HOMEMADE BABY FOOD- A BEGINNER’S GUIDE
Homemade baby food, it’s a lot easier than you think.
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Here at Living Practically, I try to do all things practically, including feeding my children.
In an ideal world, our toddler and baby would eat what we are eating at every meal. Unfortunately, that just isn’t a realistic goal for us. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn’t.
Pretty much a little of this and a little of that. We do some baby led weaning, some homemade baby food, some store bought baby food, and a lot of store-bought unsweetened applesauce. But, the majority of our kids’ nutrition comes from homemade baby food.
HOW WE GOT STARTED MAKING OUR OWN BABY FOOD
When our family pediatrician told me I can start solid foods with my first baby I panicked. I had no idea what that meant. Pretty much clueless on what he could eat, I headed to Walmart.
After seeing the prices of individual priced baby food, I saw how it would add up VERY quickly. I grabbed a few pouches and decided to research homemade baby food. I discovered on Pinterest just how simple it was to make homemade baby food, so I gave it a shot.
I simply fell in love with it.
Making your own baby food can be intimidating, because we think we have to go out and buy extra equipment and spend money on fancy glass containers like these.
Don’t get me wrong, those containers are awesome, and I would love to use those. Because I try to be a minimalist and very practical, I know that I can use containers that I already have at home.
WHY MAKE YOUR OWN HOMEMADE BABY FOOD?
CHEAPER
Making your own baby food is significantly cheaper than buying it from the store.
Depending on your grocery store and the brands that you buy, store-bought baby food can be anywhere from $0.50 to a dollar per serving. So if there’s 30 days in a month, and 2 containers a day. For easy math, we’ll say 50 cents for container. (That is estimating on the low side) If you do two containers a day you’re looking at a dollar day for baby food. So that will put you at $30 a month for baby food, definitely not the end of the world, but that will definitely add up month after month.
On the flip side, a large 5 lb bag of carrots is about $5 and can get you 30-40 servings for the month. Saving an extra $25 a month sounds good to me!
HEALTHIER
if you ever look on the ingredient list for some store-bought baby foods, you can easily find a lot of preservatives and extra ingredients.
If you are making your own baby food, you can add water or even breast milk to make it even healthier!
EASY
I am not going to lie, it would be easier to just buy 20 baby food pouches for the week. My purpose in writing this post is to show you that making homemade baby food is easy, but I am not saying it is easier than buying pre-made pouches 🙂
CUSTOMIZABLE
You don’t have to find “real” recipes. That’s the beauty of it. Stick with vegetables and water or fruit and water and you’ll be good to go! You can mix fruits and vegetables and then freeze or freeze individually and mix together later. Really whatever works for you!
BEST FOODS FOR HOMEMADE BABY FOOD
When I first got started making homemade baby food, I didn’t trust myself. I needed to be told every step of the way what I should do. Now that I am a lot more comfortable, I just play around with different fruits and vegetables. I think we make things WAY MORE COMPLICATED than what they need to be.
FRUITS
- banana (fresh or frozen)
- blueberries (fresh or frozen)
- kiwi
- strawberries (fresh or frozen)
- mango (fresh or frozen)
- peach (fresh or frozen)
- pineapple (fresh or frozen)
VEGETABLES
- peas (fresh or frozen)
- carrots (fresh or frozen)
- green beans (fresh or frozen)
- avocado (no need to cook, just blend)
- sweet potato
- butternut squash
HOW TO MAKE BABY FOOD
You will see just how easy it is to make a month’s worth of baby food in less than one hour!
ITEMS NEEDED
- BLENDER– or immersion blender
- WATER, FORMULA, OR BREASTMILK- to thin to a good consistency
- SPATULA- to get it all out of the blender
- CONTAINERS- to fill with puree and stick in the fridge or freezer
- ICE CUBE TRAY (optional- great for doing 1 oz cubes. I like these silicone ones)
- FREEZER BAGS (only if doing individual cubes)
STEP 1- COOK (if needed)
If you are doing a vegetable, make sure you cook them first. I think it is the easiest to just do this over the stove. If you are doing a fruit, you can skip this step.
Remember, if you are doing a vegetable mix, you can combine all of them now and cook together.
STEP 2- BLEND
Blend the cooked vegetables. Start with a little bit the water used to cook the vegetables, regular water, formula or breastmilk.
STEP 3- STORE
Once they are blended well, put in the fridge or freezer. I have used these silicone ice cube trays in the past and they work really well for freezing.
Recently though, I have just been freezing the baby food in regular 4-5 ounce Tupperware containers. I have found that it is easier to thaw 2-3 large containers a week rather than thaw these individual 1 ounce cubes for each meal.
SERVING HOMEMADE BABY FOOD
We serve most of our baby food cold, but you can easily reheat in the microwave for just a few seconds. Make sure you double check that it is not too hot before you feed your baby!
I only freeze single fruits or vegetables, and then will mix them when I serve them.
Our little guy is currently 9 months and he is starting to do really well with our Squeezy. It is life-changing as it minimizes the mess, while still helping kids develop their independence.
We use it EVERY SINGLE DAY at least once. Even our toddler likes to use it too for smoothies and yogurt. Do yourself a favor and go get one ASAP!
Another hack that I’ve learned is to buy a large container of unsweetened applesauce for about $1 and mix it in with the homemade baby food. Not only does this help your homemade baby food go farther, but it adds another source of healthy food for a cheap price!
OTHER POSTS I THINK YOU MIGHT ENJOY
Meal planning and meal prepping for beginners.
Cleaning schedules and checklists to help keep your house clean even with littles!
Health grocery shopping list that will save you time and money.
Tips for being more productive as a mother and setting up a good morning routine.
As always, thanks for stopping by! I hope that you found value here and will come back for more!
