When your baby comes to the age of eating solid foods, you will notice that it costs quite a pretty penny to buy those little jars of baby food at the grocery store. Those little jars cost anywhere from .50 to over a dollar which adds up fast when your baby eats a few of them a day. Well, today’s Thrifty Tip is to make your own Homemade Baby Food from scratch to save money.
Long long ago..in a distant land…I had my first babies {has it really been almost 12 years?}. I had twins and we were poor college students. I was really looking to save a lot of money anyway I could – so when I heard about making your own baby food I was thrilled. I decided to make my own and I found it was easy to do.
…and the savings??? Yes you can save big! For example – in this recent Kepr TV Segment I did on some Thrifty Tips one of them was making your own homemade baby food and I made carrots. I paid $1.00 for a one lb bag of carrots and steamed them. Then pureed them and it made a whole ice-cube tray and a half of baby food. I would have paid $12 worth of baby food for the amount of carrots I got out of that one $1.00 bag. Great savings!
If you have a blender or food processor you are good to go.
To make homemade baby food you simply cook the vegetables or fruit, let them cool and then puree them in your blender or food processor. Then just freeze them in ice-cube trays. Once frozen you remove them and place in ziploc bags labeled with the type of food it is. So easy!!
Some of the great first foods to make include Avocado, Pears, Squash, Pumpkin, Sweet Potatoes, Apples, and Bananas. Then for stage one you can make Peas, Green Beans, Apricots, Mango, Carrots, Peaches, Papaya, Plums and Prunes.
Let me walk you through the process step by step:
Pre step: make sure everything you are working with has been thoroughly cleaned and where possible disinfected.
- Steam, bake, boil or microwave your fruit or vegetables till they are soft. Of course steaming maintains the most nutrients.
- Take your cooked veggies or fruit and add them to your machine of choice (blender, food processor or my dream machine that one day I dream of owning – the Vitamix).
- Set the speed to puree or mash depending on how you want it.
- As you are pureeing you can add in some of the liquid from your pot, formula or breast milk, or plain water. This will help to make it a great consistency. Note: Do not use the liquid leftover from carrots or other high nitrate vegetables for babies under 7 months…To read more about Nitrates there is a great article here.
- Spoon your puree into ice cube trays. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze.
- After frozen solid, remove cubes from tray and place in ziploc bags or containers and label. Keep frozen until you need to use.
P.S. If you want to refrigerate your homemade baby food puree’s it is recommended that it should be stored no longer than 48 hours (however many food safety authorities say that 72 hour is fine).
So my question for you all is this:
Do you think the money saved by making your own homemade baby food is worth the time it takes to make it (it can take up to an hour a week or more)?
About Karrie
Food is my love language. But so is saving money. So I like to combine the two a lot and make thrifty make ahead and freeze meals to save time. Because life is busy, and freezer meals can come to the rescue for all of us. And yes, they actually CAN taste good. Read more...
Comments & Reviews
Ana says
I only ever bought the jarred food for my kids if we were going to be away from home for a prolonged period of time somewhere where there was no fridge available at high temperatures (like, say, the beach). And eight times of ten they refused to eat it, which I don’t blame them for at all, since any flavor I tried tasted real gross. After a while I had a bingo moment and started taking along bananas and a fork and mashing them up on the spot, or apples and a grater, or whatever. But one thing I never did was freeze food for the little ones. Freezing destroys a lot of important nutrients and even adults should always try to eat fresh instead of frozen whenever possible. For babies it’s even more important to get these nutrients because they are literally building blocks they are using to build their future bodies, and their health later in life is going to hugely depend on what they ate in the first three years. (In case you’re wondering where I’m getting this from, the answer is our health care provider.) Now, I’m not much of a housekeeper and I’m terrible at keeping organized, but I found that it was no problem at all to make fresh baby food for each meal. I’d just pop some veggies or fruits or a combo of the two (plus cereal or meat later on) into a little pot to cook while I was making meals for the rest of the family and it took me literally like an extra minute to make the food for the baby. Even if you’re not making a meal, you can still take a minute to peel some veggies and fruits, let them cook, and come back in 10 minutes to strain them and mash them up. It’s not like you need to tend to the food while it’s cooking or stay at the stove. Or if its fruit like a banana, you don’t need to cook it, just mash it up with a fork. Using a processor might not be a good idea because children need to get used to different textures, not just tastes, and babies who are fed perfectly pureed food without any chunks might have a harder time accepting real solids once the time comes. Frozen could do in a pinch, but I’d be seriously concerned about feeding my baby frozen food on a daily basis (or that jarred stuff, of course). Just ask yourselves, would I want to eat frozen/ jarred food every day for every meal? Now, I don’t know how thrifty this is, but I didn’t get the feeling I was spending much money on food for the baby. I mostly fed them what I fed the rest of the family, it’s not like I bought something special for them. You take a carrot here, an apple there out of the stuff you were going to buy anyway… I really can’t say I noticed we were spending any more money on food because of this. Babies really don’t eat a lot (at least mine didn’t LOL).
carly says
have any of you tried to can your own baby food? i’m just thinking if you did it that way you wouldn’t have to buy baby food while traveling
Karrie says
Oooh..interesting idea Carly… it would probably need to be in the smaller canning jars (like jelly jars) but I bet that would work! Let me know if you do try it..and send pictures!
