Cheaper and more healthy than jarred food.

Since Sweetness first graced us with her presence, I’ve been a bit on the fanatical side about what I would allow to enter her perfect little body. I started getting organic produce and prepared that as baby food. Recently I took to doing this again as Mr. Man started on solid food. It’s so easy, I just wish I had more time to do it is all. Jarred food has one thing on it’s side though – it’s fast and easy.

So yesterday I got my box of yummy goodness, delivered bright and early to my front porch, and went to work making a couple of weeks of baby food for Mr. Man. I ordered extra zucchini, apples, pears, sweet potatoes and peas and went to work. If I get an hour or so of quiet time I can set up quite a productive assembly line. First pop the sweet potato into the oven. That takes about an hour to bake. Then I started with the pears and apples, pealing then slicing. They go together into the steamer and then I set the timer. Don’t forget the timer, whatever you do.

“Timer,” you ask? Well, let me tell you a little story. More than once. In fact more times that I’d like to admit, I’ve just sort of lost track of time. Kids need me, phone rings, I find a Hugh Jackman movie playing on HBO, you know the drill. The next thing you know it’s all “what’s that smell” followed by several hours of soaking and scrubbing a pot that now has burnt/baked/solidified fruit sugars crusted on so tight you might as well polish them with the pot. So, now I set the timer. Because Mommy’s getting old and has had two babies and can’t think as well as she used to and doesn’t sleep long enough and needs a tropical vacation.

While the apples and pears bake, I mean steam, I get to work on pealing and slicing the zucchini, and so on and so on. Typically I wait until the fruit or vegi has cooled down then I get out my trusty <a href=”http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00023JLJG/?tag=heligirl-20 hand blender</a> and make quick work of the stuff. Remember to add a little water. I suppose you can use the regular blender too, but I prefer this as I can shake it around as it pulverizes to assure it’s the right consistency. Then everything goes in the dishwasher.

Once it’s good and pulverized, into the ice cube trays it goes. Cover with plastic wrap and a few hours later – voila. Baby food. I put the cubes in baggies so it’s easy to pull out a few cubes of different things to make a meal. For instance, tonight Mr. Man dined on beef stew, carrots and peas. One cube of each set out mid-afternoon (or defrosted in the microwave if you forget like me) and mixed up makes for a very tasty, and much cheaper than jarred baby food, meal.

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1. Organically Yummy

Fresh organic produce delivered to your door. Yummy!

In my ever busy attempt to find ways to introduce my children, and let’s face it, my burger, beer and fries loving Hubby, to the world of different foods, I signed up to receive a box of fresh organic fruits and vegetables every other week. My first thought: it never hurts to be more healthy and I like the idea of putting organic food into my babies. My second thought: I wonder if I really can get Hubby’s cholesterol down 50 points if I get reeeeally creative with unprocessed food to the point where he’ll prefer it. You can’t hear me, but know I’m laughing really hard right now.

I’d heard of this service in the Seattle area by Full Circle Farm just after Sweetness was born. I signed up about the time she hit six months, when she started solid food. I was a good little mommy. My box would come and I’d steam, puree, poor into ice cube trays, and freeze the wholesome goodness for my precious. Then as she got old enough to eat things straight, I’d leave out the puree step and serve the produce either raw (like lettuce and fruits) or steamed, or in the case of potatoes, baked.

Then I got pregnant. Picking up a box every other week from a drop spot (someone’s front porch) was getting MIGHTY old. And I didn’t have the time to plan meals. I was puking for God’s sake. Not even fresh, organic mangos sounded good. So I canceled.

Then, this nice little e-mail comes from the farm last month: “We’ve started home delivery!” Mr. Man is now on solid food and, while he hasn’t said as much, he might not be that into just peas, carrots, sweet potatoes or jar food (because I’m just not that creative and kind of need to be pushed in the food prep department). I signed back up. Now I get a box of a whole variety of fruits and vegis waiting on my doorstep when I rise every other Wednesday. (That’s the box arriving every other Wednesday, not me rising every other Wednesday.)

I can’t say enough about this service. The food is very fresh and tasty. A lot of it is grown right here in our county. You get an e-mail telling you what’s coming on Friday and you have until Sunday to log on to the website and switch out things if you prefer. I do that part Friday, menu plan and shop for the rest of my stuff over the weekend, and my box of wholesome yumminess is delivered Wednesday morning by “courteous and quiet drivers.” Which is a good thing, because that box has been there at 6 am every morning and I never knew anyone had been in the yard.

So I spent about an hour yesterday steaming, pureeing and freezing zucchini, apples, pears, mango and carrots. Then we had yummy brazed beef and root vegis (baked dish with beef, carrots, parsnips, potatoes and chicken broth) which we could puree for little man after we three had had our share.  One day’s work is at least two weeks of meals for his chunkiness. The best part, no mommy guilt for copping out and making mac and cheese for us and pre-packaged baby food for Mr. Man.

There are a lot of these great services all over the place. Google “community supported agriculture” or “CSA” and your city. I bet you’ll find one close by!

Thank you for subscribing to my RSS feed at Heligirl: Positive Discipline Mommy! I would love to hear your comments and feedback on Organically Yummy. If you have a blog yourself, I'd love to check it out and possibly even link to it here!
Thanks for reading! Heligirl: Positive Discipline Mommy

Related posts:

1. Organic Baby