Homemade Baby Food

I began feeding my firstborn pureed vegetables and fruit when she was about five months old.  I did the math and figured out we could save money and offer our daughter healthier food if I made it myself.  That was about six years ago and now I have three children that I have fed pureed vegetables made in my kitchen.  I haven't tried making fruit, because when I first looked into it and read that you have to boil the fruit first that seemed a little odd, so I buy the large container of no sugar added applesauce and mash up fresh bananas and purchase Beechnut brand jars for other varieties of fruit.  I found that making the vegetables myself at home ended up being 1/5 of the price of buying premade jars of food with added ingredients.  When my second born came along I had a busy one year old and wondered if I would have the time to make the pureed food again, but I did.  The third time around I really wanted to make healthier, cheaper food, but thought it definitely wouldn't be a possibility with a four and five year old and all of the new tasks I had recently committed to, but it's true that you make time for what is most important to you.  Here is the process...


1.  Purchase fresh or frozen veggies of your choice in bulk. Some that I have chosen are brocolli, green peas, green beans, carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, etc...

2.  Cook the vegetable in the oven or on the stovetop as you would for yourself, not adding salt or any other ingredients.
3.  Place the cooked vegetable in a blender, add water and blend until pureed.

4.  Pour puree into ice cube trays and freeze.  I prefer cheap dollar store trays covered with plastic wrap, because the name brand trays with lids tend to be harder to get the frozen food to pop out.  

5.  Pop out of the trays and place in freezer plastic bags labeled with date and vegetable.
6.  Depending on your child's age and appetite remove about 1-5 cubes at a time to thaw and feed your baby.


I didn't start feeding my third baby pureed food until she was about seven months old (started with rice cereal at six months), and she is now 9 months and starting to eat some cut up table food such as blueberries, bananas, watermelon, bread, green beans, peas, etc...  She still has the homemade pureed food when there is not really a baby friendly option with the meal we are having, but all this to say, pureed food is a short stage of a baby's life so it has been worth it for me to make most of it at home.