Repurposing Baby Food Jars {The First Years: Starting Solids}

It's hard to believe this is the final post in our Starting Solids series! Be sure to go back and check out the complete series (listed below) if you missed a post!

In the last post in this series, I wrote about 6 ways to use up baby food purees. Today, we're looking at repurposing those old baby food jars once all the food is gone!

Now, if you made your own baby food, you may not even have any jars to repurpose. BUT, not many of us take homemade baby food on the go, and, after a while, quite a few jars will start to accumulate--even for those of us who mostly make our own food. 

Image by jencu

Now you can just rinse them out and toss them in the recycling bin, but repurposing them is an even greener idea!

Check out these 7 ways to repurpose those old baby food jars:

1. Use them to store spices. This is the main way I now re-use my old jars. I love that I can easily dip my measuring spoons into the wide neck of the jar. I do have a fancy-smachy spice rack, but I use the old baby food jars for my excess spices, so they stay in the cabinet until I need them. Mine are plain and simple. I use a sharpie to notate the type of spice each one contains. 

But check out the following repurposed baby food jars-turned-spice containers from DAV.I.SON! Wow! She attached magnets and everything!

Image by DAV.I.SON via Pinterest

2. Use them for children's crafts. You can make all kinds of crafts with old jars, or you can simply use them to store fingerpaint, etc. 

3. Use them as toddler-sized musical instruments. Let your child help you pick out beans, sand, acorns, beads, coins or anything else that makes noise to place in the jars. Your child will be fascinated with the different sounds each jar will make! Decorate the outside of the jar together!

Check out the tiny jar of Nutella! You can do the same with peanut butter, jelly, hummus, etc.!
Image by _Libby_

4. Use them to store homemade personal body care products, like homemade deodorant, eye cream or even small lotion bars. 

5. Use them as "encouraging note" or "prayer request" jars. Some students at my husband's school once wrote tiny notes of encouragement and placed them in baby food jars and gifted them to their teachers. You can do the same with prayer requests. 

Image by stevendepolo

6. Use them to make Christmas ornaments. Snow globes anyone?  

7. Use them to make pretend food for your child's play kitchen. A friend of mine lets her children pick out dry beans, pasta, rice, etc. to store in the jars, and she super glues the lids shut. No more cheap plastic food! It's cheaper and better for the environment! (Although, I confess, Little Girl's toy kitchen is full of plastic food!)

What are some ways you've repurposed old baby food jars?


Did you miss any posts in this series? Check them out here:


Starting Solids: An Introduction
The Best Foods to Feed Baby
Homemade Baby Food
5 Finger Foods for Baby
The Second Best Milk for Babies
Baby Food on the Go: Ella's Kitchen Review
Baby Food on the Go: Sprout Review
Baby Food on the Go: Plum Review
Baby Food on the Go: Happy Baby Review
6 Ways to Use Up Baby Food Purees

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6 Ways to Use Up Baby Food Purees {The First Years: Starting Solids}

Kitchen Stewardship's The Everything Beans Book is on sale through Sunday for 50% off--only $4.50! Use code: ONEYEAR50 to get it here! 

Is your baby all done with purees? Wait--don't throw out that baby food!


Here are 6 ways to use up baby food purees once your baby has moved on to more solid food: 


1. Offer it to a friend. I know of at least one of my readers who literally spends hours every week making baby food for her triplets. I bet almost any busy mom of babies would appreciate the help!


2. Donate it to a pregnancy resource center or food pantry. You cannot do this with homemade baby food, but if you have unopened store bought food, by all means, get it into the hands of someone who needs it!

3. Use frozen pureed fruit (or even veggie!) cubes in smoothies! This is one of my favorites! I make smoothies several times per week for breakfast--or just for a snack. I add frozen banana to almost every smoothie. If you have leftover banana cubes, just toss 2-4 into your smoothie instead of a half banana! You can also toss frozen spinach, kale or broccoli cubes in to make a green smoothie! (Green smoothies are my favorites!)