Bethany says
I am about to start making food for my baby. I just have one question. How do you safely defrost the food after it is frozen?
k cleaver says
i made baby food with my first.. and am doing this as well with my 2nd.. this is a huge money saver, and worth the time! 20 minutes and i have food for 2 weeks for my little guy.. i am proud to say ive got a 5 year old that will eat any fruit or veggie, even brussel sprouts and broccoli.. she begs me to cook them.. i say that is due to the fact i gave her fresh food and not jared baby food..
Karrie says
Yes, I loved just making dinner for my family and just quickly blending up what we had once the babies got a little bit older. So easy and saved me a lot of money.
Oh and Melissa — I read that Deceptively Delicious book too – and made some cauliflower puree to “sneak” into some of my kids meals. Worked great. ha!
Melissa says
Homemade baby food IS the way to go! I made it all for both my kids. I made huge batches and kept the cubes in the freezer. I would mix and match the cubes to make different ‘dinners’. So healthy and so inexpensive1 I still make puree’s every once in a while, not for babies so much, but to add into recipes – much like Jessica Seinfeld’s Deceptively Delicious.
Magan says
I agree, it really doesn’t take much extra time at all. Whenever I was cooking dinner or making lunch I would steam up a batch of veggies or fruits. It cooled while we ate supper then I would purée when I cleaned up the kitchen. So worth it! We only used jar foods when traveling.
Becky E says
AMEN TO IT ALL! I have used very few jars of baby food all four of my kids! It is fun to know that what they are eating is fresh, has nothing added, cheap, and most of it has been from my very own garden!!! IF YOU DON’T HAVE A GARDEN: Ask family and friends that have gardens for squash, pumpkin, or other various garden items that they may have too much of and be willing to share.
Melody says
ABSOLUTELY! The only time I ever use jarred baby food is when we are going to be away from the house or visiting friends and family. Too much hassle to have to worry about keeping things cold, so I just kept some jarred food on hand.
It’s funny, I’m actually writing up a post about the same thing. I made carrots and apples, then wrote down how long each lasted. Comparing to jarred food (based at 50 cents per jar, which is a really good price), I saved between 50-75% just by making my own. I just buy extra of whatever fruit or veggie is on sale each week and steam it up. I throw enough in the fridge to last a few days, then toss the rest in the freezer.
Now that my little guy is eating more solid foods, I use the same idea and just steam small chunks of food (carrots, apples, broccoli, cauliflower, etc) or roast sweet potatoes or yams and he eats the soft chunks.
It does take a little extra time, but I figure I’m not spending any time trying to track down the best deals on jarred food. I honestly don’t spend much extra time, just whatever we are eating as a family, I peel and chop up some extra. Plus, it’s WAY less waste!
I truly think people must assume it’s harder than it is. It does take some time, so as Lyne mentioned, sometimes you will just have to find a balance and what works for your family. But if you have a little extra time, the savings are totally worth it!
Michelle M. says
I’ve always just made a huge batch one Saturday and completely stocked up. Whatever the kids didn’t end up eating (or possibly disliking) could be thrown into pasta sauces or desserts. I think it is completely worth it to spend one afternoon making lots of frozen food and then you are done for a long, long while. With my first child, I only ever made one batch of baby food. By the time it was gone, he was eating finger foods.
Lyne says
I think it’s a great idea, and I plan on doing it whenever I can. I will however use the jars/containers too because with working full time it’s sometimes just better to spend the weekend actually being with my LO than standing at the stove making food. I think we all have to find the balance.
Keri says
It is SO worth the time to make your own baby food. I was able to save time by cooking my sweet potatoes & squash at the same time. You can also buy frozen fruits & veggies for items that aren’t in season to save money but be able to give your little one a varied menu any time of year without breaking the bank. My son is almost 3 and I still puree & freeze to toss extra veggies into pasta sauce or fruits into pancake batter. Best thing I learned!
Jessa says
Great idea!
Stephanie says
I never bought baby food either. It was always known that when I had kids I would be making their food rather than buying the jars. It was easy and costs WAY less. I loved going to the local produce stand and spending the afternoon steaming, pureeing and freezing. It made me feel so good knowing I was giving my little girl the best I could for nutrition and taste! I also added some seasonings to my food, never much salt, but I would add pepper, cumin, cinnamon, etc. Now at 16mths she is not picky about much and its great!
Magan says
I love this post! I made my own baby food when my twins started solids and it was so easy!! Once they were bigger I would do soups like chicken noodle, beef barley, or spagetti with finely chopped meats and over cooked pastas or oats and freeze them the same. If they were too runny once thawed then just add a little dry rice milk. This was a great transition to more solid foods. I never bought those “graduate” meals that were basically the same thing. When I told people I made my own baby food they seemed to think it was so difficult and looked at me like I was a saint!! lol Nope just frugal!
Tanya says
I love this idea! Not just for the money saved but because when the child is old enough to eat like the family, it is already use to the flavors of the adult meals! When was the last time you tried the carrots, peas, green beans, bananas, or peaches in those baby food jars?! They taste nothing like what the real food is suppose to taste like! These babies have to learn to like vegis all over again! This way here is easier, cheaper, healthier, and will make the transition to whole vegis WAY easier!!! Thank you for posting this!