When you tell people you're making your own baby food, they usually assume you're one of those moms-you know, the ones who throw elaborate birthday parties with handmade piñatas and show up to every playdate perfectly coifed and manicured. I sort of felt embarrassed to tell people about my baby food making adventures because I didn't want people to make those assumptions, but I feel the need to announce to the world: making your own baby food is super super easy! It's not an uppity thing, it's not something you need to devote hours to doing, it's something you can literally do in 5 minutes-and it's so much cheaper than buying food at the store.
Why make your own baby food?
Well, as I mentioned above: it's economical. Those pouches and jars start to add up when your little one is eating a few a day. It's also nice to know exactly what's in the food your baby is eating. You can customize your purees to the exact consistency your baby needs and instead of thinning the purees with water, you can use breastmilk or formula for added nutrition. Oh, and it tastes better too!
Do you need a lot of expensive equipment?
Nope! There are baby food machines like the BEABA Babycook
, which are awesome, but not necessary. The easiest purees of all are banana and avocado, which don't even need to be cooked-just mash them up with a fork and stir in breastmilk or formula to reach the right consistency. Most other purees are made by either steaming or baking fruits and vegetables, then pureeing them. So basically, you need a pot, steamer basket, and something to do the pureeing-a food mill
, food processor, or blender. I bet you already have everything you need!
What fruits and veggies can you use to make baby food?
Just about anything! I'm not a pediatrician or a nutritionist and there are dozens of different recommendations on which foods to serve at which stages, so I'm not going to give recommendations, but some of our favorites have been apples, pears, butternut squash, roasted peaches, and baked sweet potatoes. I try to stick to in-season local produce, but since my daughter's solid food eating coincided with the end of summer, I also use frozen organic produce too-I steam it until it's heated through and soft, then puree it like any other produce. Because our pediatrician gave us the go-ahead, I include pinches of herbs and spices too-one of my biggest hits with my daughter was a baby samosa puree that combined peas, Yukon Gold potatoes, and a little bit of curry powder.
When first starting out, you'll want to feed your baby single-food purees, but after you've introduced several fruits and veggies, you can start mixing and matching them. I make batches of single-food purees and then combine them before serving.
How do you freeze & store homemade baby food?
I freeze all of the purees I make-they don't last more than 2-3 days in the fridge, and since your little one's immune system isn't as strong as yours, you don't want to risk it. You can use a regular ice cube tray, or get a silicone one. (I like this silicone tray
because I know each square is 1 ounce.) Once the purees are frozen solid, I pop them out and put them in a freezer bag labeled with the puree name and the date it was made. Frozen purees will last in the freezer for 2-3 months.
How do you heat it up?
Frozen purees can be heated on the stovetop or in the microwave, but my favorite method is not heating them at all, but thawing instead. I transfer the cubes to a small glass baby food container
and pop it in the fridge until the puree has thawed-because the cubes are so small, it doesn't take long. If the puree is something best served warm, like potatoes or peas, I put hot water in a bigger bowl, then place the smaller bowl with the puree inside the big bowl and gently heat it with a hot water bath.
Homemade Baby Food Resources
Here are some of the websites and cookbooks I used to get ideas for purees:
Wholesome Baby Food // This website is a great online resource for nutrition, recipe ideas, and tips.
Weelicious // Weelicious has ideas that span from baby's first foods to finger foods to toddler favorites.
201 Organic Baby Purees: The Freshest, Most Wholesome Food Your Baby Can Eat!
// There's no shortage of ideas in this book! It's a great reference for those just starting to make their own baby food.
Top 100 Baby Purees
// If the last cookbook is for beginners, this book could be considered Baby Food 102. It's another with a lot of recipe ideas, many of which can be tweaked and customized by swapping out ingredients.
The Amazing Make-Ahead Baby Food Book: Make 3 Months of Homemade Purees in 3 Hours
// If you didn't believe me when I said it's quick and easy, here's your proof-you can make 3 months worth of purees in only 3 hours time!
Super Baby Food
// I received a copy of this book to review and what I love about it is that it goes beyond just recipe ideas and really digs into nutrition.
Baby food image via Shutterstock.
Amanda says
I went down this route with my first. All organic, single food purees which she then flat out refused to touch after a few weeks so I ended up having to go down the self-feeding route. I was absolutely amazed at how well it worked out and we were able to give her appropriate sized / flavoured bits of our food which meant no separate prep. With my second, we skipped the puree stage altogether and gave her what we were having from the beginning, she actually just started taking food from her sisters plate! I often use your recipes so I'm pretty sure she had some Oh My Veggies recipes from quite early on (salt withheld and in appropriate sizes). From what I understand it gives babies the opportunity to learn to masticate before they swallow whereas purees are treated like a liquid so once you introduce chunks they often gag a lot. Anecdotally that would match up in my experience, my first who had the purees, gagged a lot on food and it was scary. My second, rarely if ever gagged on food as there was a lot of gumming first before things started going in. I should add they recommend self feeding from 6 months plus when babies can sit independently. Sorry for the long post, I'm in no way related to the baby led weaning movement, just seen how well it can work for little ones. There is lots on the web if you search for baby led weaning.
Kiersten says
I kind of took a hybrid approach with my daughter, starting her on purees and then moving onto solids pretty early on. I did a combination of purees and solids for a while, but at this point, B is pretty much over being fed and insists on feeding herself, so now we're mostly on solids. B hasn't had issues with gagging, but I never did really thin purees and I skipped cereals altogether, so I wonder if that made a difference?
Tina says
Great article Kiersten,
When I had my first baby, at the beginning I feed only product-store foods but after reading a couple of articles online, I started to realize that the best way to feed my baby is by making him his own food at home.
Doing so, you can control the exact ingredients your baby is eating, so no more worries. I am trying to be better at making baby food at home and your article was very useful.
Thank You!
Edward says
Thank you for writing this! We did this for our baby boy and are so glad we did. We could really control what he is eating and using a blender is so easy. And our boy loved it! He actually refused to eat the other store bought foods when we had tried to give it to him! We taught him well!
khorsheda says
Great article Kiersten,
When I had my first baby, at the beginning I feed only product-store foods but after reading a couple of blog and articles online, I started to realize that the best way to feed my baby is by making him his own food at home.
Doing so, you can control the exact ingredients your baby is eating, so no more worries. I am trying to be better at making baby food at home and your article was very useful.
Thank You!
Veronica Mitchell says
Thank you for sharing your ideas. I will try this with my little one. I'm a hands-on momma and this is a great read. I must say that I'm guilty of letting my baby eat product store foods until I've come up with the idea of making his own food. I'm enjoying every moment of it and I know that I'm keeping my baby healthy. Hope to hear more from you.
Stella says
Thanks for the really great links! I can share a guide about how to start - parental-love.com/baby-food
Linda Basauri says
Wow! This could be one of the most useful blogs we have ever come across on the subject. Actually a fantastic article! I am also a specialist in this topic so I can understand your hard work.
Stella Mary says
I just saw those videos of preparing the potato smash and couple other and I am in love with those amazing dishes. Thank you for the healthy recipes.