4. Use purees in any baked good recipe that calls for purees. This takes a lot of work out of the recipe for you! Of course, if you have frozen cubes, you will want to make sure they are thawed out before using them, but if you're using store bought food, it's as easy as opening up a jar and pouring it into the recipe!  I've used "baby food" purees when making allergen-free pumpkin spice donut holes and pumpkin-pear muffins. (Hint: You can almost always use sweet potato puree instead of pumpkin puree in pumpkin recipes...it barely changes the taste in baked goods!)


5. Make homemade smoothie "popsicles." Use frozen fruit cubes to make smoothies; then, pour the smoothies into popsicles molds for your kiddos!

6. Pop frozen fruit "ice" cubes into lemonade or orange juice. Use the pureed cubes instead of regular ice cubes for a refreshing treat!


What are some ways you use up baby food purees, once your baby has moved on to solids?


Check out the other posts in the "Starting Solids" series:

• Starting Solids
• The Best Foods to Feed Baby 
• Homemade Baby Food
• 5 Finger Foods for Baby

I'm linking up with: The Prairie Homestead, Growing Home, Far Above Rubies, Time-Warp Wife and Raising Homemakers,  Works for Me Wednesday, Frugally Sustainable,  Deep Roots at Home, The Better Mom, Raising Mighty Arrows,  Live Renewed,  Simple Lives Thursday, Frugal Friday, Women Living Well,  Monday Mania, Real Food 101, Traditional Tuesday ,Fat Tuesday, Make Your Own Monday, Real Food Wednesday, Full Plate Thursday, Homemaker's Cottage, Fight Back Friday, Fresh Bites Friday, Friday Food, Living Well Blog Hop, Pennywise Platter

The First Years: Baby Food on the Go-Ella's Organics Review

This week's giveaway is a copy of Smart Sweets--or buy it here now for 25% off using code Humbled25! 

Welcome back to The First Years Starting Solids mini series! Today we are giving another option for baby food on the go! 

As I've stated before in this series, I prefer (and think it's best) to make baby food. When you make it yourself, you have no worries about what your baby is consuming. You made it, so you know.

But homemade baby food must be refrigerated, and let's be honest, it can be messy. I do have friends that have special little cooler compartments in their diaper bags for homemade baby food, but I honestly preferred the easy way out.

Back in the summer, when Baby Girl was still consuming purees, Ella's Organics sent me some of their baby food products to review. 

Ella's Organics let me try their 5 of their purees: broccoli, pears and peas; apples; strawberry & apple; banana baby brekkie and spinach, apples & rutabaga. 


I was impressed with both the variety and nutritional content on the products. I mean--rutabaga? (I had honestly never even heard of it before!) You can't get much more variety than that!


Ella's Organics was started as a family business, and all the company's foods are USDA organic!


You can purchase Ella's Organics at most Target and Walgreens stores as well as on Amazon.com.

 As a series re-cap, we've covered:


When to Start Solid Foods
The Best Foods to Feed Baby
Homemade Baby Food
A Review of Ruth Yaron's Super Baby Food Book
Baby Food on the Go: Happy Bellies
Baby Food on the Go: Plum Organics
Baby Food on the Go: Sprout
The Second Best Milk for Babies
Baby Food on the Go: Ella's Organics


Next weekend, we'll look at ways to use up baby food purees, once your baby has moved on to finger foods! (Don't throw those purees away!) 


We'll finish the series in two weeks with a post on re-purposing old baby food jars!


What is your best "starting solids" advice for new moms? 


Are you enjoying this series? We have more to come! In the coming months, we'll be covering baby wearing and cloth diapering! Don't miss a post by subscribing via e-mail below!

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Baby Food on the Go: Sprout Organics Review and GIVEAWAY!

Welcome back to The First Years Starting Solids mini series! Today we are giving another option for baby food on the go!

As I've stated before in this series, I prefer (and think it's best) to make baby food. When you make it yourself, you have no worries about what your baby is consuming. You made it, so you know. 

