# Baby Food/Liquid Diet?



## randysdad (Mar 30, 2013)

Hello all. This seems like a good place to start. (new here) I'm trying to find out about turning food into baby food/liquid diet type thing. This is for my 29 yr old son who is tube fed. This is kind of really for "what if". Will explain more, if this is the right place to ask. Thanks, Mark


----------



## tentance (Aug 16, 2012)

heya. i made all my kiddos baby food, and even ate some of it myself 
the trick is to get a really good blender that is easy to clean, i recommend the magic bullet ( about $40 at target ). then mix up pureed fruits or veggies, add to yogurt or water... one of my friends once had his mouth wired shut. he said his mom always made him such healthy stuff that all he ever wanted was a fatty greasy cheeseburger. i suspect he wasn't getting enough fat, she is super into health food. 
but if he has a peg tube/g-tube/J-tube, i wouldn't recommend home made foods. they are too likely to become clogged. also if he does have an external feeding tube like that, make sure he is sitting upright when the food goes in. i've seen a lot of aspiration because of improper positioning during and right after feeding. it's so sad.
does that help?


----------



## randysdad (Mar 30, 2013)

Yes, he has a g-tube. May 13th will be 5 years since the car wreck. Randy is a TBI Survivor with quadripalegia due to "near complete" separation of the brain stem. The TBI is considered severe.

He was considered a "near brain dead quad organ donor". Yea Bull. The neurologist wasn't quite the god he thought he was. Mine came through though.

He communicates by eye and using his left hand. All things considered, he's doing very good. No real problems. Very healthy, no sores, not allowed. I'm a "strict s.o.b." when it comes to his care. Kinda gotta be. He only aspirated/got dehydrated once when in a nursing home. I had no say the 1st year. He was still legally married and i was "just the father". She came crawling out of the woodwork smelling money. (There was none) He ended up getting well enough to give me P.O.A.& H.C.P.. Had him divorced and home with me soon after. All is as well as can be now.

On to the food. We use Jevity 1.2, 6 8oz cans a day plus 1-2 small jars of baby food. We use a pump. I've never had a problem with it clogging. It's an F22. I change the tube once a month and keep an extra for just in case. Mostly wondering how to puree meat, just in case. Kind of a doomsday prepper type thing. I can always use Boost or Ensure. Have some powdered Boost. Some times in the middle of the night i get to wondering about "what if". I try to be ready for anything but... Gotta be ready for anything! Mark


----------



## Vosey (Dec 8, 2012)

I would think that some of this could be pressure canned, it just needs to be thin enough. Ground beef can be canned, usually with stock or hot water, if meat is pureed and thinned with lots of stock or water might be safe to can.
Although stocking up on Boost and jars of baby food would be much easier and take up less space!

Always amazes me how loved ones flee when the going gets tough, awfully glad Randy has you!


----------



## randysdad (Mar 30, 2013)

Thank you for the answers. When pressure canning veggies,is any salt neccesary? Wouldn't want to be putting in much, if any salt. Can't even really use spices. Has to be bland. With the tube in, it's almost like having an ulcer as far as there is a hole in the stomach lining.


----------



## Vosey (Dec 8, 2012)

randysdad said:


> Thank you for the answers. When pressure canning veggies,is any salt neccesary? Wouldn't want to be putting in much, if any salt. Can't even really use spices. Has to be bland. With the tube in, it's almost like having an ulcer as far as there is a hole in the stomach lining.


Salt is only for taste, so no. Pressure canned vegetables turn to mush so would be a great way to store them. But you don't want to can veggies as a puree (botulism loves thick anerobic environments). Do you have a non-electric way to puree? Although I wonder if you pressure canned veggies longer or at a higher pressure, like carrots, if they wouldn't just fall apart. My carrots taste great but are as soft as they can be without losing shape. It would be a fun thing to experiment with!


----------



## randysdad (Mar 30, 2013)

No, i don't have any equipment. What i do have is plenty of family that cans,preserves,hunts & butchers every thing. The thing is, i don't know them all that well. To explain, about 2 years before Randys accident, i moved to my mothers home town, where her family has been for over 100 years. Bought a little land and an old trailer, was going to fix it up for her but, this happened so me & Randy are here and she has an apt in town. It's a little 1 B apt in a subsidized complex for the elderly. While i'm related to half the town, i hadn't really been up here since i was a kid. Most have been by, willing to help with most anything. I'm trying to get some basic info because no one has ever done it for baby food/liquid diet.


----------



## tentance (Aug 16, 2012)

in addition to stocking up on ensure, boost, and his normal, you might want to look into carnation and slim-fast. they are low salt, low sugar, high protein, very nutritious, and come in powdered. also you can get powdered milk, while not a complete food, might help to stretch the supplies in a time of crisis.
fully whole milk fresh from the animal is a complete food. the only thing lacking is some minor elements that you wouldnt need to eat every day.


----------



## Vosey (Dec 8, 2012)

How about picking one of your relatives you'd like to know better and asking them to teach you about pressure canning? You could can carrots and then see how the texture is to break down into food for Randy. You could test if the food would work and if you think it's worth buying a pressure canner (or borrowing one) and connect with family a little more!


----------



## randysdad (Mar 30, 2013)

Wouldn't really have to borrow equipment. They would jump all over the place to help us!
They're wanting me to try and find out if any thing special has to be done to make food more liquidy. Can always make soups, thinking maybe even stews or something. I think our real concern is over cooking and losing too much from steam. We're thinking we would make a soup, strain out the veggies and puree them & put them back in. Guess the meat would have to be made more like a paste? Should be able to do that, right? What about hard boiled eggs or poached? Add a little...? to make a little smoother? Milk?


----------



## Vosey (Dec 8, 2012)

My first thought is stock for thinning, especially a good long cooked stock so the gelatin is in it. Very nutritious. You do have to reheat canned food to be sure and kill and bacteria and the liquid does dry up, but adding stock or milk would work. And of course you can pressure can stock. 

You know, they make stick blenders that run on batteries now. I have an electric one, it does an amazing job of pureeing soups. Purees meat in soups. In the old days they pressed veggies through a sieve. Must be something they did to puree meat, a mortar and pestle and then a sieve? Just brainstorming for when the SHTF and there's no power!


----------



## randysdad (Mar 30, 2013)

Thank you tentance & Vosey. I think we have enough to go on now.
Will be getting some organic veggies & meats and getting started. Have to go slow as it would be a major diet change for him, don't want to shock his system or anything. Mark


----------

