1Before You Start

Be sure that your baby’s pediatrician has given the ok for you to start feeding your baby solids as there are several health conditions that may result in your delaying feeding solids to your baby. As a general rule of thumb six months old is the age that babies can start to gradually move on to eating solids; however, every baby is different and it is important that you follow the feeding cues that your baby is giving to you as well as listen to the advice from your pediatrician before trying out homemade baby food.

2Getting Started

Amongst the first foods that your baby is ready for, rice and oatmeal cereals are fine and soft enough for her to get used to the new textures. Mix the cereals with a bit of breast milk or formula until it is very soupy; if the cereal is too thick, your baby may have difficulty swallowing it. You certainly don’t want her first foray into solid foods to be a scary situation for the two of you with her choking on her cereals!

Once your baby is comfortable eating her cereals you can start to move on to a wider variety of fruits and vegetables. Remember that you should only try one new food at a time so that if she develops a food allergy you will know exactly what caused her allergic reaction!

3Homemade Baby Food – What You Need

To make your own baby food you will, in general, need nothing more than a food processor to puree the wholesome fresh fruits and vegetables for your little one. If you plan on making homemade baby food in big batches so that it will be readily available when you need it, or so that she can have fresh homemade baby food at daycare, then you may need to have a few preparation and storage tools on hand:

• Ice trays
• Cookie Trays
• Freezer bags
• A permanent marker

Place your ice trays on cookie trays so that they can be easily moved into the freezer when you are ready; top the ice trays with your prepared and pureed baby foods, cover with plastic wrap or aluminum foil and simply pop the trays into your freezer until the purees are completely frozen. Use your permanent marker to write the date and the contents on the freezer bags in order to avoid needing to guess the age and contents of the freezer bags.

4First Foods

Your child’s pediatrician is likely to provide you with a list of first fruits and vegetables that you can feed to your little one; however, avocado, bananas, pears, and even sweet potatoes are ideal first foods for your baby’s taste buds to experiment with.

Avocados and bananas are two foods that it is best to prepare and feed fresh; in general they are not ideal foods for freezing and with the ready availability of them it is seldom necessary to freeze them.

To understand how making your own baby food can help you with your monthly grocery budget consider the following:

• A jar of pureed bananas can cost as much as 50 cent each. A pound of bananas can be purchased for anywhere from 35 cents. A pound of bananas can provide you with a lot of pureed bananas!


• A jar of pureed sweet potatoes can cost as much as $1 per organically prepared baby food jar. Whole sweet potatoes, on the other hand, can be found for as little as 60 cents a pound! You will be able to prepare at least three meals for your baby out of one large sweet potato!

As your baby’s taste buds and ability to handle more complex foods progresses, you will be able to puree food that the rest of your family is eating – further helping to keep your grocery budget under control. Consider a jar of pureed chicken, carrots, and peas that can cost as much as $1.25 per jar! Pureed chicken can be added to the other purees that you make for your baby and can be frozen in much the same way!

5Homemade Baby Food Preparation

• Preparing Avocados And Bananas

  For the preparation of avocados simply cut your avocado open and scoop out the flesh on the inside of the fruit. Mash it thoroughly in a bowl using a fork and consider adding a little bit of formula or milk to it in order to thin it out if it appears to be too thick for your baby. Bananas, on the other hand, have a high water content; when you put a banana into a blender it rapidly turns into banana juice! You may need to add a little bit of rice cereal to the banana in order to make it more palatable for your little one.



• Preparing Pears

  Pears make for a delicious homemade baby food and are chock full of fiber; having pears on hand can be incredibly beneficial should your little one develop tummy problems! To prepare your pears, peel them and cut them into chunks – be sure to remove the seeds. Steam the pears until they are tender; puree them in a blender or mash them with a fork. Like bananas, pears have a high water content so you may need to add a little bit of cereal to thicken the pears before feeding them to your little one. Pears can be readily frozen and defrosted when you need them.



• Sweet Potatoes And Squash

  Sweet potatoes and squash (like butternut or acorn squash) can be prepared in much the same way as pears with the exception that you may need to add a bit of formula or milk in order to thin them out a little bit.

Making your own baby food can help your little one develop a taste for all of the same foods that you eat while also helping you to keep your grocery budget within the realms of reasonable! Try a wide variety of fruits and vegetables so that your little one can develop a taste for natural baby food; if there is a history of food allergies in your family then be sure to keep an eye on your baby when you offer her a new food – just to be on the safe side!