But homemade baby food must be refrigerated, and let's be honest, it can be messy. I do have friends that have special little cooler compartments in their diaper bags for homemade baby food, but I honestly preferred the easy way out. 

Back in the summer, when Baby Girl was still consuming purees, Sprout sent me some of their baby food products to review. 
Sprout let me try their cereal, starter single ingredient purees, simple combination purees and advanced meals with texture. 


Sprout offers a variety of food choices--ranging from the typical banana and sweet potatoes to the more gourmet combination meals, such as butternut squash and mac n cheese, black beans and sweet corn, and curried red lentils and carrots. 


I kind of felt like I was serving my baby a meal at a fancy restaurant when she ate Sprout!


All Sprout foods are USDA organic and come in BPA-free packaging!


Want to win some Sprout baby food products? Enter the giveaway below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Baby Food on the Go: Happy Baby Review and GIVEAWAY!

Welcome back to The First Years Starting Solids mini series! Today we are giving one option for baby food on the go!

As I've stated before in this series, I prefer (and think it's best) to make baby food. When you make it yourself, you have no worries about what your baby is consuming. You made it, so you know. 


But homemade baby food must be refrigerated, and let's be honest, it can be messy. I do have friends that have special little cooler compartments in their diaper bags for homemade baby food, but I honestly preferred the easy way out. 


Back in the summer, when Baby Girl was still consuming purees, I contacted several reputable organic baby food brands and asked to review their products. 


And I was super impressed. I will be reviewing these brands foods over the next 4 weekends (with some great giveaways, too!). 


First up is Happy Baby. I first "met" this brand back when Little Girl was a newborn 3 1/2 years ago. I was very impressed with the probiotics and pre-biotics in their cereals back then. 


Well, the brand has gotten even better since!


Happy Baby let me try their oatmeal, several purees and snacks.


Along with both the pre and probiotics for gut health, the cereals now also contain DHA and choline for brain and eye health. Happy Baby's Happy Bellies cereals come in brown rice, multi-grain and oatmeal. I have decided we will probably skip out on grains the first year next time around, but if I were to continue feeding grains, it would be these!


Next, I reviewed the HappyBaby BPA-free, shelf-stable puree pouches. I loved the variety of food choices--spinach, mango & pear and broccoli, peas & pear were my favorite!


I also tried the HappyTot pouches, which are similar to the HappyBaby pouches but are made for older babies. I loved that these contain the super grain, salba, which is full of antioxidants, protein, fiber and omega-3s (not to mention gluten-free!). 


Lastly, I tried a couple snacks--the HappyPuffs and HappyYogis (freeze-dried yogurt). Both were perfect for little hands to grasp--and I didn't have to worry about what was in them! 


The best part about HappyBaby products? They are ALL USDA-certified organic--and contain NO GMOs!


Want to win some HappyBaby food? Happy Baby has graciously volunteered to give some of their food away to one Humbled Homemaker reader!! Click "read more" to enter the form below! 


I'm linking up with: Whatever Weekend

I'm linking this post to: Money Saving Mom

Starting Solids: 5 Finger Foods for Baby (and 5 to avoid)

Welcome back to First Year Friday--and the 4th installment of the Starting Solids series. If you haven't already, enter the giveaway for Super Baby Food, an incredibly helpful book by Ruth Yaron. Giveaways for Norwex eco-friendly cloths and A Natural Noel eBook are also still happening!!

Image by pbboss

For today's post, I decided to list 5 Finger Foods for Baby. I'll be honest, I sometimes too often fed my girls the typical puffs (albeit organic) or cheerios. These seemed like ideal finger snacks for baby. And there may be nothing really wrong with them. 
But...like I mentioned in this post, I don't know if I will even feed grains during the first year to any future babies. 
So if we give up puffs and cheerios, what will baby eat? There's plenty!
Check out this list of my top 5 finger foods, and please add your own in the comments!

