western eggplant is cha-ching!)
zucchini
tomatoes
potatoes
corn(i just buy frozen)
peas (ditto)
carrots (frozen or fresh depending)
choi sum,
gai lan
cabbage
green beans
etc

basically, anything and everything that we ourselves eat. the thing is, if we go to a restaurant, you can bet they are not using organic, jet fresh from australia.

i never really stressed about it, i figured that in the long run, you won't be able to tell if your child was given organic or not.....just like breastmilk or formula.
 
We are also receiving the 3kg organic veggies every week from the organic farm and we love it ! some veggies really have more taste (like carrots), and it's delivered at home ! You get the seasonal products. You can also go to Simply Organic in CausewayBay, they also have the products from the same farm.
 
do you know if it is possible to request that certain veggies NOT be delivered in their package? i might be interested in the delivery, IF they could guarantee that i dont' get cauliflower or broccoli...i just CANNOT stand the stuff!LOL!
 
Since I've started (4 months) I got cauliflower and broccoli only once. Generally (you can choose western or chinese basket), i got carrots, potatoes, salads, asparagus, cucumbers, aubergine, zucchinis, corn, tomatoes, green beans, and herbs... and I probably forget one or two... I like it when they deliver, it's like receiving a present :D
 
the thing is, we eat about 50-50 western/chinese...so, i'm trying to figure out if it's worth it for us.
 
Nicolejoy - GREAT tip about the carrots - I will try to forget the time when I added the water from the steamer to the carrots... I found that website too - it`s really great eh. But that chart is a nice thing to have around.

Monte and Frenchy - $150 doesn`t sound too too bad. But how much do you get? I wonder if I know that farm - I have a friend that lives up that way and she took me there once.

Carang - what is gai lan? The vegetables and fruits you get, is it from the mainland? Not everything has to be organic, but I just don`t trust everything that is produced in China. It`s like in Canada, I don`t buy produce from Mexico.

Thanks for the recommendations so far. I will check out that organic farm and see if it`s doable for us.
Right now I`m referring to Annabel Karmel`s Healthy Baby Meal Planner for ideas. But like all these books and websites, it`s totally western, like they assume you`re produce isn`t tainted, hehe:)
 
quite a lot of the fruit actually comes from the same places as you'd get in canada. my mum used to be a produce manager in a large canadian chain supermarket. she was shocked that a lot of the fruit etc in the supermarkets were EXACTLY the same as what she sold! boxes, packaging, everything! that's not to say it's all the same. honestly, i just buy what we need. i've never really worried too much about it. (except meat, we REALLY try to avoid mainland meat whenever possible).

gai lan looks a lot like choi sum, but is thicker (personally, i prefer baby choi sum)
 
Well, we ask for a mix of western/eastern veg from the farm, and this is what we got last week: 1 red cabbage, 1 green cabbage, a bag of potatoes, a bag of carrots, 2 small heads of broccoli, a bag of lettuce, a bag of choi sum, a large squash (maybe zucchini? not sure) and a bag of fresh thyme. In recent weeks we've gotten tomatoes, corn on the cob, fresh rosemary, fresh basil, spinach, asparagus, aubergine ... it's just a variety, and since we like everything except beets we're pretty happy with it and it seems like good value to us.
I do it partly for the health reasons but also in large part for the environmental ones. The fact that not only is this food grown organically but that it is local instead of flown in from all over the world gives it a lot smaller "footprint." And it helps to support a farmer, which I'm happy to do. Of course I still buy plenty of things from overseas (like Carang said, our food supply is so global!) but every little bit helps, I think.
 
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