Image by essie82

1. Peas. My girls absolutely LOVE peas (still!). They even eat them frozen. Of course you want to supervise, but peas have little choking risk.
2. Small chunks of ripe banana. Babies can easily mash small chunks of banana, and, again, the choking hazard is minimal. 
3. Small chunks of ripe avocado. If the avocado is not ripe enough, there is a bigger choking hazard, so make sure it's just ripe enough to cut into chunks (but not totally mushy). If you can mash a chunk between your fingers, it should be fine. 

Image by saavem

4. Beans! My girls still LOVE beans! I would make sure they are cooked to be very, very soft, and I don't recommend lima beans, as the outer skin can be tough and a choking hazard (you can peel them, but that takes forever!). My girls especially like black beans. 
5. Bite-size pieces of cooked carrots. Again, make sure they are cooked to be very, very soft! You do not want to feed raw carrots to your baby for quite a while (like, until they have teeth!).

Image by mlpotma

5 Foods to Avoid Feeding Baby
The following foods are choking hazards and shouldn't be fed to baby whole until at least age 3:
1. Grapes. This is a big one. Little Girl is 3 1/2, and she JUST started eating grapes whole. (And it still scares me some--especially if she spills them on the floor, where Baby Girl can find them!). When babies are small, you can peel and quarter grapes. As they get a little older and are more comfortable chewing (and have all their teeth), you can just quarter them, then slice them in half. 

Image by amr_safey

2. Popcorn. The kernel pieces, especially, can be choking hazards. I think Little Girl has only eaten popcorn once or twice. 
3. Raw carrots. Make sure your child has a full set of teeth and can chew very well before handing over a carrot stick. 
4. Bubblegum. I still don't think Little Girl has ever chewed it. 

Image by jliudesign

5. Nuts. If there is no family history of nut allergies (there is in our family), you can give baby nuts after a certain point (consult your physician), but they need to be chopped finely or made into a butter that is very thinned out. 

What are your favorite finger foods for baby? What foods do you avoid?
*Disclaimer: Please consult your trusted medical professional before deciding what to feed your baby. 

We have a lot of giveaways going this week! Check them out before they're gone:

• Norwex Eco-Friendly Cleaning-through 12/7
• A Natural Noel eBook--through 12/7
• Super Baby Food--through 12/10
• Vista Print Designs--through tonight!  

Have you received a FREE copy Healthy Holidays: Slightly-Indulgent Sweet Treats yet? Send me an e-mail via the contact tab if you would like one and you are an e-mail/RSS subscriber! If not, you can subscribe below!

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Affiliates for this post: 

• A Natural Noel

• Truth in the Tinsel

Super Baby Food GIVEAWAY!!!

In lieu of an actual Starting Solids post this holiday weekend, I'm thrilled to announce a GIVEAWAY for the amazing book, Super Baby Food!

Boy, was I shocked a few weeks ago when Ruth Yaron herself--the author of Super Baby Food--left a comment on my post where I mentioned her great book!


Her publicist then e-mailed and is offering one Humbled Homemaker reader a FREE COPY!!


In case you missed my rave review, check out the post, here. 


Otherwise, click "read more" to enter! The winner will be very blessed! (And if you don't currently have a baby, this book will make a GREAT baby gift!!)

I'm sharing this post with: Growing Home, Your Green Resource, , Monday Mania, Mangia Mondays, Melt in Your Mouth Monday, Real Food 101, Mouth Watering Monday, Traditional Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays,



Read more »

Homemade Baby Food {Guest Post}

Welcome back to First Year Friday--and the 3rd installment of the Starting Solids series. Today, I'm delighted to have a guest post from my friend Lexie, of Lexie: Naturals!

Image by agastecheg

Guest Post by Lexie of Lexie: Naturals 
If you are anything like me, you often try to cut costs here and there.  Making your own baby food is a huge money saver!  

Some people get nervous just thinking about it or even think that they could never, EVER make their own baby food. But the reality is - IT'S EASY! It also doesn't require fancy kitchen tools (though I'm sure they can be helpful). Let's also not forget about the many health benefits of HOMEMADE ANYTHING.

I started making my own baby food when my little girl was a baby (and currently make it for my 8 month old).  My husband and I both worked at the time, but he was home with her for the majority of the day while I taught school. He still comments on how easy it was to pop a cube or two out of the freezer and warm it for her! He would also help me prepare and mash the food as well. It's really that simple!

Homemade Baby Food

There are several great resources like this one and this one, but here are 5 basic pointers I've learned along the way that will get you started:

#1: Fresh (and organic) is best, but frozen won’t hurt.  I always like to use fresh produce when I make baby food.  Some great "go-to" fresh foods for babies include: carrots, sweet potatoes, peas, green beans, apples, corn, black beans, squash, bananas, avocado and pumpkin.  This list really could go on and on.  If you do buy frozen, make sure there is no added salt or sugar listed in the ingredients. You should avoid canned food whenever possible (for these reasons). 

#2: Steaming (or baking) is great, but boiling is okay too. I like to use my inexpensive collapsible steamer because it keeps more nutrients in the food. BUT, if you need to boil in a scant amount of water that's fine. Simply add most of the water from the saucepan back into the food before you puree it. Overcooking will cause nutrient loss, so only cook the food until it just begins to get tender. Some foods like bananas and avocados don't need to be cooked. Most fruit should be slightly cooked for younger babies.

#3: Mash or puree your baby’s food once it’s cooked.  I do love using my hand blender (a great gift from a friend), but it certainly isn’t necessary. A good fork will do the trick. Simply mash the food until you reach the right consistency. It should be very smooth for babies who are first eating table food, and it should have more texture for older babies. 

#4: Feed your baby what you are eating. If you are having fresh foods in ANY part of your meal (carrots in your salad, rice or broccoli as a side, soaked beans in tacos, baked sweet potatoes, etc.), steam some to the side with no added salt. I even puree raw spinach leaves into my baby’s food if we have it on hand.  Be creative!

Rice, black eyed peas, raw spinach

#5: Make and freeze large batches. It’s very simple to roast a whole pan of sweet potatoes or pumpkins and steam some fresh veggies at the same time. Then you can simply mash or puree them, spoon them into clean ice cube trays and freeze them for later use. I cover the puree with a layer of plastic wrap and then transfer them to a labeled bag once they are frozen to save room in my freezer.

So, you're asking, "Where should I start?"  Make a decision today to prepare one food item for your baby instead of buying it.  You will be surprised at how easy it really is. 

We’d also love to hear pointers you’ve learned along the way. So, share away in the comments!

Image by Rachel Tayes

  

*Notes from Erin: I made much of my own baby food. Although, my second baby ate quite a bit of store-bought baby food as well (some of which I'll be reviewing and giving away in this series!). Jacinda at Growing Home has also written a great post on homemade baby food, here.  


 Lexie is a follower of Jesus, the wife of the very talented Stephen McNeill, and a stay-at-home mother of two exquisite girls (ages 3 and 8 months). Her passions include spending time with friends and family, reading, traveling, and teaching. In an effort to live more naturally and frugally, she began making and selling her own lotion, lip balm and diaper cream. She loves sharing these passions with others and helping other families catch the vision of living more naturally. 

**I'm thrilled to announce Lexie: Naturals as The Humbled Homemaker's first non-affiliate sponsor! Lexie was not compensated for this post, nor did I compensate her, but she will be our first monthly sponsor--starting today! Be sure to check out her Facebook page and blog for her wonderful, natural skincare products! 

Did you hear about Katie of Kitchen Stewardship's newly-released Smart Sweets real foods desserts eBook? I was honored to be both a tester and one of the editors for this book! She is running a sale through 11/18 for 30% off using code: 2DAY35OFF! {If you order through my affiliate link (here), I will get a small percentage of the sale.} I wouldn't recommend this book if I didn't own it myself and truly love it! (And if you don't want to buy it, at least click over and get a download for a FREE GF apple crisp recipe!)



I'm linking up with: Make Your Own Monday, Growing Home

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